Growing AIT phishing attacks on CPaaS firms

CPaaS, or Communications Platforms as a Service, has emerged as a valuable solution for companies searching for more customizable technology stacks. AIT accounted for over 20% of global traffic in 2022, and estimates suggest a 40% rise in AIT-related incidents in 2023.

CPaaS technology provides organizations with an efficient way to create their own unique approach to internal and external communications, via SDKs, APIs, and programmable tools. The CPaaS market is growing at an exceptional rate. By 2027, it’s expected to reach a value of $45.3 billion.

Enterprises face a growing threat from SMS traffic pumping, or artificial inflated traffic (AIT), AIT is a type of SMS fraud that generates high volumes of fake traffic via mobile applications or websites. Leading to telcos seeking payments from firms for traffic generated by fraudsters, according to industry experts.

Some apps may use AIT to present an inflated number of users, but the veracity of the numbers becomes evident when conversion rates are monitored. This is coming at a time, when the government is looking to curb the menace of unwanted communication such as promotional SMSs, experts said the telecom operators are not solely responsible for its increase. Whereas, Telcos plays the critical role .

At the sametime, there has to similar efforts are needed on part of enterprises that originate such SMSs, and communications platform as a service (CPaaS) providers that act as a middle layer between the enterprises and telcos before such communication is sent to consumers.

The loopholes at the end of enterprises can be attributed to their partnerships with unregistered telemarketers or CPaaS players which ensure them bulk promotional SMSs at discounted price points and even include undesired content in the registered headers and message templates that pass the firewall of telecom networks. Even the unused templates are often used for phishing attacks by the unverified telemarketers who also work for enterprises, according to experts.

Consequently, telcos seek payments from enterprises as the messages landing on their networks incur costs, despite failing to reach end consumers due to the fraudulent system designed by scammers.

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA