[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f5dMQVrEyj48qWW5t_pTRc1MO-IkFHuMXFIEXFVVk6Hs":3},{"lesson":4},{"id":5,"slug":6,"article_id":7,"title":8,"body":9,"prevention":10,"framework_refs":11,"framework_notes":23,"status":24,"created_at":25,"published_at":26,"article":27,"tags":31,"podcasts":44,"controls":45},"6cdb3386-894f-44a4-b3f2-19a4463f64ab","vishing-attacks-exploit-human-trust-to-hijack-microsoft-teams-sessions","af74f689-4612-4c62-89fe-877e2ba6c6d0","Vishing Attacks Exploit Human Trust to Hijack Microsoft Teams Sessions","The 'Spring Ring' threat actor is exploiting human psychology rather than technical vulnerabilities, using voice phishing (vishing) to manipulate Microsoft Teams users into voluntarily granting unauthorized access to their sessions. This attack succeeds because users are not trained to recognize social engineering delivered via voice calls, especially when the attacker impersonates trusted entities like IT support. Once access is granted, attackers can deploy malware and pivot laterally across entire organizational infrastructures. This campaign highlights that even robust technical controls can be bypassed when employees are not equipped to identify and respond to social engineering threats.","**Immediate actions:**\n- Train all employees to recognize vishing tactics and establish a strict policy of never granting remote access in response to unsolicited calls or messages.\n- Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on all Microsoft Teams accounts and restrict remote-access permissions to verified IT personnel only.\n\n**Long-term improvements:**\n- Implement a formal callback verification procedure requiring users to independently confirm the identity of anyone requesting remote access via an official directory number.\n- Conduct regular simulated vishing exercises to assess and improve employee resilience against voice-based social engineering.\n- Apply the principle of least privilege to Teams configurations, limiting screen-sharing and remote control capabilities to roles that genuinely require them.\n\n**Detection measures:**\n- Enable and review Microsoft Teams audit logs to flag unusual session-sharing or remote access events in real time.\n- Deploy endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools to identify anomalous behavior such as unexpected remote access tools or lateral movement following a Teams session.",[12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22],"CIS Control 14 – Security Awareness and Skills Training","CIS Control 6 – Access Control Management","CIS Control 8 – Audit Log Management","NIST SP 800-50 – Security Awareness Training","NIST AC-2 – Account Management","NIST AC-17 – Remote Access","NIST IA-2 – Identification and Authentication (MFA)","NIST AT-2 – Literacy Training and Awareness","MITRE ATT&CK T1566.004 – Phishing: Voice Phishing (Vishing)","ISO\u002FIEC 27001 – A.7.2.2 Information Security Awareness and Training","GDPR Article 32 – Security of Processing",{},"published","2026-09-02T18:20:34.107119+00:00","2026-09-02T18:20:33.972+00:00",{"id":7,"url":28,"slug":29,"title":30},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.darkreading.com\u002Fcyberattacks-data-breaches\u002Fthreat-gang-springs-vishing-attacks-microsoft-teams-users","threat-gang-springs-vishing-attacks-on-microsoft-teams-users-e7f4b9","Threat Gang 'Springs' Vishing Attacks on Microsoft Teams Users",[32,38],{"id":33,"name":34,"slug":35,"description":36,"color":37},"1ec88fde-2d0f-4ed8-932a-33f5ccc0fdc7","Access Control","access-control","Excessive privileges, missing MFA, weak auth","#f97316",{"id":39,"name":40,"slug":41,"description":42,"color":43},"7261eb8f-acd4-4d93-a489-7fdd652ec0ea","Security Awareness","security-awareness","Phishing, social engineering, human error","#22c55e",[],[46,50,54],{"slug":47,"name":48,"problem":49},"phishing-resistant-mfa","Phishing-resistant MFA","A stolen password, or a user who taps Approve on a push prompt, is no longer enough to log in.",{"slug":51,"name":52,"problem":53},"endpoint-detection-response","Endpoint detection and response (EDR and XDR)","Malware and hands-on-keyboard attackers on laptops and servers get spotted and stopped.",{"slug":55,"name":56,"problem":57},"security-awareness-training","Security awareness training and phishing simulation","People recognise and report attacks instead of falling for them."]