Phishing has always been about deceiving people. But in this campaign, Discovers something new.
The attackers were not only targeting users, but they also attempted to manipulate AI-based defenses.
That campaign relied on urgency, redirects, and a credential-harvesting site.
This one keeps the same delivery chain but introduces something different, hidden AI prompts inside the email designed to confuse automated analysis.
The Symania Way:
Symania protects against this phishing risk that aim to the user and the AI defenses by using a true passwordless, phishing-resistant method.
Users never enter a password, or any other keys/codes and attackers can’t replicate Symania’s protected flow, fake login pages and AI-targeted phishing emails can’t capture usable credentials or complete authentication.
Symania also uses a SSO flow that only works through its verified dashboard, combined with a secret symbol-and-sequence interaction and device/context validation.
As much as the AI defense system was deceived it will not make any difference because of the above.
Attackers use AI (Generated websites) to create believable government phishing websites, tricking Brazilian users into giving personal data and paying via Pix.
The use of AI makes the phishing more sophisticated, but there are technical signs (in code) that research teams can identify—and defenders have mitigations.
The Symania Way:
Symania uses an authentication method with registered web sites only. to the Symania's system.
Symania’s method is phishing-resistant comparing to traditional password + OTP and also more secure than other authenticators setups because it doesn’t rely on secret strings of any kind, that attackers can steal; instead, it uses a human cognitive challenge by a “mental symbol” + real user interaction, which defines that the user is doing the authentication only in front of Symania.
When combined with Symania’s SSO option in which the user first registered to a central SSO service providers it makes this phishing scam impossible.
The governing body of Formula 1 and other major motorsports, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), suffered a cyberattack after employees fell for a phishing scheme.
The attackers used a phishing attack to trick FIA staff into giving up their credentials, and this led to unauthorized access to two FIA email accounts.
As a result of that phishing attack, hackers gained unauthorized access to at least two FIA email accounts containing personal data. The FIA acknowledged the breach, cut off the unauthorized access quickly, and informed the relevant French and Swiss data protection regulators.
However, the article notes there are no public details yet about exactly what data was stolen, who carried out the attack, how many people were affected, or whether any ransom was demanded.
The Symania Way:
Symania replaces traditional passwords (which are exactly what phishing attacks try to steal) with a passwordless login method based on a secret symbol and interactive authentication. Because there’s no password to type, copy, intercept, or transmit, there’s nothing for phishers to steal even if users receive a fraudulent email asking them to log in. This eliminates one of phishing’s main attack vectors.
Traditional MFA methods like SMS or authenticator apps can still be phished (e.g., attackers intercept codes). Symania’s approach attaches authentication to something only the real user knows and does, plus secure device validation — making social engineering attacks much harder.
Even if attackers tricked someone, the secret isn’t reusable outside the secure Symania flow.
Symania also offers Single Sign-On (SSO) integration, so users authenticate once securely and can access all linked services without repeated logins.
The article warns that quantum computing may soon make today’s encryption insecure and urges preparation through the adoption of new cryptographic standards to protect digital data.
The Symania Way:
Reduce one attack surface: By removing passwords and weak shared secrets, Symania makes it harder for attackers to gain access to systems where critical data lives.
Complement stronger encryption: Symania can be part of a layered security approach alongside post-quantum cryptography — protecting access while PQC protects data.
Almost all MFA solutions out there rely on classical cryptography, especially: RSA, ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography). SHA-based hashes,Symmetric keys (AES, HMAC).
Quantum Shor’s Algorithm, for example, breaks RSA and ECC and Gover’s Algorithm Speeds up brute force attacks.
Quantum can undermine MFA such as Push-based MFA, FIDO2 / WebAuthn, Smart cards, Certificate-based login, but not Symania as a visual human cognitive challenge, which is not related to cryptography capabitities.
What does survive quantum attacks?
MFA systems that Avoid long-term reusable secrets, Use quantum-safe primitives, Don’t depend solely on RSA/ECC trust.
It’s like having a strong lock on your door (Symania authentication) and upgrading your safe’s internal encryption (PQC). Both are needed for full protection in a post-quantum world.
