The second is to add an additional security layer of email security that sits natively inside Office 365 through an API to complement EOP. It should be ongoing and on-the-fly-when users click on email threats-to make the training more memorable and meaningful. Additionally, training shouldn’t be relegated to periodic training sessions or simulated phishing exercises. The more alert and informed your users are about Microsoft phishing, the more likely they will be to spot a phishing attack. Two approaches to risk mitigation are working when it comes to Office 365 phishing attacks. Office 365 phishing attacks slip past many of the standard security countermeasures offered in Exchange Online Protection (EOP). Along with the realistic-looking phone number, the email contains a phishing link you can click on to hear your message. The subject line reads: “Incoming: You received a voice message from +1 508 *** - 250 seconds.” It’s personalized with your first name in the body of the message. Outlook for Office 365 indicates you have an email. Below are just a few of the techniques Vade has detected in Office 365 accounts. They’re also more dynamic than ever, with many attacks using a unique sender/IP, URL, image, and subject line for each message. Phishing overall is more targeted than in the past, with hackers sending much lower volumes of email (it’s rare for a single attack to target hundreds or thousands of recipients anymore). Sophisticated, innovative, and relentless, attackers use a number of Office 365 phishing techniques to conduct attacks. Through internal spear phishing emails, attackers impersonate users and trick employees into releasing wire transfers, sharing employee data, purchasing gift cards, and more. Once they’ve gained access to legitimate Microsoft credentials, attackers are able to conduct multiphase attacks from within Office 365. With credential-stealing pages literally built on the same platform used by the recipient, it’s easy to trick users. In some cases, phishers take advantage of the Microsoft Azure Binary Large OBject (BLOB) storage as a means to build landing pages with Microsoft-signed SSL certificates and a domain.

Why users fall for Office 365 phishing attacksĪttackers mimic the protocols and appearance of Office 365 messages and interfaces to trick users into disclosing their login credentials. Moreover, they’re able to acquire more Office 365 credentials and spread across other organizations. Moving freely within Office 365, the hacker can impersonate employees to request wire transfers and gift cards, demand ransoms, and more. With a single set of legitimate Office 365 credentials, a hacker can move on to phase two of the attack: spear phishing, which is ultimately about the financial payout. Whether corporate trade secrets or financial information, the productivity and collaboration suite houses business-critical data that, if exposed, could cause irreparable damage. More than one million businesses use Microsoft 365 worldwide. Together, they represent a wealth of sensitive data and files, making Office 365 phishing attacks a lucrative business for hackers. A multisystem platform, Office 365, now Microsoft 365, combines email, file storage, collaboration, and productivity applications, including OneDrive and SharePoint. Microsoft was the second most impersonated brand in phishing attacks in 2021-thanks to Office 365.

On top of all the standard phishing and spear phishing threats, Office 365 presents a number of unique attack techniques for hackers looking to compromise accounts. With 258 million corporate users, the highly popular Microsoft platform has become a target-rich environment for sophisticated Office 365 phishing attacks.

Microsoft onedrive email scam