C-level executives and high-ranking managers are prime targets for phishing attacks using malicious QR codes, termed "quishing."
In the fourth quarter of 2023, C-suite members were 42 times more likely to receive QR Phishing attacks compared to non-executive employees.
Let’s learn how QR phishing campaign works:
Also read: The Potential Risks of “QR Code Phishing” a.k.a “Quishing”Attackers create malicious QR codes that impersonate legitimate websites like bank login pages or popular online stores.
These malicious QR codes are then strategically placed in various locations, both physical (posters, packaging) and digital (emails, social media ads).
Leveraging social engineering tactics, the attackers employ messages that either exploit urgent needs like password rest or offer exclusive rewards to manipulate users into scanning the code.
When the user tries to access it, it takes them to an attacker-controlled malicious website.
The malicious website prompts users to enter their login credentials, personal details, or financial information.
Sometimes, right after scanning the code, the website would download malware straight onto the user's device.
Read our research article on the above attack mitigation:
360159651_Secured_Secret_Sharing_of_QR_Codes_Based_on_Nonnegative_Matrix_Factorization_and_Regularized_Super_Resolution_Convolutional_Neural_Network
QR codes are great and easy ways of accessing information. It is simple, however, they present fertile grounds for attacks as many users do not see what site they are accessing. It is important that users access QR codes with caution and developers ought to protect any form of attacks through QR codes
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