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DOCUSIGN API ABUSED IN WIDESCALE, NOVEL INVOICE ATTACKDOCUSIGN API ABUSED IN
WIDESCALE, NOVEL INVOICE ATTACK

Attackers are exploiting the "Envelopes: create API" of the enormously popular
document-signing service to flood corporate inboxes with convincing phishing
emails aimed at defrauding organizations. It's an unusual attack vector with a
high success rate.

Elizabeth Montalbano, Contributing Writer

November 5, 2024

4 Min Read
Source: Elena Uve via Alamy Stock Photo


Cybercriminals are abusing a Docusign API in a widescale, innovative phishing
campaign to send fake invoices to corporate users that appear authentic and
likely would not trigger typical security defenses or user suspicions, as many
similar scams might.

The campaign to defraud organizations, observed over the last several months,
involves attackers creating a legitimate, paid Docusign account using the
software that allows them to change templates and use the API directly,
researchers at security firm Wallarm revealed in a blog post published this
week.

Attackers are taking advantage of Docusign's "API-friendly environment," which
while beneficial for businesses, also "inadvertently provides a way for
malicious actors to scale their operations," according to the post.

Specifically, the researchers observed abuse of Docusign's "Envelopes: create
API" to send one of what turned out to be a significant volume of automated
emails to multiple users and recipients directly from the platform, they said.
The messages use specially crafted templates "mimicking requests to e-sign
documents from well-known brands," which are mainly software companies such as
Norton Antivirus, according to the post by Wallarm.

Fake invoices employed in the campaign also leverage an array of other tactics
to lend authenticity to the scam. These include offering accurate pricing for a
company's products; the addition of expected kinds of charges, such as an
activation fee; the inclusion of direct wire instructions or purchase orders;
and the sending of different invoices with different items.

Related:City of Columbus Drops Case on Cyberattack Whistleblower

Ultimately, if a user e-signs the document, a threat actor can use it to request
payment from organizations outside of Docusign or send the signed document
through Docusign to the finance department for compensation, thus committing
fraud.

The attack vector may not be limited to Docusign, Wallarm researchers warned;
other e-signature and document services could be equally vulnerable to similar
exploitation tactics.


A NEW TYPE OF FAKE INVOICE SCAM

Fake invoices are often a part of financially motivated phishing scams, and
Docusign — which offers enormously popular software for digital signatures with
more than 1.5 million paying customers and 1 billion users worldwide — is often
a target for phishers. An API-based attack, however, can potentially be more
effective than scams that simply use name recognition or impersonate the brand,
for a number of reasons.

Chief among them is that because the emails come directly from Docusign, they
"look legitimate to the email services and spam/phishing filters," according to
Wallarm's post. "There are no malicious links or attachments; the danger lies in
the authenticity of the request itself."

Related:EmeraldWhale's Massive Git Breach Highlights Config Gaps

Indeed, because the attack uses an API exploit, "there probably won’t be many
signs that would be easy to spot as in a spoofed email," Erich Kron, security
awareness advocate at KnowBe4, observes. Moreover, the popularity of Docusign
makes the service "a great target for this sort of attack" at a large scale due
to the potential for automation by exploiting the API, he says, adding, "people
put their trust in brands they recognize and know, especially those that are
used often in legal or other official capacities."


MITIGATING E-SIGN CYBERATTACKS, API ABUSE

Fortunately, there are a number of ways that organizations can protect
themselves from being defrauded by such convincing attacks, as well as
strategies that service providers like Docusign can take to avoid or detect API
abuse, according to Wallarm.

Organizations should always double-check the sender's email address and any
associated accounts for legitimacy, as well as implement strict internal
procedures for approving purchases and financial transactions that involve
multiple team members, if possible.

Related:Business Email Compromise (BEC) Impersonation: The Weapon of Choice of
Cybercriminals

"It's fascinating to see how sophisticated cybercriminals have become,
leveraging legitimate tools like Docusign to craft realistic phishing attacks,"
says Randolph Barr, CISO at Cequence. "This highlights the importance of
verifying the source of any document signing request, even if it appears to come
from a trusted source. [Organizations] should emphasize the importance of
pausing and verifying before taking any action, even if it seems urgent.
Additionally, IT and security teams must stay informed about the latest attack
methods and techniques to effectively protect their organizations."

Keeping a close eye on unexpected invoices or requests, especially those that
include unusual charges or fees, also can help organizations avoid paying
criminals rather than legitimate entities.

Service providers also can take responsibility for mitigating API-based attacks
by understanding how APIs may be abused in phishing attacks by conducting
regular threat modeling exercises to identify potential attack vectors. They
also can apply rate limits to specific API endpoints to prevent attackers from
scaling in cases of API abuse, according to the researchers.

Don't miss the latest Dark Reading Confidential podcast, where we talk about
NIST's post-quantum cryptography standards and what comes next for cybersecurity
practitioners. Guests from General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) and
Carnegie Mellon University break it all down. Listen now!




ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Montalbano, Contributing Writer



Elizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer, journalist, and therapeutic writing
mentor with more than 25 years of professional experience. Her areas of
expertise include technology, business, and culture. Elizabeth previously lived
and worked as a full-time journalist in Phoenix, San Francisco, and New York
City; she currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal. In
her free time, she enjoys surfing, hiking with her dogs, traveling, playing
music, yoga, and cooking.


See more from Elizabeth Montalbano, Contributing Writer
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