On Tuesday afternoon, dozens of high-profile Twitter accounts were hijacked to promote cryptocurrency scams. Threat actors took over the accounts of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Jeff Bezos, and many others. Corporate Twitter accounts were also hijacked, including those belonging to cryptocurrency companies. What does this mean for enterprises and their security teams? Threat actors...

Since 2015, PhishLabs has and continues to track how threat actors abuse HTTPS or SSL certs. In particular, threat actors often use HTTPS on their phishing sites to add a layer of legitimacy, better mimic the target site in question, and reduce being flagged or blocked from some browsers. Last year, threat actors hit a significant milestone in this usage when more than 50% of phishing sites...

As enterprise workforces continue to transition to remote environments, online file sharing and cloud storage tools are becoming a frequent, if not necessary means of collaboration. While abusing these types of platforms is nothing new to threat actors, the lures they use are now taking advantage of the novel coronavirus. The two examples below demonstrate how. We are providing ongoing updates on...

Cyber criminals are using COVID-19 to manipulate users on Twitter and steal funds through payment applications. Our latest example demonstrates how victims are being targeted with fake credential dumps. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to-date on how threat actors are...

As job losses grow due to the coronavirus pandemic, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the situation to recruit individuals into money mule scams. Below are two examples that reference work-from-home opportunities. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to-date on how...

Threat actors are using the novel coronavirus to impersonate accounts on social media. The example below targets members of a credit union. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to-date on how threat actors are exploiting the pandemic. The threat actor created a private...

Threat actors are using social media to engage in money-flipping scams abusing the novel coronavirus. The two examples below demonstrate how they are doing it. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to-date on how threat actors are exploiting the pandemic. The first example...

In response to the financial difficulties resulting from COVID-19, many utilities have announced policy changes to suspend disconnects and provide relief to customers. As a result, many people are uncertain about what will happen should they be unable to pay their utility bills during the pandemic. As our latest example shows, this uncertainty is being exploited by threat actors. We are providing...

With many U.S. citizens still waiting to receive their government-mandated stimulus, we are again seeing cyber criminals shift their tactics in accordance with the news cycle. Below is one example of a lure abusing access to an undeliverable stimulus payment. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the...

Cyber criminals are using coronavirus-themed voicemail notifications in the latest efforts to act on pandemic fears and steal credentials. The example below shows how they are doing it. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to-date on how threat actors are exploiting the...

In recent efforts to deliver attacks that abuse the novel coronavirus, threat actors are exploiting workplace concerns about outbreak prevention and shipment delays. Below are two examples sent with the intent of delivering malware. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to...

In the past month, we have identified and documented the methods in which threat actors have exploited the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). As fear and uncertainty around the global pandemic continue to grow, threat actors are working in tandem to develop relevant malicious lures and cyber threats. In our continued effort to provide the most relevant cyber threat intelligence, today we are launching...

Cyber criminals are using the stimulus bill and relief payments to exploit growing concerns about financial security. The examples below are impersonating financial institutions. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to-date on how threat actors are exploiting the pandemic. The first example spoofs the sender's address to target a medical center. The actual email...

Threat actors are repurposing Nigerian Prince or 419 lures with novel coronavirus messaging to capitalize on the current pandemic. Today's examples demonstrate how they are doing it. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to-date on how threat actors are exploiting the...

Threat actors are exploiting employee concerns about infected colleagues. Our latest example targets Office 365 accounts at a large Canadian company by falsely claiming a colleague has died from the virus. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to-date on how threat actors...

The novel coronavirus is giving opportunistic threat actors new means of deploying malicious lures on unsuspecting targets. Today's example shows the attacker leveraging the pandemic by offering guidance on how to avoid coronavirus scams. Unfortunately, it's also a scam. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to...

Threat actors continue using COVID-19 fears to exploit individuals on a variety of channels. Today we are taking a look at two new, related SMS lures. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to-date on how threat actors are exploiting the pandemic. The first example is a...

As COVID-19 continues to spread, we are seeing an increase in threat actors impersonating public health organizations and luring victims in with fake links to government agencies. The four examples below impersonate the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) using lures we have recently observed. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus...

We continue to see a wide range of lures exploiting coronavirus fears. In this post, we take a look at three recently observed lure samples that use the possibility of a cure to entice victims. We are providing ongoing updates on coronavirus-themed attacks observed by the PhishLabs team. This post and others are meant to help the security community stay up-to-date on how threat actors are...