Explaining Phishing and Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS)
Phishing is a widespread hack that aims to trick people into revealing personal information, such as credit card numbers, passwords, and personal identities.
In 2022 alone, 300,497 phishing cases were reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). These attacks cost victims more than $52 million. Typically, fake emails that look real are sent to trick recipients into opening harmful links or requesting sensitive information. Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) is an incredible development in the world of cybercrime.
A subscription-based web service called PhaaS makes it easy for even non-technical criminals to launch complex phishing attacks. These companies provide pre-made phishing kits, editable templates, and server infrastructure to create fake web pages.
For example, a cybercriminal could sign up to a PhaaS platform, create an email template that appears to come from a popular cryptocurrency exchange, and distribute it to thousands of recipients. The email may contain a link to a fake login page designed to steal your credentials.
Cybercriminals can use PhaaS to quickly launch widespread phishing campaigns, posing a greater threat to both individuals and businesses. The accessibility of PhaaS reduces the barrier to entry for cybercrime, a key concern for Internet consumers and cybersecurity professionals around the world.
How PhaaS Works
PhaaS makes it easier to launch phishing attacks by giving fraudsters access to a wide range of toolkits and infrastructure.
It works like this:
PhaaS kit
Pre-packaged phishing kits containing all the tools, infrastructure, and templates needed to conduct a phishing attack are available from PhaaS providers. Email templates, virtual login pages, domain registration services, and hosting infrastructure are all included in this kit.
Customization
The level of customization that different PhaaS systems offer varies. Phishing emails, websites, and domains can all be doctored by scammers to appear genuine and trustworthy. Phishing campaigns can be tailored to target specific people, companies or sectors.
targeting
Phishing attacks enabled by PhaaS are becoming more complex. Cybercriminals can design highly targeted advertising campaigns that mimic the branding and communication strategies of reputable companies and their products. Attackers can leverage personal information gleaned from social media, data breaches, and other sources to create persuasive communications that are more likely to deceive recipients.
For example, attackers often impersonate support staff from popular wallets, exchanges, or projects on social media (Telegram, Discord, Twitter, etc.). They use false prize claims or airdrops to trick users into giving up their private keys or seed phrases or establishing a connection to a compromised wallet to steal their funds.
Dangers of PhaaS
PhaaS has dramatically reduced the barrier to entry for hackers, resulting in a noticeable increase in the volume and sophistication of phishing attempts.
Even people with no technical experience can easily launch complex phishing attacks with PhaaS using prepackaged toolkits, customizable templates, and hosting infrastructure provided by PhaaS providers.
The possibility of suffering large financial losses is a major risk associated with PhaaS. The goal of a phishing scam is to obtain a user’s private key, seed phrase, or login credentials. This can be used for nefarious purposes to access accounts and steal cryptocurrency wallets. For example, attackers changed the frontend of BadgerDAO in 2021 after tricking users into giving them permission to run out of money.
PhaaS attacks have the potential to erode trust in the cryptocurrency community. Successful scams can prevent people from using reputable projects and services, hindering widespread adoption. These attacks are especially vulnerable to novice cryptocurrency users. Because they are less experienced, they may be more vulnerable to social media impersonations or websites that appear to be real.
Phishing attacks are becoming increasingly complex. They often use social engineering tactics and mimic real platforms. This makes it difficult for even experienced users to recognize.
PhaaS isn’t just for large-scale email campaigns. Spear phishing attacks target well-known people or companies in the cryptocurrency industry. These attacks use personalized information to trick specific individuals or organizations into giving up sensitive data or taking actions that lead to financial loss or security breaches.
How to Defend PhaaS
The ideal way to protect against PhaaS is to practice constant vigilance. This means double-checking everything (URL, sender address), don’t click on unwanted links, and don’t share your private key or seed phrase.
Multi-layered security approach and technical defense
Install firewalls, network monitoring tools, endpoint security, and powerful email filtering. These technical protection measures help you identify and block dangerous attachments, phishing emails, and suspicious network activity.
User Awareness Training
Regularly train your employees on how to spot and report phishing attempts. Please let us know the common signs of a phishing attempt. This includes instructing people to scrutinize sender addresses, determine the urgency of messages, stay away from dubious links, and stop sending personal information via email.
security policy
Implement security measures such as best practices for passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA). To prevent unwanted access, encourage the use of strong, unique passwords that are updated regularly.
DMARC implementation
To eliminate spoofed emails, use email authentication methods such as Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC). DMARC reduces the success rate of phishing attempts by helping verify email authenticity.
This gives domain owners insight into email authentication statistics for their domains and allows them to set policies for handling unauthenticated emails.
threat intelligence
Sign up for our threat intelligence service to stay informed about the latest phishing attacks and PhaaS technologies. To better defend your cryptocurrency platforms against evolving cyber threats, keep abreast of new developments in the field of cyber attacks and new online risks.