Partnerstroka Tech Support Scam Preyed on Users With New Browser-Locking Tactic

A large tech support scam operation called Partnerstroka recently targeted unsuspecting users with a new browser locking technique.

Security researchers at Malwarebytes Labs regularly monitor threat actors using malvertising and other techniques to expose users to a tech support scam. The latest campaign stood out for its incorporation of a browser lock specific to Google Chrome that hijacked the user’s cursor, turned it into an invisible square box and displayed a low-resolution image of a cursor, according to the researchers. It also relocated mouse clicks to somewhere else on the page without the user’s knowledge, preventing victims from closing the scam.

The infrastructure of the campaign relied on dozens of Gmail accounts, each of which was tied to anywhere from a few to several thousand .club domains that abused the GoDaddy registrar/hosting platform. In total, the researchers detected more than 16,000 malicious domains associated with the campaign, but the actual number could be much higher.

How Much Can a Tech Support Scam Cost?

These findings come amid a rise in tech support scams around the world. In 2017, Microsoft received 153,000 reports from customers who fell victim to a tech support scam, a 24 percent increase from the previous year. Of those victims, 15 percent lost between $200–$400, and the technology giant received one report of a victim losing more than $100,000 to a tech support scammer in December 2017.

Furthermore, the Better Business Bureau tracked 41,435 scam complaints received by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year. Those complaints related to more than $21 million lost to tech support scams in just the first nine months of 2017, and that’s only counting reported crimes.

Combat Scams Through Education and Awareness

The IBM X-Force Exchange threat alert associated with this scam advised security teams to keep operating systems and antivirus tools up to date. Organizations should also scan their environments for the specific indicators of compromise (IoCs) uncovered by Malwarebytes Labs.

When it comes to tech support scams specifically, security experts recommend regularly educating users about cyberthreats and training employees to be skeptical about any unsolicited communications, whether online or over the phone.

Sources: Malwarebytes Labs, Microsoft, Better Business Bureau

David Bisson

Contributing Editor

When ransomware kills: Attacks on healthcare facilities

4 min read - As ransomware attacks continue to escalate, their toll is often measured in data loss and financial strain. But what about the loss of human life? Nowhere is the ransomware threat more acute than in the healthcare sector, where patients’ lives are literally on the line.Since 2015, there has been a staggering increase in ransomware attacks on healthcare facilities. And the impacts are severe: Diverted emergency services, delayed critical treatments and even fatalities. Meanwhile, the pledge some ransomware groups made during…

AI and cloud vulnerabilities aren’t the only threats facing CISOs today

6 min read - With cloud infrastructure and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI) systems becoming prime targets for attackers, security leaders are laser-focused on defending these high-profile areas. They’re right to do so, too, as cyber criminals turn to new and emerging technologies to launch and scale ever more sophisticated attacks.However, this heightened attention to emerging threats makes it easy to overlook traditional attack vectors, such as human-driven social engineering and vulnerabilities in physical security.As adversaries exploit an ever-wider range of potential entry points…

4 trends in software supply chain security

4 min read - Some of the biggest and most infamous cyberattacks of the past decade were caused by a security breakdown in the software supply chain. SolarWinds was probably the most well-known, but it was not alone. Incidents against companies like Equifax and tools like MOVEit also wreaked havoc for organizations and customers whose sensitive information was compromised.Expect to see more software supply chain attacks moving forward. According to ReversingLabs' The State of Software Supply Chain Security 2024 study, attacks against the software…

Security Intelligence

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

Topics

How Much Can a Tech Support Scam Cost?

Combat Scams Through Education and Awareness

More from

When ransomware kills: Attacks on healthcare facilities

AI and cloud vulnerabilities aren’t the only threats facing CISOs today

4 trends in software supply chain security

Topic updates