LinkedIn as a new source for phishing
Cybercriminals are relying on a new scam: According to observations by cybersecurity service providers, phishing attempts via LinkedIn have increased in recent weeks.
As the online portal SwissCybersecurity.net reports, cybercriminals have recently been increasingly targeting LinkedIn users. The English IT security service provider Egress has found that phishing attempts with fake LinkedIn logos have more than doubled since the beginning of February. Using cleverly disguised messages behind common subject lines such as "You were found in 9 searches this week" or "You have 1 new message," scammers aim to trick unsuspecting users into entering their LinkedIn credentials on fraudulent websites. The emails are deceptively designed, according to Egress: Not only do they contain the address of LinkedIn's headquarters, links to unsubscribe from newsletters, but also links to the support section or even information from the recipient.
The report by SwissCybersecurity.net does not indicate whether and to what extent Swiss users of the social network, which is primarily geared toward business contacts, have already been the target of such phishing attempts. The main targets are currently companies from the Anglo-Saxon world, i.e. the USA and the UK. Nevertheless, the potential of LinkedIn for cybercriminals is high overall: according to its own information, the business network has over 810 million users worldwide. In the ranking of the "most popular" brands for the machinations of cybercriminals, LinkedIn now ranks fifth. Particularly perfidious: According to Egress, conventional e-mail security mechanisms are being circumvented. The danger of becoming a victim of a phishing campaign as a user is therefore real. It is therefore recommended to be extremely cautious if you receive an e-mail asking you to click on a hyperlink, especially on mobile devices.
Source: SwissCybersecurity.net
