https://bit.ly/3RmzLDN - 🔒 Microsoft Threat Intelligence reports that threat actors are increasingly misusing OAuth applications in financially driven attacks. OAuth, a standard for authentication and authorization, is being exploited to gain access to data and maintain persistent access to applications, even after losing initial account access. This misuse of OAuth poses significant risks in terms of data privacy and security. #MicrosoftThreatIntelligence #Cybersecurity 🐍 Attackers use phishing or password spraying to compromise user accounts, especially those lacking strong authentication. They then create or modify OAuth applications with high privileges for various malicious activities, including deploying VMs for cryptocurrency mining, executing business email compromise (BEC), and launching spamming activities using the organization's resources. #PhishingAttacks #PasswordSecurity 💰 One specific threat actor, known as Storm-1283, deployed VMs for cryptomining using compromised accounts. They incurred significant costs for the targeted organizations, ranging from $10,000 to $1.5 million. Microsoft's proactive measures, including the blocking of malicious OAuth applications and notification to affected organizations, have been crucial in mitigating these attacks. #CryptoMining #DigitalSecurity 📧 Another observed attack involved BEC and phishing via compromised user accounts and creation of OAuth applications. Attackers used these applications to maintain persistence and launch phishing emails, sending over 927,000 messages. Microsoft responded by taking down all related malicious OAuth applications. #BEC #EmailPhishing 🌐 For spamming, attackers like Storm-1286 used compromised accounts to create new OAuth applications for large-scale spam attacks. These attacks highlight the importance of multifactor authentication (MFA) as a key defense strategy. Microsoft’s detection capabilities in their various Defender products played a crucial role in identifying and mitigating these threats. #SpamAttacks #MFADefense ⚠️ Microsoft recommends several mitigation steps to combat these threats. These include enabling MFA, implementing conditional access policies, ensuring continuous access evaluation, enabling Microsoft Defender automatic attack disruption, auditing apps and consented permissions, and securing Azure cloud resources. These steps are essential for organizations to protect against OAuth application misuse. #CybersecurityBestPractices #MicrosoftDefender 🕵️♂️ Hunting guidance for Microsoft 365 Defender users includes monitoring OAuth application interactions, identifying password spray attempts, and investigating suspicious application creation and email events. These proactive measures help organizations detect and respond to potential threats in their networks.