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So they paid $1000 for 530k accounts. What's the use case of a stolen zoom account? To impersonate an institution this doesn't seem quite enough, so is it just

So they paid $1000 for 530k accounts. What's the use case of a stolen zoom account? To impersonate an institution this doesn't seem quite enough, so is it just lulz?

vlan0 6y ago
If those accounts belong to an org with SSO enabled and mediocre security, that’s a win for the crooks.
- avree 6y ago
  Huh? It's not like Zoom offers an SSO solution. The value of the accounts is two-fold: 1) Looking for Zoom premium accounts, there is actually a pretty good trade in stolen accounts on the dark web. Folks will pay a dollar for example for one of these accounts. 2) This is the more likely one—looking for people who use one shared password across multiple valuable logins.
  - ilikepi 6y ago
    SSO is offered at the "Business" plan level. So I guess the question would be how many of the stolen accounts were for users at a lower plan level but were also controlled by espionage-worthy companies.
    - robjan 6y ago
      You can authenticate with Zoom using your existing SSO solution, not the other way around. When using SSO the Zoom account wouldn't have a password at all.
      - samcat116 6y ago
        Exactly. I'm surprised there are accounts from large companies that must have some sort of SSO with MFA solution. Are they not using it with Zoom? That's a no brainer
  - vlan0 6y ago
    >2) This is the more likely one—looking for people who use one shared password across multiple valuable logins. This is my point.
staticautomatic 6y ago
In theory maybe it could be used for industrial espionage if certain stars aligned.
synaesthesisx 6y ago
Espionage - apparently there are entire darknet channels for trading insider information (presumably for trading purposes). Nefarious actors could easily tap into a pre-earnings call Zoom meeting and extract valuable information.
anonytrary 6y ago
Having 530k unique accounts on any growing platform seems like a great investment even if it's not clear how to utilize them right now. Whatever someone could ever want to do with a bot army, they now have 530k fewer accounts to create. Mass-creating accounts will only get more difficult as Zoom's platform matures. There are plenty of ways utilize bot accounts for indirect financial gain on platforms like Reddit and Twitter.
abrichr 6y ago
I was in a Zoom call today where someone joined half way through and immediately was very loud and vulgar for about 5-10s before he was kicked. So n = 1 it's for lulz.

So they paid $1000 for 530k accounts. What's the use case of a stolen zoom account? To impersonate an institution this doesn't seem quite enough, so is it just lulz?

vlan0 6y ago

If those accounts belong to an org with SSO enabled and mediocre security, that’s a win for the crooks.

avree 6y ago
Huh? It's not like Zoom offers an SSO solution. The value of the accounts is two-fold: 1) Looking for Zoom premium accounts, there is actually a pretty good trade in stolen accounts on the dark web. Folks will pay a dollar for example for one of these accounts. 2) This is the more likely one—looking for people who use one shared password across multiple valuable logins.
- ilikepi 6y ago
  SSO is offered at the "Business" plan level. So I guess the question would be how many of the stolen accounts were for users at a lower plan level but were also controlled by espionage-worthy companies.
  - robjan 6y ago
    You can authenticate with Zoom using your existing SSO solution, not the other way around. When using SSO the Zoom account wouldn't have a password at all.
    - samcat116 6y ago
      Exactly. I'm surprised there are accounts from large companies that must have some sort of SSO with MFA solution. Are they not using it with Zoom? That's a no brainer
- vlan0 6y ago
  >2) This is the more likely one—looking for people who use one shared password across multiple valuable logins. This is my point.

staticautomatic 6y ago

In theory maybe it could be used for industrial espionage if certain stars aligned.

synaesthesisx 6y ago

Espionage - apparently there are entire darknet channels for trading insider information (presumably for trading purposes). Nefarious actors could easily tap into a pre-earnings call Zoom meeting and extract valuable information.

anonytrary 6y ago

Having 530k unique accounts on any growing platform seems like a great investment even if it's not clear how to utilize them right now. Whatever someone could ever want to do with a bot army, they now have 530k fewer accounts to create. Mass-creating accounts will only get more difficult as Zoom's platform matures. There are plenty of ways utilize bot accounts for indirect financial gain on platforms like Reddit and Twitter.

abrichr 6y ago

I was in a Zoom call today where someone joined half way through and immediately was very loud and vulgar for about 5-10s before he was kicked. So n = 1 it's for lulz.