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Microsoft Account Email Phishing Attempt Looks Legitimate

By March 26, 2019May 19th, 2022Cybersecurity

Researchers have discovered a pair of nasty phishing campaigns that are making use of Microsoft’s Azure Blob Storage in a bid to steal the recipient’s Microsoft and Outlook account credentials.

Both campaigns are noteworthy in that they utilize well-constructed landing pages that have SSL certificates and a windows.net domain, which combine to make them look totally legitimate.

Given that most users don’t pay close attention to the exact address they’re navigating when they click on a link embedded in an email, these things are more than enough to fool many users. The first campaign relies on some basic social engineering to prompt the user to do something.

The subject lines vary a bit, but fundamentally they are called to action like:

“Action Required: (user’s email address) information is outdated – Re-validate now!”

The body of the email reinforces this point and helpfully contains a link to help you on your way to re-validating your account.  Clicking on the link doesn’t raise suspicion because the landing page is a carbon copy of the Outlook Web App that’s complete with a box that allows you to “validate” your password. Of course, what you’re actually doing is giving your email password to the hackers, who then have unfettered access to your inbox and contact list.

The second campaign is the weaker of the two, although it’s set up much the same way.  The subject line indicates that you need to take action to re-validate your Facebook Workplace service account, but when you click the link, you’re actually taken to a clone of Microsoft’s landing page. This was no doubt a mix-up on the part of the hackers and will be addressed in short order.

In any case, it pays to make sure your employees are aware of both of these, so they don’t inadvertently wind up handing over the keys to their digital kingdom.

Jason Manteiga

Jason J. Manteiga, Vice President of Olmec Systems, has been part of the company for over the past 20 years. He believes that having a great work environment and supportive team, is the ultimate key to success. Since being in the IT realm for over 25 years, Jason, along with Olmec Systems, has been on the Inc. 5000 “List of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” and Channel Futures MSP 501 “Top Managed Service Providers in North America,” along with other awards and nominations. Jason earned his Bachelor Degree in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also holds certifications in Microsoft MCSE, VMWare VCP, and Cisco CCNA. In his spare time, Jason is a contributor for The Center for Social & Legal Research (Privacy Exchange) and a member of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. His hobbies include cycling and kayaking. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, two daughters and son.