The days when email was the main vector for phishing attacks are long gone. Now, phishing attacks occur on SMS, voice, social media and messaging apps. They also hide behind trusted services like Azure and AWS. And with the expansion of cloud computing, even more Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based phishing schemes are possible.
Phishing tactics have evolved faster than ever, and the variety of attacks continues to grow. Security pros need to be aware.
SaaS to SaaS Phishing
Instead of building phishing pages from scratch, cyber criminals are increasingly turning to established SaaS platforms to execute their malware schemes. By utilizing legitimate domains to host their phishing campaigns, it’s more challenging for detection engines to identify them. And since SaaS platforms require minimal technical expertise, it’s easier for novice hackers to launch attacks.
The number of phishing URLs hosted on legitimate SaaS platforms has increased at an alarming rate. From June 2021 through June 2022, the rate of newly detected phishing URLs hosted on legitimate SaaS platforms has increased by over 1100%, according to Palo Alto’s Unit 42.
Cyber criminals take advantage of cloud-based SaaS platforms to launch phishing attacks without ever needing to access the victims’ on-premises computers or networks, as HackerNoon cyber expert Zen Chan points out. Chan says that SaaS-based phishing makes it difficult for traditional security measures, such as anti-spam gateways, sandboxing and URL filtering, to detect and flag these malicious activities. With the increasing use of cloud-based office productivity and collaboration tools, attackers can now easily host and share malicious documents, files and malware on reputable domains.
The ma ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
