European Companies Hit With Effective Docusign-Themed Phishing Emails
Summary:
Unit 42 researchers recently investigated a sophisticated phishing campaign targeting European companies, particularly in Germany and the UK, with a focus on the automotive, chemical, and industrial compound manufacturing sectors. The campaign, which began in June 2024 and remained active through September 2024, aimed to harvest account credentials and gain unauthorized access to Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructures. Utilizing HubSpot’s Free Form Builder service, attackers crafted fake forms embedded in phishing emails, which included either malicious PDFs or HTML links. Victims who interacted with these phishing emails were redirected to credential-harvesting sites designed to resemble legitimate Microsoft login pages.
The phishing emails employed urgency as a tactic, with messages such as “Immediate Action Required,” and exhibited technical red flags like failed Sender Policy Framework, DomainKeys Identified Mail, and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance checks. Attackers also tailored their lures to the target organization, using specific branding, email formats, and file names to increase credibility. Once credentials were captured, the attackers attempted to connect to the victims’ Microsoft Azure environments to escalate their operations.
The infrastructure supporting the campaign relied on domains with the ".buzz" TLD and included 17 identified phishing redirection links. Notably, the campaign leveraged Bulletproof VPS hosts, which provided anonymity and resilience against takedown efforts. Attackers employed VPN proxies and custom user-agent strings, such as "Client=OWA;Action=ViaProxy," to evade detection and mimic legitimate user activity. Persistence was achieved by registering new devices to compromised accounts, enabling the attackers to maintain access despite attempts by IT teams to lock them out. This resulted in multiple alerts, such as suspicious resource creation and failed password reset attempts, within the victim organizations’ security monitoring systems.
Security Officer Comments:
The attackers demonstrated a high level of sophistication by using consistent phishing infrastructure across multiple campaigns and organizations, even reusing the same hosting servers for both credential harvesting and direct access to compromised environments. In one instance, telemetry revealed that attackers exploited compromised Microsoft Azure credentials to pivot into lateral movement operations.
Suggested Corrections:
IOCs:
https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/european-phishing-campaign/
Users should always be cautious of individuals or organizations that ask for personal information. Most companies will not ask for sensitive data from its customers. If in doubt, users should verify with the company itself to avoid any potential issues.
Users should always take a close look at the sender’s display name when checking the legitimacy of an email. Most companies use a single domain for their URLs and emails, so a message that originates from a different domain is a red flag.
As a general rule, users should not click links or download files even if they come from seemingly “trustworthy” sources.
Check for mismatched URLs. While an embedded URL might seem perfectly valid, hovering above it might show a different web address. In fact, users should avoid clicking links in emails unless they are certain that it is a legitimate link.
Users should always be on the lookout for any grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Legitimate companies will often employ proofreaders and editors who ensure that the materials they send out are error-free.
Users should not be frightened or intimidated by messages that have an alarmist tone. They should double check with the company if they are uncertain about the status of their accounts.
Phishing emails are designed to be sent to a large number of people, so they need to be as impersonal as possible. Users should check whether the message contains a generic subject and greeting, as this can be a sign of a phishing attempt.
Although not every end user has access to advanced anti-phishing software, they can still use the built-in protection of their email clients to filter messages. One example is setting the email client to block all images unless approved.
Legitimate companies will never send confirmation emails unless there are specific reasons for doing so. In fact, most companies will avoid sending unsolicited messages unless it’s for company updates, newsletters, or advertising purposes.
Users should always take the context of an email or message into account. For example, most online accounts do away with viewable member numbers, so users should be wary if they receive emails containing a “member number” for services that generally don’t use them.
It is important to take note of unusual information in the text of the message. Any mentions of operating systems and software that are not typically used by consumers can often be indicators of a phishing attempt.
If it seems suspicious, it probably is. Users should always err on the side of caution when it comes to sending out personally identifiable information through messages and emails.
Link(s):
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/202...docusign-themed-phishing-owa-microsoft-azure/
https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/european-phishing-campaign/
Unit 42 researchers recently investigated a sophisticated phishing campaign targeting European companies, particularly in Germany and the UK, with a focus on the automotive, chemical, and industrial compound manufacturing sectors. The campaign, which began in June 2024 and remained active through September 2024, aimed to harvest account credentials and gain unauthorized access to Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructures. Utilizing HubSpot’s Free Form Builder service, attackers crafted fake forms embedded in phishing emails, which included either malicious PDFs or HTML links. Victims who interacted with these phishing emails were redirected to credential-harvesting sites designed to resemble legitimate Microsoft login pages.
The phishing emails employed urgency as a tactic, with messages such as “Immediate Action Required,” and exhibited technical red flags like failed Sender Policy Framework, DomainKeys Identified Mail, and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance checks. Attackers also tailored their lures to the target organization, using specific branding, email formats, and file names to increase credibility. Once credentials were captured, the attackers attempted to connect to the victims’ Microsoft Azure environments to escalate their operations.
The infrastructure supporting the campaign relied on domains with the ".buzz" TLD and included 17 identified phishing redirection links. Notably, the campaign leveraged Bulletproof VPS hosts, which provided anonymity and resilience against takedown efforts. Attackers employed VPN proxies and custom user-agent strings, such as "Client=OWA;Action=ViaProxy," to evade detection and mimic legitimate user activity. Persistence was achieved by registering new devices to compromised accounts, enabling the attackers to maintain access despite attempts by IT teams to lock them out. This resulted in multiple alerts, such as suspicious resource creation and failed password reset attempts, within the victim organizations’ security monitoring systems.
Security Officer Comments:
The attackers demonstrated a high level of sophistication by using consistent phishing infrastructure across multiple campaigns and organizations, even reusing the same hosting servers for both credential harvesting and direct access to compromised environments. In one instance, telemetry revealed that attackers exploited compromised Microsoft Azure credentials to pivot into lateral movement operations.
Suggested Corrections:
IOCs:
https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/european-phishing-campaign/
Users should always be cautious of individuals or organizations that ask for personal information. Most companies will not ask for sensitive data from its customers. If in doubt, users should verify with the company itself to avoid any potential issues.
Users should always take a close look at the sender’s display name when checking the legitimacy of an email. Most companies use a single domain for their URLs and emails, so a message that originates from a different domain is a red flag.
As a general rule, users should not click links or download files even if they come from seemingly “trustworthy” sources.
Check for mismatched URLs. While an embedded URL might seem perfectly valid, hovering above it might show a different web address. In fact, users should avoid clicking links in emails unless they are certain that it is a legitimate link.
Users should always be on the lookout for any grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Legitimate companies will often employ proofreaders and editors who ensure that the materials they send out are error-free.
Users should not be frightened or intimidated by messages that have an alarmist tone. They should double check with the company if they are uncertain about the status of their accounts.
Phishing emails are designed to be sent to a large number of people, so they need to be as impersonal as possible. Users should check whether the message contains a generic subject and greeting, as this can be a sign of a phishing attempt.
Although not every end user has access to advanced anti-phishing software, they can still use the built-in protection of their email clients to filter messages. One example is setting the email client to block all images unless approved.
Legitimate companies will never send confirmation emails unless there are specific reasons for doing so. In fact, most companies will avoid sending unsolicited messages unless it’s for company updates, newsletters, or advertising purposes.
Users should always take the context of an email or message into account. For example, most online accounts do away with viewable member numbers, so users should be wary if they receive emails containing a “member number” for services that generally don’t use them.
It is important to take note of unusual information in the text of the message. Any mentions of operating systems and software that are not typically used by consumers can often be indicators of a phishing attempt.
If it seems suspicious, it probably is. Users should always err on the side of caution when it comes to sending out personally identifiable information through messages and emails.
Link(s):
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/202...docusign-themed-phishing-owa-microsoft-azure/
https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/european-phishing-campaign/