Google: State-Sponsored Hackers Are Trying to Pose as Journalists in Phishing Attacks

Google has noticed a disturbing uptick in land-sponsored hackers pretending to be journalists in their email phishing schemes.

On Thursday, the company shared new findings on how regime-backed attackers have been trying to target Google users in contempo months. "Upon reviewing phishing attempts since the starting time of this twelvemonth, we've seen a rising number of attackers, including those from Iran and North Korea, impersonating news outlets or journalists," wrote Google security engineering manager Toni Gidwani in the post.

In some cases, the attackers will pretend to exist a journalist in an effort to play tricks contacted reporters into spreading misinformation. Other cases have involved the state-sponsored hackers using several benign emails to build up a rapport with a announcer or foreign policy skillful earlier sending another email that contains a malicious attachment.

Distribution of the targets of government-backed phishing in 2022.

Google refrained from offering more specifics. But Gidwani added: "Government-backed attackers regularly target foreign policy experts for their research, admission to the organizations they work with, and connection to boyfriend researchers or policymakers for subsequent attacks."

Last calendar month, security researchers also noticed a group of Iranian hackers were posing as a former Wall Street Journal reporter to trick victims into handing over their passwords. The assail worked by emailing the victim a link to a fake Wall Street Journal login page that's designed to fool the user into signing in with their Google account. In reality, the page will collect that login data, and ferry them away to the hackers.

Co-ordinate to Gidwani, country-sponsored hackers tin often strike more than than once when trying to target a Google user. "In 2022, ane in v accounts that received a alert was targeted multiple times by attackers. If at outset the attacker does not succeed, they'll try once again using a different lure, dissimilar business relationship, or trying to compromise an associate of their target," she wrote.

Fortunately, Google has come up up with a solution to stymie the hackers. In 2022, the company rolled out its Advanced Protection Program, which is designed to fend off the sneakiest phishing attacks. On Th, Gidwani said the program is working.

"We've still to encounter people successfully phished if they participate in Google'due south Advanced Protection Plan (APP), even if they are repeatedly targeted," she added. "APP provides the strongest protections bachelor against phishing and business relationship hijacking and is specifically designed for the highest-risk accounts."

Some other piece of good news is that Google final yr sent 25 percent fewer warnings to users most government-backed phishing attempts compared to 2022. "One reason for this reject is that our new protections are working —attackers' efforts have been slowed down and they're more than deliberate in their attempts, pregnant attempts are happening less ofttimes equally attackers accommodate," Gidwani added.

Anyone can sign up for Google'due south Advanced Protection Plan for free. In the past you had to own hardware-based security keys to admission the programme. Only in January, the company opened the security suite to consumers who only possess a smartphone.

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Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/mac/36666/google-state-sponsored-hackers-are-trying-to-pose-as-journalists-in-phishing-attacks

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