Cybercriminals usually focus on logins and passwords to our online service accounts, but in this case their target is SMS passwords. They use a small suitcase to look at incoming messages and get the passwords they need. Attacks using this method may not be spectacularly advanced, but they are very effective.
The phone is behaving strangely. Then the money disappears from the account
As he writes, citing local media, several dozen cases of such a rather original cyber attack have recently appeared in the city of Shenzhen in China. The victim only notices that his phone unexpectedly switches to the 2G network (from 4G or 5G), and after a short while he receives a dozen or several dozen SMS messages with verification passwords for various online services. At the same time, criminals take over the mentioned accounts or clean out the bank account.
The services still do not know the exact course of the attack, but they believe that the criminals use the so-called IMSI catcher, i.e. a false mobile network transmitter – writes the website. This is a device that, in its portable version, can be closed, for example, in a small suitcase. The equipment creates its own base station to which – if the signal is strong enough – the victim’s phone automatically connects. This is why criminals usually need to be somewhere close to a potential victim.
The criminals then start trying to break into the victim’s individual accounts, which takes a few moments. Since they “linked” the victim’s phone to their fake base station, they intercept all text messages sent to her number. Only when they turn off the IMSI catcher do the robbed person receive messages with authorization codes. Most often, however, it is too late to react in any way.
It is still unclear how criminals obtain victims’ logins and passwords and associate them with specific people. It is very possible that they choose their goals precisely and obtain passwords using a different method. It is also possible that they target random users, but hack into accounts that require only a phone number and SMS password, which is quite popular in China.
Source: Gazeta
Mabel is a talented author and journalist with a passion for all things technology. As an experienced writer for the 247 News Agency, she has established a reputation for her in-depth reporting and expert analysis on the latest developments in the tech industry.
