Equifax website redirected visitors to fake Flash update, it’s malvertising

Equifax service set up for obtaining free and discounted credit reports had been redirecting users to websites offering a fake Flash Player installer.

The independent security analyst Randy Abrams discovered an Equifax service set up for obtaining free and discounted credit reports had been redirecting users to websites offering a fake Flash Player installer.

“As I tried to find my credit report on the Equifax website I clicked on an Equifax link and was redirected to a malicious URL. The URL brought up one of the ubiquitous fake Flash Player Update screens.” Abrams said in a blog post.

Crooks redirected users to the website used to serve adware and scams, the browsing session was taken through multiple domains before the final landing page was reached.

The compromised Equifax webpage (aa.econsumer.equifax.com) was promptly sanitized by the company.

Crooks were redirecting users depending on the type of device and their geographical location, for example, both Android and iOS users were served with fake updates, premium SMS services, and other fraudulent sites.

The company confirmed the problem affected credit report assistance link on its website.

“We are aware of the situation,” a spokesman said. “Our IT and Security teams are looking into this matter, and out of an abundance of caution have temporarily taken this page offline.”

What’s happened?

It seems that Equifax wasn’t hacked again, but the hack occurred with a third-party ad network or analytics provider which is the root cause of the redirect.

The hypothesis was confirmed by the security researcher Kevin Beaumont that blamed a third-party ad network or analytics provider for the redirects.

A few days ago, Equifax announced that additional 2.5 million U.S. consumers were exposed as a result of the massive data breach that affected the company in September. The credit reporting agency confirmed that a total of 145.5 million individuals have been exposed, hackers accessed names, social security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and, in some cases, driver’s license numbers and credit card numbers.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – cybercrime, malvertising)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.