Researchers in the field of cybersecurity are warning that a sophisticated phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform known as VoidProxy is being used by criminal groups for the purpose of evading widespread security controls and is demonstrating just how far this technology has advanced in criminal groups' ability to circumvent widely deployed security controls.
In the form of a specialised tool developed by cybercriminals to target high-value accounts neutralising the defences of multi-factor authentication (MFA), VoidProxy is specifically designed and marketed for cybercriminals. There is no question that VoidProxy, developed by researchers at Okta, the identity and access management company, is different from any other phishing kit out there.
Rather than relying on advanced infrastructures and evasion techniques, it combines these attributes with commoditised accessibility to make it both effective and dangerous even for relatively low-skilled attackers. In particular, VoidProxy makes a great deal of sense because it relies heavily on adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) phishing, a method of intercepting authentication flows in real time, which makes it particularly alarming.
Using this method, cybercriminals are not only able to capture credentials, but they can also take possession of multi-factor authentication codes and session tokens generated during legitimate sign-in transactions. By bypassing these common authentication methods, VoidProxy can bypass the security measures offered by SMS-based codes and one-time passwords from authenticator apps, which are typically relied upon by organisations and individuals as a last resort.
When it comes to VoidProxy's infrastructure, it demonstrates a combination of sophistication and cost-effectiveness that is second to none. This phishing site is hosted by its operators using low-cost top-level domains like .icu, .sbs, .cfd, .xyz, .top, and .home, making it easy to use and easily trackable. It is also important to note that the phishing content, delivered through Cloudflare's reverse proxy services, further obscures the phishing site's actual infrastructure.
It is a layering of concealment that ensures researchers and defenders cannot determine the true IP address. The combination of this layering of concealment, in combination with its highly deceptive email campaigns, makes VoidProxy one of the most troubling emergences in the phishing service industry. In spite of the fact that the operation has never been reported until now, it demonstrates a level of maturity that is not often found in other phishing kits.
Researchers at OKTA found that VoidProxy is capable of scaling attacks against large groups of victims, targeting enterprise users, who represent an invaluable entry point for fraud and data theft. In order to intercept authentication traffic, the service inserts itself between the victim and the authenticating service, thereby intercepting authentication traffic.
As soon as credentials and multi-factor authentication data are captured, attackers can gain persistent access to a victim’s account, bypassing any protections that would otherwise make it difficult for them to access their account.
It was only after Okta’s FastPass technology, a passwordless authentication service, identified and blocked a suspicious sign-in attempt via VoidProxy’s proxy network that a discovery of this kind was made.
Researchers were able to unravel a much larger ecosystem of campaigns as a result of that single discovery, revealing a set of administrative panels and dashboards that cybercriminals were renting access to the service through the use of this service.
In recent days, the senior vice president of threat intelligence at Okta, Brett Winterford, described VoidProxy as “an example of phishing infrastructure that has been observed in recent years.” Both its ability to bypass the multi-factor authentication and its elaborate anti-analysis mechanisms have been criticised by Winterford.
The VoidProxy phishing kit offers many layers of obfuscation, which differs from traditional phishing kits that can often be dismantled by tracking servers and blocking malicious domains. Phishing lures are sent through compromised email accounts, multiple redirect chains that make analysis a challenge, Cloudflare CAPTCHA, Workers that inspect and filter incoming traffic, and dynamic DNS that ensures the infrastructure is fast-moving.
Using these techniques, the operation remained a secret until Okta discovered the operation, but the sophistication of the kit extended far beyond its technical defences. There are many ways attackers can distribute VoidProxy campaigns. The first is by sending phishing emails from compromised accounts linked to legitimate marketing and communication systems, such as Constant Contact, Active Campaign, and Notify Visitors, that are connected to VoidProxy campaigns.
It is based on the reputation of established service providers that these lures will have a higher probability of escaping spam filters, allowing them to reach the inboxes of targeted users as soon as they click through, providing credentials. VoidProxy's response depends on what authentication the victim has configured.
Users who authenticate through single sign-on (SSO) are forwarded to phishing websites that are designed to harvest additional information from users, while non-federated users are directed directly to legitimate Microsoft and Google servers, while the phishing sites are designed to harvest additional information from users. In the end, affiliates deployed VoidProxy to harvest cookies through the AiTM proxy, which is hosted on an ephemeral infrastructure supported by dynamic DNS, thereby completing the final stage of the attack.
By hijacking authenticated sessions through session cookies, attackers are able to gain access to the same level of functionality as legitimate users without the need to submit credentials repeatedly. Therefore, attackers can operate undetected until security teams detect unusual behaviour, resulting in the attacker inheriting trusted access.
In addition to its accessibility, VoidProxy offers an administrative panel that enables paying affiliates to monitor the progress of their campaigns, as well as victim data. Due to the ease with which advanced phishing campaigns are conducted, a broader set of actors—from organised cybercrime groups to less sophisticated attackers- can engage in them as they become more familiar with the technology.
Despite the fact that VoidProxy is a new and dangerous entrant into the phishing landscape, researchers emphasise the fact that not all defences against it are ineffective. Authenticators which are phishing-resistant, such as hardware security keys, passkeys, and smart cards, are proven to be able to block attackers from hijacking credentials or signing in through proxy infrastructure by preventing the attack.
As a result of the research conducted by OKTA, it has been demonstrated that users equipped with these advanced authentication systems are less likely to be hacked or to be compromised via VoidProxy, but most organisations continue to rely on weaker methods of multi-factor authentication, such as SMS codes, which leaves them vulnerable to data interception.
It has been Okta's intention to inform Google and Microsoft of VoidProxy's operations, to share intelligence with its SaaS partners, as well as to issue a customer advisory in response to the discovery. In addition to adopting phishing-resistant authentication, the company recommended that enterprises also take a broad set of security measures.
There are several ways to do this, including limiting access to devices and networks based on trust, monitoring sign-in behaviour for anomalies, and providing users with streamlined mechanisms for reporting suspicious emails or log-in attempts. Additionally, it is crucial to cultivate a culture of cybersecurity awareness at the company.
Employees should be trained on how to recognise phishing emails, suspicious login prompts, and common social engineering techniques, which can often lead to compromise in the organisation.
Additionally, VoidProxy's rise also demonstrates a wider industry problem that the industry faces today: the proliferation of platform-based PHaaS that commoditises advanced attack techniques into a commodity.
Other kits, such as EvilProxy, which was first reported in 2022, and Salty2FA, which was discovered earlier this year, have also demonstrated similar capabilities to bypass multi-factor authentication and hijack sessions in the past few years.
In each successive platform, the stakes are raised for defenders, as techniques that were once reserved for highly skilled adversaries have become widely accessible to anyone willing to pay for access, which has raised the stakes for defenders.
By lowering the technical barrier, these services are increasing the pool of attackers, resulting in an increase in phishing campaigns that are more effective than ever before, harder to detect, and more persistent in nature, and have a greater impact.
With the emergence of VoidProxy, a critical change has been wrought in the cyber threat landscape that calls for a new approach to enterprise security.
Legacy defences that depend solely on passwords or basic multiple-factor authentication methods will not suffice in the face of such adaptive adversaries. As a result of these threats, organisations need to create layers of security strategies, which are combined with proactive resilience, in order to protect themselves.
Authenticators that can resist phishing attacks are essential for protecting the network from cyber threats, but in addition to them, businesses must be able to detect anomalies continuously, implement rapid incident response capabilities, and train their employees adequately. Collaboration across the cybersecurity ecosystem is also crucial.
There is nothing more important than the importance of intelligence-sharing between vendors, enterprises, and researchers, as early detection of emerging threats and coordinated action can significantly reduce the damage caused by them.
In today's rapidly evolving PhaaS platforms, enterprises have to change their approach from reactive defence to proactive adaptation, ensuring they are not just prepared to withstand today's attacks, but also prepared to anticipate tomorrow's attacks.
Getting the most out of security is crucial in a digital world where trust itself has become one of the main targets. To be secure, one must be able to maintain agility and resilience.
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