It’s springtime and the phishing is great

“The phish are really biting today!” You might hope to hear something like that on your next vacation, but unfortunately that could just as easily be a message you’d read in the online chat rooms of threat actor groups.  A recent public service announcement by the FBI warns that threat actors are impersonating senior US government officials in text messages (smishing) and AI-generated voice messages (vishing). The malicious messaging campaign aims to lure in current or former senior US federal and state government officials into unwittingly giving up the credentials to their work or personal accounts. Even if you’re not a governmental official, or working directly with one, executive impersonation remains a widespread and growing threat.  That’s why Omnissa Workspace ONE Mobile Threat Defense is designed to help protect you and your users from sophisticated attacks. Read on to learn more! 

Malicious messaging campaigns, by their nature, target people on their mobile devices where users have more ways to be reached – think of messaging, social media, games, productivity tools and more. It is also harder to spot fake messages and links on mobile devices. 

While it might be exciting and flattering to get a phone call or a text message from “a senior administration official”, this is a reminder that everything isn’t always as it seems. AI systems can now generate fake audio of almost anyone saying almost anything. For example, AI can now fake someone’s voice so well that it sounds real. In one case, scammers used AI to set up a video conference with a set of AI fake employees including a fake “CFO” who succeeded in convincing an actual employee to transfer $25 million to scammers. 

This shows how AI can be used to trick people by sounding like someone they trust. It’s a high-tech way of pulling the wool over someone’s eyes — and it’s getting harder to tell what’s real and what’s fake. 

Omnissa Workspace ONE Mobile Threat Defense helps protect users by detecting and responding to these threats directly on mobile devices—before damage is done. It analyzes links, messages, and device behavior in real time to flag suspicious activity, isolate compromised devices, and prevent risky actions like credential submission. Because these attacks often target personal apps and communication channels outside traditional IT visibility, Workspace ONE Mobile Threat Defense extends critical security where users are most vulnerable. It's a proactive, AI-powered defense layer for a threat landscape that increasingly follows users wherever they go. 

If you are interested in a mobile threat defense solution that can help protect your users from phishing and smishing attacks, and even protect them from acting on certain vishing attacks, learn more about Omnissa Workspace ONE Mobile Threat Defense.  

We urge everyone to treat messages from unknown phone numbers as suspicious.   

The FBI and CISA provide valuable resources to learn more about these types of threats. 

Criminal Use of Generative AI to facilitate Financial Fraud | FBI 

Phishing Guidance: Stopping the attack at phase 1 | CISA