Google has prevented phishing attacks against YouTube bloggers organized by “Russian-speaking hackers”, according to the company's blog.
According to her, the attacks were carried out by a group of hackers, which they typed “on the Russian-speaking forum.” They lured victims with fake cooperation offers sent by email on behalf of existing companies. As noted by Google, many bloggers provide their own mailbox address on the channel.
In such messages, there were links that activated the work of malicious software. When a user clicked on such a link, the attackers stole their cookies, and then, using the obtained data, they hacked into the YouTube channel. It was subsequently sold or used to broadcast cryptocurrency fraudulent schemes.
Such attacks have been carried out since the end of 2019. Since May this year, Google has been able to reduce the number of phishing emails sent through the Gmail mail service by 99.6%, according to a blog post. The company blocked 1.6 million such messages and 2.4 thousand files sent to users, and also restored about 4 thousand accounts.
In August last year, RBC, after analyzing the statistics of the Prosecutor General's Office, found that in the first six months of 2020, the number of fraud cases increased by 76% compared to the same period in 2019. At the same time, 71% fell on fraud by phone or via the Internet. The number of cases of fraud with bank cards has doubled.
In mid-October this year, experts from the international developer of antivirus solutions ESET conducted a test, during which they found that 60% of Internet users could not distinguish a phishing email from a regular email they received. Users over 65 had the most problems – only 28% of them were able to recognize fraud.
At the same time, a study by BI.ZONE conducted in April showed that phishing ranks second among all types of cybercrime. With its help, 34% of hacks occur. In the first place is the selection of passwords for user accounts – 46% of all attacks. Another 17% use vulnerabilities in software and services, and 3% use inside information.
At the end of May, the Prosecutor General's Office called cybercrime a threat to national security, and at the end of July Russia submitted to the UN its draft convention on countering cybercrime and the criminal use of cryptocurrency. The Prosecutor General's Office called it the first international document of this kind. On October 19, Russia and the United States jointly submitted to the first committee of the UN General Assembly a resolution on responsible behavior of countries in the field of information and communication technologies.
