[Brand Impersonation] - Bank of Ireland

 Bank of Ireland Group is one of the largest financial services groups in Ireland and provides a broad range of banking and other financial services. 

During our PreCrime internet scout of December 14th 2022 we identified suspicious markers across multiple vectors. One of those was this website spoof that could be targeting unsuspecting users of Bank of Ireland.


The Attack

Legitimate site :

bankofireland[.]com

Malicious domain created on December 13, 2022, identified by Bfore.Ai on December 14, 2022

This attack shows a brand impersonation attack on one of the biggest banks in Ireland, Bank of Ireland (BOI).

Malicious site

Legitimate site

How does this attack work ?

The URL leads users to an almost exact clone of the legitimate sites login page, where they are asked to login to their BOI account using their User ID, Date of Birth and Phone Number. On the legitimate login page, BOI users are only asked to enter User ID and Date of Birth to login to their account.

How do they trick users into believing the attack is real?

• Users may be led to the malicious website through a phishing campaign, wherein they are asked to go to the website in order to verify their account by logging in due an issue. The threat actors will likely attempt to convince users that this is an urgent matter, a tactic often used to make victims feel a sense of urgency and thereby more likely to comply.

• Copying the branding from BOI including using the same logo, colours and font. Additionally, the login page is almost identical to the legitimate login website.

• Using a domain name similar to BOI. The threat actors have used the acronym version of the bank, BOI.

Recommendations

• If in doubt whether an email is legitimate, never click on any links. Go to the legitimate website’s domain instead via a search engine.

• Always double check the domain name to make sure it is the legitimate one.

• Never use the same credentials for work and personal accounts.

• Use different passwords for online banking and shopping sites, for example, so if one of your accounts becomes compromised your other accounts will remain safe.

• Incorporate Multi Factor Authentication where possible to keep your accounts safe even if the credentials are compromised.

Identification and threat analysis

Technical Report

The technical report below helps emphasize the differences in terms of DNS records between the malicious domain, and the legitimate domain.

 

How Bfore.Ai is protecting our customers

At Bfore.Ai, we work daily to ensure these phishing attacks get stopped before even reaching their targets. We are here to make your internet journey safer than it has ever been.

With more than 30K new malicious indicators per day we got you covered no matter where the attack comes from. Only 0.05% false positive rate, stop wasting time in false alerts chasing. By launching our PreCrime and PreEmpt technologies, we measure our anticipation from an attack starting, faster than attackers.

Accepting that the only defense is good detection, is accepting to be forever a victim. We believe in prevention more than response. Visit our website for more information !

Appendix

This document and its contents do not constitute, and are not a substitute for, legal advice. The outcome of a Security Risk Assessment should be utilized to ensure that diligent measures are taken to lower the risk of potential weaknesses be exploited to compromise data.

Although the Services and this report may provide data that Client can use in its compliance efforts, Client (not Bfore.Ai) is ultimately responsible for assessing and meeting Client's own compliance responsibilities. This report does not constitute a guarantee or assurance of Client's compliance with any law, regulation or standard.