Recently, we published a piece highlighting early stage loaders often used in ransomware attacks. One of the most prolific was Emotet, which has since been taken down via a coordinated, multi-national effort. How will this impact the threat landscape? In this post, we take a look at loader activity in the aftermath of the Emotet takedown.   Predominant Payloads In 2020,...

  Recently, PhishLabs mitigated an attack using a fake social media page to steal the credentials of a credit union (CU) customer. Social media is increasingly used as a vehicle for attacks, and organizations should adopt social media protection measures to stay ahead of threats. The below demonstrates how the attack was executed.   The Scam Initially, the threat actor...

Obtaining the location of a social media threat actor can provide important information in the process of assessing risk. Verifying a geographical region of a user is vital in determining the credibility and risk level of the posted threatening content. Investigating true locations of threat actors can evidently turn a seemingly baseless low risk social media threat into...

  Look-alike domains remain some of the most consistent elements of cyber attacks targeting organizations. At a high-level, there are two ways to mitigate the threat of a look-alike domain: remove the threat completely by taking it offline, or block attacks on your users by implementing IT security controls. If we dissect the construction of a look-alike domain, we see where...

  Cybercriminals register hundreds of thousands of look-alike domains every year to impersonate reputable brands and make a profit. These domains are used for a variety of attacks including phishing emails, fraudulent websites, web traffic diversion, and malware delivery. Look-alike domains are intentionally misleading to give customers the false impression that they're...

  The novel coronavirus has dominated 2020, and in the cyber community, threat actors have capitalized on its impact from the beginning. In early March we saw the first of what would be an onslaught of criminal activity using the pandemic to manipulate users, and over the course of the year these attacks have been modified to reflect local and global fallout.    The...

  The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), known for its collaborative analysis of phishing attacks and identify theft techniques, has released its Phishing Activity Trends Report for Q3 of 2020. Highlights from the report include more than two hundred thousand unique phishing websites detected in August and September, SSL encryption for phishing sites overtaking SSL deployment...

  Impersonation enables threat actors to manipulate victims into disclosing sensitive information as well as enhance their ability to commit fraud. An organization's name, logo, or messaging can be incorporated into almost any threat type, making it an easy and versatile element of a cyber attack. Impersonation is an especially difficult technique to defend against because of...

By definition, a look-alike domain is a nearly identical, slightly altered domain name, registered with intent to deceive. Cybercriminals register hundreds of thousands of look-alike domains each year with the goal of impersonating legitimate brands and making money, usually by committing fraud. In this post, we'll describe how domains help us communicate on the Internet, the...

  Most phishing campaigns use social engineering and brand impersonation to attempt to take over accounts and trick the victim into divulging their credentials. PhishLabs has uncovered a previously unseen tactic by attackers that uses a malicious Microsoft Office 365 App to gain access to a victim's account without requiring them to give up their credentials to the attackers. ...

  Today's enterprises are experiencing an accelerated digital transformation due to the pandemic, and adoption of initiatives that would normally span years are being fast-tracked to support remote workforces and transition to new platforms. The external digital landscape is also rapidly expanding, and organizations are being required to conduct business more frequently...

  App downloads fueled by COVID-19 lockdowns leapt to 37.5 billion in Q2 of this year, and collective global app usage is surging. Android users' screen time stands out significantly, with an increase of 25% above the weekly average from the previous year. As apps continue to be an integral part of how we conduct business and perform sensitive tasks, bad actors are using fake...

Malicious domains are attributed to a wide variety of cyber attacks capable of undermining a brand's credibility. A spoofed domain is easy and quick to create, and can act as the catalyst for malicious email campaigns and phishing sites. In order to detect and action domain threats targeting your organization, security teams need to implement mature and progressive processes...

  The life of a phishing site is brief, but impactful. A study published earlier this year found the average time span between the first and last victim of a phishing attack is just 21 hours.  The same study observed the average phishing site shows up in industry blocklist feeds nearly 9 hours after the first victim visit. By that time, most of the damage is done.  Blocklists...

With Election Day just around the corner, the Republican Party of Wisconsin  revealed that $2.3M was recently stolen from election funds intended to support the re-election of President Trump.  According to their statement, they are victims of a Business Email Compromise phishing attack that altered invoices to direct payments to accounts controlled by the threat actor.   ...

  Widely-used URL tracking systems are often abused in phishing attacks. The domains used by these systems are commonly known and trusted, making them attractive carriers for phishing URLs. To illustrate how it works, this post breaks down a recently-observed phishing attack that uses Google Ads' tracking system to evade email filters.    How it works Piggybacking on a...

  PhishLabs is monitoring a threat actor group that has set up fraudulent hosting companies with leased IP space from a legitimate reseller. They are using this infrastructure for bulletproof hosting services as well as to carry out their own phishing attacks. The group, which is based in Indonesia, has been dubbed Planetary Reef.    Planetary Reef is most notable in how...

  There are many ways look-alike domains can be used by threat actors. While business email compromise (BEC) and phishing sites are often top-of-mind for defenders, there are dozens of other uses for look-alike domains. This variation, as well as diverse registrar requirements for removal, can make mitigating look-alike domains a complex, burdensome, and often ineffective...

Digital Risk Protection is defined as an operational process that combines intelligence, detection, and response to mitigate attacks across the external digital risk landscape. Today's enterprise attack surface is not limited to the corporate network. In fact, the network is just a small slice. When it comes to deciding how and where to attack an enterprise, threat actors have...