Salty2FA: The New Phishing-as-a-Service Threat to US and EU Enterprises

Cybersecurity researchers have raised alarms over Salty2FA, a new Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) kit designed to bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA/2FA), specifically targeting push notifications, SMS codes, and voice call verification.

According to analysis by ANY.RUN, Salty2FA campaigns are primarily aimed at enterprises in the United States and several European countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Switzerland. Targeted industries include finance, telecommunications, energy, real estate, and business consulting.

Attack Methodology of Salty2FA

1. Compelling Phishing Emails
   Attackers deliver emails with urgent and convincing subject lines such as “External Review Request: 2025 Payment Correction” to lure victims into clicking malicious links.
   
   
2. Redirect to Fake Login Pages
   Victims are taken to spoofed login portals that mimic legitimate services such as Microsoft 365. These phishing sites also deploy techniques like Cloudflare checks to evade automated detection systems.
   
   
3. Credential Theft
   Once users enter their usernames and passwords, the stolen data is immediately transmitted to the attacker’s server.
   
   
4. Exploiting MFA (2FA) Protections
   If the victim’s account is protected by MFA, the phishing site prompts them to input the 2FA code (via SMS, push, or voice call). These codes are intercepted by the attackers, enabling account takeover (ATO) despite MFA being enabled.

Risks and Impacts

• Account Takeover (ATO): Even MFA-protected accounts are vulnerable when relying on weaker methods like SMS or voice call.
  
  
• High-Value Targets: Financial institutions, telecoms, and energy providers face the highest exposure risks.
  
  
• Advanced Evasion: Salty2FA employs rotating domains, complex page logic, and sandbox evasion techniques to bypass detection.

Recommended Defensive Measures

1. Behavioral Detection:
   Focus on analyzing domain structures and page logic rather than relying solely on Indicators of Compromise (IoCs), which can quickly change.
   
   
2. Sandbox Analysis:
   Route suspicious emails and attachments to a sandbox to identify credential theft and MFA interception attempts.
   
   
3. Strengthen MFA:
   Replace SMS or voice-based MFA with authenticator apps or hardware tokens to improve resilience against phishing.
   
   
4. Employee Awareness Training:
   Staff should be trained to recognize phishing attempts, particularly financially themed urgent messages such as payment corrections or billing statements.
   
   
5. Integrate with SIEM/SOAR:
   Incorporate sandbox outputs and threat intelligence into centralized monitoring systems to accelerate detection and response.

Conclusion

The emergence of Salty2FA highlights a sobering reality: even multi-factor authentication is not foolproof when organizations rely on outdated and less secure methods. Attackers are continuously adapting, and phishing kits like Salty2FA represent a growing threat to enterprise security.

Organizations should strengthen MFA implementations, invest in behavioral detection, and educate employees to reduce risks from increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks.

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