Free Privileged Account Discovery Tool: Identify & secure credentials to stop lateral movement. Download Free

BeyondTrust
  • Products
    Privileged Password Management
    Discover, manage, audit, and monitor privileged accounts
    Password Safe DevOps Secrets Safe
    Endpoint Privilege Management
    Manage privileges on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix endpoints
    Windows and Mac Unix and Linux Active Directory Bridge
    Secure Remote Access
    Centrally manage and secure remote access for service desks and vendors
    Remote Support Privileged Remote Access
    BeyondInsight Analytics
    See All Solutions
  • Resources

    Universal Privilege Management

    Our innovative Universal Privilege Management approach secures every user, asset, and session across your entire enterprise.

    Watch Video

    Learn

    Case Studies
    Competitor Comparisons
    Datasheets
    Glossary
    Product Demos
    Whitepapers

    Attend

    Events
    Go Beyond
    Training
    Webinars

    Support

    Changelog
    Professional Services
    Technical Documentation
  • Blog
  • Partners
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Services
  • Training
  • Events
  • Company

What are SMiShing Attacks? Have You Been a Victim?

May 31, 2018

  • Blog
  • Archive
SMiShing, or SMS Phishing, is a form of social engineering used to compromise an individual based on trusted phone numbers. The concept presents an end user with a familiar dialogue that builds your relationship with the goal of extracting information and ultimately some form of financial or information gain. The SMS message may appear to come from a person in your contacts list or from a company you have done business with. The way threat actors gain access to your name could be from a previous breach or from malware that has extracted the contact, or from an SMS list from the source victim’s mobile device. That information is then used to target potential victims and spoof the relationship. Here are a few things to consider if you think you are a victim of a SMiShing attack:
  • Government entities like the IRS or HUD never use SMS text messages for communications. All official and legitimate communications always come through the United States Postal Service.
  • Any SMS text message that asks you to reply to a form or asks for sensitive information is probably fake. Why would a trusted person or company ask you for your full name, address, or any other personally identifiable information, in bulk, through a text message? This is the setup for a scam.
  • If the responses to your skepticism are met with any hostility, it is probably SMiShing. Commonly, threat actors will reply with “Why don’t you trust me?” or “Your friends have had success with me, why would you pass this up?” Real companies and friends do not follow this patterned behavior.
  • Real businesses that use SMS text messaging for actual business typically ask for replies in simple terms. Like, reply “Y” to confirm your doctor’s appointment or “STOP” to terminate the text messages. SMiShing typically will use longer replies to conduct the attack, but be mindful – an attack may use the word “STOP” in the first message just to validate that someone is actually on the other side of the phone and willing to answer.
  • If the SMS message has links that you do not recognize or solicits the installation of new applications, do not click on the link; especially on Android mobile devices. This is a way to potentially install malware or exploit a vulnerability and compromise the device.
SMiShing, like Vishing (voicemail phishing made famous via fake IRS scams), is yet another targeted attack focusing on social engineering and the flaws in the SMS texting system that allow source phone number spoofing. If you want to minimize the risk, outside of spoofed phone numbers, change the settings on your phone to block SMS text messages from users not in your contacts list. Otherwise, it is an education process to look for the threats and not respond.

Morey J. Haber

Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at BeyondTrust

Morey J. Haber is Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at BeyondTrust. He has more than 25 years of IT industry experience and has authored four Apress books: Privileged Attack Vectors (2 Editions), Asset Attack Vectors, and Identity Attack Vectors. In 2018, Bomgar acquired BeyondTrust and retained the BeyondTrust name. He originally joined BeyondTrust in 2012 as a part of the eEye Digital Security acquisition. Morey currently oversees BeyondTrust strategy for privileged access management and remote access solutions. In 2004, he joined eEye as Director of Security Engineering and was responsible for strategic business discussions and vulnerability management architectures in Fortune 500 clients. Prior to eEye, he was Development Manager for Computer Associates, Inc. (CA), responsible for new product beta cycles and named customer accounts. He began his career as Reliability and Maintainability Engineer for a government contractor building flight and training simulators. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Stay Up To Date

Get the latest news, ideas, and tactics from BeyondTrust. You may unsubscribe at any time.

I agree to receive product related communications from BeyondTrust as detailed in the Privacy Policy, and I may manage my preferences or withdraw my consent at any time.

You May Also Be Interested In:

Webcasts | February 25, 2021

Customer Tips & Tricks: Remote Support for Android

Webcasts | February 09, 2021

Customer Webinar: Remote Support 21.1 Released!

Webcasts | February 24, 2021

Your PAM 2021 Blueprint: Securing Privileged Accounts for On-Premises and Cloud Assets

BeyondTrust Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Keep up with BeyondTrust

I agree to receive product related communications from BeyondTrust as detailed in the Privacy Policy, and I may manage my preferences or withdraw my consent at any time.

Customer Support
Contact Sales

Products

  • Endpoint Privilege Management
  • Password Management
  • Privileged Remote Access
  • DevOps Secrets Safe
  • Remote Support

Resources

  • Blog
  • Case Studies
  • Competitor Comparisons
  • Datasheets
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Webcasts
  • Whitepapers

About

  • Company
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Leadership Team
  • Partner Program
  • Press

Languages

  • English
  • German
  • French
  • Spanish
  • Korean
  • Portuguese
  • Japanese
  • Privacy
  • Security
  • Manage Cookies
  • WEEE Compliance

Copyright © 1999 — 2020 BeyondTrust Corporation. All rights reserved. Other trademarks identified on this page are owned by their respective owners. BeyondTrust Corporation is not a chartered bank or trust company, or depository institution. It is not authorized to accept deposits or trust accounts and is not licensed or regulated by any state or federal banking authority.