Cybercrime Observations from the Frontlines: UNC6040 Proactive Hardening Recommendations

Written by: Omar ElAhdan, Matthew McWhirt, Michael Rudden, Aswad Robinson, Bhavesh Dhake,
                    Laith Al

Background

Protecting software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms and applications requires a comprehensive security strategy. Drawing from analysis of UNC6040’s specific attack methodologies, this guide presents a structured defensive framework encompassing proactive hardening measures, comprehensive logging protocols, and advanced detection capabilities. While emphasizing Salesforce-specific security recommendations, these strategies provide organizations with actionable approaches to safeguard their SaaS ecosystem against current threats.

Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) is tracking UNC6040, a financially motivated threat cluster that specializes in voice phishing (vishing) campaigns specifically designed to compromise organizations’ Salesforce instances for large-scale data theft and subsequent extortion. Over the past several months, UNC6040 has demonstrated repeated success in breaching networks by having its operators impersonate IT support personnel in convincing telephone-based social engineering engagements. This approach has proven particularly effective in tricking employees, often within English-speaking branches of multinational corporations, into actions that grant the attackers access or lead to the sharing of sensitive credentials, ultimately facilitating the theft of organization’s Salesforce data. In all observed cases, attackers relied on manipulating end users, not exploiting any vulnerability inherent to Salesforce.

A prevalent tactic in UNC6040’s operations involves deceiving victims into authorizing a malicious connected app to their organization’s Salesforce portal. This application is often a modified version of Salesforce’s Data Loader, not authorized by Salesforce. During a vishing call, the actor guides the victim to visit Salesforce’s connected app setup page to approve a version of the Data Loader app with a name or branding that differs from the legitimate version. This step inadvertently grants UNC6040 significant capabilities to access, query, and exfiltrate sensitive information directly from the

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