Proofpoint, an American cybersecurity company, has identified a phishing campaign based on messages purporting to come from Microsoft, inviting recipients to participate in a digital tribute in honor of Queen Elizabeth II: it is in fact a scam aimed at stealing the credentials of victims’ Microsoft accounts.
A cyberattack “in memory of Her Majesty”
Any pretext is good to design a cyberattack. If it’s a global event that piques the interest of the masses, like the death of Queen Elizabeth II, for hackers, even better. A campaign of phishing was therefore quick to exploit this opportunity.
According to the “Threat Insight” team of the American cybersecurity company Proofpoint, hackers have sent e-mails to a large number of users pretending to be Microsoft. Victims are invited to visit a site that looks like an “artificial technology center” offering a virtual tribute in honor of the late queen. The message claims that it is officially Microsoft inviting recipients to contribute to the creation of this portal. To participate, all you have to do is fill in your Microsoft account credentials. This credential collection page allows hackers to steal this data.
Hackers try to convince their victims with this message: “With this table, our algorithm will accumulate, analyze and organize millions of words and thousands of tribute letters and photos, from all over the world. To encourage being part of this so-called virtual tribute, the hackers described this occasion as a way to participate in history, the portal must collect: “… writings from celebrities, people close to the Queen, and people who just want to share their sadness. Today, we are writing world history, each one of us and all of us together. It doesn’t matter where we are today’ today, our loss unites us”, affirms the message of cyber scammers.
Other types of scam could emerge on the occasion of this event of planetary interest
To avoid any other type of scam that may have taken advantage of this news, the UK’s National Cyber Security has urged caution with emails, text messages or any other digital communication tools in connection with funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
Services used by the general public who are victims of identity theft
The authors of the Microsoft scam on the occasion of the mourning of Queen Elizabeth II, used a “phishing kit” called EvilProxy. It is a “phishing framework” that offers hackers a graphical interface that is easy to use and configure to manage any phishing campaign.
In France, public institutions such as the CAF, the Post Office or the Health Insurance also see their identities usurped, to steal personal information. Under the pretext of renovation of vital card, allowance of inflation of the CAF, or of a parcel which must be recovered, the Post office or other private companies of delivery are imitated by impostors, to make us click on forms or links that aim to steal our data.
The reflexes not to be neglected are the following: carefully check the address of the sender of the message, pay attention to messages containing spelling errors, never fill in forms asking for personal information and do not click on links sending to unknown sites.