Alert: The Rise of Ransomware Scams Disguised as Support Calls

Caution with Support Calls If you receive a call claiming to be from Microsoft Teams support, exercise caution. A growing tactic among cybercriminals involves posing as help desk personnel to gain control over employee devices.

Understanding the Scam This strategy is often part of a broader ransomware scheme where attackers demand a ransom to restore access to your encrypted business data. Recently, cybercriminals have escalated their tactics:

1. Email Flooding: Employees' inboxes are bombarded with spam to render them unusable.
2. Deceptive Support Calls: Following the email flood, scammers make a support call offering help, typically asking employees to install remote desktop tools like AnyDesk or use Windows Quick Assist.
3. Fake Team Accounts: Scammers create fake Microsoft Teams accounts with usernames like "Help Desk" and domains such as "securityadminhelper.onmicrosoft.com" to appear legitimate.

The Threat Once they gain access, these criminals can navigate your network, extract sensitive information, and deploy ransomware, potentially halting your operations, disrupting customer service, and compromising confidential data.

Costly Recovery Recovering from a ransomware attack can be expensive—not just financially in terms of ransom payments but also through lost revenue, damaged reputation, and potential legal consequences.

Preventative Measures

• Educate your team about this scam.
• Instruct employees to verify any unsolicited support requests with your actual IT department before granting access or installing software.
• Ensure your Microsoft Teams setup is secure: restrict external chats to trusted domains and enable chat logging for security.

Need Further Assistance? If you need help securing your systems or have any concerns about cybersecurity, please feel free to contact us for support.