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A well known company in Oil and Gas field, sends the email message as PDF attachment, with brief explanation, here is an example:

 Dear  Mr Name,

 Please review the attached document acknowledging your recent activity on
 .....

 Regards,

 Company Recruiting Team

Is there any security benefit behind this?

1 Answer 1

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No. In fact I'd be extremely hesitant to open one of these PDFs.

PDFs are notorious for spreading malware due to the various sandbox escape vulnerabilities that have arisen over the years.

Emails don't necessarily verify the sender either - it's possible via DKIM but generally anyone could have sent that email to you (potentially loaded with malware) claiming it was sent from the company you trust.

It's a common trick to forge an email from a well known bank, attach a PDF which spreads malware then say in the message "see attached document to claim refund" or something similar.The message you posted reads suspiciously like that!

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    One could disable PDF Javascript easily, then PDFs become as safe as JPGs. May 11, 2014 at 5:12
  • I agree with your argument, I think it might be used for recognizing company emails.
    – Akam
    May 11, 2014 at 16:17

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