Inside the underground fake review trade


Recently, our team exposed sophisticated scam kits designed to steal sensitive data and trick consumers. But underground marketplaces are not just for malware and stolen passwords. They also offer services designed to manipulate your opinion of the products and services you buy every day.

In our latest research, we examined cybercrime forums where sellers advertise illicit “reputation management” services. For the right price, these underground operators offer to flood a product with glowing, five-star ratings or remove negative reviews. This shadowy industry works both ways—artificially boosting reputations and deliberately hiding legitimate complaints.

A major shift we are seeing in this space is the adoption of new technology. We also found that cybercriminals are using AI to automate these fake review campaigns. This could allow them to quickly generate realistic, human-sounding feedback in large volumes without much manual effort.

Read more…
Source:  Malwarebytes Labs


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


Related:

  • Cyber insurance premiums surge by 50% as ransomware attacks increase

    June 14, 2023

    US cyber insurance premiums surged 50% in 2022 as increased ransomware attacks and online commerce drove demand for coverage. Premiums collected from policies written by insurers reached $7.2 billion in 2022 and tripled in the past three years, ratings firm AM Best said in a study released this week. “Systematic risk is an ongoing concern,” Fred ...

  • “.Zip” top-level domains draw potential for information leaks

    June 13, 2023

    As a result of Google’s announced sale of new TLDs that are also popular file extension formats, there is an increased risk with the deployment of the “.zip” domain that threat actors will develop new vectors for compromising victims. In early May 2023, Google released eight new TLDs, marketing the “.zip” domain as a way ...

  • Two Prudential companies in Malaysia affected by MOVEit data-theft attack

    June 13, 2023

    Prudential Assurance Malaysia Bhd (PAMB) and Prudential BSN Takaful Bhd (PruBSN) have confirmed that they have been affected by the global MOVEit data-theft attack, “where a zero-day vulnerability was exploited.” The two insurance companies said that as soon as they became aware of the breach, “we took action to isolate the affected server while the incident ...

  • MOVEit Vulnerabilities: What You Need to Know

    June 12, 2023

    Extortion actors have been actively exploiting a recently patched vulnerability in MOVEit Transfer, a file-transfer application that is widely used to transmit information between organizations. The nature of the software affected means that attackers can exploit unpatched systems to mount a supply chain attack against multiple organizations. While the original vulnerability (CVE-2023-34362) was patched on May ...

  • UK media watchdog Ofcom data downloaded in cyber-attack

    June 12, 2023

    Media watchdog Ofcom has confirmed that it is a victim of a cyber-attack by hackers linked to a notorious Russian ransomware group. Confidential data about some companies regulated by Ofcom, and personal information from 412 employees was downloaded during the mass hack. A number of firms, including British Airways, the BBC and Boots, have been affected ...

  • Sneaky DoubleFinger loads GreetingGhoul targeting your cryptocurrency

    June 12, 2023

    Stealing cryptocurrencies is nothing new. For example, the Mt. Gox exchange was robbed of many bitcoins back in the beginning of 2010s. Attackers such as those behind the Coinvault ransomware were after your Bitcoin wallets, too. Since then, stealing cryptocurrencies has continued to occupy cybercriminals. One of the latest additions to this phenomenon is the multi-stage ...