By AJ Vicens

(Reuters) -Hackers are tricking employees at companies in Europe and the Americas into installing a modified version of a Salesforce ( CRM )-related app, allowing the hackers to steal reams of data, gain access to other corporate cloud services and extort those companies, Google said on Wednesday.

The hackers - tracked by the Google Threat Intelligence Group as UNC6040 - have "proven particularly effective at tricking employees" into installing a modified version of Salesforce's ( CRM ) Data Loader, a proprietary tool used to bulk import data into Salesforce ( CRM ) environments, the researchers said.

The hackers use voice calls to trick employees into visiting a purported Salesforce ( CRM ) connected app setup page to approve the unauthorized, modified version of the app, created by the hackers to emulate Data Loader.

If the employee installs the app, the hackers gain "significant capabilities to access, query, and exfiltrate sensitive information directly from the compromised Salesforce ( CRM ) customer environments," the researchers said.

The access also frequently gives the hackers the ability to move throughout a customer's network, enabling attacks on other cloud services and internal corporate networks.

Technical infrastructure tied to the campaign shares characteristics with suspected ties to the broader and loosely organized ecosystem known as "The Com," known for small, disparate groups engaging in cybercriminal and sometimes violent activity, the researchers said.

A Google spokesperson did not share additional details about how many companies have been targeted as part of the campaign, which has been observed over the past several months.

A Salesforce ( CRM ) spokesperson told Reuters in an email that "there's no indication the issue described stems from any vulnerability inherent in our platform." The spokesperson said the voice calls used to trick employees "are targeted social engineering scams designed to exploit gaps in individual users' cybersecurity awareness and best practices."

The spokesperson declined to share the specific number of affected customers, but said that Salesforce ( CRM ) was "aware of only a small subset of affected customers," and said it was "not a widespread issue." 

Salesforce ( CRM ) warned customers of voice phishing, or "vishing," attacks and of hackers abusing malicious, modified versions of Data Loader in a March 2025 blog post.