Cyber criminals target users of Netflix’s Arabic service

A copycat site that looks like Netflix's landing page has been used to steal personal data such as credit card details

Netflix advised its users to change the password, in case of any suspicion, to a new one that is strong and unique. AFP

Cyber criminals are targeting Arabic users of popular streaming service Netflix, posing a risk to their personal data such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, Kaspersky found.

The Moscow-based cybersecurity firm detected a wave of phishing attacks in the Middle East and North Africa region targeting users of the service, who are then taken to a malicious domain created in Arabic that looks like a genuine Netflix landing page.

“Personal information and credentials are the most valuable digital products … we can only guess how fraudsters may exploit Netflix credentials gathered as a result of such attacks,” Tatyana Shcherbakova, a security researcher at Kaspersky, said.

“There are many variants – they [stolen credentials] might be sold on the dark web if the user has a prepaid subscription or used later to add credibility to a malicious e-mail attack, for example, informing users of a necessity to pay for the account restoration, stealing money and even blackmail,” she added.

Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information or data by disguising oneself as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

It is one of the most common methods of attack by cyber criminals as it uses legitimate institutions, promoting a fraudster's chances of success, and is carried out on a large scale.

“When the victim’s password and login are the same as their credentials to other sensitive domains, the criminals might penetrate their social media or e-mails. This is why we always recommend using different passwords for different services and two-factor authentication,” Ms Shcherbakova said.

Kaspersky did not disclose the number of attacks carried out on Netflix users. In total, more than 2.57 million phishing attacks were detected across the Middle East in the second quarter of this year at the height of the Covid-19 stay-at-home measures, the company said in August.

Saudi Arabia, the biggest Arab economy, witnessed 973,061 phishing attacks – the most in the region. This was followed by the UAE with 617,347 attacks, Egypt (492,532), Oman (193,379), Qatar (128,356), Kuwait (106,245) and Bahrain (67,581), according to Kaspersky data.

"Did you receive an email or text requesting your Netflix username, password or payment method? If so, it probably did not come from us," said Netflix on its help centre page.

The company advised users who were suspicious about a potential phishing attempt to change their Netflix password to one that is strong and unique.

“Update your password on any websites where you use the same email and password combination. Contact your financial institution if you entered any payment information, as it may have been compromised,” it added.