Google Sues Global Cybercrime Ring Over Massive Smishing Campaign: Report

According to a CNBC report, the group, referred to by some cyber researchers as the “Smishing Triad,” operates primarily out of China, according to Google.

Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google on Wednesday reportedly filed a lawsuit against an international cybercrime group responsible for orchestrating a large-scale SMS phishing, commonly known as “smishing,” campaign.

According to a CNBC report, the group, referred to by some cyber researchers as the “Smishing Triad,” operates primarily out of China, as per Google. It leverages a phishing-as-a-service toolkit named “Lighthouse” to create and launch attacks using fraudulent texts.

“They were preying on users’ trust in reputable brands such as E-ZPass, the U.S. Postal Service, and even us as Google,” Google general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado told CNBC.

“The ‘Lighthouse’ enterprise or software creates a bunch of templates in which you create fake websites to pull users’ information,” DeLaine Prado said.

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