security
Google fires sueball at alleged Chinese phishers over AI-powered fraud ops
Telegram-based 'Outsider Enterprise' accused of sending millions of scam texts and impersonating trusted brands
Google has sued an alleged China-based cybercrime operation it says used AI-powered phishing kits to blast out millions of scam text messages and funnel victims to fake websites designed to steal passwords, payment cards, and other sensitive information.
The complaint targets a group Google refers to as the "Outsider Enterprise," which the company describes as a sprawling criminal network that operates on Telegram and supplies phishing tools to other fraudsters.
According to Google's filing, the operation has been linked to more than 9,000 fraudulent websites, over one million malicious URLs, and scams that have allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of people.
The group's biz model centers on distributing phishing kits that enable criminals to impersonate Google and other trusted brands through large-scale text message campaigns, Google claims. Victims are directed to fraudulent websites designed to steal login credentials, payment card details, and other sensitive information, it adds.
Google's allegation is not that AI is somehow breaking into people's phones, but rather that the technology appears to have been used to help churn out phishing content, allowing the operation to push more scams, more quickly, and with less effort.
Android users flagged more than 55,000 spam texts linked to the operation during a two-week period in May, we're told, while the company detected roughly 2.5 million messages containing links to Outsider-controlled websites sent to Android devices during the same time frame.
MORE CONTEXT
-
ChatGPT blindly trusts browser content, turning the page into a payload
-
Nearly half of UK businesses pwned last year as phishing keeps doing the job like it's 2005
-
Hundreds of orgs compromised daily in Microsoft device code phishing attacks
-
US cybercrime losses pass $20B for first time as AI boosts online fraud
The lawsuit forms part of a broader effort involving federal law enforcement and US telecom providers. Google said it is coordinating with the FBI, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to disrupt the infrastructure behind the campaigns and block malicious messages before they reach users.
"The criminals behind the Outsider Enterprise built a business out of impersonating trusted brands to defraud hundreds of thousands of victims," said Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division.
"Criminals increasingly use AI to make fraud like this more convincing and harder to detect. Together with partners like Google, we can disrupt criminal networks in ways no single organization could on its own."
The lawsuit may never put the alleged operators in a courtroom, but it could still help pull apart the infrastructure behind the campaigns. ®
MOST POPULAR
EVENTS
-
Thriving Through Volatility: The Everpure Advantage in an Uncertain Market
Learn how a consumption-based operating model provides flexibility, improves efficiency, and brings predictability to infrastructure investments.
-
From Prompt to Exploit: How LLMs Are Changing API Attacks
Modern applications are API-driven, interconnected, and often over-permissioned, making them an ideal target for AI-assisted attacks.
-
Architecting the Future: Unlocking Enterprise Data Services for Kubernetes
Join us to discover how to eliminate infrastructure silos and establish a standardized, enterprise-grade cloud-native platform.
-
Catch the Advanced Attacks Microsoft 365 Misses with Behavioral AI Security
Microsoft 365 is the backbone of enterprise communication, and its native security filters out the known and the noisy.
-
Accelerate your innovation
This is your technical deep-dive into the practical tools and techniques that define the next generation of resilient Dev and IT operations.
-
Virtual Cyber Recovery Sim
Step into the chaos of a live ransomware breach, test your response skills, and team up with other IT and security pros to outsmart cybercriminals
-
Virtual Cyber Recovery Simulation
Ransomware attacks aren’t slowing down, and neither are we. Druva’s hit event, Escape Ransomware, is now fully virtual.
-
Zero Trust for the Agentic AI Era
The identity and access models most organizations rely on were built for human users, not non-human identities operating independently.
-
Zero Trust for the Agentic AI Era
The identity and access models most organizations rely on were built for human users, not non-human identities operating independently.
-
Agentic AI at Scale: From Pilot to Production
Join us to learn how to unlock real ROI by driving adoption of AI at scale.
AI
-
security
Google fires sueball at alleged Chinese phishers over AI-powered fraud ops
Telegram-based 'Outsider Enterprise' accused of sending millions of scam texts and impersonating trusted brands
-
OFFBEAT
SpaceX's $75B IPO has investors seeing stars
It might also make Musk the world's first trillionaire
-
AI and ml
Met Police boss threatens to cut 700 frontline jobs after Palantir deal blocked
Commissioner Mark Rowley says automation savings are now 'at risk'
-
SYSTEMS
Delos Data offers AI chip startups a fast track to rack scale
Half the trouble of building an Nvidia NVL or AMD Helios competitor is just getting the networking out of the box
-
ai and ml
Claude is ready for its corporate close-up
IDC says recent moves show Anthropic racing to meet enterprise requirements
Infosec
-
Security
Russians are posing as Signal support to launch phishing attacks
PLUS: US takes down Iranian propaganda sites; Marketing company asks 'Why Do We Have Your Information?' And more!
-
Security
Microsoft patches failed to fix on-prem SharePoint, which is now under zero-day attack
PLUS: China upgrades smartphone surveillance tools; Ring eases anti-snooping stance; and more
-
Black Hat and DEF CON
DEF CON Franklin project enlists hackers to harden critical infrastructure
Voting village reports have been so successful, says Jeff Moss, that the whole of DEF CON will now be included
-
Security
EQT buys majority share in Swiss cybersecurity biz Acronis
Went at equivalent of $3.5B+ valuation for entire firm, though portion sold not specified
-
Malware Month
Ten years since the first corp ransomware, Mikko Hyppönen sees no end in sight
On the plus side, infosec's a good bet for a long, stable career
FOSS
-
History of CentOS: How a biochemist's Linux hobby project became the enterprise world's default operating system
When a community came together after Red Hat said Windows was 'probably the right product'
-
Netflix wiz creates app to slash AI bills, then open sources it
Project Headroom could save you big money, too
-
OpenBSD 7.9 arrives, a diamond in the rough proud of every sharp edge
Sixtieth release adds more cores, delayed hibernation, and basic Wi-Fi 6 without losing its ascetic streak
-
Fedora: Microsoft is all aboard, but Deepin is dumped
Red Hat’s free distro loses a desktop, but makes an important new friend
-
LocalSend puts your sneakernet out of business
Like AirDrop, minus the Apple lock-in
-
dBase debased: Database titan fades to black after 47 years
Blog post mourning decline appears to have helped knock what was left of the veteran app's online presence offline
Source link
