KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training Blog

Apple Users Become the Latest Targets of MFA Attacks

Written by Stu Sjouwerman | Apr 4, 2024 5:28:45 PM

A new string of multi-factor authentication (MFA) attacks targeting the reset of Apple IDs seem to be popping up in a likely attempt to steal the victim’s digital identity and more.A recent post on Twitter/X from entrepreneur Parth Patel outlines his experience when his phone became inundated with requests to reset his Apple ID password  – to the tune of over 100.

Similar to the MFA fatigue attacks we’ve seen last year, this attack sought to use the same technique to get the victim to either answer “yes” to make the prompts stop, or to make a mistake and accidentally allow the password reset.

While this kind of attack may not seem mainstream enough to pay attention on terms of warning users about it, etc., it does demonstrate how the cyber crime economy is growing enough that threat actors are looking for ways to fit into the economy by establishing a niche victim set for them to go after – digital identity theft via Apple IDs.

These attacks aren’t unique as Krebs on Security covered this and another similar attack on an IT professional, demonstrating it’s more than a one-off experience.

What can be taken from this specific attack is something we teach in our new-school security awareness training. If something looks suspicious, vigilance should immediately go up, a slowing of the response should be the status quo, and meticulously disengage and report the attack. 

if something looks suspicious, vigilance should immediately go up, a slowing of the response should be the status quo, and meticulously either disengaging or responding (as in the case of the prompt bomb attacks, where you’d need to at least deny each attack prompt) to ensure malicious intentions aren’t enabled by the victim-user’s actions.

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