Criminals are attempting to trick Attack.Phishing consumers into handing over passwords and credit card details by taking advantage of the flood of emails being sent out Attack.Phishing ahead of new European privacy legislation . The European Union 's new General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR ) come into force on 25 May and the policy is designed to give consumers more control over their online data . As a result , in the run-up to it , organisations are sending out Attack.Phishing messages to customers to gain their consent for remaining on their mailing lists . With so many of these messages being sent out Attack.Phishing , it was perhaps only a matter of time before opportunistic cybercriminals looked to take advantage of the deluge of messages about GDPR and privacy policies arriving in people 's inboxes . A GDPR-related phishing scam Attack.Phishing uncovered by researchers at cyber security firm Redscan is doing just this in an effort to steal data with emails claiming to be Attack.Phishing from Airbnb . The attackers appear to be Attack.Phishing targeting business email addresses , which suggests the messages are sent Attack.Phishing to emails scraped from the web . The phishing message addresses the user as an Airbnb host and claims Attack.Phishing they 're not able to accept new bookings or send Attack.Phishing messages to prospective guests until a new privacy policy is accepted . `` This update is mandatory because of the new changes in the EU Digital privacy legislation that acts upon United States based companies , like Airbnb in order to protect European citizens and companies , '' the message says , and the recipient is urged Attack.Phishing to click a link to accept the new privacy policy . Those who click the link are asked to enter their personal information , including account credentials and payment card information . If the user enters these , they 're handing the data straight into the hands of criminals who can use it for theft , identity fraud , selling on the dark web and more . `` The irony wo n't be lost on anyone that cybercriminals are exploiting the arrival of new data protection regulations to steal Attack.Databreach people 's data , '' said Mark Nicholls , Director of Cyber Security at Redscan . `` Scammers know that people are expecting exactly these kinds of emails this month and that they are required to take action , whether that 's clicking a link or divulging personal data . It 's a textbook phishing campaign Attack.Phishing in terms of opportunistic timing and having a believable call to action '' . Airbnb is sending messages to users about GDPR , but the messages contain far more detail and do n't ask the users to enter any credentials , merely agree to the new Terms of Service . While the phishing messages might look legitimate at first glance , it 's worth noting they do n't use the right domain - the fake messages come from Attack.Phishing ' @ mail.airbnb.work ' as opposed to ' @ airbnb.com ' . Redscan has warned that attackers are likely to use GDPR as bait Attack.Phishing for other phishing scams Attack.Phishing , with messages claiming to be Attack.Phishing from other well-known companies . `` As we get closer to the GDPR implementation deadline , I think we can expect to see a lot a lot more of these types of phishing scams Attack.Phishing over the next few weeks , that 's for sure , '' said Nicholls , who warned attackers could attempt to use the ploy to deliver malware in future . `` In the case of the Airbnb scam email , hackers were attempting to harvest Attack.Databreach credentials . Attack vectors do vary however and it 's possible that other attacks may attempt to infect hosts with keyloggers or ransomware , for example . '' he said . Airbnb said those behind the attacks have n't accessed Attack.Databreach user details in order to send Attack.Phishing emails and that users who receive Attack.Phishing a suspicious message claiming to be Attack.Phishing from Airbnb should send it to their safety team . `` These emails are a brazen attempt at using our trusted brand to try and steal Attack.Databreach user 's details , and have nothing to do with Airbnb . We 'd encourage anyone who has received Attack.Phishing a suspicious looking email to report it to our Trust and Safety team on report.phishing @ airbnb.com , who will fully investigate , '' an Airbnb spokesperson told ZDNet . Airbnb also provided information on how to spot a fake email to help users to determine if a message is genuine or not .

A cybersecurity firm said that the recent WannaCry ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom may be connected to the group that orchestrated one of the biggest cyberheists in history that involved a Philippine bank . Kaspersky Lab , a cybersecurity and antivirus provider in Moscow , said in a statement that a security researcher at Google found an “ artifact ” on Twitter potentially linking the WannaCry ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom that hit Attack.Ransom organizations and individuals in several dozen countries and the Lazarus hacking group which was responsible for several devastating cyberattacks on government organizations , media firms and financial institutions in recent years . “ On Monday , May 15 , a security researcher from Google posted an artifact on Twitter potentially pointing at a connection between the WannaCry ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom that recently hit Attack.Ransom thousands of organizations and private users around the world , and the malware attributed to the infamous Lazarus hacking group , responsible for a series of devastating attacks against government organizations , media and financial institutions , ” Kaspersky said . Late last week , a worm dubbed WannaCry locked up more than 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries , disrupting Attack.Ransom operations of car factories , hospitals , shops , schools and other institutions . The attack on late Friday was slowed down after a security researcher took control of a server linked to the attack , crippling its ability to rapidly spread across the world . The Lazarus group meanwhile has been linked to several large-scale operations such as the attacks against Sony Pictures in 2014 and a series of similar attacks that continued until 2017 . One of the biggest attacks carried out by the Lazarus group was the Central Bank of Bangladesh heist in 2016 , one of the biggest in history . In that operation , hackers sent Attack.Phishing fraudulent messages that were made to appear to be Attack.Phishing from the Bangladeshi central bank to transfer $ 1 billion from its account in the Federal Reserve of New York . Most of the transfers were blocked but about $ 81 million was sent to RCBC in the Philippines . The money was moved around to make it difficult to trace . Kaspersky said that the Google researcher pointed at a WannaCry malware sample which appeared in February 2017 , weeks before the late Friday attack . Based on the analysis of Kaspersky researchers , it was confirmed that there was “ clear code similarities ” between the sample highlighted by the Google expert and the malware samples used by the Lazarus group in their 2015 attacks . Kaspersky however admitted that the similarities might be a false flag although another analysis of the February and WannaCry samples used in the recent operation showed that the code which could point at the Lazarus group was removed from the malware . Kasperksy said that this could be an attempt to cover the traces of the perpetrators of the WannaCry operations . “ Although this similarity alone does n't allow proof of a strong connection between the WannaCry ransomware and the Lazarus Group , it can potentially lead to new ones which would shed light on the WannaCry origin which to the moment remains a mystery , ” Kaspersky said .

But sometimes that simple precaution is n't enough . A case in point is a dangerous phishing technique targeting Gmail users that first surfaced about one year ago but has begun gaining steam in recent weeks . Wordfence , the maker of a security plugin for Wordpress , described the phishing attack Attack.Phishing as beginning with an adversary sending Attack.Phishing an email to a target ’ s Gmail account . The email typically will originate from someone on the recipient ’ s contact list whose own account had previously been compromised . The email comes with a subject header and a screenshot or image of an attachment that the sender has used in a recent communication with the recipient . When the recipient clicks on the image , a new tab opens with a prompt asking the user to sign into Gmail again . The fully functional phishing page is designed to look exactly like Attack.Phishing Google ’ s page for signing into Gmail . The address bar for the page includes mention of accounts.google.com , leading unwary users to believe the page is harmless , Wordfence CEO Mark Maunder wrote . `` Once you complete sign-in , your account has been compromised , '' he said . In reality , the fake login page that opens up Attack.Phishing when a user clicks on the image is actually an inline file created using a scheme called Data URI . When users enter their Gmail username and password on the page , the data is sent to the attacker . The speed at which the attackers sign into a compromised account suggest that the process may be automated , or that they may have a team standing by to access accounts as they get compromised . `` Once they have access to your account , the attacker also has full access to all your emails including sent and received at this point and may download the whole lot , '' Maunder said . What makes the phishing technique dangerous is the way the address bar displays Attack.Phishing information when users click on the screenshot of the attachment , he told Dark Reading . In this case , by including the correct host name and “ https// ” in the address bar , the attackers appear to be Attack.Phishing having more success fooling Attack.Phishing victims into entering their credential data on the fake Gmail login page , he says . Instead , all of the content in the address bar is of the same color and is designed to convince users that the site is harmless . `` If you aren ’ t paying close attention , you will ignore the ‘ data : text/html ’ preamble and assume the URL is safe . '' Google said in a statement that it 's working on mitigations to such an attack . `` We 're aware of this issue and continue to strengthen our defenses against it , '' Google said . `` We help protect users from phishing attacks Attack.Phishing in a variety of ways , including : machine learning based detection of phishing messages , Safe Browsing warnings that notify users of dangerous links in emails and browsers , preventing suspicious account sign-ins , and more . Users can also activate two-step verification for additional account protection . '' Users can also mitigate the risk of their accounts being compromised via phishing Attack.Phishing by enabling two-factor authentication . `` What makes this unique is the fact that none of the traditional browser indicators that would identify a possible fraudulent site are present , '' says Robert Capps , vice president of business development at NuData Security . The attack underscores the need for Web browser makers to rethink the trust signals they use to inform users about a danger webpage or exploit . `` How users interpret these signals should be thoroughly understood , '' he says . `` Entraining users to rely on signals may have unintended consequences that attackers can use to exploit customers .