Common QR Code Issues in Emails

QR Code Abuse: A Silent Pathway to Account Takeovers As QR codes get embedded across login workflows, payments, and document sharing, adversaries have started weaponizing them at scale. 🚨 Two High-Impact Attack Vectors: 🔹 Quishing (QR Phishing): Malicious QR codes embedded in emails, PDFs, posters, or even social engineering messages redirect victims to spoofed login pages. Targeted services often include #O365, #GoogleWorkspace, and banking portals. Since QR scans bypass link filtering in secure email gateways, these payloads are harder to detect. 🔹 QRLjacking (QR Login Hijacking): Abuses legitimate "Scan to Login" functionality (WhatsApp Web, Discord , Paytm e.t.c). 1. Attacker initiates a legitimate login session. 2. Extracts the QR login token. 3. Embeds it on a phishing site. 4. Victim scans it, and the session is instantly hijacked — no password or OTP required. Attackers now have persistent access to the victim’s account or device session. 🔬 Threat Researcher OSINT Stack for QR Code Investigations: 🧩 QR Code Decoding & Content Analysis zxing.org, zbarimg, qrdecode, pyzbar ExifTool for extracting source metadata (image origin, timestamps) 🌐 Payload & Infrastructure Analysis urlscan.io (visual rendering, redirection chains) VirusTotal (URL/file behavior scoring) #OpenPhish, #PhishTank (reputation checks) Shodan , Censys (fingerprinting backend infra) SecurityTrails, WhoisXML (passive DNS, domain history) 📩 Phishing & Email Exposure Checks Hunter.io, EmailRep, #HaveIBeenPwned 📌 Bonus: Maltego for graphing infrastructure, identity pivots, and domain/email correlations. Sandboxes : ANY.RUN , Recorded Future Triage 🛡️ Blue Team Guidance Implement image scanning pipelines to decode QR content in attachments or inbound comms. Limit QR-based login token lifetime (<60s), bind sessions to device/IP, and enforce logout after single use. Monitor anomalous login patterns via QR (new locations, UA, geo spread). Train users on recognizing QR phishing lures — especially in hybrid PDF/email formats. QR-based attacks blend low visibility with high conversion — particularly effective on mobile-first users. These vectors are now actively discussed in underground forums and open-source #phishing kits. 🔎 For threat researchers, QR-based attack surfaces are now a critical inclusion in phishing and ATO investigations. #ThreatIntelligence #CyberSecurity #QRLjacking #QRPhishing #OSINT #MalwareAnalysis #AccountTakeover #PhishingKits #IncidentResponse #Infosec #CyberThreatResearch #QRcodeSecurity #RedTeamOps #BlueTeamDefense #SecurityAwareness #APTtradecraft #VirusTotal #anyrun

THE EVOLUTION OF QR CODE PHISHING: ASCII-BASED QR CODES 📍WHAT IS QUISHING? ℹ️ Quishing, or QR code phishing, involves embedding malicious URLs within QR codes. When users scan these codes, they are directed to phishing websites designed to steal sensitive information, such as login credentials, personal data, and financial information. Unlike traditional phishing attacks, which rely on users clicking on malicious links in emails or text messages, quishing leverages the trust and curiosity that QR codes can inspire. 📍 THE MECHANISM OF QUISHING ℹ️ Email-Based QR Code Phishing: Cybercriminals often embed malicious QR codes within seemingly legitimate emails. These emails may purport to be from trusted sources such as financial institutions, service providers, or corporate entities. ℹ️ Physical and Digital Media: Malicious QR codes can also be found on posters, flyers, and other physical media. Additionally, they can be distributed through social media, SMS, or other digital platforms, widening the scope of potential victims. 📍 ASCII-BASED QR CODES QR CODE PHISHING 2.0/3.0 ℹ️ Researchers have uncovered a new campaign where the QR code is not in an image but instead created via HTML and ASCII characters. The idea is to bypass OCR engines. ℹ️ Essentially, the threat actors are putting in small blocks in the HTML. In the email it will look like a QR code. But to a typical OCR, it doesn’t look like anything. ℹ️ Like many QR code phishing attacks, the email is around a re-authentication request. But the QR code has ASCII characters behind it, which could lead security systems to ignore it and think it’s a clean email. 📍 THE EVOLUTION: QR CODE PHISHING 2.0/3.0 ℹ️ Attack forms all evolve. QR code phishing is no different. It’s unique, though, that the evolution has happened so rapidly. ℹ️ It started off with standard MFA verification codes. These were pretty straightforward, asking users to scan a code, either to re-set MFA or even look at financial data. ℹ️ The second iteration, QR Code Phishing 2.0, was conditional routing attacks. The link looks for where the user is interacting with it and adjusts accordingly. If the user is on a Mac, one link appears. If the user is on an Android phone, another one pops up. Researchers also saw custom QR Code campaigns, where hackers dynamically populated the logo of the company and the correct username. ℹ️ Now, we’re seeing QR Code 3.0, which manifests itself as a manipulation campaign. It’s not actually a traditional QR code but rather a text-based representation of one. This makes it incredibly difficult for OCR systems to see it and detect it. Report: https://lnkd.in/dqqrPJ8J #quishing #cybercrime #threathunting #threatdetection #threatanalysis #threatintelligenceteam #threatintelligence #cyberthreatintelligence #cyberintelligence #cybersecurity #cyberprotection #cyberdefense

Malicious QR Codes - Quishing TLDR; If you scan a QR code from an email and it asks you for any information (login/password) just assume it's a SCAM and then try prove it's not before proceeding. During the global pandemic we were all trained to scan QR codes as a convenient way to check-in to locations in case there was an detected case. Cyber Criminals have now jumped on this habit of scanning QR codes without thinking and are using it phishing campaigns to steal your sensitive usernames and passwords, or to get access to your accounts directly. The use of QR codes in phishing has given. rise to the term Quishing. In recent weeks there has been increasing usage of Quishing, which many anti-phishing capabilities may not be able to detect. This is because these mitigations need to first be able to detect a QR code, then pull the linked URL in the QR code, before parsing through the existing anti-phishing capabilities. Some simple advise to follow if you get a QR code in email 1) if you access a service normally another way, don't scan the QR just log into the website or app manually. If it's not a SCAM then there should be a task/notice for you to action when you log in normally. 2) logging in manually may not be as convenient as just scanning a QR code, but being a victim of stolen credentials can be even more inconvenient to you and your organisation. 3) most people will scan a QR with a phone. if a service has an app, and you open a link to that service you will be asked if you want to use the app. If this doesn't happen, then start asking if it's real or a SCAM. Please add in the comments of you have other advice for people to deal with Quishing. #cyber #infosec #malware #scam #phishing #email #quishinh #qr #thales Thales