Cloud Phones: The Invisible Threat


What began as a simple scheme to inflate social media metrics has evolved into a sophisticated threat that is quietly reshaping the economics of digital fraud. Over the past decade, fraud prevention teams have invested heavily in device fingerprinting and emulator detection and that investment paid off; classic emulators and bot activities became predictable, easy to detect and block.

However, attackers adapted. They moved to cloud phones – remote-access Android devices running in data centers. For all intents and purposes, these are real phones, running genuine firmware, exhibiting natural sensor behavior, and presenting valid hardware attestation. Plus, they’re accessible to anyone with just $10 to spare and an internet connection. What makes this threat unlike any other is its invisibility.

Read more…
Source: Group IB


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • FBI warns of Egregor ransomware extorting businesses worldwide

    January 7, 2021

    The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has sent a security alert warning private sector companies that the Egregor ransomware operation is actively targeting and extorting businesses worldwide. The FBI says in a TLP:WHITE Private Industry Notification (PIN) shared on Wednesday that Egregor claims to have already hit and compromised more than over 150 victims since ...

  • Windows PsExec zero-day vulnerability gets a free micropatch

    January 7, 2021

    A free micropatch fixing a local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerability in Microsoft’s Windows PsExec management tool is now available through the 0patch platform. PsExec is a fully interactive telnet-replacement that allows system admins to execute programs on remote systems. PsExec tool is also integrated into and used by enterprise tools to remotely launch executables on other ...

  • North Korean hackers launch RokRat Trojan in campaigns against the South

    January 7, 2021

    A North Korean hacking group is utilizing the RokRat Trojan in a fresh wave of campaigns against the South Korean government. The Remote Access Trojan (RAT) has been connected to attacks based on the exploit of a Korean language word processor commonly used in South Korea for several years; specifically, the compromise of Hangul Office documents ...

  • Ryuk gang estimated to have made more than $150 million from ransomware attacks

    January 7, 2021

    The operators of the Ryuk ransomware are believed to have earned more than $150 million worth of Bitcoin from ransom payments following intrusions at companies all over the world. In a joint report published today, threat intel company Advanced Intelligence and cybersecurity firm HYAS said they tracked payments to 61 Bitcoin addresses previously attributed and linked ...

  • Expanding Range and Improving Speed: A RansomExx Approach

    January 6, 2021

    RansomExx, a ransomware variant responsible for several high-profile attacks in 2020, has shown signs of further development and unhampered activity. The most recently reported development involves the use of newer variants adapted for Linux servers that effectively expanded its range to more than Windows servers. Own monitoring efforts found RansomExx compromising companies in the United States, ...

  • CISA Update: Advanced Persistent Threat Compromise of Government Agencies, Critical Infrastructure, and Private Sector Organizations

    January 6, 2021

    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is aware of compromises of U.S. government agencies, critical infrastructure entities, and private sector organizations by an advanced persistent threat (APT) actor beginning in at least March 2020. This APT actor has demonstrated patience, operational security, and complex tradecraft in these intrusions. CISA expects that removing this threat ...