Cybercriminals Launched Phishing Attacks After Microsoft’s Global Outage

• Soon after Microsoft's global outage, threat actors emerged with fake websites, scammy emails, and fake codes to make the most of the situation.
• Users are warned to stay away from emails or ads claiming to help them fix the problem.
• This is not an individual issue, it's a global problem and is already being handled by Microsoft and CrowdStrike.

On Friday, the entire world was hit by a massive Microsoft outage that lasted for hours. And cybercriminals didn't waste a second in taking advantage of the situation.

Soon after the outage, reports of scam emails, phishing attempts, and malicious domains emerged. Threat actors resorted to sending phishing emails, pretending to be from CrowdStrike Support or CrowdStrike Security.

Johannes Ullrich, dean of research for SANS Technology Institute and the founder of the Internet Storm Center warned users to not click on any patches delivered this way.

Another group of threat actors has built fake websites, claiming to fix" the issue on your device for a fee. Similar scammy services are also being promoted on social media.

Experts have warned users not to fall for these scams. The outage isn't an individual issue and there's nothing wrong with your device.

This is a global issue on Microsoft's end, caused by CrowdStrike (more on that later) and they are working on it. If you have any questions you can talk to CrowdStrike's support team for free.

The Situation in Australia

On the same note, Australia's cyber intelligence agency - the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) - warned the citizens about the widespread malicious websites and unofficial code that are claiming to fix the issue.

As we said before, ASD also urges users to source all their technical information only and only from CrowdStrike's official site.

Users are also advised to be on the lookout for possible scams and phishing attempts. The outage has affected around 8.5 million Windows devices around the world. This translates to millions of vulnerable users looking for a quick fix - something that scammers feed on.

Scammers are always on the lookout for vulnerable users who are too consumed to think twice before clicking on a malicious link. And this outage has opened up a swarm of opportunities for these threat actors.More About the Outage

For those who are not aware, Microsoft Windows crashed for thousands of users all around the world on Friday. Affected countries include the US, UK, India, Japan, Netherlands, Australia and many more.

Users trying to log into their system were met with the dreaded blue screen of death and an error message.

The issue was caused by a faulty update from CrowdStrike - a popular cybersecurity company. The company was trying to update its software for Microsoft but the update file had a bug that crashed the entire system (of Microsoft).

Since Microsoft has a massive user base, the consequences were devastating; Many major airlines from all the affected countries had to delay or cancel their flights. Supermarkets were unable to process card payments and hospitals and pharmacies were facing trouble pulling up patient data.

The underlying problem has already been fixed but the residual impact continues to disrupt some devices. It could be a while before everything goes back to normal. However, insurance experts have warned that the aftermath of the attack can hit the insurance industry.

Many businesses are expected to file business interruption claims, which may lead to high insurance payouts.

Things are slowly returning back to normal as we head into another new week. However, it can take a few days for businesses get back on track.

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