Attackers Hacked the Digital Pass System of Moscow residents

On Apr 14, 2020

Moscow’s residents are warned about scammers who offer to issue digital passes for moving around the city on social networks

Recall that on last week Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov signed a decree according to which special digital passes are introduced for trips in Moscow and the Moscow Region on personal and public transport. Quarantine residents of Moscow will need to receive a QR code on the City Hall website for each exit from their homes. QR codes can begin to be issued on Monday, April 13, 2020.

A bot appeared in Telegram that offers citizens to get a digital pass through the messenger. It asks for the phone number and personal data of the citizen, including passport. Also, hackers offer to issue a pass on social networks.

Moreover, Telegram channel 4chan posted information that while the QR code issuing system was in beta testing, unknown hackers managed to hack it.

“The program for generating QR codes for quarantine from the Moscow government has not yet left the beta test, but it has already been hacked and generated universal promotional codes that will allow you to go around Moscow unlimited,” the channel authors write.

The author of the microblog @A_Kapustin in the social network Twitter managed to post several electronic passes. Some of them, according to the user, allows you to walk within a kilometer from home, and others give the owner the opportunity to freely walk around Moscow. Some QR codes are already blocked, according to the author, but new generations appear in the network.

At the same time, scammers became active in another segment. Russians began to receive SMS messages notifying them of violations of their self-isolation regime and demanding to pay a fine for these offenses.

Experts believe that the situation is complicated, because the Russians do not have time to follow the rules that the authorities of a particular region introduce, which means they are afraid to make something wrong. This is used by scammers, organizing entire schemes using SMS, social networks and messengers. The goal is to get access to data for emptying Bank cards.