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• Security researchers from Cofense spot multiple phishing emails impersonating the US Social Security Administration
• The goal was to deploy the ConnectWise Remote Access Trojan
• The email frequency increased in the days leading up to the 2024 US presidential elections

Cybercriminals are impersonating the US Social Security Administration in an attempt to install a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) malware on people’s devices, experts have warned.

Cybersecurity researchers at Cofense observed a phishing campaign, slowly picking up pace in the days and weeks leading up to the 2024 US presidential elections.

The goal of the campaign was to distribute the ConnectWise RAT - a tainted and malicious use of otherwise legitimate software called ConnectWise Control (formerly ScreenConnect).

ConnectWise RAT

In an in-depth analysis, Cofense said it observed multiple variants of the same phishing campaign, in which the crooks would spoof the Social Security Administration and claim to provide an updated benefits statement. Most of the time, the fake statement would come in the form of a mismatched link (a link that doesn’t lead where it says it will lead). Sometimes, the threat actors would try to hide the link behind a “View Statement” button.

The campaign most likely started in or around mid-September 2024, when it was first observed by Cofense. The second sample came in a month later, after which the frequency gradually increased until mid-November.

“While additional emails were seen in late November, this campaign reached peak volume on November 11th and 12th, a week after Election Day,” Cofense concluded.

ConnectWise Control is a legitimate remote desktop and support tool, but in this scenario, it is used to gain unauthorized access to victims' devices. Cybercriminals exploit the software's legitimate capabilities by deploying it stealthily, often bundling it with malware or phishing schemes. Once installed, the RAT allows threat actors to control systems remotely, steal sensitive data, deploy additional malware, and monitor the victim’s computer activity.

Legitimate software is often used for malicious purposes, since endpoint security and malware removal services often don’t recognize them as a threat.

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• A 2021 T-Mobile data leak exposed millions of customer's data
• Washington State is now suing the telecoms giant
• The suit alleges that T-Mobile failed to protect and notify customers

The US state of Washington is taking legal action against telecommunications giant T-Mobile over consumer protections failures following a 2021 data breach which exposed up to 79 million consumers worldwide, including the social security numbers of almost 184,000 customers in the state.

As part of Washington’s lawsuit, the state claims T-Mobile failed to ‘adequately secure sensitive personal information of more than 2 million Washingtonians’. This failure, the state claims, left those consumers vulnerable to fraud and identity theft.

The suit claims that the breach was ‘entirely avoidable’ and explains T-Mobile had years to fix key vulnerabilities in its cybersecurity systems, and failed to properly address them. A lack of security monitoring meant T-Mobile was unaware of the breach.

T-Mobile customers mislead

The suit alleges T-Mobile deliberately downplayed the severity of the breach to affected consumers, and omitted critical information, which in turn affected customer’s ability to ‘adequately assess their risk of identity theft or fraud’.

The firm sent out texts to affected customers, but failed to include legally required information. Customers who didn’t have their card details or social security numbers compromised were informed of such, but those who did, weren’t given any information about the exposure.

According to the suit, T-Mobile used ‘weak credentials’ and an ‘easily guessable username and password’, and the exposed data appeared for sale on the dark web almost immediately after it was stolen.

T-Mobile has recently agreed to pay an over $15 million penalty to the FCC as part of a settlement deal following a string of high-profile data breaches between 2021 and 2023. The company was also ordered to make significant changes to its cybersecurity infrastructure, and adopt more robust identity and access management frameworks.

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