Warnings Issued Over Office 365 Phishing Scam

Businesses are being warned over a number of recent Office 365 phishing scams across Northern Ireland.

According to the PSNI, the current phishing scam involves the use of a spoof email claiming their Office 365 account is out of storage and asking them to review their settings.

If the user clicks on the link within the email, they will be sent to a fake sign-in page of Microsoft Outlook Web Access, where scammers will attempt to steal their login credentials. By capturing their username and password, the criminals will be able to take over their account, which may lead to loss of funds or damage business reputation.

The PSNI warns that the attackers have been setting the forwarding rules on compromised accounts to forward the users' emails to unauthorised Gmail accounts. This allows the criminals to spy on the account communications both internally and outside the organisation, which can give them advantage for future attacks or allow them to collect sensitive business information.

The attackers may be targeting key personnel with the tactically sent phishing emails.

Highlighting the PSNI warnings, NI Business Info, advises businesses to:

• enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your most important accounts, such as banking and email

• ensure that your firewall and anti-virus software is up to date

• perform regular virus and malware scans

• work with your system administrators to set adequate filters to block malicious file attachments reaching your mailboxes.

If your Office 365 account has been compromised, or you have clicked on any suspicious links, seek professional advice from a reputable company.

NI Business Info offer more advise on protecting your business against phishing scams here.

(MH/CD)