Meta, formerly known as Facebook, today announced that it has filed a federal lawsuit in a California court seeking action to expose individuals engaging in phishing scams. The lawsuit aims to thwart phishing attacks designed to trick people into sharing their credentials on fake login pages for Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, the company said.
“These websites asked people to enter usernames and passwords collected by the defendants,” Jessica Romero, Meta’s director of platform enforcement and litigation, wrote in a blog post. “As part of the attack, Defendant used a relay her service to redirect her web traffic to a phishing site in a manner that obfuscated the attack infrastructure. Without her online hosting, she was able to hide the suspect’s identity with her provider.”
Contextually, a phishing attack lures an unsuspecting victim to her website, which looks legitimate but is actually fake. The website then convinces the victim to enter sensitive information such as passwords and email her address. Meta says he found more than 39,000 of her websites masquerading as Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp login pages as part of a phishing scheme. It also notes that reports of phishing attacks have increased and that it is filing this lawsuit to take legal action against these attacks.
Romero said Meta began working with relay services in March to block thousands of URLs that host phishing websites. Meta plans to continue working with her provider of online services to thwart phishing attacks. The aim is to proactively block abuse cases for security communities, domain name registrars, etc. The company says it also shares phishing URLs so it can be blocked on other platforms as well.
Last month, Meta announced that he was targeting four different hacking groups based in Syria and Pakistan. The group used phishing links to trick users into revealing their Facebook credentials. Earlier in March of this year, the company also took action against his Chinese hacking group known as Earth Empusa (Evil Eye). Meta, then known as Facebook, said it sabotaged the ability of hackers to use its infrastructure to exploit the platform. The company also took similar measures against hackers in Bangladesh and Vietnam in 2020.
“This lawsuit is another step in our ongoing efforts to protect people’s safety and privacy, send a clear message to those who would abuse our platform, and increase accountability for those who abuse our technology. It’s a step,” Romero wrote in a blog post. Meta’s recent lawsuit isn’t the first time the company has cracked down on phishing scams on its platform.
News Summary:
- To identify those who operate a phishing scheme on its platforms, Meta files a federal lawsuit
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