馃嚥馃嚘MoroccoNorth Africa
World Cup 2026: streaming rush fuels surge in cyberattacks
via Le Matin7 min read
The excitement surrounding major sporting events like the World Cup creates opportunities for cybercriminals, who exploit fans' eagerness to stream matches. Professor Youssef Bentaleb, president of the Moroccan Center for Polytechnic and Innovation Research CMRPI, explains that these criminals operate like merchants, selling fraud. They prepare sophisticated campaigns months in advance, using fake streaming sites, fraudulent mobile applications, and exploiting social media and messaging groups like WhatsApp to trick users. These scams can lead to the theft of banking data and complete control of a victim's phone. Morocco, a football-loving nation and future co-organizer of the 2030 World Cup, is particularly vulnerable. The "emotional attack surface" created by mass enthusiasm leads to reduced vigilance, causing users to click quickly, download without verification, or enter personal details on suspicious sites. Cybercriminal networks are industrialized, creating professional-looking interfaces with official logos and authentic-seeming content to gain trust. Users are often prompted to create accounts or provide personal and banking information under false pretenses. Fraudulent mobile applications, some infiltrating official stores, mimic legitimate services but request excessive permissions upon installation, such as access to SMS, contacts, storage, or accessibility features. These permissions can be misused to view screens, simulate clicks, interact with other applications
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Le Matin.
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