Protecting Your Microsoft Accounts: Understanding the Top 5 Cyberattack Tactics

As one of the largest and most widely used technology companies in the world, Microsoft is an attractive target for cybercriminals looking to exploit its vast user base and ecosystem of products and services. From selling vulnerabilities to launching phishing campaigns, attackers employ a variety of tactics to compromise Microsoft users and systems.

In this article, we'll explore five key ways that Microsoft is targeted by malicious actors.

Microsoft's extensive portfolio of software—including the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity suite, and cloud services like Azure—presents a large attack surface. Attackers actively seek out vulnerabilities in Microsoft products that they can exploit or sell to other bad actors.

Zero-day vulnerabilities, which are flaws unknown to Microsoft until they are actively exploited in the wild, are particularly valuable. Attackers who discover these vulnerabilities can sell them on the black market to governments, criminal groups, or other entities who want to use them for espionage, sabotage, or financial gain.

Another way Microsoft users are targeted is through phishing pages designed to trick them into revealing sensitive information or downloading malware. Attackers create fake login pages that mimic official Microsoft properties like Microsoft 365, OneDrive, or Azure. Users who are fooled into entering their credentials on these pages essentially hand their passwords directly to the attackers.

Pages like these are often advertised and sold as phishing kits on underground forums. Cybercriminals can buy pre-made templates to launch their own campaigns with minimal effort. The availability of these tools lowers the barrier to entry and enables even low-skilled attackers to target Microsoft users at scale.

Email remains a primary vector for attacking organizations, and Microsoft's email services are a prime target. One technique involves compromising SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) credentials, which allow attackers to send outgoing emails through an organization's mail servers.

Attackers can obtain SMTP credentials by hacking into Microsoft Exchange servers or Microsoft 365 administrator accounts. These credentials are then sold on the dark web to spammers and phishers who use them to send malicious emails that appear to come from legitimate domains. This tactic helps evade email filters and makes the emails seem more trustworthy to recipients.

Another common tactic used against Microsoft accounts is password spraying, a type of brute force attack that tries a small number of commonly used passwords against many different accounts. Attackers obtain lists of valid Microsoft account emails and then "spray" them with popular passwords like "Password123" or "Qwerty123".

Since the number of password attempts per account is low, these attacks often fly under the radar of typical account lockout thresholds. Given the prevalence of weak and reused passwords, password spraying can be surprisingly effective at compromising accounts.

Finally, Microsoft-branded phishing kits are a popular tool in the attackers' arsenal. A phishing kit is a collection of tools that simplifies the creation of phishing campaigns, typically including pre-made email templates, scripts, and landing pages. These kits are designed to steal Microsoft account credentials by mimicking legitimate login processes.

Phishing kits make it easy for even novice attackers to spin up phishing campaigns. The kits are sold on underground marketplaces and continuously evolve to adopt the latest Microsoft login page designs and authentication workflows. Some advanced kits even hijack two-factor authentication codes.

With more than 1.5 billion people relying on Microsoft products for their daily computing needs, it's no surprise that the company is such an attractive target for cybercriminals. By taking advantage of vulnerabilities, distributing bogus login pages, stealing credentials, compromising accounts, and utilizing phishing kits, attackers can exploit the Microsoft ecosystem at scale.

Defending against these threats is a never-ending game of cat and mouse that requires constant innovation and adaptation. Fortunately, Abnormal can help.

Abnormal stops advanced attacks targeting Microsoft users via AI-powered behavioral analysis and API-based email security. It builds detailed behavioral profiles and analyzes user roles, email history, and relationships to detect anomalies in email content and sender behavior. This enables it to flag phishing, account compromise, and other sophisticated threats like business email compromise (BEC) and ransomware. Once an attack is detected, Abnormal automatically quarantines emails and blocks unauthorized activity, providing security teams with insights to mitigate future threats. This AI-driven approach ensures continuous protection against evolving attacks.

By preventing these malicious emails from reaching employees, Abnormal helps organizations avoid credential theft, malware infections, and other costly consequences.

Ready to see what Abnormal can offer you? Request a demo today to see how Abnormal is protecting humans with AI.