DDoS malware floods a target 's network-connected service with an excessive number of request at once in order to overload the capacity of the server . The developers of Bookworm have gone to great lengths to create a modular framework that is very flexible through its ability to run additional modules directly from its C2 server .


“ tk1 ” will disable all the effects of the “ tk0 ” command , while “ input keyevent 3 ” is the shell command that simulates the pressing of the ‘ home ’ button so all the current activities will be minimized and the user won ’ t suspect anything . The exploit , which takes advantage of CVE-2018-4878 , allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code such as an implant . APT33 : 367e78852134ef488ecf6862e71f70a3b10653e642bda3df00dd012c4e130330 S-SHA2 Remcos . Most recently , the Ransomware and Financial Stability Act was introduced .


After thorough analysis we can confirm that Cerberus was indeed not based on the Anubis source code . First described by Kaspersky in 2014 [1] and later , by Cylance in 2017 [2] , Machete is a piece of malware found to be targeting high profile individuals and organizations in Latin American countries . APT38 's increasingly aggressive targeting against banks and other financial institutions has paralleled North Korea 's worsening financial condition .


In August 2015 , the admin@338 sent spear phishing emails to a number of Hong Kong-based media organizations . This stands in opposition to the data gathered from export timestamps and C&C domain activity that points to Green Lambert being considerably older than the Blue variant .


Smishing ( SMS phishing ) is currently the primary way threat actors are distributing the malware . Night Dragon 's attacks have involved social engineering , spearphishing attacks , exploitation of Microsoft Windows operating systems vulnerabilities , Microsoft Active Directory compromises , and the use of remote administration tools ( RATs ) in targeting and harvesting sensitive competitive proprietary operations and project-financing information with regard to oil and gas field bids and operations . When executed , the SFX archive will be extracted and the “ 8957.cmd ” will be run . CrowdStrike Falcon will detect the OWASSRF exploit method described in this blog , and will block the method if the prevention setting for • None Monitor Exchange servers for signs of exploitation visible in IIS and Remote PowerShell logs using this script developed by CrowdStrike Services • None Consider application - level controls such as web application firewalls .


The lure text in the phishing email claims the attachment is a calendar of events relevant to the targeted organizations and contained specific instructions regarding the actions the victim would have to take if they had “ trouble viewing the document ” .


The Association of State Scientific Centers “ Nauka , ” which coordinates 43 Scientific Centers of the Russian Federation ( SSC RF ) .


The shellcode downloads the next stage payload , which is an executable passed in plaintext , to the temp directory with UrlDownloadToFileA , which it then runs with WinExec .


Among the over 1.4 billion devices protected by Verify Apps , we observed fewer than 3 dozen installs of Chrysaor on victim devices . Commands found in a readme text that was stored in a ZIP archive together with the hacktool THC Hydra in Leafminer 's tool arsenal represent online dictionary attacks on Microsoft Exchange and Remote Desktop Protocol services of regional government servers in Saudi Arabia . This time , two games and one gaming platform application were compromised to include a backdoor . When the victim opened an archive , a second stage dropper executed and a WAV file played like a real voicemail .


Ploutus-D will load KXCashDispenserLib” library implemented by Kalignite Platform (K3A.Platform.dll) to interact with the XFS Manager and control the Dispenser (see Figure 13) . ScarCruft 's Operation Erebus leverages another Flash Player exploit ( CVE-2016-4117 ) through the use of watering hole attacks .


A company in the chemical industry .


Table 4 below lists the intents that are statically registered in this HenBox variant ’ s AndroidManifest.xml config file , together with a description of what that intent does , and when it would be used . APT41 continuously returns to targeting the video game sector and seems to have matured its campaigns through lessons learned in operations against the industry . Our investigation of APT28 's compromise of WADA 's network , and our observations of the surrounding events reveal how Russia sought to counteract a damaging narrative and delegitimize the institutions leveling criticism .


The first module downloaded by the GRIFFON malware to the victim’s computer is an information-gathering JScript , which allows the cybercriminals to understand the context of the infected workstation . The malicious loader will use dynamic-link library ( DLL ) hijacking — injecting malicious code into a process of a file/application — on sidebar.exe and launch dllhost.exe ( a normal file ) .


FAKESPY CODE ANALYSIS Once the user clicks on the malicious link from the SMS message , the app asks them to approve installation from unknown resources . Additionally , with the assistance of FireEye Labs , we identified three new malware families and a reappearance of PICKPOCKET , malware exclusively observed in use by APT34 . On much of the C2 infrastructure we identified several crimeware family samples .


But attackers were still constantly looking for new methods to steal TANs . Our investigation showed that these attacks were targeted , and that the threat actor sought to steal communications data of specific individuals in various countries . Organizations detected a compromise themselves in 62% of the cases that Mandiant worked in 2017 .


The actor also built solid backend infrastructures which can handle high volume concurrent requests . The two malware families themselves are also very similar , and therefore we think that the shared technique is an indication of a single developer , or development company , behind both CONFUCIUS_A and CONFUCIUS_B . Dexphot : 504cc403e0b83233f8d20c0c86b0611facc040b868964b4afbda3214a2c8e1c5 . Two leading Republican members of the U.S. House came out hours after the Biden administration released the roadmap , saying they would use their respective House panels to , “ exercise strict oversight on CISA ’s efforts ” to implement many of the policies outlined .


Remote Template Hashes :


Microsoft researchers used a combination of anomaly detection and supervised machine learning to reduce the data set and separate meaningful , malware-related anomalies from benign data .


Installing apps on the system partition makes it harder for the user to remove the app . Kaspersky Lab 's products detect and neutralize the malicious programs and its variants used by the NetTraveler Toolkit , including Trojan-Spy.Win32.TravNet and Downloader.Win32.NetTraveler . It is possible , although not confirmed , that APT16 was also responsible for targeting this government agency , given both the timeframe and the use of the same n-day to eventually deploy the ELMER backdoor . Though few details are currently available about CVE-2023 - 37450 , Apple indicated it had been exploited in the wild and could be triggered by a vulnerable browser processing specially crafted web content .


The past iteration of SLUB spread from a unique watering hole website exploiting CVE-2018-8174 , a VBScript engine vulnerability . Bemstour was used again in June 2017 in an attack against an organization in Luxembourg .


Both backdoors ( internally referred to by their authors as “ BastionSolution ” and “ OneDriveSolution ” ) essentially allow the operator to remotely execute commands on the compromised machine .


Malware , phishing , and other threats detected by Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are reported to the Microsoft Defender Security Center , allowing SecOps to investigate mobile threats along with endpoint signals from Windows and other platforms using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint ’ s rich set of tools for detection , investigation , and response . Three months after the Olympics-themed attacks , FireEye observed a new BS2005 campaign labeled " newtiger " , which is possibly a reference to an older 2010 campaign labeled " tiger " . Please reach out to our unit if you have relevant samples or need assistance in deobfuscating the codes . Indicators of compromise aid information security and IT professionals in detecting data breaches , malware infections , or other threat activity .


The server ’ s response is a json , containing a link to a .jar file , class name and method name to be executed with reflection API . PLATINUM is known to have used a number of zero-day exploits , for which no security update is available at the time of transmission , in these attempts . APT10 's malware toolbox shows a clear evolution from malware commonly associated with China-based threat actors towards bespoke in-house malware that has been used in more recent campaigns ; this is indicative of APT10 's increasing sophistication , which is highly likely to continue .


ANTI-EMULATOR TECHNIQUES FakeSpy appears to use multiple techniques to evade detection via the emulator . In addition , during the investigation , we discovered certain similarities to other attacker groups that seemed to share or copy the FIN7 TTPs in their own operations . The current Ke3chang campaign leverages the BS2005 malware , while older activity from 2010 - 2011 leveraged BMW , followed by the MyWeb malware sporadically used in between .


This means that all apps that were using this file will lose some functionality or even start crashing . Talos said the perpetrators of DNSpionage were able to steal email and other login credentials from a number of government and private sector entities in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates by hijacking the DNS servers for these targets , so that all email and virtual private networking ( VPN ) traffic was redirected to an Internet address controlled by the attackers . RevengeHotels : 81701c891a1766c51c74bcfaf285854b . When loaded at system boot , the downloader uses a set of mathematical calculations to determine the computer - s unique fingerprint , and in turn uses this data to uniquely encrypt its communications later .


Suspect You ’ re Infected ? APT38 is a financially motivated North Korean regime-backed group responsible for conducting destructive attacks against financial institutions , as well as some of the world . Once exploit has been achieved , Nidiran is delivered through a self-extracting executable that extracts the components to a .tmp folder after it has been executed .


Over the past few years , we have seen a number of advanced threats and cybercrime groups who have stolen code-signing certificates .


At this point the malware extracts and decrypts a stub DLL from its own resources ( ID 101 ) . The macro ran a PowerShell command that attempted to download additional PowerShell loader scripts for PupyRAT , a research and penetration-testing tool that has been used in attacks . Features : Do you have cyber security concerns about your business Contact CoreTech today , and we will conduct an IT security assessment .


The attackers have taken down their communication channels and are probably looking for ways to assemble their tools in a different manner . In late 2018 , the domain was associated with a different APT group / campaign of Chinese origin . The threat group is also known for its recent attack campaign against Bank and Retail business sectors , but the latest evidence indicates a potential expansion of its criminal operation to other industries too .


X-Force IRIS Hosting URL : http://mol.com-ho.me/cv_itworx.doc .


This IP address has been used to monitor open-source coverage of TRITON , heightening the probability of an interest by unknown subjects , originating from this network , in TEMP.Veles related activities .


Once opened , HenBox runs the following query to gather message information . HOMEUNIX , another popular backdoor used by APT41 , has been used by at least 14 separate Chinese espionage groups , including APT1 , APT10 , APT17 , APT18 , and APT20 . The Sofacy group created the Komplex Trojan to use in attack campaigns targeting the OS X operating system – a move that showcases their continued evolution toward multi-platform attacks .


The following network traffic is performed by the Delphi sample which has the following metadata once unpacked by UPX :


Ordnance will be able to immediately generate shellcode after users provide the IP and Port that the shellcode should connect to or listen on . The banking malware GozNym has legs ; only a few weeks after the hybrid Trojan was discovered , it has reportedly spread into Europe and begun plaguing banking customers in Poland with redirection attacks .


Here , the RAT stores all the captured videos in a “ video.3gp ” file . The LOWBALL first stage malware allows the group to collect information from victims and then deliver the BUBBLEWRAP second stage malware to their victims after verifying that they are indeed interesting targets . This group has become one of the most active threat actors , with noteworthy abilities , resources and infrastructure ; speculations indicate the hacking organization to be sponsored by the Iranian government . The code hunted for several security products to evade – including Kaspersky .


The CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence team , which had been tracking Levashov as the adversary called ZOMBIE SPIDER , was able to help law enforcement seize control of the Kelihos botnet so that it could no longer be used by criminal actors . To enable connections to the infected computer using the Remote Desktop Protocol ( RDP ) , Carbanak sets Termservice service execution mode to Auto .


However the Server handlers and command function are not , so we cannot create a completely perfect simulation .


Password stealing .


At this point , the attackers know the user has opened the document and send another spear-phishing email , this time containing an MS Word document with an embedded executable . Cadelle 's threats are capable of opening a back door and stealing information from victims' computers .


During one intrusion , it connected to multiple C2 domains on TCP port 80 , including mail . svrchost . com , using the following request .


Bookworm has little malicious functionality built-in , with its only core ability involving stealing keystrokes and clipboard contents . Through an IP address whitelisting process , the threat group selectively targets visitors to these websites .


Currently , all bespoke apps have been taken down from the Google Play store . Hackers target primarily companies in Russia and CIS countries , though it is noticed that the amount of attacks targeting the USA has increased 5 times since 2011 . These groups use a lot of social engineering in their attacks , asking for a quote from what appears to be a government entity or private company wanting to make a reservation for a large number of people . The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency ( CISA ) released a detailed timeline on the campaign , stating that an investigation from Microsoft revealed that “ advanced persistent threat ( APT ) actors accessed and exfiltrated unclassified Exchange Online Outlook data ” after users reported suspicious activities in their Microsoft 365 cloud environment .


a command from the C & C server . This coupled with the timing of operations – which coincides with Iranian working hours – and the use of multiple Iranian hacker tools and name servers bolsters our assessment that APT33 may have operated on behalf of the Iranian government . However, we think it’s worth mentioning that for one victim we found a correlation between the execution of Remexi´s main module and the execution of an AutoIt script compiled as PE , which we believe may have dropped the . The hijacking is achieved by adding the threat actor 's e - mail address to the Facebook Business account with Admin and Finance editor roles .


THREAT ANALYSIS Infection Vector : Smishing Your Device Thus far , FakeSpy campaigns are characterized by SMS phishing ( a.k.a . Our research found that APT33 , or a closely aligned threat actor , continues to conduct and prepare for widespread cyberespionage activity , with over 1 , 200 domains used since March 28 , 2019 and with a strong emphasis on using commodity malware . In 2015 , Kaspersky Lab researchers conducted Incident Response for 29 organizations located in Russia and infected by these three groups .


Upon adding a network drive , the hook calls its “ RecordToFile ” file stealer method .


To communicate with the C2 server , the Trojan will send emails to specific email addresses via SMTPS over TCP port 587 .


Split of exfiltrated data Some noteworthy files identified in content taken from compromised devices include passport photos , audio recordings of calls , other images , and a PDF document with data on 484 individuals . The authors of that report identify three primary tools used in the campaigns attributed to Hidden Lynx : Trojan.Naid , Backdoor.Moudoor , and Backdoor.Hikit . Although they control systems in dozens of countries , their attacks originate from four large networks in Shanghai — two of which are allocated directly to the Pudong New Area , the home of Unit 61398 . Recently , this model for threat actors has come to be known as the “ as - a - service " model , borrowing the term from the growing trend in the tech industry .


According to a now-defunct social media profile , the same individual was a professor at CNIIHM , which is located near Nagatinskaya Street in the Nagatino-Sadovniki district of Moscow .


A Mac version of the Trojan also exists ( OSX.Sofacy ) .


We are aware of one case where Scarlet Mimic broke from the spear-phishing pattern described above . 360 and Tuisec already identified some Gorgon Group members .


This leads us to believe this is another actor . In April Novetta released its excellent report on the Winnti malware spotted in the operations of Axiom group . A handle to the DLL file is taken in order to make its deletion more difficult . None Read about adversaries tracked by CrowdStrike in 2021 in the and in the • None Learn more about how can help your organization prepare to defend against sophisticated threats , respond and recover from incidents with speed and precision , and fortify your cybersecurity practices .


System application installed by mcpef.apk . To deliver the malware to the victim machines , the Rocke group exploits vulnerabilities in Apache Struts 2 , Oracle WebLogic , and Adobe ColdFusion . Like the Moafee group , we observed DragonOK running HTRAN to proxy their C2 servers , which are also operated on CHINANET but are hosted in the Jiangsu Province .


Remote Templates :


Sample 1 marks the first HenBox sample we saw embedding a legitimate app within its assets to be dropped and installed on the victim device as a decoy . From the time of file creation , the attacker started working at least as early as July 2018 . FireEye has monitored APT17 's use of BLACKCOFFEE variants since 2013 to masquerade malicious communication as normal web traffic by disguising the CnC communication as queries to web search engines .


Indeed , the Trojan explicitly targets Russian-speaking users . The first of which we call ' CONFUCIUS_A ' , a malware family that has links to a series of attacks associated with a backdoor attack method commonly known as SNEEPY ( aka ByeByeShell ) first reported by Rapid7 in 2013 . The actor has conducted operations since at least 2013 in support of China 's naval modernization effort .


Unlike previous campaigns from this actor , the flyer does not contain an Office exploit or a 0-day , it simply contains a malicious Visual Basic for Applications ( VBA ) macro .


REDBALDKNIGHT , also known as BRONZE BUTLER and Tick , is a cyberespionage group known to target Japanese organizations such as government agencies ( including defense ) as well as those in biotechnology , electronics manufacturing , and industrial chemistry . One e-mail carried a Microsoft PowerPoint file named " thanks.pps " ( VirusTotal ) , the other a Microsoft Word document named " request.docx " .


Backdoor.Zekapab is installed on selected infected computers and is capable of taking screenshots , executing files and commands , uploading and downloading files , performing registry and file system operations , and carrying out system information tasks .


The malware uses HTTP for communication with the C2 server for command handling and data exfiltration . ined in the archive is called DriverInstallerU.exe but its metadata shows that its original name is Interenet Assistant.exe . The ScarCruft group keeps expanding its Exfiltration targets to steal further information from infected hosts and continues to create tools for additional data Exfiltration .


From 2013 Carbanak intensified its activity focused on banks and electronic payment systems in Russia and in the post-Soviet space . By looking at our telemetry , we found evidence that Turla installers were exfiltrating information to get.adobe.com URLs since at least July 2016 .


Code snippets showing how GolfSpy monitors phone calls via register receiver ( top left ) , its actions when the device is woken up ( top right ) , and how it encrypts the stolen data ( bottom ) The malware retrieves commands from the C & C server via HTTP , and attackers can steal specific files on the infected device . It appears ScarCruft is primarily targeting intelligence for political and diplomatic purposes . The script executes an open-source .NET class used for taking a screenshot . When an attacker pays for an as - a - service malware , they often get an individual login with dedicated customer support , much like any user would with a legitimate piece of software .


A charge is then added to the user ’ s bill with their mobile service provider . The cyber-espionage campaign has labelled the group Advanced Persistent Threat ( APT ) 40 or , titled , Periscope . SysInfo Get target System information . We were able to find additional links between Hack520 ’s “ Pig network ” and the Winnti group ’s activities .


Interestingly , the embedded app in sample 2 is not a version of the Android Settings app but instead the “ Amaq Agency ” app , which reports on ISIS related news . APT41 has executed multiple software supply chain compromises , gaining access to software companies to inject malicious code into legitimate files before distributing updates . APT19 seemed to be going after defense sector firms , Chinese dissident groups and political , financial , pharmaceutical and energy sectors that could benefit the Chinese economy .


Succeeding monitoring efforts revealed a newer variant that exploits the social media platforms Instagram and Tumblr instead of Twitter to hide its C & C address . FireEye has monitored APT17 's use of BLACKCOFFEE variants since 2013 to masquerade malicious communication as normal web traffic by disguising the CnC communication as queries to web search engines . Glimpse can be set to use ping mode in several ways while performing receive operations . An exhaustive analysis of domains registered to the various Vistomail pseudonyms used by Harrison shows he also ran Bash - a - Business[.]com , which Harrison dedicated to “ all those sorry ass corporate executives out there profiting from your hard work , organs , lives , ideas , intelligence , and wallets . ”


C & C communications The default C & C address is hardwired in the Rotexy code : The relative address to which the Trojan will send information from the device is generated in a pseudo-random manner . Like the previous campaigns , these samples again involve a Microsoft Word document embedded with a malicious macro that is capable of executing PowerShell ( PS ) scripts leading to a backdoor payload . Last week Microsoft , working together with Facebook and others in the security community , took strong steps to protect our customers and the internet from ongoing attacks by an advanced persistent threat actor known to us as ZINC , also known as the Lazarus Group .


If Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight is no longer required , DHS recommends that those applications be removed from systems .


Verify Apps : Ensure Verify Apps is enabled . Active since at least 2014 , this actor has long-standing interest in maritime industries , naval defense contractors , and associated research institutions in the United States and Western Europe . The actual malicious payload is quite small and only contains about 17 KB of code and data . Mandiant identified a second sample on VirusTotal with the same self - signed certificate CN .


When this request completes , the event listener will call the ‘ onload3 ’ function .


XLoader as Spyware and Banking Trojan XLoader can also collect information related to usage of apps installed in the device . SPLM , GAMEFISH , and Zebrocy delivery all maintain their own clusters , but frequently overlap later . Analyzing it in depth , we discover it actually is the RMS ( Remote Manipulator System ) client by TektonIT , encrypted using the MPress PE compressor utility , a legitimate tool , to avoid antivirus detection .


It is unclear if the remote server is capable of solving the CAPTCHA image automatically or if this is done manually by a human in the background . While the attackers used different pretexts when sending these malicious emails , two methodologies stood out . Few security companies have publicly discussed this tactic . ItaDuke because it reminded us of Duqu and because of the ancient Italian comments in the shellcode copied from Dante Alighieri - s ? Divine Comedy .


It specifically targets financial banking applications across the United States and Europe , including Italy , the UK , Spain , Switzerland , France , and Germany . Contextually relevant emails are sent to specific targets with attached documents that are packed with exploit code and Trojan horse programmes designed to take advantage of vulnerabilities in software installed on the target 's computer . APT40 has been observed leveraging a variety of techniques for initial compromise , including web server exploitation , phishing campaigns delivering publicly available and custom backdoors , and strategic web compromises .


Until now , Android malware that wanted advanced capabilities typically had to trick users into approving sometimes scary-sounding permissions or exploit rooting vulnerabilities . Loaders are typically responsible for loading a DLL component into memory given that a DLL cannot operate in a standalone mode such as an executable . These include : This article provides an overview of the Iranian cyber threat landscape , including the history of Iranian cyber strategy , the most recent news regarding its attack campaigns , and descriptions of major Iranian cyber threat groups .


The sample ’ s first appearance seems to be May 15 , 2018 , when it was uploaded to VirusTotal , but it ’ s unclear how the tainted sample is disseminated . They are one of the most active cyber crime groups in 2019 , and they often modify and tweak their hacking methods and perform periodic hacking activities . FIN7 is a financially-motivated threat group that has been associated with malicious operations dating back to late 2015 .


If opened , the dropper runs a loader known as Trojan.Vcrodat on the computer . FireEye observed a high volume of activity associated with the exploitation of CVE-2017-10271 following the public posting of proof of concept code in December 2017 .


The only good way to fight all these threats is to be proactive , and so a good security solution is a must . Anomali Researchers were able to identify multiple samples of malicious RTF documents ITW using the same exploit for CVE-2018-0798 . The OilRig group ( AKA APT34 , Helix Kitten ) is an adversary motivated by espionage primarily operating in the Middle East region .


This action changes the original file size of the DEX file , which makes the malicious resources a part of the DEX file , a section that is ignored by the signature validation process . At that time it was the name of a cybercriminal group that was stealing money from Russian financial establishments — to the tune of at least $150,000 per hit . Along with the password , the malware ’s authors also include a clean version of unzIP . 2023 - 07 - 19 Update : On June 5 , @SecurityAura described an unknown campaign using .hta payloads disguised as driver updates .


The Dukes are known to employ a vast arsenal of malware toolsets , which we identify as MiniDuke , CosmicDuke , OnionDuke , CozyDuke , CloudDuke , SeaDuke , HammerDuke , PinchDuke , and GeminiDuke .


AndroidOS_ProjectSpy.HRX 3a15e7b8f4e35e006329811a6a2bf291d449884a120332f24c7e3ca58d0fbbdb IOS_ProjectSpy.A URLs cashnow [ . APT38 has paralleled North Korea 's worsening financial condition . An entropy threshold adjustment due to check in high maturity level . Knowing what motivates hackers is a key part of keeping them out of your business


It was one of the few ransomware strains that were being mass-distributed via email spam and exploit kits , but also as part of targeted attacks against high-profile organizations ( a tactic known as big-game hunting ) at the same time . The Sima group also engaged in impersonation of Citizenship and Immigration Services at the Department of Homeland Security , posing as a notice about the expiration of the recipient 's Permanent Residence status .


One of the packages after initial launch The iOS variant is not as sophisticated as the Android version , and contained a subset of the functionality the Android releases offered . The attachments exploited CVE-2017-8759 which was discovered and documented only five days prior to the campaign . The MuddyWaters group has carried out a large number of attacks and demonstrated advanced social engineering , in addition to the active development of attacks , infrastructure and the use of new methods and techniques .


Trend Micro also reported MuddyWater’s use of a new multi-stage PowerShell-based backdoor called POWERSTATS v3 . Documents with the flash exploit managed to evade static defenses and remain undetected as an exploit on VirusTotal .


android.intent.action.restart A legacy intent used to indicate a system restart . Since at least 2012 , APT41 has repeatedly gained access to game development environments within affected companies , including online multiplayer networks , as well as targeting of production database administrators . For full details , please reference our 2014 report , APT28 : A Window into Russia 's Cyber Espionage Operations .


LuckyMouse has been spotted using a widely used Microsoft Office vulnerability ( CVE-2017-11882 ) . The Winnti umbrella continues to operate highly successfully in 2018 .


We can also replace “ shfolder.dll ” ( and add a DLL export proxy to avoid a crash ) , which is loaded whenever the attacker clicks the builder tab – allowing us to infect the server while it runs , without the need to wait for application restart .


Details of the extended attack campaign associated with the Cannon Trojan will be discussed in a later blog .


As soon as this service is started , it creates two processes that take care of connection and disconnection to the C & C server . The earliest known use of Equation Group tools by Buckeye is March 31 , 2016 , during an attack on a target in Hong Kong . The group has performed a mix of criminal and targeted attacks , including campaigns against government organizations in the United Kingdom , Spain , Russia , and the United States .


However , in one organization almost 500 recipients received a mail , while in two other organizations , more than 100 were selected .


The JAR file is the decrypted version of the file tong.luo , which is located in the assets folder . In addition to the aforementioned post-exploitation tools , the actors used these webshells to upload legitimate executables that they would use DLL sideloading to run a malicious DLL that has code overlaps with known Emissary Panda attacks . On January 15 , Advanced Threat Research discovered an operation using a new variant of the SYSCON backdoor .


Using this as the next pivot , we have 6,034 unique samples that get returned in AutoFocus having made POST requests to these sites .


The number to call is received along with the command , as seen in Figure 9 . While Symantec has never observed the use of Filensfer alongside any known Buckeye tools , information shared privately by another vendor included evidence of Filensfer being used in conjunction with known Buckeye malware (Backdoor.Pirpi) . Threat Group-3390 : TG-3390 ,Emissary Panda , BRONZE UNION , APT27 , Iron Tiger , LuckyMouse .


Figure 11 : ‘ Agent Smith ’ uses man-in-disk to install the malicious update Technical Analysis – Boot Module The “ boot ” module is basically another “ loader ” module , but this time it ’ s executed in the infected application . Careto 's Mask campaign we discovered relies on spear-phishing e-mails with links to a malicious website . Instead , they exist only in memory , and Dexphot runs them by loading them into other system processes via process hollowing . This shorcut uses the WebDav HTTP protocol extension to retrieve the file launcher-upd.hta from a remote server : This heavily obfuscated script is responsible for the execution of PowerShell that downloads the final malware payload ( NetSupport RAT ) .


It sends all of this data to the C2 server using the URL ending with /servlet/AppInfos . The group’s implants are characterized by the employment of information stealing tools among them being screenshot and document stealers delivered via a SFX , and made to achieve persistence through a scheduled task . Over the years , the Ke3chang attackers have used three types of malware that we call : " BS2005 " , " BMW " , and " MyWeb " .


Some of the tools used by PLATINUM , such as the port-knocking backdoor , show signs of organized thinking . In July , Nitro compromised a South Korean clothing and accessories manufacturer 's website to serve malware commonly referred to as " Spindest " . Of all the samples we've tied to this activity so far noted in this blog , this is the only one configured to connect directly to an IP address for Command and Control ( C2 ) .


Each of the spear phishing attacks contained links to .doc files , which were really RTF documents that attempt to exploit CVE-2017-8570 ( Composite Moniker ) . WannaCry leverages an exploit , codenamed " EternalBlue " , that was released by the Shadow Brokers on April 14 , 2017 .


Documents with the Flash exploit managed to evade static defenses and remain undetected as an exploit on VirusTotal . This time , the attackers used new versions of the RoyalDNS malware and a Ketrican 2017 backdoor .


In their latest leak , they have released the UNITEDRAKE NSA exploit , which is a remote access and control tool that can remotely target Windows-based systems to capture desired information and transfer it to a server . The initial attack vector used in the attack against the data center is unclear , but researchers believe LuckyMouse possibly had conducted watering hole or phishing attacks to compromise accounts belonging to employees at the national data center .


Our researchers first encountered Gooligan ’ s code in the malicious SnapPea app last year . As detailed in the DOJ complaint , a sample of WHITEOUT ( aka Contopee ) malware we attribute to APT38 was used between 2015 and 2016 against a Southeast Asian bank . Thus , In light of this , Mandiant has used the following approaches to identify potential exploitation of CVE-2023 - 4966 and subsequent session hijacking .


Tellingly , current virus writers have mastered commercial obfuscators . the United Kingdom had data stolen by members of Emissary Panda . The patched code is located right after the load of hpqhvsei.dll . Additionally , the IP address 198.244.135[.]250 is being utilized for another C2 domain prontoposer[.]com while still having a PTR record to the domain previously identified .


This is an interesting anti-sandbox technique , as it requires human interaction prior to the document exhibiting any malicious activity .


The hosting locations seen for some HenBox samples , together with the nature of some embedded apps including : those targeted at extremist groups , those who use VPN or other privacy-enabling apps , and those who speak the Uyghur language , highlights the victim profile the threat actors were seeking to attack . The main part of the BalkanRAT malware is a copy of the Remote Utilities software for remote access . More recently , in May 2017 , APT33 appeared to target organizations in Saudi and South Korea using a malicious file that attempted to entice victims with job vacancies .


This tradecraft is thus scalable and available to others even if the malware itself changes .


In Version 0.0.0.1 , the communication with the C2 is encrypted using Base64 and RC4 . Development of Bemstour has continued into 2019 . One payload was a Python based open source remote administration tool ( RAT ) called Pupy .


Despite phishing incidents for Mac devices being rarer than their Windows counterparts , users should still be aware that attackers can target them at any moment .


We also detected it in apps targeted toward specific Middle Eastern demographics . Attackers behind Dyre have used similar tactics in the past but have only deployed their attacks in English speaking countries and Spain . Some APT backdoors attempt to mimic legitimate Internet traffic other than the HTTP protocol . The software is centrally hosted on that third - party company ’s servers .


Executable payload exploits local privilege escalation ( CVE-2015-1701 ) to steal System token .


Install a mobile security solution to secure your device from threats . In several cases , the Cobalt compromised company infrastructure and employee accounts in order to send phishing messages to partner companies in North and South America , Europe , CIS countries , and Central and Southeast Asia . the blue-highlighted immediate value 0x4624F47C is assigned to block comparison variable in the first block . In one exchange on Aug. 16 , 2012 , Ashley Madison ’s director of IT was asked to produce a list of all company employees with all - powerful administrator access .


By : Hara Hiroaki , Lilang Wu , Lorin Wu April 02 , 2019 In previous attacks , XLoader posed as Facebook , Chrome and other legitimate applications to trick users into downloading its malicious app . According to FireEye , the admin@338 sent out emails containing malicious documents designed to exploit Microsoft Office vulnerabilities in an effort to deliver a piece of malware dubbed LOWBALL . test4.hta http://comonscar.in ( 82.145.40.46 ) . PIEHOP expects its main function to be called via another Python file , supplying either the argument or .


In this case , the attackers hacked a Tibetan activist ’ s account and used it to attack Uyghur activists . While documents designed to exploit the InPage software are rare , they are not new – however in recent weeks Unit42 has observed numerous InPage exploits leveraging similar shellcode , suggesting continued use of the exploit previously discussed by Kaspersky . We have identified the tools , techniques , and network activities used in these continuing attacks—which we have dubbed Night Dragon—as originating primarily in China .


Symantec saw the first evidence of Sowbug group with the discovery in March 2017 of an entirely new piece of malware called Felismus used against a target in Southeast Asia . The Windows 10 Creators Update will bring several enhancements to Windows Defender ATP that will provide SOC personnel with options for immediate mitigation of a detected threat .


Unlike previously seen non-GP ( Google Play ) centric malware campaigns , “ Agent Smith ” has a significant impact upon not only developing countries but also some developed countries where GP is readily available . While documents designed to exploit the InPage software are rare , they are not new – however in recent weeks Unit42 has observed numerous InPage exploits leveraging similar shellcode , suggesting continued use of the exploit previously discussed by Kaspersky . However , the batch file is not always present , and the names of the ZIP files and Loader DLLs , as well as the password for extracting the ZIP file , all change from one package to the next . Approximately twenty days later , the attacker placed another web shell on a separate Microsoft Exchange Server .


The seller , known as " bestoffer , '' was , at some point , expelled from the forum . In the majority of instances APT10 used either a reverse shell or RDP connection to install its malware ; the actor also uses these methods to propagate across the network . Based on our statistics , over 57 , 000 Kaspersky users have downloaded and installed the backdoored version of ASUS Live Update at some point in time . The connection to the Lazarus group was obvious by inspecting the tools , strategies , and methods already linked to the North Korean actor .


We ’ve had lots of experience with both of these actors attempting to target our customers in the past and know them well .


PINCHY SPIDER sells access to use GandCrab ransomware under a partnership program with a limited number of accounts . The first signs of Butterfly 's activities emerged in early 2013 when several major technology and internet firms were compromised .


Lately , Patchwork has been sending multiple RTF files exploiting CVE-2017-8570 . Public disclosure by third-parties , including the DHS , associate ALLANITE operations with Russian strategic interests .


Like CORESHELL , one of the beacons includes a process listing from the victim host .


WICKED PANDA has also targeted chemical and think tank sectors around the world . Similar to RIPTIDE campaigns , APT12 infects target systems with HIGHTIDE using a Microsoft Word ( .doc ) document that exploits CVE-2012-0158 .


The malware mimics legit services such as Google service , GooglePlay or Flash update . Instead , Lead often simply emails a Winnti installer to potential victims , relying on basic social engineering tactics to convince recipients to run the attached malware . Campaign victims were identified by using Whois records and open source research . As a result , we decided to call this variant FakeSG .


The event handlers call functions with the following names , which includes an incrementing number that represents the order in which the functions are called : onload1 , onload2 , onload3 , onload5 .


It ’ s worth noting however , about one-third of the HenBox apps contained embedded APK objects that did not refer to legitimate apps . Winnti hackers also penetrated the BASF and Siemens networks . Despite the differing sponsorship , penetration of Hong Kong and Taiwan-based media organizations continues to be a priority for China-based APT16 .


In 2013 , both COSEINC and FireEye revealed attacks using Bisonal against Japanese organizations . To reduce the risk of losing access to the internal bank network , the Carbanak , in addition to malicious programs , also used for remote access legitimate programs such as Ammy Admin and Team Viewer .


Configure Group Policy to restrict all users to only one login session , where possible .


The first of them is the well-known FIN7 , which specializes in attacking various companies to get access to financial data or PoS infrastructure . Our analysis shows that NetTraveler attempted to exploit CVE-2012-0158 to install NetTraveler Trojan .


No matter what button is pressed , the window stays on top of all other windows . Like all of Gorgon Group 's members , Fudpage 's online profile , infrastructure utilization and standardization , connects them back to Gorgon Group . , A typical log entry showing access to the PowerShell backend is detailed in the Remote PowerShell HTTP logs , located in , such as in the example below : CrowdStrike incident responders discovered Remote PowerShell logs similar to log entries for ProxyNotShell exploitation to gain initial access , suggesting the attacker leveraged Remote PowerShell .


We also believe the tasking to have been temporary , because we have not observed any further similar targeting from the Dukes after the spring of 2014 .


The serialization assigns unique IDs for serializable objects types .


Most of the group 's attacks are focused on government or technology related companies and organizations .


The final APK is downloaded from a different URL that is currently down , we assume that the apk purpose is overlaying ads on the screen , we assume this based on the research we have done on the API we found which returns URL of random APK file containing different advertising networks . The JHUHUGIT implant became a relatively popular first stage for the Sofacy attacks and was used again with a Java zero-day ( CVE-2015-2590 ) in July 2015 . The Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 research team recently came across a series of malicious files which were almost identical to those targeting the Saudi Arabian government previously discussed by MalwareBytes .


Content of bdata.xml file : It can be added to the /system/etc/sysconfig/ path to allowlist specified implant components from the battery saving system . The malware known as RATANKBA is just one of the weapons in Lazarus ' arsenal . APT33 : 162.250.145.234 mynetwork.ddns.net . When it comes to Cuba and similar threats , access to highfidelity threat intelligence to help identify the highest risk , most actively exploitable vulnerabilities can help prioritization efforts when organizations are faced with a backlog of vulnerabilities to address .


Ultimately , APT35 had used access to hundreds of mailboxes to read email communications and steal data related to Middle East organizations , which later became victims of destructive attacks . Infy engaged in malware spearphishing against the same targets as Flying Kitten from the outset of its campaign ; Operation Cleaver has registered several resources related to development agencies that have been the subject of intrusion attempts by others since February 2014 .


Adobe Flash Player exploit . Like many espionage campaigns , much of APT40 's activity begins by attempting to trick targets with phishing emails , before deploying malware such as the Gh0st RAT trojan to maintain persistence on a compromised network .


On Nov14 , 2017 , FireEye observed APT34 using an exploit for the Microsoft Office vulnerability to target a government organization in the Middle East . While Symantec has never observed the use of Filensfer alongside any known Buckeye tools , information shared privately by another vendor included evidence of Filensfer being used in conjunction with known Buckeye malware (Backdoor.Pirpi) .


It 's restarted in the next cycle independently based on if WhatsApp is running . Callisto Group appears to be intelligence gathering related to European foreign and security policy . If you compare the HTTP GET request from the RIPTIDE samples to the HTTP GET request from the HIGHTIDE samples you can see the malware author changed the following items : User Agent , Format and structure of the HTTP Uniform Resource Identifier ( URI ) . WellMail has been observed using TCP port 25 , without using SMTP , to leverage an open port for secure command and control communications .


Initializing the BroadcastReceiver against system events From this point on , the malware execution is driven by callback functions that are triggered on system events like connectivity change , unlocking the phone , elapsed time interval , and others . The U.S. Government refers to the malicious cyber activity by the North Korean government as HIDDEN COBRA . ZIP structure was not considered.) Meanwhile, the archiving tools PowerArchiver 2019 , WinRar , and 7Zip were able to extract a file from the attachment SHIPPING_MX00034900_PL_INV_pdf.zip . That is very concerning to us , however , there are a couple of things that end users can look out for : Although zero - click exploits do exist , they 're not very common .


] today svc [ . Chapter 7 explains the working of Mofang 's preferred tools : ShimRat and SimRatReporter . The sample , which was deployed against an organization involved in shaping economic policy , was downloaded from the following URL : We also utilized this data to build higher - fidelity detections of web server process chains .


After further analysis , it was discovered that the RTF files were exploiting the CVE-2018-0798 vulnerability in Microsoft’s Equation Editor (EQNEDT32) . We believe the groups moved to use CVE-2018-0798 instead of the other Microsoft Equation Editor Remote Code Execution ( RCE ) vulnerabilities because the former is more reliable as it works on all known versions of Equation Editor .


Bart ransomware appeared for exactly one day on June 24 , 2016 .


It is an invaluable source of intelligence about a given campaign .. The following snippet shows the location within the Trojan where it uses SQLite database commands to store and recall command-and-control addresses : Backdoor Commands The Red Alert code also contains an embedded list of commands the botmaster can send to the bot . The group has compromised more than 16 organizations in at least 13 different countries , sometimes simultaneously , since at least 2014 . all ANEL samples whose version is 5.3.0 or later are obfuscated with opaque predicates and control flow flattening . The first it Uses and APIs To test for a Debugger attached or Sandbox environment by making a call to with Flag specified , then call to retrieve the addresses of the allocated pages that has been written to since the allocation or the writetrack state has been reset .


While most of these organizations were based in Singapore , some were multinational organizations with a presence in Singapore . The Shadow Brokers first emerged in August , when they posted links to a selection of NSA exploits and hacking tools onto Github and other websites .


Code to check the existence of SafetyNet Google API It also checks if the Android SafetyNet is active and reporting back to the C2 . Like the Moafee group , we observed DragonOK running HTRAN to proxy their C2 servers , which are also operated on CHINANET but are hosted in the Jiangsu Province . ShadowHammer : asushotfix.com . We expect KillNet and its affiliates to continue conducting distributed denial - of - service ( DDoS ) and hack - and - leak operations intended to disrupt government and critical infrastructure functions in countries providing financial , economic , diplomatic or military support to Ukraine .


We end this section with a discussion on tools related to FakeM and used by Scarlet Mimic . We concluded that Lazarus Group was responsible for WannaCry , a destructive attack in May that targeted Microsoft customers .


Ben Baker , Edmund Brumaghin and Jonah Samost of Talos have a fantastic write-up of this process here .


When attackers used Winnti to maintain access to web servers , they hid the implant in plain sight by masquerading it as a trusted , legitimate file .


When the botnet came back online , TA505 campaigns quickly returned , usually at even greater scale than before the disruption .


In a recent attack , APT33 sent spear-phishing emails to workers in the aviation industry . The UPX gave a warning message about memory buffer overflow .


In the 2016 version , the value of the User-Agent header changed , as did the method of generating the relative path in the URL : now the part before /index.php is a mix of a pronounceable ( if not entirely meaningful ) word and random letters and numbers , for example , “ muromec280j9tqeyjy5sm1qy71 ” or “ parabbelumf8jgybdd6w0qa0 ” . TG-3390 uses the PlugX remote access tool . We also considered the move as an obfuscation technique , as it was mixed with a lot of script kiddie activities that can easily be mistaken for grey noise online . In its spear phish , CloudLook also used a self - extracting archive containing a PDF file that lured its victims with information regarding world terrorism .


Some of them like takephoto , takevideo , recordaudio , getsentsms and uploadpictures are focused on espionage activities . While investigating one of these infections involving White Lambert ( network-driven implant ) and Blue Lambert ( active implant ) , we found yet another family of tools that appear to be related . The IXESHE attackers are notable for their use of compromised machines within a target ’s internal network as C&C servers . In our Google Analytics platform , we will see the data as : In our demo the DP will result in page view of Which will be decoded from base64 as : The source of the problem is that the CSP rule system is n’t granular enough .


Gorgon Group used common URL shortening services to download payloads . According to Cheetah Mobile’s follow-up investigation , fraudulent behaviors came from two 3rd party SDKs Batmobi , Duapps integrated inside Cheetah SDK .


Our team went ahead and hunted for samples of the app and analyzed it in our labs . In some of the latest samples of BalkanDoor detected in 2019 , the malware is distributed as an ACE archive , disguised as a RAR archive (i.e , not an executable file) , specially crafted to exploit the WinRAR ACE vulnerability CVE-2018-20250 . Join us in a live webinar as we discuss this threat group whom we assess to be working on behalf of the Iranian Government , with a mission that would benefit nation-state geopolitical and economic needs .


Some of the settings are Boolean values that act as switches . Once a valid card with a malicious EMV chip is detected , RIPPER will instantiate a timer to allow a thief to control the machine . However , they later continued by making modifications to the Excel document just prior to the attack on August 26th .


Officials at BLU could n't be immediately reached for comment . Analysis of the Royal Road weaponizer has resulted in the discovery that multiple Chinese threat groups started utilizing CVE-2018-0798 in their RTF weaponizer . C2 : phot.healthsvsolu.com .


Given that both organizations appear to describe similar ( if not identical ) activity , any reasonable person could ( and should ) ask – why the inconsistency in naming and identification .


ELF Utilities 00c787c0c0bc26caf623e66373a5aaa1b913b9caee1f34580bdfdd21954b7cc4 11499ff2418f4523344de81a447f6786fdba4982057d4114f64db929990b4b59 13ec6cec511297ac3137cf7d6e4a7c4f5dd2b24478a06262a44f13a3d61070b6 3c9f08b3280851f54414dfa5a57f40d3b7be7b73736fa0ba21b078e75ce54d33 This seems confusing as FireEye earlier publicly declared the " TRITON actor " as a discrete entity , linked to a Russian research institution , and christened it as " TEMP.Veles " . The domains were registered in November 2019 and operationalized shortly after . To prevent ProxyNotShell exploitation on older Microsoft Exchange servers , Microsoft released a blog4 advocating for a custom inside the Microsoft IIS server supporting Exchange .


] com hxxp : //apple-icloud [ . APT28 espionage activity has primarily targeted entities in the U.S. , Europe , and the countries of the former Soviet Union , including governments and militaries , defense attaches , media entities , and dissidents and figures opposed to the current Russian Government . The send counter is also passed to the AdrGen function as the part number parameter and is visible in the query string as depicted below: Query: 239e965ec000a60000B6C90T.COCTab33333233332222222222222222210100A3280AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.33333210100A.sample-domain.evil , Response: 39.2.3.1 , Query: 230019e965eca60000A16DC20T.EBB466767667256666772556776662FBFD932F3F64079E4F730B65239FE0.33333210100A.sample-domain.evil , Response: 39.2.3.2 , Query: 392e002965eca60000C6D18C42T.33232333332333500262233332466710E0E18362E239DDA839020190D932.33333210100A.sample-domain.evil . Attacks start with VBA code to decode the next malware stage All campaigns start with Microsoft Office documents , which are possibly sent to the targets as email attachments .


If an intruder compromises a computer that has been onboarded to Windows Defender ATP , SOC personnel can isolate the computer from the network , blocking command and control of the implant and preventing attackers from installing additional malware and moving laterally to other computers in the network .


The group installed multiple tools within the environment , including three different tools on a strategically important server , likely to provide contingency access options .


Access to the networks of these third-party service providers grants the MSS the ability to potentially access the networks of hundreds , if not thousands , of corporations around the world . This file requires the target to attempt to open the .lnk file , which redirects the user to a Windows Scripting Component ( .wsc ) file , hosted on an adversary-controlled microblogging page .


] com hxxp : //mailsa-wqp [ . For full details , please reference our 2014 report , APT28 : A Window into Russia 's Cyber Espionage Operations . The differences between PoisonFrog and Glimpse highlight the ease at which adversaries can modify their tools to meet their end . The Winnti group diversified its targets to include enterprises such as those in pharmaceutics and telecommunications .


'' The trojan calls this function with the action GLOBAL_ACTION_BACK , which equals the pressing of the back button on the device , thus canceling the opening of the anti-virus application . The archive contains an .exe file , sometimes disguised as a Microsoft Word file , a video , or another file format , using the corresponding icon . While researching these attacks , we discovered an undocumented , custom malware family – which we ’ve named Dudell . Adversaries may perform data destruction over the course of an operation .


key3.db Firefox private keys ( now named key4.db ) cert8.db Firefox certificate database logins.json Firefox encrypted password database account.cfn The Bat ! ( email client ) account credentials wand.dat Opera password database .


Symantec saw the first evidence of Sowbug-related activity with the discovery in March 2017 of an entirely new piece of malware called Felismus used against a target in Southeast Asia . As in the past , these messages have been sent accounts believed to be fake and accounts compromised by Infy , including Kurdish activists that had previously been compromised by the Flying Kitten actor group .


This signals just how long ago the Poseidon threat actor was already working on its offensive framework . The Sogu gang , in contrast , use PDF and DOC files in very tailored , targeted emails .


Instead , sensitive KHNP documents were leaked by the actors as part of an effort to exaggerate the access they had and embarrass the South Korean Government , a technique we assess North Korea would turn to again in order to instill fear and/or meet domestic propaganda aims . NetTraveler has been used to target diplomats , embassies and government institutions for over a decade , and remains the tool of choice by the adversaries behind these cyber espionage campaigns .


The Sofacy developer modified the f4player ’s ActionScript to include additional code to load an embedded Flash object .


A fake alert will notify and urge the user to access the malicious domain and download XLoader . We identified this APT group coded as ‘APT-C-35’ in 2017 , who is mainly targeting Pakistan and other South Asian countries for cyber espionage . If the host is successfully reached , the script renames a file named “ kernel.dll ” , obviously not the real one , in “ uninstall.exe ” , another misleading name .


What ’ s innovative about this ransomware is how it displays its ransom note . Additionally , during that time , members of Gorgon Group were also performing criminal operations against targets across the globe , often using shared infrastructure with their targeted attack operations . An incorrect choice of control flow dispatcher and first block ( algorithm error ) Mandiant has observed RGB units utilize a series of Operational Relay Boxes ( ORBs ) using L2TP IPsec tunnels along with commercial VPN providers to obscure their source address .


The usefulness of flare-qdb can be seen in cases such as loops dealing with strings . Group-IB Bot-trek TDS sensors are in place at a number of financial institutions and , unfortunately , we register that currently Corkow malware is present on 80% of protected corporate systems .


They are both targeting businesses using accounting software , are fingerprinting systems of interest similarly , are looking for smart card readers , and finally , they deploy an array of malicious tools to spy on their victims . For example , the actors behind FrozenCell used a spoofed app called Tawjihi 2016 , which Jordanian or Palestinian students would ordinarily use during their general secondary examination .


In the past , the group used droppers that installed both the SPLM and AZZY backdoors on the same machine .


And like CORESHELL , the new malware attempts to download a second-stage executable .


This information stealer is augmented by a variety of components that the toolset operators may selectively include with the main component to provide additional functionalities , such as multiple methods of establishing persistence , as well as modules that attempt to exploit privilege escalation vulnerabilities in order to execute CosmicDuke with higher privileges .


Update your device : Keep your device up-to-date with the latest security patches . While the group has not yet demonstrated an ICS capability , RASPITE 's recent targeting focus and methodology are clear indicators of necessary activity for initial intrusion operations into an IT network to prepare the way for later potential ICS events . It includes an RC4 key ( which is XORed with 0x37 ) that is used to decrypt a filename and the embedded DLL file . Depending on the platform and on how the code is compiled , these vulnerabilities could lead to arbitrary code execution : Talos is disclosing these vulnerabilities despite no official fix from Open Babel .


We therefore believe the Dukes to work either within or directly for a government , thus ruling out the possibility of a criminal gang or another third party .


The payload exploits a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Windows kernel if it detects that it is running with limited privileges .


Quasar serve does not even verify that a file was requested from the victim .


In this paper we focus only on BlackEnergy samples known to be used specifically by the actors we identify as Quedagh , who seem to have a particular interest in political targets . APT28 espionage activity has primarily targeted entities in the U.S. , Europe , and the countries of the former Soviet Union , including governments , militaries , defense attaches , media entities , and dissidents and figures opposed to the current Russian government .


) Let ’ s take a more detailed look at how this banking Trojan works . Kaspersky released a similar report about the same group under the name Carbanak in February 2015 . This version of KONNI is not designed to execute code on the infected system .


The main goal of Silence.Downloader is to receive an executable file and run it on an infected machine . In the first week of May 2016 , FireEye 's DTI identified a wave of emails containing malicious attachments being sent to multiple banks in the Middle East region .


android.media.RINGER_MODE_CHANGED android.sms.msg.action.SMS_SEND android.sms.msg.action.SMS_DELIVERED Creating a Web Server to Phish XLoader creates a provisional web server to receive the broadcast events . From the attack activity captured this time , it is obvious that Donot APT group is still keen on Pakistan as primary target of attack , and even expands scope of attack to include Pakistani staffs and institutions in China . The script is quite different from the previous one : it guarantees its persistence on the victim machine through the setting of “ HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run ” registry key , creating a new entry named “ Windows Anytime Upgrade ” which points to “ winserv.exe ” , just stored into the same folder .


Curiously , several of these have included the world " Fateh '' in their package name , which may be referring to the Fatah political party . Lazarus attacks are not a local problem and clearly the group 's operations span across the whole world . However , the U.S. has also been a country of significant interest to the group , with 18 organizations attacked over the past three years , including a number of Fortune 500 companies . Almost immediately after its channel ’s creation , the group began posting files from compromised Ukrainian organizations .


While Orangeworm has impacted only a small set of victims in 2016 and 2017 according to Symantec telemetry , we have seen infections in multiple countries due to the nature of the victims operating large international corporations . Blending in with legitimate traffic is a common tactic used by attackers to help fly under the radar .


ESET have been tracking the malicious activities related to the Ke3chang group . In some instances , APT41 leveraged POISONPLUG as a first-stage backdoor to deploy the HIGHNOON backdoor in the targeted environment . The group also deploys the SOGU and CROSSWALK malware families as means to maintain presence . APT41 sent spear-phishing emails to multiple HR employees three days after the compromise had been remediated and systems were brought back online . APT41 also deploys the SOGU and CROSSWALK malware families as means to maintain presence . Within hours of a user opening the malicious attachment dropping a HOMEUNIX backdoor , APT41 regained a foothold within the environment by installing PHOTO on the organization's servers across multiple geographic regions . Before attempting to deploy the publicly available Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) Encryptor RaaS through group policy , APT41 blocked victim systems from retrieving anti-virus updates by accessing the DNS management console and implementing a forward lookup on the domain used for anti-virus updates to the park IP address 1.1.1.1 . APT41 has been observed creating a RAR archive of targeted files for Exfiltration . APT41 is unique among tracked China-based actors in that it leverages non-public malware typically reserved for espionage campaigns in what appears to be activity for personal gain . During multiple engagements , APT41 attempted to remove evidence of some of its activity by deleting Bash histories , clearing Windows security and system events , and modifying DNS management to avoid anti-virus detections . Explicit financially-motivated targeting is unusual among Chinese statesponsored threat groups , and evidence suggests APT41 has conducted simultaneous cyber crime and Cyber Espionage operations from 2014 onward . APT41 operations against higher education , travel services , and news/media firms provide some indication that the group also tracks individuals and conducts surveillance . For example , the group has repeatedly targeted call record information at telecom companies . APT41 has established and maintained strategic access to organizations in the healthcare , high-tech , and telecommunications sectors . The group’s financially motivated activity has primarily focused on the video game industry , where APT41 has manipulated virtual currencies and even attempted to deploy ransomware . In another instance , APT41 targeted a hotel’s reservation systems ahead of Chinese officials staying there , suggesting the group was tasked to reconnoiter the facility for security reasons . These supply chain compromise tactics have also been characteristic of APT41’s best known and most recent espionage campaigns . Interestingly , despite the significant effort required to execute supply chain compromises and the large number of affected organizations , APT41 limits the deployment of follow-on malware to specific victim systems by matching against individual system identifiers . Mapping the group’s activities since 2012 (Figure 2) also provides some indication that APT41 primarily conducts financially motivated operations outside of their normal day jobs . The latter is especially notable because APT41 has repeatedly returned to targeting the video game industry and we believe these activities were formative in the group’s later espionage operations . APT41 leverages an arsenal of over 46 different malware families and tools to accomplish their missions , including publicly available utilities , malware shared with other Chinese espionage operations , and tools unique to the group . Once in a victim organization , APT41 can leverage more sophisticated TTPs and deploy additional malware . APT41 often relies on spear-phishing emails with attachments such as compiled HTML ( .chm ) files to initially compromise their victims .


The malware establishes persistence and sends HTTP requests to the command and control domain mailsinfo.net .


Utilizing Diamond Model methodology for characterizing activity by behaviors attached to victims , we began tracking TRITON S-MAL/TRISIS and immediate enabling activity as a distinct activity group ( collection of behaviors , infrastructure , and victimology ) designated XENOTIME .


During a recent campaign , APT32 leveraged social engineering emails with Microsoft ActiveMime file attachments to deliver malicious macros . While in most cases the infection vector remains unknown , the high profile attack from 2014 used a very complex Windows TTF zero-day exploit ( CVE-2014-4148 ) .


The Ham Backdoor functions primarily as a modular platform , which provides the attacker with the ability to directly download additional modules and execute them in memory from the command and control ( C2 ) server . Binders are delivered by attack vectors ( such as phishing and watering hole attacks ) onto a machine .


Trojan activity At the time of the writing of this post , all URLs ( see IOC section ) found on the sample were inactive , and it does not seem to be widespread . When CTU researchers first published information about LYCEUM to Secureworks Threat Intelligence clients , no public documentation on the group existed . We surmise that the targeting of banks , media , and government agencies is conducted in support of APT38 's primary mission .


However , Proofpoint researchers have recently observed phishing attacks that incorporate all of these elements in a single , multistep scheme involving the Marcher Android banking Trojan targeting customers of large Austrian banks . North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has set ambitious economic goals , and some cybersecurity analysts have predicted he will unleash the Pyongyang-affiliated hackers to meet those deadlines by targeting multinational companies’ trade secrets . Leafminer : Raspite .


It is in use by the Molerats ( aka Gaza cybergang ) , a politically motivated group whose main objective , we believe , is intelligence gathering . TEMP.Veles' lateral movement activities used a publicly-available PowerShell-based tool , WMImplant .


] com through an upload queue . these attacks were part of a planned operation against specific targets in India . Congratulations_Jan-7.pdf : Inside , we break down the 5 most dangerous threats facing businesses this year — including LockBit and SocGholish — dissecting how they ’re delivered , where they spread , what they destroy , and the best practices to protect against them .


The second macro file ~de03fc12a.docm dropped includes a simple macro to execute the dropped executable .


And that ’ s exactly what has happened recently . Kaspersky Lab 's products detect the Microsoft Office exploits used in the spear-phishing attacks , including Exploit.MSWord.CVE-2010-333 , Exploit.Win32.CVE-2012-0158 . The campaign appears highly targeted and delivers a backdoor we have called ' Helminth ' .


We didn’t start out looking for KASPERAGENT , but a file hit on one of our YARA rules for an executable designed to display a fake XLS icon – one way adversaries attempt to trick targets into thinking a malicious file is innocuous .


This backdoor is executed using the CMD_EXECUTE command .


This is known as a targeted attack . The Leafminer 's post-compromise toolkit suggests that Leafminer is looking for email data , files , and database servers on compromised target systems . APT33 : 192.119.15.37 mynetwork.ddns.net . What ’s more , two other vulnerabilities in MOVEit were found while new victims were still coming forward .


By later August , TA505 had turned back to large attachment campaigns , primarily distributing various zipped scripts that downloaded Locky .


Dump data from the Viber messenger app . Another such an exceptional espionage platform is " ProjectSauron , also known as " Strider " . This group has been operating in the Middle East since 2012 . Indicators of compromise help answer the question What happened while indicators of attack can help answer questions like What is happening and why A proactive approach to detection uses both IOAs and IOCs to discover security incidents or threats in as close to real time as possible .


The following examples were developed using a Winnti installer that was used in attacks in December 2016 .


Instead , we downloaded and compiled the 1.2.0.0 server of the open-source Quasar RAT , having determined that this seemed likely the most similar version .


DustySky has been developed and used since May 2015 by Molerats ( aka " Gaza cybergang " ) , a terrorist group whose main objective in this campaign is intelligence gathering . On multiple dates in 2017 , TEMP.Veles struggled to execute this utility on multiple victim systems , potentially due to AV detection .


Symantec discovered the most recent wave of Tick attacks in July 2015 , when BRONZE BUTLER compromised three different Japanese websites with a Flash ( .swf ) exploit to mount watering hole attacks . To do this , it employs a number of specific commands via DNSMessenger .


These emails included recruitment-themed lures and links to malicious HTML application ( HTA ) files . The malware author seemingly made unpacking the malware more difficult to slow down or even evade the antivirus engine ’s scanning process .


downloader , Older version of CORESHELL , Sofacy .


Code contained inside one of the slides triggers an exploit for CVE-2017-8759 , a remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft .NET framework . MXI Player appears to be a version of the Bahamut agent , designed to record the phone calls and collect other information about the user ( com.mxi.videoplay ) .


CONCLUSIONS FakeSpy was first seen in October 2017 and until recently mainly targeted East Asian countries . Notably , the group’s use of email as infection vector seems to yield success for their campaigns . ther names for the group are Vixen Panda , Ke3chang , Royal APT , and Playful Dragon .


The attackers deploy a rare modification of the AZZY backdoor , which is used for the initial reconnaissance .


The OnionDuke toolset also includes a dropper , an information stealer variant and multiple distinct versions of the core component that is responsible for interacting with the various modules .


Wind Tre SpA - an Italian telecom operator TMCell - the state owned mobile operator in Turkmenistan Deployment to users outside Apple ’ s app store was made possible through abuse of Apple ’ s enterprise provisioning system . WannaCry leverages an exploit , codenamed " EternalBlue " , that was released by the Shadow Brokers on April 14 , 2017 . MuddyWater has recently been targeting victims likely from Lebanon and Oman , while leveraging compromised domains , one of which is owned by an Israeli web developer .


Kaspersky first became aware of BlackOasis’ activities in May 2016 , while investigating another Adobe Flash zero day . Buckeye's exploit tool , EternalRomance , as well as EternalSynergy , can exploit the CVE-2017-0143 message type confusion vulnerability to perform memory corruption on unpatched victim computers .


Using these tactics Scarlet Mimic can directly target previously identified individuals ( spear phishing ) as well as unidentified individuals who are interested in a specific subject ( watering hole ) . In this blog , we look at the Winnti malware implant as used by two known activity groups BARIUM and LEAD .


In most cases , these click fraud apps were uninstalled by the users , probably due to the low quality of the apps . SPEAR identified recent PassCV samples which implemented another commercial off-the-shelf ( COTS ) RAT called Netwire . The threat actors achieved an initial foothold into the infrastructure via phishing email that convinced victims to install the Xyligan remote access Trojan ( RAT ) on a system . Then , it copies the system file “ rundll32.exe ” to the same directory with name “ ntuser.exe ” and runs it with “ ntuser.bin ” as a parameter , effectively loading the malicious DLL file .


Next , ZeroT uses HTTP beacons to transmit information about the infected system to the command and control ( C&C ) .


For example , some of the more advanced banking Trojans now offer features such as a back-connect proxy , screen-streaming and even remote control . SectorJ04 was recently confirmed to use additional backdoor called AdroMut and FlowerPippi , which is used to install other backdoor such as FlawedAmmy RAT on behalf of the MSI file , or to collect system information and send it to the attacker’s server . In fact , REDBALDKNIGHT has been zeroing in on Japanese organizations as early as 2008 — at least based on the file properties of the decoy documents they've been sending to their targets .


Potential targets such as Hamas who controls the Gaza strip and counts Mazen Fuqaha and Yahya al-Sinwar as members , Israel which is accused of involvement in the assassination of Mazen Fuqaha , and the Fatah party of which the Prime Minister and President of the Palestinian Authority are members .


Capture real-time voice calls in any network or app by hooking into the “ mediaserver ” system service RCSAndroid in the Wild Our analysis reveals that this RCSAndroid ( AndroidOS_RCSAgent.HRX ) has been in the wild since 2012 . In some cases , the attackers used the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication ( SWIFT ) network to transfer money to their accounts . shown after the First Block . This sample works in tandem with PIEHOP , which sets up the execution .


There is no way to access the original app again even if victims terminate the overlay process and reopen app , until credit card ( name , number , expiry date , security code ) and/or bank information ( PIN , VBV passcode , date of birth , etc . The Plead malware is a backdoor which , according to Trend Micro , is used by the BlackTech group in targeted attacks . The term zero-day is indicative of a software flaw that remains unknown to the software ’s creator . Cyclops Blink can use non - standard ports for C2 not typically associated with HTTP or HTTPS traffic.[10 ] DarkVishnya used ports 5190 and 7900 for shellcode listeners , and 4444 , 4445 , 31337 for shellcode C2.[11 ]


Command Arguments DOWNLOAD_LIST C:\ProgramData\Office\MS\out.txt , C:\ProgramData\Office\MS\text.txt .


] com hxxp : //nttdocomo-qaw [ . In 2013 , the Sofacy group expanded their arsenal and added more backdoors and tools , including CORESHELL , SPLM , JHUHUGIT , AZZY and a few others . The overall attack leverages several different approaches , which are popular techniques amongst red teamers , espionage focused adversaries , and large scale criminal campaigns . Adversaries may utilize many different protocols , including those used for web browsing , transferring files , electronic mail , or DNS .


Of the 10 million people who downloaded HummingBad-contaminated apps , an estimated 286,000 of them were located in the US . PapaAlfa is believed to be one of the proxy malware components that the Lazarus Group uses to hide the true command and control server ( s ) for operations . One Shamoon victim in Saudi Arabia had recently also been attacked by Elfin and had been infected with the Stonedrill malware ( Trojan.Stonedrill ) used by Elfin . When CrowdStrike researchers later reproduced the attack , events were present in CozyDuke - also known as CozyBear , CozyCar and Office Monkeys ( among others ) , and whose activity appears to align with advanced persistent threat APT29 - is a threat actor which came to prominence in 2014 when it is believed to have staged a series of precise attacks on high profile targets including the US White House , Department of State and the Democratic National Committee .


At a high level , hot patching can transparently apply patches to executables and DLLs in actively running processes , which does not happen with traditional methods of code injection such as CreateRemoteThread or WriteProcessMemory . This campaign , first observed in 2010 , is believed to be operated by a well-funded group given how it appeared to have purchased the source code of the BIFROST backdoor , which the operators enhanced and created other tools from .


Matters pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict : Some of the documents in this campaign reference different aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict , and the efforts for ceasefire and peace processes between the Israelis and the Palestinians , including the latest peace plan made by President Donald Trump and Senior Advisor to the President of the United States Jared Kushner .


bde7847487125084f9e03f2b6b05adc3 2 v3.12s 2560942bb50ee6e6f55afc495d238a12 2 v3.18s It ’ s interesting that the issuer “ Sun ” matches the “ Sun1 ” and “ Sun2 ” identifiers of infected devices from the FTP server , suggesting they may be test devices . Our investigation into this campaign reveals that the actor used multiple malware implants , including an unknown implant with capabilities similar to Bankshot . This was quickly followed 15 seconds later by the installation of a credential dumping to csidl_profile\appdata\roaming\microsoft\credentials\dwm32.exe , and the execution of powershell commands via PowerShell Empire , a freely available post-exploitation framework , to bypass logging on the infected machine . A clever example was ‘ Office Monkeys LOL Video.zip ’ .


The CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence™ team 's tracking of MYTHIC LEOPARD began in late 2016 , when evidence of an attack surfaced against a victim based in India and working in the hospitality sector . When the document was opened in Word , it exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in the Microsoft Office PostScript interpreter ( designated CVE-2015-2545 ) that enabled it to execute the attacker 's code and drop an attacker-generated malicious DLL onto the computer .


Once the malware can use accessibility services , it has the ability to operate as a keylogger and can retrieve notifications about other installed applications and content of open windows . One hour later , Bemstour was used against an educational institution in Belgium . Link analysis of infrastructure and tools also revealed a potential relationship between Magic Hound and the adversary group called " Rocket Kitten " ( AKA Operation Saffron Rose , Ajax Security Team , Operation Woolen-Goldfish ) as well as an older attack campaign called Newscasters .


Zebrocy Hashes :


That said , so as to hinder detection of new versions , the Trojan ’ s APK file and the C & C server domains are changed regularly , and the Trojan download links are often one-time-use . this SWC was used to specifically target Turkish . Trend Micro™ XGen™ security provides high-fidelity machine learning that can secure the gateway and endpoints , and protect physical , virtual , and cloud workloads . Adversaries may send unauthorized command messages to instruct control system assets to perform actions outside of their intended functionality , or without the logical preconditions to trigger their expected function .