Hackers breach texting service used by New York state, sending many scam texts
9 days ago
- #phishing
- #scam
- #cybersecurity
- Hackers hijacked a mass text messaging service, sending scam texts to subscribers of New York state, a Catholic charity, and a political organizing group.
- Mobile Commons, the hacked company, provides bulk messaging services for governments and organizations, complying with federal guidelines.
- The breach occurred via a spear phishing attack, allowing unauthorized access for four hours before being detected and stopped.
- Scam messages referenced fake transactions, urging recipients to call a now-disconnected 888 number.
- Mobile Commons believes no customer or subscriber data was accessed, but financial harm remains unclear.
- Around 188,000 New York state subscribers received the scam text, with one telecom company reporting over 70,000 scam messages.
- The U.S. Short Code Registry warned of increased hacker attempts to take over accounts and send illegal texts.
- New York’s Office of Information Technology Services and Catholic Relief Services confirmed they did not authorize the scam messages.