Important online meeting at work: scammers have found a new way to steal data

It is undeniable that the Zoom video conferencing tool has become an integral part of our professional and social life. Due to social issues, most of us now rely on Zoom to conduct work meetings, virtual “walks” with our friends, and much more. Therefore, it is not surprising that scammers use Zoom to steal personal information. If you recently received an invitation to a Zoom meeting with the company’s Human Resources department (HR), it could be scammers. Writes about it Reader's Digest.

Photo: Shutterstock

How a scam works

Unfortunately, many people have been laid off or reduced because of the coronavirus pandemic. Even if you have not lost your job, it is normal that you worry about it. A sense of general concern is exactly what scammers aim for.

In this fraud, attackers create a fake email that acts as an automatic notification for an important meeting with the human resources department. The email contains a link that redirects users to a fake Zoom login page located at zoom-emergency.myftp.org.

The subject lines, message layout and meeting descriptions are slightly different, but the main idea is the same, writes Naked Security.

For native English speakers, the wording of some sentences is rather unnatural - sometimes spelling errors come across that are easy to miss.

But the consequences of this letter are clear enough: if you miss the meeting that is happening right now, you may lose your job

Also in the letter there is a button similar to Zoom so that you can join the meeting. But when you click on it, you will not end up on zoom.us, which is to be expected.

However, you are taken to an HTTPS webpage (with a padlock image) and the login page is almost identical.

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Please note that the encryption certificate for this website was issued yesterday, shortly before sending the spam message associated with it.

Also, taking a closer look, you will notice that scammers inserted the text of the Email Address Password sentence in the password field instead of just Password, as is done on this Zoom page.

Presumably, they hope that if you notice this “hint”, you can use the password of your email account instead of the Zoom password.

Remember that access to your email account is much more important for scammers than your Zoom account, because your email account is probably the way you reset your password for many other accounts.

Regardless of what we entered as the password on the fake site, you are redirected to the original Zoom help page, as if something went wrong and maybe you should just try again.

Thus, fraudsters do not need to imitate a successful login or pretend that your login failed - they just leave you at one of the moments “I wonder what happened there”, and you tend to just go back and start all over again.

Of course, by the time you see the Zoom (completely genuine) Help page, the scammers have entered the email address and password you entered.

“Your presence is critical to this meeting and is equally required to start this meeting to analyze performance in the first quarter,” the main part of the letter says. The subject line of the email reads: “Suspension / termination of the contract”.

By the way, Zoom is not the only platform that scammers use. You also owe it to other social networks such as Facebook.

What can people do to protect themselves?

Do not log in after clicking on the links in the letters. You need to go to Zoom directly or switch to the Zoom application, and then try to enter the meeting number indicated in the text message.

Turn on two-factor authentication if you can. Zoom supports 2FA, based on the one-time codes generated by the application on your phone, and most email services too.

Each time you log in with a different code, the inconvenience for you is very minor, but the extra effort for scammers is huge, since your password is no longer enough.

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Immediately inform your organization’s IT team if you receive such a message. Fraudsters rarely send phishing emails to one person in the company, so if you can act as an early warning system for your organization, then you will be able to protect the others.

If you receive such an email, change your password immediately. The sooner you change your password, the less time fraudsters will have.

“Unfortunately, it’s common practice for cybercriminals to use high-profile global news in their circuits, and a coronavirus outbreak is ideal for this,” says Morten Bregger, CEO of Wire. “Cybercriminals increase the fear and vulnerability associated with the outbreak in order to catch people who desperately want more information.”

According to Bragger, the most important thing people can do to protect themselves from such scammers is to be suspicious of people, applications, and objects that they don’t know. In a pandemic, everyone naturally wants to know everything, but it’s very important to stick to proven and reliable sources.

“People should carefully check all letters and links, and only authenticate where they know the domains, sender names, be wary of sites and links that do not match the original a little or are not recognized,” says Bregger. “If you’re not sure about something, don’t take risks - look for information elsewhere.”

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