Tech support scam
Fake technician gains remote access, "finds" viruses and demands untraceable payment
categorySocial engineering and human-targeted attacksseverityLowdetectabilityHighlabnot yet measured
Classification
28 values: 13 imported, 2 derived, 13 machine-classified. What do these mean?
Exploitability
| Attack vector | Malware |
|---|---|
| Reach (CVSS) | |
| Attack complexity | Low |
| Privileges required | None |
| User interaction | Active |
| Attacker skill required | Low |
| Resources required | Low |
| Likelihood / prevalence | High |
| Maturity | Commoditized |
Impact & scope
| Severity | Low |
|---|---|
| Impact | ConfidentialityFinancial |
| Platform | LinuxmacOSWindows |
| Environment | On-premises |
| Target asset class | EndpointHuman |
| Kill-chain phase (tactic) | Command and Control |
Detection & telemetry
| Detectability | High |
|---|---|
| Testability | Atomic Red Team test |
| Data sources (ATT&CK data components) | File CreationNetwork Connection CreationProcess CreationService CreationWindows Registry Key CreationWindows Registry Key Modification |
Detection & response
Mitigated by 16
- M1031 attack-mitigation
- M1034 attack-mitigation
- M1037 attack-mitigation
- M1038 attack-mitigation
- M1042 attack-mitigation
D3-APCAd3fendD3-CSPPd3fendD3-NTCDd3fendD3-NTFd3fendD3-NTSAd3fendD3-OTFd3fendD3-PHDURAd3fendD3-PMADd3fendD3-RPAd3fendD3-RTSDd3fendD3-UGLPAd3fend
Detected by 53
- DET0496 attack-detection-strategy
065b00ca-5d5c-4557-ac95-64a6d0b64d86sigma0b9ad457-2554-44c1-82c2-d56a99c42377sigma101a1877-2cf4-474d-abfd-7f6ac4788d1asigma114e7f1c-f137-48c8-8f54-3088c24ce4b9sigma145322e4-0fd3-486b-81ca-9addc75736d8sigma162ab1e4-6874-4564-853c-53ec3ab8be01sigma22c45af6-f590-4d44-bab3-b5b2d2a2b6d9sigma238527ad-3c2c-4e4f-a1f6-92fd63adb864sigma2cf29f11-e356-4f61-98c0-1bdb9393d6dasigma2d367498-5112-4ae5-a06a-96e7bc33a211sigma2db93a3f-3249-4f73-9e68-0e77a0f8ae7esigma2fbbe9ff-0afc-470b-bdc0-592198339968sigma3ab79e90-9fab-4cdf-a7b2-6522bc742adbsigma4bb79b62-ef12-4861-981d-2aab43fab642sigma4bc90587-e6ca-4b41-be0b-ed4d04e4ed0csigma4d07b1f4-cb00-4470-b9f8-b0191d48ff52sigma52753ea4-b3a0-4365-910d-36cff487b789sigma57bff678-25d1-4d6c-8211-8ca106d12053sigma5d756aee-ad3e-4306-ad95-cb1abec48de2sigma5fdce3ac-e7f9-4ecd-a3aa-a4d78ebbf0afsigma6e22722b-dfb1-4508-a911-49ac840b40f8sigma6f6afac3-8e7a-4e4b-9588-2608ffe08f82sigma70761fe8-6aa2-4f80-98c1-a57049c08e66sigma74a2b202-73e0-4693-9a3a-9d36146d0775sigma758ff488-18d5-4cbe-8ec4-02b6285a434fsigma778ba9a8-45e4-4b80-8e3e-34a419f0b85esigma7b582f1a-b318-4c6a-bf4e-66fe49bf55a5sigma7f3a9c2d-4e8b-4a7f-9d3e-5c6f8a9b2e1dsigma87261fb2-69d0-42fe-b9de-88c6b5f65a43sigma88656cec-6c3b-487c-82c0-f73ebb805503sigma90d6bd71-dffb-4989-8d86-a827fedd6624sigma95e60a2b-4705-444b-b7da-ba0ea81a3ee2sigma9711de76-5d4f-4c50-a94f-21e4e8f8384dsigma97233998-3838-4581-88c6-f1d19d3993fbsigma9847f263-4a81-424f-970c-875dab15b79bsigma9e4b7d3a-6f2c-4e9a-8d1b-3c5e7a9f2b4dsigmaaa3168fb-d594-4f93-a92d-7a9ba675b766sigmab1377339-fda6-477a-b455-ac0923f9ec2csigmab471f462-eb0d-4832-be35-28d94bdb4780sigma- … and 13 more in the database
Tested by 15
0ae9e327-3251-465a-a53b-485d4e3f58faatomic19acf63b-55c4-4b6a-8552-00a8865105c8atomic1aea6d15-70f1-4b4e-8b02-397b5d5ffe75atomic1b72b3bd-72f8-4b63-a30b-84e91b9c3578atomic3e1858ee-3550-401c-86ec-5e70ed79295batomic42e51815-a6cc-4c75-b970-3f0ff54b610eatomic4a18cc4e-416f-4966-9a9d-75731c4684c0atomic6b8b7391-5c0a-4f8c-baee-78d8ce0ce330atomic8ca3b96d-8983-4a7f-b125-fc98cc0a2aa0atomicb025c580-029e-4023-888d-a42710d76934atomicb1b8128b-c5d4-4de9-bf70-e60419274562atomicd03683ec-aae0-42f9-9b4c-534780e0f8e1atomicecca999b-e0c8-40e8-8416-ad320b146a75atomicf1641ba9-919a-4323-b74f-33372333bf0eatomicfbff3f1f-b0bf-448e-840f-7e1687affdceatomic
Attack relationships
Framework references
- Primary source: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-and-report-tech-support-scams
- capec: CAPEC-413 (primary)
- attack: T1219
Evidence & sources
- ev-0001 (Cyber Attack Taxonomy) — Name, definition and Example/ID taken verbatim from the 'Social engineering and human-targeted attacks' table, line 45 of Cyber-Attack-Taxonomy.md
- ev-0002 (Seeded-record enrichment run 2026-09-30 (crosswalk + facet classification)) — Crosswalk to capec:CAPEC-413, attack:T1219 as the nearest framework entries; ids verified to exist in the cached catalogues.
- ev-0003 (MITRE Enterprise ATT&CK v19.2 (STIX 2.1)) — ATT&CK usage prevalence: 22 groups/software/campaigns reference this technique (ATT&CK enterprise v19.2)