A huge wave of SMS attacks hit Switzerland

This is unheard of on this scale in Switzerland. In recent days, millions of text messages containing dangerous links have been received. These messages, written in German, have only one purpose: to infect the recipient’s phone, before taking control remotely and stealing passwords. So it is important not to show too much interest and click on the links in the news.

These text messages are relatively easy to identify, especially for non-German speakers, as they all appear to be written in German. They all trick the recipient to click a link. Some suggest that victims click the link to read the MMS, others come forward to listen to the audio message, while others, paradoxically, encourage the recipient to click the link to stop receiving a message.

All links shown are different. All messages received were sent from Swiss telephone numbers, with only one being sent from Austria. One reader tells us that such messages also reach signal usage.

Also read:
The hackers targeted Switzerland like never before

Focus on Android

You should not click on the links because they can all affect the phone, especially if you have a smartphone running Android. If the victim makes a mistake in clicking the link, on the laptop, an application is likely to be installed via an alternative application store: it is malicious software (malware) that absorbs the passwords of the identifiers and words on the phone. Bank details. The malicious software uses the victim’s address book to send self – reflected SMS messages. Note that by default, the Android phone does not allow downloading applications outside the official Play Store. But hackers deceive their victims and allow the phone to download apps from other sources.

For iPhone owners, if they accidentally or inadvertently click the link, they will not see any malware being installed, but will be taken to a webpage where they will be asked to provide a username and password. Hackers in particular are trying to control Google accounts.

The first attack in June

This wave of SMS scams is more severe than ever in Switzerland. But this is not the first time. In June of this year, the malware called Flobot already erupted in the same way, but did not reach many phones. The hackers who created this software have made it very sophisticated. Malware is active in many other countries, sometimes triggering potential victims to download an application for protection against cyber attacks … Since June, several cantonal police forces have issued warnings in this regard. Switch foundation, Specifically affiliated with the “.ch” domain name management federation.

How to protect yourself from such attacks? You should definitely not click on links and remove suspicious SMS. On Android, you can configure your phone so that you can no longer use app stores other than your official Google Play Store.

Also read:
When faced with cyber attacks, Switzerland is very poorly protected

Precautionary measures

It is possible to block SMS reception from specific numbers, but it is of little use: hackers send a portion of their messages from single-use numbers. On Android (which is not possible on an iPhone), an SMS can be reported as “spam”, which will cause telecommunications operators to deactivate sent links. But like the first wave of June, operators could not stop the waves of these dangerous messages.

National Center for Cyber ​​Security (NCSC) He offered this advice in June: “Do not install a program from the website you came to via the link received via SMS or email. Install only the required programs and applications and always download from the manufacturer’s site or from the official download platform. “