Mobile Phishing Attack

With the tremendous growth in the technology field, it is safe to say that the smartphones have taken over the desktops in terms of popularity and usability. The smartphones are being used to perform all the tasks that we used to do with our static PC. If we take into account the convenience factor, no body can beat the mobile phones. Millions of users are using their phones to access internet, pay bills, shop or socialize. Another reason behind the popularity of smartphones are the amazing apps. A recent statistics show that mobile users around the globe download over 67 million app everyday. As a result, these devices have become extremely vulnerable to cyber attacks. The mobile devices are extremely prone to phishing and malware attacks.

Mobile phishing attacks are on rise these days. The cyber criminals take advantage of this platform and tries to extract as much personal and sensitive information from the users as possible. There are various reasons why this platform is targeted for attacks. Firstly the mobile users are less careful and less aware of the security options available for mobile phones. They are used to providing their credentials to the mobile interface. Secondly, it is very difficult to differentiate between a legitimate and spoofed website on a small device. Last but not the least, downloading apps without doing much research about their developers, allows attacker to install malicious code in the mobile devices.

In early August this year,  a mobile phishing attack was discovered that not only attempts to steal user's login details but also asks them to upload an image of their government issued ID. This attack involves  spoofed website of bank's mobile online login site and an URL that closely mimics the legitimate bank site.

Although the website resembles very closely with the legit site but it lacks certain things that needs to taken into account while providing personal details to such sites. The website was not supported by SSL protocols. As a result the phishing site does not have any security symbol or https:// protocol. Here is a screenshot of the spoofed site and actual site.

The spoofed site asks user to enter his login details and once the user enters the login details he is directed to another spoofed page. Now the attacker needs user's email and password information, so that when the user changes his login details to recover his account the attacker will be notified and still be able to access his account. The scam does not stop here. After extracting so much personal details, the attacker asks the user to upload an image of his government issued-ID. Assuming if that information is provided by the user, the user will be asked to continue to their account via a link but the link leads to a dead website.

Phishing site asking to enter e-mail address and password.

Phishing site asking to enter government issued IDs.

Now the question is what can we do protect ourselves from such kind of attacks or what are the lessons learnt from this particular Phishing attack. Well there are few things we can do to be safe. First and foremost, bookmark the frequently visited sites. This eliminates the chance of landing up in phishing websites through typos in the URL bar. Secondly, verify the website first before providing personal information. Check if it is supported by SSL protocol, has any security symbol or HTTPS:// protocol. Lastly, use a secure solution. The secure solutions blocks phishing sites and prevents users from accessing them unknowingly.