Reporting of cyber-crime from the public and businesses to police has revealed a spate of phishing attacks that attempt to imitate DocuSign login pages. Such DocuSign phishing attacks involve fraudsters sending emails or messages that appear to be from DocuSign, a popular, well-known and respected electronic signature service used for document management.
These phishing emails typically contain a link to a false DocuSign login page, designed to mimic the legitimate login page, and prompt recipients to enter their credentials. Such phishing emails often employ social engineering tactics to trick recipients into believing they need to review or sign an important document. This sense of urgency and importance can lead recipients to overlook warning signs and click on malicious links without verifying the email’s authenticity.
Once users enter their login credentials on the fake DocuSign page, attackers can capture this sensitive information and use it for malicious activities. Cybercriminals bet on the fact that people find it hard to create and use unique, strong passwords, and they know this leads to the temptation of reusing passwords across multiple services. So, once they have the DocuSign credentials, they will retry them across other digital platforms in an attempt to authenticate or simply sell them to other criminals, making a small profit per compromised credential
In some cases, phishing emails may also attempt to infect systems with malware. By clicking on the malicious link, recipients could inadvertently download and install malware onto their devices, compromising their security and potentially leading to data breaches or other damaging consequences.
To protect against DocuSign phishing attacks and similar threats, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has created free, trusted, actionable help and guidance that, if implemented, can help users spot the signs of a phishing email and improve their security, meaning these types of attacks are less likely to be successful. DocuSign also have dedicated website sections on how to spot such emails and tips to mitigate the attacks.
Reporting such phishing emails is important, and if you wish to report a crime you can do so via the Action Fraud Website https://www.actionfraud.police.uk. Another option, especially if the phishing email hasn’t caused any harm could be to simply forward the email onto the NCSCs scam email reporting service [email protected]
The NCSC will do some great work behind the scenes to take down malicious websites (so the web address the scam email wants to take you to cannot be opened and visited) and gather intelligence about such email campaigns.
For further guidance on protecting you and your business please contact: [email protected]
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The NEBRC is a Police led non-profit organisation that seeks to educate, inform, and support businesses across the UK on how to protect their business online through good cyber security practices.