All news with #phishing tag

🔒 The FBI warns of phishing campaigns using Kali365 to harvest Microsoft 365 OAuth access tokens and bypass multi-factor authentication. Attackers trick users into entering a code on a legitimate Microsoft page, which instead authorizes the attacker’s device to access the victim’s account. The FBI advises IT teams to deploy conditional access policies and block authentication transfer to reduce exposure.

📄 The Belarus-aligned threat actor Ghostwriter (aka UAC-0057/UNC1151) is using Prometheus e-learning themed phishing lures targeting Ukrainian government entities. CERT-UA reports the campaign, active since spring 2026, uses PDF links to deliver a ZIP with JavaScript that stages multiple payloads: OYSTERFRESH, OYSTERBLUES, and OYSTERSHUCK. The operation harvests system data and ultimately deploys Cobalt Strike, with advice to restrict wscript.exe for standard users to reduce risk.

⚠️ ESET researchers in Latin America discovered multiple fraudulent websites impersonating FIFA and the World Cup ticketing portal to dupe fans into registering and submitting payment details. These sites use typosquatting, copied visuals, and convincing checkout flows to harvest money and personal data. Victims arrive via ads, sponsored search results, social posts or forwarded links. FIFA confirms tickets are only sold through a few official channels; users should verify domains, avoid pressure tactics, and enable unique passwords and two-factor authentication.

🛡️ Attackers have started embedding QR codes as ASCII art in phishing emails to bypass image and link scanners. The lure often impersonates services like DocuSign, instructing victims to scan and enter corporate credentials on mobile devices. Deploying secure email gateways with ASCII-decoding and endpoint protections helps detect and block these campaigns and reduce risk.

🔒 Security researchers warn of a new scareware strain, CypherLoc, used in around 2.8 million attacks since early 2026. The campaign starts with phishing that directs victims to a malicious page which only activates when specific URL fragments and cryptographic checks pass. Once triggered, the code forces full-screen browser lockdowns, disables controls, displays fake security warnings and a fraudulent support number, with operators posing as Microsoft support. Barracuda urges anti-phishing, browser and endpoint protections and user education to mitigate the threat.

🔐 In February 2026 the EvilTokens PhaaS campaign abused the OAuth consent flow to harvest long‑lived refresh tokens, compromising over 340 Microsoft 365 organizations across five countries. Victims completed legitimate sign‑ins and MFA at microsoft.com/devicelogin, then clicked consent and unknowingly granted broad scopes for mail, drive, calendar, and contacts. Because the attacker received signed, refreshable tokens rather than credentials, MFA and typical SIEM correlation did not detect the intrusion. The incident demonstrates how normalized consent clicks have become a critical security gap.

🔒 INTERPOL's Operation Ramz led to more than 200 arrests and the seizure of 53 servers used for phishing, malware, and online fraud, affecting at least 3,867 confirmed victims from nearly 8,000 intelligence packages. Authorities identified another 382 suspects across 13 MENA countries. INTERPOL partnered with private firms including Kaspersky, Group-IB, The Shadowserver Foundation, Team Cymru, and TrendAI to track malicious infrastructure. The operation disrupted phishing-as-a-service platforms, dismantled investment scam rings, and disabled malware-infected servers.

🔒 AI is reshaping work and accelerating threats, with AI-automated phishing reported to be 4.5× more effective than traditional attacks. Growing businesses must balance speed, stability, and risk while often lacking dedicated security teams. Microsoft Security promotes simple, integrated protections for devices, identities, email, and cloud apps. Microsoft 365 Business Premium provides centralized, automated defenses so operations stay resilient and customer trust is preserved.

🔎 Interpol coordinated a first-of-its-kind campaign, Operation Ramz, across 13 MENA countries from October 2025 to February 2026 to disrupt phishing, malware and scam networks. The campaign resulted in 201 arrests, identification of 382 additional suspects and 3,867 victims, and led to the seizure of 53 servers. Authorities also disseminated almost 8,000 pieces of data and intelligence to support follow-up investigations. Private-sector partners including Group-IB, Kaspersky, Team Cymru, Shadowserver and TrendAI supported operational visibility and takedown efforts.

🔐 The Tycoon2FA phishing kit now exploits OAuth device-code flows and misuses Trustifi click-tracking URLs to hijack Microsoft 365 accounts. eSentire found the kit rebuilt after a March takedown, adding obfuscation layers, a 230-vendor blocklist, and extensive anti-analysis checks to evade detection. Attackers trick victims into pasting device codes at microsoft.com/devicelogin, granting OAuth tokens and full access to email, calendar and cloud storage.

🔒 Subscription services are widespread and often contain personal data, making them attractive targets for attackers. The article outlines common attack vectors — phishing, credential reuse, infostealers, and bulk-resale of hacked family slots — and explains practical defenses: use password managers, enable two-factor authentication or passkeys, and monitor active sessions. It also advises how to spot phishing and track hidden recurring charges through bank statements and app-store settings.

🛡️ FortiGuard Labs details a phishing campaign that uses TXZ attachments and environment-variable obfuscation to execute a fileless .NET loader. The loader, tracked as PawsRunner, retrieves encrypted payloads hidden inside PNG images using steganography and delivers the PureLogs infostealer. The campaign abuses multiple network APIs, prioritizes image responses, and uses cat images as cover, with final-stage C2 communication via HTTPS.

⚠ Geopolitical tensions have created a fertile environment for opportunistic scammers who exploit fear and sympathy to harvest credentials, personal data, or direct payments. Common ploys include fake charities, romance and travel scams, fraudulent charges, investment schemes, sensational fake news and classic advance-fee cons. Scammers increasingly use convincing content produced with generative AI and impersonation tactics to bypass trust; verify independently, avoid unsolicited links or calls, and protect devices with reputable anti-malware.

🔒 Researchers at Sublime Security reported that the FlowerStorm phishing-as-a-service campaign has begun using KrakVM, an open-source browser-based JavaScript virtual machine, to conceal credential-stealing code inside HTML attachments. When victims open the attachments in a browser, encrypted bytecode is executed by the VM and launches a dynamic credential- and MFA-harvesting workflow. The kit supports real-time AiTM interception and adapts phishing pages to the victim’s provider and branding, complicating static analysis and many email defenses.

⚠️Cyber criminals are exploiting World Cup 2026 excitement with fake merchandise stores, fraudulent betting platforms, and phishing domains designed to steal money and personal data. Domain registrations containing 'FIFA' or 'World Cup' surged to 9,741 in April 2026, and host countries recorded higher weekly attack averages in April versus March and the prior year. Check Point Research identified multiple impersonation and betting sites and advises fans to watch for steep discounts, suspicious domains, and 'vote‑to‑earn' schemes that solicit deposits.

🔒 Tomorrow at 2:00 PM ET, BleepingComputer will host a live webinar titled "From phishing to fallout: Why MSPs must rethink both security and recovery," with Austin O'Saben and Adam Marget of Kaseya. The session explains why prevention alone is insufficient as AI-driven phishing, ransomware, SaaS abuse and BEC evolve faster than many defenses. It will show how attackers exploit trusted infrastructure and why organizations must combine security, backups and rapid recovery. Attendees will learn practical steps to reduce downtime and disruption.

🔒 Google describes five coordinated approaches to reduce scams and fraud, presented at the EMEA Anti-Scams and Fraud Summit hosted by the Google Safety Engineering Center in Zurich. The company highlights AI-powered defenses that block spam, malware and policy-violating ads, plus on-device scam detection in Phone by Google. It also emphasizes user tools, education through Be Scam Ready, cross-platform threat-data sharing via the Global Signal Exchange, and partnerships with law enforcement to disrupt criminal networks.

🔒 The ICO fined South Staffordshire Water Plc and parent South Staffordshire Plc £963,900 after a cyberattack that exposed the personal data of 663,887 customers and employees. The incident, traced back to September 2020 and active mainly between May and July 2022, began with a phishing intrusion that enabled malware to remain undetected for 20 months. The regulator identified multiple security failures, including insufficient privilege controls, monitoring that covered only about 5% of the IT estate, use of obsolete software and poor vulnerability and patch management.

🔒 Signal has rolled out new in-app confirmations and warning messages to help users detect phishing and social engineering attempts that abuse the Linked Device feature. The updates add visible cues such as “Name not verified” and “No groups in common”, stronger safety tips, and prompts reminding users the app will never ask for registration codes, PINs, or recovery keys. These measures aim to introduce friction so recipients can better evaluate external requests.

🔒 Ontinue detailed a campaign distributing a previously undocumented information stealer via fake Claude Code install pages that hijack Chromium browsers to bypass App-Bound Encryption and exfiltrate cookies, passwords and payment data from developer workstations. The lure substituted the canonical Anthropic host for an attacker-controlled domain while /install.ps1 returned a verbatim genuine installer, letting automated scanners see benign PowerShell. A native helper is reflectively injected into browser processes to invoke the IElevator2 COM interface and extract encryption keys, while the PowerShell layer handles persistence, collection and C2 communications. Defenders are urged to enforce constrained PowerShell, enable script block logging and block newly registered domains.