New BEC cyberattacks use phishing with a reliable Dropbox hyperlink as a lure for malware and credentials theft.
Menace actors have added a brand new wrinkle to conventional enterprise e mail compromise cyberattacks. Name it BEC 3.0 — phishing assaults that bury the hook in reliable internet providers like Dropbox.
Avanan, a unit of Verify Level Software program, has tracked a current instance of this assault household, wherein hackers created free Dropbox accounts to seize credentials or cover malware in legitimate-looking, contextually related paperwork akin to potential staff’ resumes.
The assault, the safety agency found, began with the actors sharing a PDF of somebody’s resume through Dropbox. The goal can’t view the doc except they Add To Dropbox. The hyperlink from Dropbox seemed reliable, making the exploit tougher to identify.
The phishing exploit includes these steps:
- First, a person clicks the hyperlink in a reliable notification from Dropbox to a resume and accesses a web page hosted on the file-sharing service.
- The person should then enter their e mail account and password to view the doc. Which means the menace actors have entry to e mail addresses and passwords.
On this web page hosted on Dropbox, customers are requested to enter their e mail account and password to view the doc, giving menace actors person credentials.
As soon as a person enters their credentials, they’re directed to a faux Microsoft OneDrive hyperlink. By clicking on the hyperlink, customers are given a malicious obtain.
“We’ve seen hackers do lots of BEC assaults,” Jeremy Fuchs, a cybersecurity researcher/analyst at Avanan, mentioned in a report on the assault. “These assaults have a number of variations, however typically they attempt to spoof an government or associate to get an finish person to do one thing they don’t wish to do (like pay an bill to the incorrect place),” he mentioned.
SEE: One other hide-the-malware assault focuses on DNS (TechRepublic)
“Leveraging reliable web sites to host malicious content material is a surefire technique to get into the inbox,” he mentioned. “Most safety providers will take a look at the sender — on this case, Dropbox — and see that it’s reliable and settle for the message. That’s as a result of it’s reliable,” he added.
Avanan mentioned stopping these stealth assaults requires plenty of defensive steps, together with scanning for malicious recordsdata in Dropbox and hyperlinks in paperwork, in addition to changing hyperlinks within the e mail physique and inside attachments. The important thing to training in opposition to these social engineering assaults is context, in keeping with Fuchs: “Are resumes sometimes despatched through Dropbox? If not, it could be a motive to contact the unique sender and double-check. If they’re, take it one step additional. Whenever you log into Dropbox, do I’ve to log in once more with my e mail?”
Avanan mentioned the researchers reached out to Dropbox on Could 15 to tell them of this assault and analysis.
Linktree additionally used to seize credentials
Earlier this month, Avanan found the same hack utilizing the social media reference touchdown web page Linktree, which is hosted on websites like Instagram and TikTok. Just like the Dropbox assaults, hackers created reliable Linktree pages to host malicious URLs to reap credentials.
The attackers despatched targets spoofed Microsoft OneDrive or SharePoint notifications {that a} file has been shared with them, instructing them to open the file, in keeping with Avanan. Finally, the person is redirected to a faux Workplace 365 login web page, the place they’re requested to enter their credentials, the place their credentials are stolen.
“[Users] ought to suppose: Why would this individual ship me a doc through Linktree? Most probably, that wouldn’t be the case. That’s all part of safety consciousness — understanding if an e mail or course of appears logical,” mentioned Fuchs.
In these circumstances, the agency means that recipients:
- At all times verify the sender’s tackle earlier than replying to an e mail.
- Cease and suppose if the medium getting used to ship a file is typical.
- When logging right into a web page, double-check the URL to see if it’s Microsoft or one other reliable website.
BEC assaults utilizing reliable websites could escalate this yr
Fuchs mentioned there are not any apparent visible cues to tip off assault recipients to BEC exploits. “Though should you had been to signal into the Dropbox web page, you’d see that there’s a OneDrive brand and hyperlink,” he mentioned. “Eagle-eyed customers ought to discover that discrepancy and suppose—why would there be two competing providers on one web page?,” he added.
He predicted that these assaults will escalate. “Any widespread service that’s legit can probably be used as a automobile to ship such a malicious exercise. That’s why we count on it to take off within the close to future,” he mentioned, including that the exploit has been used tens of hundreds of instances. “We consider it will actually take off in quantity within the second half of the yr,” he mentioned.