A brand new report from cybersecurity firm Netskope reveals particulars about assault campaigns abusing Microsoft Sway and CloudFlare Turnstile and leveraging QR codes to trick customers into offering their Microsoft Workplace credentials to the phishing platform.
These campaigns have focused victims in Asia and North America throughout a number of segments led by expertise, manufacturing, and finance.
What’s quishing?
QR codes are a handy method to browse web sites or entry info with out the necessity to enter any URL on a smartphone. However there’s a threat in utilizing QR codes: cybercriminals may abuse them to steer victims to malicious content material.
This course of, referred to as “quishing,” includes redirecting victims to malicious web sites or prompting them to obtain dangerous content material by scanning a QR code. As soon as on the positioning, cybercriminals work to steal your private and monetary info. The design of QR codes makes it unattainable for the consumer to know the place the code will direct them after scanning.
Thomas Damonneville, head of anti-phishing firm StalkPhish, advised TechRepublic that quishing “is a rising pattern” that “may be very simple to make use of and makes it tougher to test if the content material is reputable.”
Quishing assaults by way of Microsoft Sway
In July 2024, Netskope Risk Labs found a 2000-fold improve in visitors to phishing pages by way of Microsoft Sway. The vast majority of the malicious pages used QR codes.
Microsoft Sway is a web-based app from Microsoft Workplace that comes free and permits customers to simply create shows or different web-based content material. The app being freed from cost makes it a pretty goal for cybercriminals.
Within the assault campaigns uncovered by Netskope’s researcher Jan Michael Alcantara, victims are being focused with Microsoft Sway pages that result in phishing makes an attempt for Microsoft Workplace credentials.
Netskope’s analysis doesn’t point out how the fraudulent hyperlinks had been despatched to victims. Nonetheless, it’s doable to unfold these hyperlinks by way of e mail, social networks, SMS, or on the spot messaging software program.
The ultimate payload seems just like the reputable Microsoft Workplace login web page, as uncovered in a Might 2024 publication from the identical researcher.
Stealthier assault utilizing CloudFlare Turnstile
CloudFlare’s Turnstile is a free instrument that replaces captchas, which have been exploited in reported assault campaigns. This reputable service permits web site homeowners to simply add the required Turnstile code to their content material, enabling customers to easily click on on a verification code as a substitute of fixing a captcha.
From an attacker perspective, utilizing this free instrument is interesting as a result of it requires customers to click on on a CloudFlare Turnstile earlier than being redirected to the phishing web page. This provides a layer of safety towards detection for the attacker, as the ultimate phishing payload is hid from on-line URL scanners.
Attacker-in-the-middle phishing method
Conventional phishing methods sometimes acquire credentials earlier than displaying an error web page or redirecting the consumer to the reputable login web page. This method makes customers imagine they’ve entered incorrect credentials, doubtless leaving them unaware of the fraud.
The attacker-in-the-middle phishing method is extra discreet. The consumer’s credentials are collected and instantly used to log into the reputable service. This technique, additionally referred to as clear phishing, permits the consumer to be efficiently logged after the fraudulent credential theft, making the assault much less noticeable.
Malicious QR code detection difficulties
“No one can learn a QR code together with his personal eyes,” Damonneville mentioned. “You may solely scan it with the suitable machine, a smartphone. Some hyperlinks may be so lengthy you can’t test the entire hyperlink, in case you test it … However who checks hyperlinks?”
Textual content-only-based detections are additionally ineffective towards QR codes as they’re pictures. There may be additionally no widespread normal for verifying the authenticity of a QR code. Safety mechanisms akin to digital signatures for QR codes aren’t generally carried out, making it tough to confirm the supply or integrity of the content material.
How will you forestall a QR code from phishing?
Many QR code readers present a preview of the URL, although, enabling customers to see the URL earlier than scanning it. Any suspicion on the URL ought to entice the consumer to not use the QR code. Moreover:
- QR codes resulting in actions akin to login or present info ought to elevate suspicion and must be rigorously analyzed.
- Safety options additionally may assist, as they will detect phishing URLs. URLs ought to all the time be scanned by such a instrument.
- Funds shouldn’t be executed by QR code until you’re assured that it’s reputable.
Microsoft Sway isn’t the one reputable product that may be used by cybercriminals to host phishing pages.
“We frequently observe reputable websites or purposes getting used to host quishing or phishing, together with Github, Gitbooks or Google Docs, for instance, each day,” Damonneville mentioned. “To not point out all of the URL shorteners in the marketplace, or free internet hosting websites, extensively used to cover a URL simply.”
This as soon as once more enforces the concept that customers’ consciousness must be raised and workers have to be skilled to tell apart a suspicious URL from a reputable one.
Disclosure: I work for Development Micro, however the views expressed on this article are mine.
