- What's the problem?
Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2025 3:39 pm
Security Tales: Spoofed Calls
- Colleagues, we have a strange case!
- What's so strange about it, boss?
- You won't believe it, Max, but Mr. Santos contacted us. He and several other people, including employees of the Imperial Chancellery, said that they had received calls on behalf of well-known political figures, including the former Minister of Industry, asking them to transfer money to a fund to support young talents.
— The problem is that such a fund is not registered in the empire. And the people on whose behalf they called said that they had never heard of such a fund.
— Were the calls definitely made from malaysia whatsapp data smartphones?
- That's the point, yes. But they swear they didn't call anywhere.
— Did you bring the smartphones for analysis?
- Certainly.
- Give them to Marie's group. If necessary, have them connect Rita's group.
A week has passed.
— Johann, we have news. We found more than 20 smartphones from which similar calls were made. The same application was installed on all of them. With its help, the smartphones were compromised. The attackers contacted people from the politicians' contact list and, under various pretexts, began to beg for funds. Many of those with whom the fraudsters spoke did not dare to refuse the interlocutors, because they believed that they were talking to influential officials. In this way, the criminals managed to receive bank transfers for the required amounts.
- But how did they fake the voice?
— As it turned out, it was not a problem. The voice message was formed in advance. And it was simply transmitted. Alas, faking voices today is not a problem.
— So, the main problem was in the installed application?
- Yes! And the fact that no one paid attention to the fact that it required access to the phone, to the contact list, and so on.
Unfortunately, such a crime is quite real today. Voice faking is not a problem. Neither is an application that wants far more rights than it needs for real work. The conclusion is simple. Watch what you install!
- Colleagues, we have a strange case!
- What's so strange about it, boss?
- You won't believe it, Max, but Mr. Santos contacted us. He and several other people, including employees of the Imperial Chancellery, said that they had received calls on behalf of well-known political figures, including the former Minister of Industry, asking them to transfer money to a fund to support young talents.
— The problem is that such a fund is not registered in the empire. And the people on whose behalf they called said that they had never heard of such a fund.
— Were the calls definitely made from malaysia whatsapp data smartphones?
- That's the point, yes. But they swear they didn't call anywhere.
— Did you bring the smartphones for analysis?
- Certainly.
- Give them to Marie's group. If necessary, have them connect Rita's group.
A week has passed.
— Johann, we have news. We found more than 20 smartphones from which similar calls were made. The same application was installed on all of them. With its help, the smartphones were compromised. The attackers contacted people from the politicians' contact list and, under various pretexts, began to beg for funds. Many of those with whom the fraudsters spoke did not dare to refuse the interlocutors, because they believed that they were talking to influential officials. In this way, the criminals managed to receive bank transfers for the required amounts.
- But how did they fake the voice?
— As it turned out, it was not a problem. The voice message was formed in advance. And it was simply transmitted. Alas, faking voices today is not a problem.
— So, the main problem was in the installed application?
- Yes! And the fact that no one paid attention to the fact that it required access to the phone, to the contact list, and so on.
Unfortunately, such a crime is quite real today. Voice faking is not a problem. Neither is an application that wants far more rights than it needs for real work. The conclusion is simple. Watch what you install!