Hackers host fake websites for malicious campaigns centered around Black Friday theme

The reserch finding shows that website cloning is a common technique used by hackers of all levels of sophistication to host fake instances of legitimate websites

PGurus Newsdesk

November 26, 2022

The reserch finding shows that website cloning is a common technique used by hackers of all levels of sophistication to host fake instances of legitimate websites

Black Friday & cyber security threats

A new report has revealed that threat actors are hosting websites for malicious campaigns centered around the Black Friday theme and e-commerce, crypto currency and travel are the top targets.

Researchers found cybercrime forums across various languages are rife with chatter about Black Friday. While some actors are promoting their malicious services/ campaigns, others are looking to avail them, according to CloudSEK researchers who also discovered an Ethereum giveaway scam website.

“Compromised personal identifiable information (PII) and banking credentials can be used to perform unauthorized transactions and social engineering attacks,” they warned.

CloudSEK’s contextual AI digital risk platform ‘XVigil‘ discovered hundreds of Black Friday-themed domains registered and operational.

Common forms of attacks included the impersonation of legitimate websites, services for Google/ Facebook ads, and the spread of malicious applications.

“Various elements come into play here, right from hosting a website to gaining critical information about victims by using different techniques. Threat actors are constantly looking for opportunities to siphon crucial data or money,” said Rishika Desai, Cyber Threat Researcher, CloudSEK.

The finding showed that website cloning is a common technique used by hackers of all levels of sophistication to host fake instances of legitimate websites.

“The iconic Black Friday sale has become a global theme now where cybercriminals at every level and expertise try their best to launch malicious campaigns. Most of these campaigns misuse or impersonate popular brands and companies providing sales and services to cheat the public,” Desai added.

The researchers advised to be aware of the freebies, attractive deals, and seemingly suspicious third-party solutions.

[With Inputs from IANS]

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