Google has disclosed particulars of a financially motivated risk cluster that it stated “specialises” in voice phishing (aka vishing) campaigns designed to breach organizations’ Salesforce cases for large-scale knowledge theft and subsequent extortion.
The tech large’s risk intelligence group is monitoring the exercise beneath the moniker UNC6040, which it stated reveals traits that align with risk teams with ties to a web-based cybercrime collective often called The Com.
“Over the previous a number of months, UNC6040 has demonstrated repeated success in breaching networks by having its operators impersonate IT assist personnel in convincing telephone-based social engineering engagements,” the corporate stated in a report shared with The Hacker Information.
This method, Google’s Menace Intelligence Group (GTIG) added, has had the advantage of tricking English-speaking staff into performing actions that give the risk actors entry or result in the sharing of beneficial info equivalent to credentials, that are then used to facilitate knowledge theft.
A noteworthy facet of UNC6040’s actions entails the usage of a modified model of Salesforce’s Information Loader that victims are deceived into authorizing in order to hook up with the group’s Salesforce portal through the vishing assault. Information Loader is an software used to import, export, and replace knowledge in bulk throughout the Salesforce platform.
Particularly, the attackers information the goal to go to Salesforce’s related app setup web page and approve the modified model of the Information Loader app that carries a unique identify or branding (e.g., “My Ticket Portal”) from its respectable counterpart. This motion grants them unauthorized entry to the Salesforce buyer environments and exfiltrate knowledge.
Past knowledge loss, the assaults function a stepping stone for UNC6040 to maneuver laterally via the sufferer’s community, after which entry and harvest info from different platforms equivalent to Okta, Office, and Microsoft 365.
Choose incidents have additionally concerned extortion actions, however solely “a number of months” after the preliminary intrusions had been noticed, indicating an try to monetize and revenue off the stolen knowledge presumably in partnership with a second risk actor.
“Throughout these extortion makes an attempt, the actor has claimed affiliation with the well-known hacking group ShinyHunters, possible as a way to extend strain on their victims,” Google stated.
UNC6040’s overlaps with teams linked to The Com stem from the focusing on of Okta credentials and the usage of social engineering through IT assist, a tactic that has been embraced by Scattered Spider, one other financially motivated risk actor that is a part of the loose-knit organized collective.
The vishing marketing campaign hasn’t gone unnoticed by Salesforce, which, in March 2025, warned of risk actors utilizing social engineering techniques to impersonate IT assist personnel over the telephone and trick its prospects’ staff into gifting away their credentials or approving the modified Information Loader app.
“They’ve been reported luring our prospects’ staff and third-party assist staff to phishing pages designed to steal credentials and MFA tokens or prompting customers to navigate to the login.salesforce[.]com/setup/join web page as a way to add a malicious related app,” the corporate stated.
“In some instances, we’ve noticed that the malicious related app is a modified model of the Information Loader app revealed beneath a unique identify and/or branding. As soon as the risk actor positive aspects entry to a buyer’s Salesforce account or provides a related app, they use the related app to exfiltrate knowledge.”
The event not solely highlights the continued sophistication of social engineering campaigns, but additionally exhibits how IT assist employees are being more and more focused as a technique to acquire preliminary entry.
“The success of campaigns like UNC6040’s, leveraging these refined vishing techniques, demonstrates that this method stays an efficient risk vector for financially motivated teams looking for to breach organizational defenses,” Google stated.
“Given the prolonged timeframe between preliminary compromise and extortion, it’s potential that a number of sufferer organizations and doubtlessly downstream victims may face extortion calls for within the coming weeks or months.”
