Bogus Security Alerts Aren’t From Norton

Con artists are targeting thousands of people with tech support scams that pose as security alerts from Norton Security, researchers at Symantec have found. The phony alerts pop up in the browser and urge the victim to run a quick scan of their computer. If the user clicks “OK,” they’ll see a very realistic-looking fake Norton scan running, which tells them their computer is infected. They’ll then be prompted to download an “update” for their antivirus software, which is actually a potentially unwanted application (PUA).

The scammers use HTML and JavaScript to create a very convincing illusion that a Norton scan is taking place. The source code contains several invisible HTML div elements which are progressively made visible by JavaScript code. The scammers use JavaScript’s setTimeout() function to time the appearance of the HTML elements, which contain images of a real Norton scan. The victims believe they’re seeing Norton windows popping up on their computer. In reality, it’s all happening within the browser.

While tracking this scam, the Symantec researchers discovered an unsecured attacker dashboard, which revealed that the scammers had compromised tens of thousands of victims. The dashboard shows that the attackers are paid by the volume of successful PUA installations, and this particular scam netted them at least $25,000.

The researchers emphasize that there are several red flags here that could have alerted educated users to the scam. First, files on your hard drive can’t be scanned by a website in a browser. Second, Norton scans and updates are handled through the product’s GUI, while the initial alert in this case was obviously browser-based. Additionally, the scam contained several hard-coded elements that wouldn’t have applied to every user, such as “30 days of subscription remaining.”

New Phishing Attack Uses Google Translate to Spoof Login Page and Fool Victims

A clever use of Google Translate fools victims into believing spoofed authentication requests are being handled by Google itself.

Compromising credentials are the number one staple in any cybercriminal’s book of activities, according to the Verizon Data Breach Investigation’s Report. A new phishing scam uses Google Translate to hide a spoofed logon page when asking a user for their Google credentials. The user is sent a supposed Google Security Alert about a new device accessing their Google account with a “Consult the Activity” button to find out more.

The user is then taken to a spoofed Google logon page (shown below).

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The kicker is that instead of seeing the mediacity.co URL, the cybercriminals use Google Translate to display the page, taking advantage of the random text Google uses, filling up the URL bar and obfuscating the malicious domain.

This type of campaign, given the specific execution, seems rather well-thought out. As long as the victim has a Google account and does not check the from address in the original email, there’s a solid likelihood they will fall prey to this scam, providing their Google credentials.

Google has since blocked the site, but a good reminder to be alert of scams like this.

Cybercriminals are constantly looking for new ways to compromise both online and on-premises credentials - as they provide the means to access data, applications, and resources useful to further a criminal campaign. Organizations need to educate users with Security Training to be watchful for phishing and online scams, providing detail on what to look for, and how to avoid becoming a victim.