A new cybercrime platform called ATHR can harvest credentials via fully automated voice phishing attacks that use both human operators and AI agents for the social engineering phase.
The malicious operation is advertised on underground forums for $4,000 and a 10% comission from profits, and can steal login data for multiple services, including Google, Microsoft, and Coinbase.
Automation covers the entire telephone-oriented attack delivery (TOAD) stages, from luring targets over email to conducting voice-based social engineering and harvesting account credentials.
ATHR attack chain
According to researchers at cloud email security company Abnormal, ATHR is a complete phishing/vishing attack generator that offers brand-specific email templates, per-target customization, and spoofing mechanisms to make it appear as if the message originates from a trusted sender.
At the time of their analysis, the researchers observed that ATHR supported eight online services: Google, Microsoft, Coinbase, Binance, Gemini, Crypto.com, Yahoo, and AOL.
The attack starts with the victim receiving an email crafted to pass casual verification and even technical authentication checks.
"The lure is typically a fake security alert or account notification - something urgent enough to prompt a phone call but generic enough to avoid triggering content-based filters," Abnormal notes in a report today.
Calling the phone number in the email routes the victim through Asterisk and WebRTC to AI voice agents driven by carefully crafted prompts that guide the victim through the data theft process.
The agents follow a multi-step script simulating a security incident. For Google accounts, they replicate the account recovery and verification process, using preset prompts that shape their tone, approach, persona, and behavior to mimic professional support staff.
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