As the title implies, I will be breaking down a real-life phishing campaign that I have seen used a number of times recently (and in some cases, quite successfully). Some details, such as email addresses and links, have been changed for security reasons. I will demonstrate how easy it is to launch this particular attack, explain why it’s effective, and highlight things to look out for in order to keep yourself, your business, friends, and family safe from such attacks.
One of the most popular types of phishing attacks is credential harvesting, where an attacker obtains your username and password either through a social engineering attack or by deploying malware, such as a keylogger, on your system. This attack is particularly appealing to malicious hackers because they gain access not only to your email account but also potentially to your work accounts, bank, social media, and more—especially if you habitually use the same password for all your accounts. Additionally, the attacker would have access to your contact list, enabling them to send emails to your contacts posing as you. This makes it more likely that the recipients will open and believe the email.
The initial attack starts off very simply. An email impersonates Support, a co-worker, friend, an Administrator, Human Resources, etc. In this case, the attack is a spoofed email from “Microsoft Support” regarding unusual sign-in activity on our account. With around 1.4 billion active Windows devices, there’s a good chance the recipient is a Windows user. It would....
Author
- C|OSINT Certified, Certified hacker, trained in CEH8-CEH12, CISSP, SOC 1, Accredited Configuration Engineer (ACE), MCSI OSINT Practitioner, Certified Elicitation Expert, and CWA certified. Over 24 years’ experience in the IT industry. Online instructor for OSINT, ethical hacking, and network security. Has contracted courses for EC-Council, Udemy, and has written articles for Hackin9 and eForensics magazine
