A new phishing attack has been out and about. This particular iteration takes the form of fake DMCA suspension notices to the Twitter userbase.
Phishing attacks are becoming almost commonplace nowadays. Nearly every month comes with a new variant of the cybersecurity threat, putting the private data of millions at risk. For those unaware, a phishing attack is essentially a Trojan horse of sorts. It comes in the form of harmless, often official looking source, such as an email or a fake webpage. Then, as it asks users to offer up their personal information, the attacker easily skims crucial information from them. Identification, social security number, address, credit card information, anything can be at risk. And as technology progresses, phishing attacks only gets more and more accurate. It's not enough to just maintain a watchful eye. An almost paranoid aura must be kept up in order to survive even innocuous looking emails from unknown sources.
This latest attack comes in the form of an official direct message from Twitter. A message is sent out to users, masquerading as a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) strike. Users are accused by a "Support Team" account of copyright infringement, and are then asked to fill out a response form. Failure to fill the response form within 48 hours, as specified by the fake account, will result in account suspension. A link redirects them to a fake Twitter login form, hosted by Google Sites, where unsuspecting users then give away their entire login information to nefarious hackers.
It's honestly rather understandable how users fall for such a scheme. The account has an attached Verified symbol on it, and the message is worded to give off a sense of authenticity. Naturally, enough holes can be poked into the entire setup to raise suspicion. Why would Twitter link to a Google Sites form, when they could very well host a feedback form themselves? Why does this "verified" support account have a profile picture that's literally a scratched up Twitter logo? These questions, while coming easily enough to some of the more savvy users of the internet, don't necessarily strike everyone. Enough users, old and young alike, are inexperienced with the web and can fall for this. Which makes it ultimately all the more important that account such as these be immediately suspended by Twitter.
Read next: Twitter is adding a new iOS 14.5 prompt that politely asks the users to allow the company to monitor their data
Phishing attacks are becoming almost commonplace nowadays. Nearly every month comes with a new variant of the cybersecurity threat, putting the private data of millions at risk. For those unaware, a phishing attack is essentially a Trojan horse of sorts. It comes in the form of harmless, often official looking source, such as an email or a fake webpage. Then, as it asks users to offer up their personal information, the attacker easily skims crucial information from them. Identification, social security number, address, credit card information, anything can be at risk. And as technology progresses, phishing attacks only gets more and more accurate. It's not enough to just maintain a watchful eye. An almost paranoid aura must be kept up in order to survive even innocuous looking emails from unknown sources.
This latest attack comes in the form of an official direct message from Twitter. A message is sent out to users, masquerading as a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) strike. Users are accused by a "Support Team" account of copyright infringement, and are then asked to fill out a response form. Failure to fill the response form within 48 hours, as specified by the fake account, will result in account suspension. A link redirects them to a fake Twitter login form, hosted by Google Sites, where unsuspecting users then give away their entire login information to nefarious hackers.
It seems to be part of a larger fake Twitter Support phishing scam that's been going on since March.
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) May 11, 2021
The attackers attempt to hack more verified accounts in order to continue impersonating @TwitterSupport and keep the scam going. https://t.co/h5e0sc4Luf
It's honestly rather understandable how users fall for such a scheme. The account has an attached Verified symbol on it, and the message is worded to give off a sense of authenticity. Naturally, enough holes can be poked into the entire setup to raise suspicion. Why would Twitter link to a Google Sites form, when they could very well host a feedback form themselves? Why does this "verified" support account have a profile picture that's literally a scratched up Twitter logo? These questions, while coming easily enough to some of the more savvy users of the internet, don't necessarily strike everyone. Enough users, old and young alike, are inexperienced with the web and can fall for this. Which makes it ultimately all the more important that account such as these be immediately suspended by Twitter.
Read next: Twitter is adding a new iOS 14.5 prompt that politely asks the users to allow the company to monitor their data
