The old domain for Microsoft Stream was recently misused to send spam to SharePoint websites, especially to sites that had not yet migrated their old embedded videos after the service was discontinued.
Microsoft Stream is a business video service that allows users to upload and share videos in Microsoft 365 applications such as Teams and SharePoint. Videos can be viewed here or integrated into websites via a portal at microsoftstream.com.
In September 2020, Microsoft announced that it would discontinue the classic Microsoft Stream service from April 2024 and integrate the technology into SharePoint. Until April last year, customers were given time to transfer their Microsoft Stream videos to the SharePoint platform. The service was discontinued in April 2023.
Spam distribution
Recent research shows that the microsoftstream.com domain has since changed hands or may have been hijacked. A WHOIS check showed that Microsoft was no longer the owner, but a person or entity posing as ‘Comlaude’.
Yesterday, this domain displayed a fake Amazon advertisement from the obscure provider ‘Ibiza99’, advertising a casino in Thailand. All SharePoint websites that still contained old embedded videos but had not yet migrated to the new platform displayed this fake advertisement.
Action has since been taken. The spam site to which the domain referred has been removed and the domain itself is no longer accessible.
Microsoft is aware of the abuse of its old Microsoft Stream domain for spamming activities. The tech giant has indicated that measures have been taken, but it is not known what these measures are.
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