Cyber Criminals Can Clone Branded Websites

Uploaded on 2025-03-04 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, FREE TO VIEW

The cyber criminal software developers behind the Darcula Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platform are developing a new version enabling cyber criminals to clone any brand's legitimate website and create a phishing version. Their aim is to reduce the technical expertise required to carry out phishing attacks at scale.

The new version adds first-of-its-kind personalisation capabilities to the previously built Darcula V2 platform, using tools to allow criminals to build advanced phishing kits that can target any brand's website with the click of a button.

The latest iteration of the phishing suite "represents a significant shift in criminal capabilities, reducing the barrier to entry for bad actors to target any brand with complex, customisable phishing campaigns," according to an analysis from Netcraft.

The cyber security company said it has detected and blocked more than 95,000 new Darcula phishing domains, nearly 31,000 IP addresses, and taken down more than 20,000 fraudulent websites since it was exposed in late March 2024.

The most significant change incorporated into Darcula v.3 is the ability for any user to generate a phishing kit for any brand on-demand.

"The new and remastered version is now ready for testing," the core developers behind the service said in a post made on January 19, 2025, in a Telegram channel that has over 1,200 subscribers. "Now, you can also customise the front-end yourself. Using Darcula-suite, you can complete the production of a front-end in 10 minutes." All a customer has to do is provide the URL of the brand to be impersonated in a web interface, with the platform employing a browser automation tool like Puppeteer to export the HTML and all required assets.

Users can then select the HTML element to replace and inject the phishing content (e.g., payment forms and login fields) such that it matches the look and feel of the branded landing page. The generated phishing page is then uploaded to an admin panel.

Besides featuring dashboards that highlight the aggregated performance statistics of the phishing campaigns, Darcula v3 goes a step further by offering a way to convert the stolen credit card details into a virtual image of the victim's card that can be scanned and added to a digital wallet for illicit purposes. The cards are loaded onto disposable 'burner' phones and sold to other criminals.

For managing phishing campaigns, Darcula offers an easy-to-use interface that aggregates a variety of performance metrics.

Without having to do anything, their phishing attacks benefit from a variety of anti-detection measures including IP blocking aimed at cyber security companies and user agent blocking designed to fend off Web crawlers.

Facebook

Image: Ideogram

You Might Also Read:

AI-Based Phishing Attacks Demand A Multi-Pronged Response:

If you like this website and use the comprehensive 7,000-plus service supplier Directory, you can get unrestricted access, including the exclusive in-depth Directors Report series, by signing up for a Premium Subscription.