The Spotify Phishing Scam: How to Reel in This Cyberthreat

Many music-lovers around the world use Spotify to stream all of their favorite tunes. While the music streaming platform is a convenient tool for users to download and listen to their music, hackers are capitalizing on the company’s popularity with a recent phishing campaign. The campaign lures users into giving up their account details, putting innocent Spotify customers’ credentials at risk.

So, how are the account hijackers conducting these phishing attacks? The campaign sends listeners fraudulent emails that appear to be from Spotify, prompting them to confirm their account details. However, the link contained in the email is actually a phishing link. When the user clicks on it, they are redirected to a phony Spotify website where they are prompted to enter their username and password for the hacker’s disposal.

This phishing campaign can lead to a variety of other security risks for victims exposed to the threat. For example, many users include their birthday or other personal information in their password to make it easier to remember. If a hacker gains access to a user’s Spotify password, they are given a glance into the victim’s password creation mindset, which could help them breach other accounts belonging to the user.

Fortunately, there are multiple steps users can take to avoid the Spotify phishing campaign and threats like it. Check out the following tips:

• Create complex passwords. If a hacker gains access to a victim’s username and password, they will probably analyze these credentials to determine how the victim creates their passwords. It’s best to create passwords that don’t include personal information, such as your birthday or the name of your pet.
• Avoid reusing passwords. If victims reuse the same password for multiple accounts, this attack could allow cybercriminals to breach additional services and platforms. To prevent hackers from accessing other accounts, create unique usernames and passwords for each online platform you use.
• Look out for phishing red flags. If you notice that the “from” address in an email is a little sketchy or an unknown source, don’t interact with the message. And if you’re still unsure of whether the email is legitimate or not, hover your mouse over the button prompting you to click on the link (but don’t actually click on it). If the URL preview doesn’t seem to be related to the company, it is most likely a phishing email.
• Be skeptical of emails claiming to come from legitimate companies. If you receive an email asking to confirm your login credentials, go directly to the company’s website. You should be able to check the status of your account on the company website or under the settings portion of the Spotify app to determine the legitimacy of the request.
• Use security software to surf the web safely. Make sure you use a website reputation tool like McAfee WebAdvisor to avoid landing on phishing and malicious sites.

And, as always, to stay on top of the latest and mobile security threats, be sure to follow me and @McAfee_Home on Twitter, listen to our podcast Hackable?, and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.