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4 MIN READ

News



TRAVEL-THEMED PHISHING, BEC CAMPAIGNS GET SMARTER AS SUMMER SEASON ARRIVES

Phishing campaigns targeting travelers have evolved from simple, easy-to-spot
fraud attempts to highly sophisticated operations.
Nathan Eddy
Contributing Writer, Dark Reading
May 26, 2023
Source: Anastasia Nelen via Unsplash
PDF


As the summer holiday season draws near, phishing scams with travel-themed lures
have been gaining momentum, posing a significant challenge to individuals and
organizations.



A recent survey from McAfee found that nearly a third (30%) of adults have
fallen victim or know someone who has fallen victim to an online scam when
bargain hunting for travel deals, with a full two-thirds of victims losing up to
$1,000.

The Phishing Defense Center (PDC) released a report this week shedding light on
one phishing campaign in which threat actors impersonated the HR department,
exploiting the trust users place in their employers.

By sending deceptive emails, the perpetrators aimed to deceive unsuspecting
individuals into clicking on a link purportedly for submitting their annual
vacation requests.



This version of a business email compromise (BEC) threat represents the
evolution of travel-focused phishing campaigns, the firm said. Clicking the link
in the fake HR communication results in a login prompt overlaying the victim’s
corporate home page, which was detected and automatically generated from their
email address in the URL.



This approach is characterized by the blending of two effective phishing
tactics: spoofed HR communications and a travel-themed phishing hook.

The attack leverages the regular HR procedures associated with vacation requests
and taps into the anticipation and excitement surrounding the summer travel
season, the researchers noted in the report.


EXPLOITING INTEREST IN SUMMER TRAVEL

"This is a sophisticated credential harvesting tactic," explains Mika Aalto,
co-founder and CEO at Hoxhunt. "Trust is essential to social engineering and
while many would sense something is off about the poorly worded email message,
others might be disarmed by it."

He notes these dual streams of familiarity could heighten trust and move the
victim further down the kill chain.



"The more sophisticated and authentic the spoofed website appears, the higher
the chances of successful deception," Aalto says. "It's almost like a decoy —
the poorly composed email may lead the potential victims to underestimate the
threat, thus lowering their guard when they arrive at a surprisingly
genuine-looking site."

He adds that attackers are not just relying on email anymore but are also using
social media platforms, text messages, and even phone calls to reach potential
victims.

"Looking forward, we can expect these scams to continue to evolve in complexity,
possibly incorporating artificial intelligence to make their phishing attempts
more convincing," he says.

Plus, if phishing templates are run through ChatGPT, they’ll immediately become
flawlessly worded and more convincing phishing lures.

"AI chatbots can interact with unwitting victims as convincingly as a human
being to steal valuable credentials, and deepfake platforms enable criminals to
pose as trusted figures," Aalto warns.


PHISHING SCAMS TARGET VICTIMS WITH TEXT MESSAGES

The summer holidays in general represent an opportunity to reach more victims
because there is an increase in vacation requests, which increases the chance of
a successful breach.

Patrick Harr, CEO at SlashNext, points out there are many variations of this
threat that could succeed in organizations and lead to a breach.

"Organizations should look for variations of this attack," he adds, "including
vendor compromise attacks from organizations that use vendors to manage HR
functions or an employee's compromised email account."

Harr explains that hackers are taking advantage of travel companies that are
trying to make travel frictionless for their guest with apps and text messaging.

"Threats are growing because of the increased use of apps and text messages from
airlines, hotels, transportation, and other travel activities," he says.

He says the most notable evolution of travel-based scams is the transition from
email and Web-based threats to mobile app threats and threats on social media.

He points out hackers are taking advantage of travelers because they are more
likely to interact with unfamiliar text messages or apps, connect to unfamiliar
Wi-Fi, and look for VPNs to stream content.

In fact, from Harr's perspective, the most important thing that can be done to
educate travelers is to avoid using free public Wi-Fi.

"Do not connect to unfamiliar networks, and when unsure about the safety of
Wi-Fi, use cellular data," he cautions. "Do not download free VPNs or free
streaming services. Don't connect to airport Wi-Fi or connect your phone to free
charging stations."


PHISHING LURES IN FORM OF TRAVEL DISCOUNTS

Common phishing campaigns targeting travelers often involve discounted or free
flights, hotel bookings, or package deals that are simply too good to be true.

"All these attacks will be particularly hard to resist for bargain hunters this
travel season, which will be unusually expensive due to inflated travel, food,
and lodging prices," Aalto says.

Most scams will either result in a direct payment of hundreds or thousands of
dollars to a fraudulent site, or a credential-harvesting scam that captures and
sells or otherwise uses sensitive data.

"Remember, there’s a multibillion-dollar organized cybercrime industry thriving
on the Dark Web, where stolen data is a commodity that contains significant
value," he says. "Corporate accounts are gateways to corporate systems."
There are also scams involving fake vacation rentals or timeshares, false travel
insurance, and even scams where criminals pose as government officials to offer
expedited visa or passport services.

"In a more sophisticated approach," Aalto adds, "we're seeing scams involving
fraudulent loyalty program emails or notifications designed to trick customers
into divulging their personal information or login credentials."

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