The Cuero Chamber of Commerce on Monday reported a malware incident affecting its website, cuero.org, after a customer noticed suspicious activity in an email sent Jan. 26.
According to a notice distributed by the chamber, users attempting to register for an event were prompted to complete a CAPTCHA verification asking, “Are you a robot?” They were then instructed to press “Windows + R” followed by “CTRL + V,” actions consistent with a social engineering tactic designed to prompt users to unknowingly execute malicious commands on their own devices.
The chamber stated that the Cuero Development Corporation website experienced the only confirmed security breach and significant data loss related to the incident.
Executive Director Angela Cuellar said the issue was brought to the chamber’s attention last week.
“When that was brought to our attention, we immediately called our web hosting provider and had them check all of our websites,” Cuellar said in a phone interview Wednesday. “They reviewed everything for malicious activity. I don’t believe they found anything, but they updated our security measures to make them tighter.”
In its email, the chamber said it believes the malware was introduced through a third-party platform, Shopify, which was used for registration for the annual Purse Bingo event.
“It is important to understand that this was a social engineering attack, meaning it relied on tricking users into performing specific actions on their own computers,” the chamber’s statement said. “The malware did not spread automatically — it required user interaction to execute.”
Cuellar said the chamber does not know how many individuals or organizations may have been affected. The chamber’s email distribution list includes more than 300 organizations and 1,000 individuals.
She urged anyone who interacted with the email to run antivirus software or have their devices checked by an information technology professional.
“It’s a matter of being diligent and taking measures to update your security if you need to, and making sure you monitor your accounts,” Cuellar said. “We’ve taken all the necessary precautions by updating our security and putting protective systems in place to alert us to any future threats.”
The chamber said it continues to monitor the situation and has implemented additional safeguards to prevent similar incidents.
Lindsey Plotkin is a multimedia reporter for the Victoria Advocate. Contact her at lindsey.plotkin@vicad.com.
