Cybercriminals are exploiting the incident of the AirAsia flight QZ8501

Security experts have collected evidence that cyber criminals are exploiting the incident of the flight QZ8501 for illicit activities. Cybercriminals are exploiting the tragedy of the AirAsia flight QZ8501 to conduct illicit activities. Every event that captures the attention of the media is an opportunity for the cyber criminals that could exploit it to run targeted […]

December 28, 2014

Cybercriminals are exploiting the incident of the AirAsia flight QZ8501

Security experts have collected evidence that cyber criminals are exploiting the incident of the flight QZ8501 for illicit activities.

Cybercriminals are exploiting the tragedy of the AirAsia flight QZ8501 to conduct illicit activities. Every event that captures the attention of the media is an opportunity for the cyber criminals that could exploit it to run targeted attacks, manage a phishing campaign or conduct any other type of illicit activity.

Cybercriminals have no rules and also in the case of the incident occurred to the AirAsia flight QZ8501 they are not exception.

In the past criminals exploited other tragedies, including the incident of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 occurred in March 2014 and the shooting of Malaysia Airline Flight MH17 by a ground-to-air missile occurred in July 2014.

Now the world is trying to have more information about the 162 people (seven crew members and 155 passengers) of the AirAsia flight QZ8501 which was flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore when radars have lost any contact with the aircraft.

Missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 was last tracked around the Belitung island, due to night the authorities suspended search and rescue operations.

“Search and locate operations have been temporarily halted for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, which left Surabaya, Indonesia at 5.35am Sunday (Dec 28). It had been expected to arrive in Singapore at 8.30am but lost contact with air traffic control over the Java Sea.” states ChannelNewsAsia

Experts at TheHackerNews reported that some posts on social media, claiming that the “Missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 has been found and that all its passengers are safe and alive”, redirect visitors to websites used to serve malware.

Emails, blog posts, comments on news websites and updates posted on social media are used by scammers and crooks to exploit this tragic event.

Billions of people worldwide waiting for updates on the case of the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, they are all potential victims of the cybercrime. A few simple precautions can protect you from fraud:

Do not open unsolicited emails reporting news and updates on the AirAsia flight QZ8501.
Do not click any link to updates on Missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 shared on social media like Facebook and Twitter.
Search for updates only through official sources and reputed news agencies.
Do not click on any link claiming you to show a video footage of the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501.
Do not share any update from untrusted sources.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Cybercrime, AirAsia flight QZ8501)