How Cybercriminals are Exploiting Spotify for Malware and Scams
The researchers have warned that Spotify, a widely trusted platform, is being exploited as a medium for distributing spam, malware, and pirated software. In one instance, a playlist titled “Sony Vegas Pro 13 Crack Free Download 2024” was used to advertise a piracy website hosting malicious software. According to Paciorek, cybercriminals leverage Spotify’s strong reputation and high search engine indexing to promote harmful links. Spotify has removed the specific playlist now as such activities and practices violate the Platform Rules.
However, the problem is not just a few isolated cases. BleepingComputer reported that “Vbucks generators” a piracy-related content for Fortnite and cracked license keys are common on Spotify. Most of the times these are hidden in podcast episodes or playlists having catchy misleading titles. Although Spotify has controls to identify and block malicious search terms but another layer of complexity is added when Google starts indexing these links and making them available to users outside Spotify’s search functionality.
Analysis shows that many of the malicious podcasts are just meaningless audio that anyone can generate from AI based tools such as text-to-speech services. The description of podcasts are linking to harmful or fraudulent websites. Examples include podcasts promoting Turkish gambling sites or audiobook scams.
Scammers are using popular keywords of trending topics to enhance their reach in search engines to the next level.
