The cyberattack cycle: First comes outage, next comes phishing

Threat Actors are quick to try to take advantage of tech issues, much in the same way “repair scammers” jump in after storms cause damage at homes. https://www.securityintelligence.com/news/cyberattack-cycle-first-outage-then-phishing/

Don’t Fall for It: Hackers Pounce on CrowdStrike Outage With Phishing Emails | PCMag

Banks and health-care providers saw their services disrupted and TV broadcasters went offline as businesses worldwide grappled with the ongoing outage. Air travel has been hit hard, too, with planes grounded and services delayed.

How to Identify and Protect Against Phishing Attacks

Data brokers collect your personal information from various sources and compile detailed profiles. That’s why cybercriminals love data brokers. They hoard your info from everywhere: public records (voter rolls, property ownership), online stuff (browsing history, social media profiles, newsletter signups), and even commercial sources (loyalty programs, purchases). This intel helps them craft compelling and realistic phishing scams or impersonate you or trusted sources to steal private info or money.

How to stay safe from cybercriminal “quishing” attacks | TechRadar

Phishing works so well because it relies on hacking the human psyche. We want to trust the stories we’re told – especially if they’re told by ostensibly trustworthy organizations or individuals. This is an admirable, but highly exploitable, trait. As technologies evolve, threat actors are continually refining the methods they use to take advantage of trusting end-users.

The evolution of phishing: vishing & quishing | TechRadar

The reconnaissance phase at the beginning of an attack plays an even more important role in the defense strategy. 

Job scams surged 118% in 2023 due to AI, watchdog group warns | Fox Business

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) found that reports of job scams increased by 118% in 2023 compared to the prior year. That occurred even as the number of overall scams reported to the ITRC fell by 18%.

Don’t overlook the security risk posed by QR codes | TechRadar

But the more mainstream the technology has become, the more attractive it has become for threat actors. The same accessibility that makes the QR code a useful tool also makes it an effective vector for phishing and malware delivery.

Beware Of Malicious PDF Files That Mimic As Microsoft 2FA Security Update

Phishing attacks are evolving to use QR codes to trick users into entering their credentials on malicious websites, which can be designed to look like legitimate login pages and may even prefill the username field to increase believability. 

The FIA has been hacked after workers fell for a phishing attack | TechRadar

In a short press release, the FIA confirmed recent phishing attacks resulted in “unauthorized access to personal data contained in two email accounts belonging to the FIA.”

Hackers Using Weaponized Docs In QR Code Phishing Attacks

Threat actors embed malicious QR codes in emails, documents, and public places, using them to mask destinations.