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Did you know malicious URLs have been attributed to 77% of global ransomware attacks[i]? Not only is this an increasing threat for major corporations, but when combined with SMS as the means to reaching the victim, consumers are particularly vulnerable to these attacks. In fact, in 2022, it was estimated that 225 billion[ii] scam SMSs were sent to Americans. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, this accounted for nearly $330 million in consumer losses. The issue has become so widespread that regulators across the globe are taking action, demanding operators to provide additional protection for their customers. Mobile operators, in their own right, have rated SMS phishing (Smishing) as a top security concern since 2022. So, what can mobile operators do to protect their customers from falling victim to the next SMS scam?
As networks become more complex and the attack surface expands, operators need a two-pronged approach to safeguard their networks and consumers from the double threat of Smishing using malicious URLs.
The first line of attack begins with an SMS firewall. The SMS firewall protects against SMS spam, message flooding as well as revenue losses due to A2P messages being sent through grey routes. SMS firewalls are effective in:
- Reducing spam by stopping large amounts of unwanted messages from reaching subscribers
- Protecting against Viruses by stopping messages with binary content or certain file attachments
- Mitigating SMS fraud by preventing SMS messages from unauthorized sources
- Preventing SMS fraud by stopping fraudulent attacks sent through malicious links by comparing it to a list of known blocked domains.
However, URLs sent over SMS present a unique set of challenges. Those hyperlinks are often shortened which makes it hard for customers to identify valid sites from fraudulent ones. Additionally, simply screening for a static list of bad sites is insufficient; a bad domain list is only as good at the time it is published, and it cannot provide the necessary protections needed to arrest the rise in ransomware and DDoS attacks, where URLs are increasingly being used as a key method. This is because URLs are easy to change, can be shortened, and bad actors can hijack good URLs. Not to mention that new phishing sites can be published and recycled very quickly. While certain markets have taken the position of prohibiting SMS messages containing URLs, the prevailing expectation in most markets from local regulators is for operators to implement mechanisms to detect and prevent malicious URLs.
Mobileum’s URL Scanner provides a real-time solution for identifying, analyzing and scoring a URL’s reputation. A score is calculated in real time based on a multitude of attributes of the underlying hyperlink, indicating whether the domain is Safe or Unsafe and whether the SMS firewall should block it , flag it as suspect, or allow the message to be delivered.
How Mobileum’s URL Scanner protects against malicious URLs
In addition to conducting a forensic acquisition of a webpage, Mobileum’s URL scanner supports an extensive set of validation and checks, including Response Policy Zone (RPZ) DNS query and operator/regulator-specific blocked and allowed URL lists, to provide the industry’s most comprehensive proactive protection against Zero-Day attacks.
Gone are the days when mobile operators had weeks to patch a vulnerability. Today, scammers need less than 48 hours to exploit a new weakness and launch another Smishing attack. Technology like Mobileum’s URL Scanner provides CSPs with the additional protections that SMS firewalls alone cannot deliver. Click here to learn more about URL Scanner, or contact us to schedule your demo today.
[i] ENISA Threat Landscape 2023
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