Even the C & C server side was mostly exposed with the file listing available for everyone to traverse through it . In 2015 and 2016 , two Vietnamese media outlets were targeted with malware that FireEye assesses to be unique to APT32 . The image below highlights the nodes associated with the samples analyzed in this report . The group , which has some loose ties and similarities to other Iranian APTs like APT34 and Charming Kitten , first came to light in 2019 .


The ShadowBrokers' latest dump of Equation Group hacks focuses on UNIX systems and GSM networks , and was accompanied by an open letter to President Trump . Unit 42 recently identified a targeted attack against an individual working for the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan in China .


It appears that the attackers may have impersonated the identity of a real young woman and stole her pictures to construct the fake profile , along with a professional biography also stolen from yet another person . The contents of the decoy PDF is a job descriptions with the South Korean Coast Guard .


EventBot uses this function to update its C2s , the configuration of webinjects , etc . Honeycomb toolserver receives exfiltrated information from the implant; an operator can also task the implant to execute jobs on the target computer , so the toolserver acts as a C2 (command and control) server for the implant . In a recent attack , APT33 sent spear-phishing emails to workers in the aviation industry .


, IMSI , operator code , country , MCC-mobile country , SIM serial , operator name , and mobile number ) Upload wifi information ( e.g. , SSID , wifi speed , and MAC address ) Upload other information ( e.g. , display , date , time , fingerprint , created at , and updated at ) The app is capable of stealing messages from popular messaging apps by abusing the notification permissions to read the notification content and saving it to the database . The threat group using these implants has been active since at least 2014 and has been seen targeting individuals likely involved in the Ukrainian government . the CFG ( specifically mblock_t : :p redset and mblock_t : :s uccset ) An issue was discovered in the Calendar feature in Zimbra Collaboration Suite 8.8.x before 8.8.15 patch 30 ( update 1 ) , as exploited in the wild starting in December 2021 .


This could be very dangerous and cause some devices to crash following the overwrite . The titles and contents of these files suggest that the actor targeted individuals affiliated with these government agencies and the Fatah political party . While paying for your reservation or checking out at a hotel , it ’s a good idea to use a virtual wallet such as Apple Pay , Google Pay , etc . To compromise the victims , the attackers used extremely effective social engineering techniques which involved sending malicious PDF documents to their targets .


this RTF exploits again the CVE-2017_1882 on eqnedt32.exe . this RTF exploits again the CVE-2017-1882 on eqnedt32.exe .


Step 3 : Run installation Start the Bank Austria security app from the notifications or your download folder , tap Install . Once they have access to the network , they steal the organization's legitimate SSL certificate and use it on actor-controlled servers . The group has targeted victims primarily in South Korea , but also in Japan , Vietnam , Russia , Nepal , China , India , Romania , Kuwait , and other parts of the Middle East .


After the Anubis actor was allegedly arrested and the source code was leaked there was also huge increase in the number of Anubis samples found in the wild , but the new actors using Anubis have no support or updates . Machete is malware that has been developed and is actively maintained by a Spanish-speaking group . We have moderate confidence APT39 operations are conducted in support of Iranian national interests based on regional targeting patterns focused in the Middle East .


TG-3390 has access to proprietary tools , some of which are used exclusively by TG-3390 and others that are shared among a few Chinese threat groups .


The iOS and Android apps for Netflix are enormously popular , effectively turning a mobile device into a television with which users can stream full movies and TV programs anytime , anywhere . Since the report’s release in September 2018 , Group-IB’s Threat Intelligence team has detected 16 campaigns targeting banks launched by Silence . The group has its origin in more common financial fraud including theft from consumer and corporate bank accounts in Europe and Russia , using standard banking malware , mainly Carberp .


Specifically , the following facts support this assessment: The attacker targeted the SIS suggesting an interest in causing a high-impact attack with physical consequences . This alert 's IOC files provide HIDDEN COBRA indicators related to FALLCHILL .


ESET researchers will continue monitoring new Turla activities and will publish relevant information on our blog . From the time of file creation , the attacker started working at least as early as July 2018 . The link to feeds.rapidfeeds.com left in its XML configuration file was also mentioned by Kaspersky’s report in the reference section , which confirms that the APT-C-09 group keeps updating its C2 configuration channel and the recent one reserves some past features . For example , Donot and Bitter disguised as Kashmiri Voice to attack Pakistan , Transparent Tribe attacked India with decoy document regarding terrorist attacks in Kashmir . Considering APT-C-09 , Bitter and Donot have carried out targeted attacks against China , we must take actions in advance and keep a close eye on their recent activities . APT41 espionage operations against the healthcare , high-tech , and telecommunications sectors include establishing and maintaining strategic access , and through mid-2015 , the theft of intellectual property . FireEye Threat Intelligence assesses with high confidence that APT41 carries out an array of financially motivated intrusions , particularly against the video game industry , including stealing source code and digital certificates , virtual currency manipulation , and attempting to deploy ransomware . APT41 has executed multiple software supply chain compromises , gaining access to software companies to inject malicious code into legitimate files before distributing updates . APT41 is unique among tracked China-based actors in that it leverages non-public malware typically reserved for espionage operations in what appears to be activity that falls outside the scope of state-sponsored missions . Based on early observed activity , consistent behavior , and APT41's unusual focus on the video game industry , we believe the group's cyber crime activities are most likely motivated by personal financial gain or hobbyist interests . APT41 campaigns include most of the incidents previously attributed in FireEye Threat Intelligence reporting to GREF Team and a number of additional clusters that were previously unnamed . Activity traces back to 2012 when individual members of APT41 conducted primarily financially motivated operations focused on the video game industry before expanding into likely statesponsored activity . Learning to access video game production environments enabled APT41 to develop the tactics , techniques , and procedures (TTPs) that were later leveraged against software companies to inject malicious code into software updates . APT41 has targeted organizations in 14 countries over seven years , including: France , India , Italy , Japan , Myanmar , the Netherlands , Singapore , South Korea , South Africa , Switzerland , Thailand , Turkey , the United Kingdom , and the United States (Figure 1) . APT41 espionage operations against entities in these countries follow targeting of verticals consistent with Chinese national policy priorities . We believe that like other Chinese espionage operators , APT41 has moved toward strategic intelligence collection and establishing access , but aACT from direct intellectual property theft . In 2014 , APT41 was observed carrying out espionage campaigns concurrently with financially motivated intrusions , demonstrating that they could balance different objectives simultaneously . Since 2017 , APT41's activities have included a series of supply chain compromises . The group also targeted companies involved in producing motherboards , processors , and server solutions for enterprises . Since 2013 , APT41 has targeted organizations involved in the research , development , and sale of computer components used for machine-learning , autonomous vehicles , medical imaging , and the consumer market . In a 2014 compromise , APT41 targeted a European conglomerate and specifically focused on systems physically located in China . In spring 2015 , APT41 targeted information related to two entities undergoing a merger announced the previous year . Since 2017 , APT41 has consistently targeted telecommunications companies , possibly a crucial first step to establish a foothold in targeting a particular region . Targeted telecom companies spanned several countries , and recently identified intrusions were concentrated in countries where we had not identified any prior APT41 activity . In July and August 2016 , APT41 sent spear-phishing emails to Hong Kong media organizations known for pro-democracy editorial content . This was the first instance we have observed of APT41 targeting pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong . APT41 frequently leverages timely news stories as the lure content in their spear-phishing emails , although social engineering content does not alACTs correlate with targeted users or organizations . In 2015 , APT41 targeted a Japanese media organization with a lure document (Figure 3) titled 中東呼吸器症候 群(MERS)の予防 , ” which translates to Prevention of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) . APT41 activity aimed at medical device companies and pharmaceuticals is demonstrative of the group's capacity to collect sensitive and highly valuable intellectual property (IP) , although we have not observed evidence of IP theft since late 2015 . Unlike other observed Chinese espionage operators , APT41 conducts explicit financially motivated activity , which has included the use of tools that are otherwise exclusively used in campaigns supporting state interests . Although APT41 initially targeted the parent company , 30 percent of the victimized hosts were related to a subsidiary specialized in manufacturing medical devices . In 2018 , we observed APT41 target a third healthcare company , although their goals during this compromise were unclear . In June 2018 , APT41 sent spear-phishing emails using an invitation lure to join a decentralized gaming platform linked to a cryptocurrency service (Figure 5) that had positioned itself as a medium of exchange for online games and gambling sites . This provides another connection between the targeting of the cryptocurrency organizations and video game targeting . In October 2018 , the group compiled an instance of XMRig , a Monero cryptocurrency mining tool , demonstrating a continued interest in cryptocurrency . APT41 campaigns focused on the video game sector have largely affected studios and distributors in East and Southeast Asia , although global companies based in the United States have also been targeted . APT41 continuously returns to targeting the video game sector and seems to have matured its campaigns through lessons learned in operations against the industry . We believe these operations include broadly malicious activity that can enable further operations , such as targeting game source code and compromising digital certificates , while other activities are explicitly financially motivated , such as abusing in-game currency mechanics . In October 2012 , APT41 used captured credentials to compromise a jump server and access a production environment where they deployed a Linux version of PHOTO . 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 . APT41 has been observed inserting malicious code into legitimate video game files to distribute malware . In 2018 , the group inserted CRACKSHOT malware into game files that were signed with legitimate codesigning certificates , most likely indicating access to the production environment , which facilitated a supply chain compromise . We have also observed APT41 limitedly deploy rootkits on Linux systems and Master Boot Record (MBR) bootkits , such as ROCKBOOT , on Windows systems to hide their malware and maintain persistence on victim systems . Selective deployment of ROCKBOOT suggests that APT41 reserves more advanced TTPs and malware only for high-value targets . APT41 has blatantly engaged in financially motivated activity targeting the video game industry , including manipulating virtual currencies . In a highly unusual case , APT41 attempted to extort a game company by deploying the Encryptor RaaS ransomware . APT41 is well-known for leveraging compromised digital certificates from video game studios to sign malware . We suggest that APT41 sought to target in-game currency but found they could not monetize the specific targeted game , so the group resorted to ransomware to attempt to salvage their efforts and profit from the compromise . APT41 has also used credentials compromised in previous operations . In 2014 , APT41 compromised an online billing/payment service using VPN access between a third-party service provider and the targeted payment service . Although we do not have first-hand evidence of APT41's compromise of TeamViewer , we have observed APT41 use compromised TeamViewer credentials as an entry point at multiple organizations . Public reports of supply chain compromises linked to APT41 date back to at least 2014 , and technical evidence associated with these incidents was used to determine a relationship , if any , with APT41 . As demonstrated in operations targeting the video game industry , APT41 leverages a variety of TTPs to access production environments where they can inject malicious code into legitimate files . In March 2017 , suspected Chinese espionage operators targeted CCleaner , a utility that assists in the removal of unwanted files from a computer . In July 2017 , APT41 injected malicious code into a software update package maintained by Netsarang and signed it with a legitimate Netsarang certificate in an operation referred to as ShadowPad by Kaspersky . Both APT41 and the actors in the CCleaner incident used TeamViewer during initial compromise . Supply chain compromises are most likely an extension of APT41's tactics used in gaining access to gaming development environments and to other gaming organizations via third-party service providers . Beginning in July 2018 , APT41 appeared to have directly targeted several East and Southeast Asia-based video game developers and distributors to inject legitimate executables with the CRACKSHOT backdoor . The lure used to target the cryptocurrency exchange (displayed in Figure 5 and translated in Figure 6) referenced an online gaming platform , tying the cryptocurrency targeting to APT41's focus on video game-related targeting . FireEye malware analysis identified source code overlaps between malware used by APT41 in May 2016 targeting of a U.S.-based game development studio and the malware observed in supply chain compromises in 2017 and 2018 . In May 2016 , APT41 deployed a POISONPLUG sample at a U.S.-based game development studio . Alternatively , it is also possible that APT41 injected malicious code into the package prior to compilation , circumventing the need to steal the code-signing certificate and compile it on their own . Either APT41 is operating outside of state control but still working with other Chinese APT malware actors , tools , and infrastructure on a parttime or contractual basis , or APT41 is a full-time . APT41 uses many of the same tools and compromised digital certificates that have been leveraged by other Chinese espionage operators . Initial reports about HIGHNOON and its variants reported publicly as Winnti dating back to at least 2013 indicated the tool was exclusive to a single group , contributing to significant conflation across multiple distinct espionage operations . APT41 has used several malware families that have also been used by other Chinese espionage operators , including variants of HIGHNOON , HOMEUNIX , PHOTO , SOGU , and ZXSHELL , among others . HIGHNOON , one of the main code families observed being used by APT41 , was also used by APT17 in 2015 to target semiconductor and chemical manufacturers . 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 . APT41 has used CROSSWALK.BIN , a kernel driver , to circumvent firewalls and covertly send data . Another Chinese espionage group used a similar tool , CLASSFON , to covertly proxy network communications in 2011 . At least two of these malware families , HIGHNOON.CLI and GEARSHIFT , have been used by APT17 and another suspected Chinese espionage group . APT41 regularly leverages code-signing certificates to sign malware when targeting both gaming and nongaming organizations . In July 2017 , APT41 initiated a TeamViewer session and transferred files that were later deleted . In these instances , APT41 leveraged TeamViewer to transfer malware into the compromised environment , although we do not have direct evidence of APT41 compromising TeamViewer . In May 2018 , APT41 used TeamViewer for initial entry in the compromise of a healthcare company . Notably , APT41 was observed using proof-of-concept exploit code for CVE-2019-3396 within 23 days after the Confluence . APT41 has targeted payment services specializing in handling in-game transactions and real money transfer (RMT) purchases .


If the C2 has already been taken offline the document will still open , but Word will be unable to retrieve the remote template and thus Word will not load a macro .


Historically , the majority of their targeting has been focused on the South Korean government , military , and defense industrial base . Fresh from targeting banks in Poland , the banking Trojan GozNym has begun taking aim at banks in Germany .


We continue to monitor its progress . ] com , which we previously identified in October 2017 to be an OilRig C2 . It can be proc.exe or chrome.exe or winrar.exe . External Server Requests Indicates an attempt to exfiltrate data to an external server .


For contacting C & C , the spyware was found to be using free DNS services , as shown in the screenshot below : SpyNote RAT uses an unusual trick to make sure that it remains up and running and that the spying does not stop . Prior to April 2018 , as described in Group-IB’s Silence: Moving into the darkside report , Silence’s target interests were primarily limited to former Soviet and Eastern European countries including Russia , Ukraine , Belarus , Azerbaijan , Poland , and Kazakhstan . Sometimes , they aim at establishing a foothold on the target 's computer to gain access into their organization , but , based on our data , this is usually not their main objective , as opposed to other Iranian threat groups , such as OilRig and CopyKittens .


In April 2013 , we saw the first sample , which made heavy use of dynamic code loading ( i.e. , fetching executable code from remote sources after the initial app is installed ) . MUSTANG PANDA has previously used the observed microblogging site to host malicious PowerShell scripts and Microsoft Office documents in targeted attacks on Mongolia-focused NGOs . IRONHALO persists by copying itself to the current user ’s Startup folder . We recommend checking the following for potential evidence of compromise : • Child processes of on Exchange Servers , particularly .


The Trojan also hit users from Ukraine , Turkey , Germany , Belarus , Poland , Armenia , Kazakhstan , the US , and other countries . In 2015 , the SecureWorks® Counter Threat Unit™ ( CTU ) research team documented the BRONZE UNION threat group ( formerly labeled TG-3390 ) , which CTU™ analysis suggests is based in the People's Republic of China ( PRC ) . Outlaw ’s attack routines may not be new , but it still serves as a reminder for enterprises to update their systems regularly . Part of this can be explained by the fact that 8BASE disproportionately attacked Brazil with 11 attacks last month , while PLAY focused on Switzerland ( 5 ) .


Below are a series of indicators Microsoft has observed as active during the STRONTIUM activity discussed in this article .


ABUSE OF ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES EventBot abuses the accessibility services of Android devices for the majority of its activity . OutExtra.exe is a signed legitimate application from Microsoft named finder.exe . For example , we analyzed a DropIt sample ( SHA256 : cca268c13885ad5751eb70371bbc9ce8c8795654fedb90d9e3886cbcfe323671 ) that dropped two executables , one of which was saved to " %TEMP%\flash_update.exe " that was a legitimate Flash Player installer .


The usefulness of flare-qdb can be seen in cases such as loops dealing with strings . Considering the Trojan delivery method and through our analysis of infections on banks' networks , we can confirm that all infections were conducted on a random basis .


The document attached to this e-mail exploits CVE-2012-0158 . However , based on the findings shared in this report we assess with high confidence that the actor 's primary long-term mission is politically focused .


This was the C2 for an Android infostealer responsible for several attacks in Italy back in late 2019 . The China Chopper actor activity starts with the download and execution of two exploit files which attempt to exploit the Windows vulnerabilities CVE-2015-0062 , CVE-2015-1701 and CVE-2016-0099 to allow the attacker to modify other objects on the server . They move laterally and escalate system privileges to extract sensitive information — whenever the attacker wants to do so.4 ,5 Because some RATs used in targeted attacks are widely available , determining whether an attack is part of a broader APT campaign can be difficult .


The goal of the attackers appears to be to collect intellectual property such as design documents , formulas , and manufacturing processes .


In early May , the phishing lures leveraged RTF attachments that exploited the Microsoft Windows vulnerability described in CVE-2017-0199 . The 360 Intelligence Center observed four distinct campaigns against Pakistan since 2017 (link) , recently targeting Pakistani businessmen working in China .


Previous version The capture service class implements the chat applications interception . Callisto Group and related infrastructure contain links to at least Russia , Ukraine , and China . The one outlier was written as winword.exe . Acquire Infrastructure : Web Services APT29 has registered algorithmically generated Twitter handles that are used for C2 by malware , such as HAMMERTOSS .


Example of more recent FakeSpy campaigns targeting France . Symantec’s Elfin report denoted additional targeting of the engineering , chemical , research , finance , IT , and healthcare sectors . Our investigation revealed an attack where the GCMAN group then planted a cron script into bank 's server , sending financial transactions at the rate of $200 per minute .


In all three incidents , the attackers gained access to networks through deployments of Citrix and LogMeIn remote-access software using stolen valid user credentials . Upon successful exploitation , the attachment will install the Trojan known as NetTraveler using a DLL side-loading attack technique .


Translated from Russian , this file is named “ PROJECT_REALIZATION_PLAN.rar ” and contains a compressed .scr executable .


Zen family PHA authors exhibit a wide range of techniques , from simply inserting an advertising SDK to a sophisticated trojan . he PassCV group typically utilized publicly available RATs in addition to some custom code , which ultimately provided backdoor functionality to affected systems via phony resumes and curriculum vitae ( CVs ) . Dell SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit ( CTU ) analysts were recently engaged with a client thought to have been compromised by a threat group CTU researchers have named Threat Group-0416 ( TG-0416 ) . The code of the exploit is very similar to the one published in the Metasploit kit , but the inner class that disables the security manager is encoded differently , most likely to avoid detection .


In the summer of 2014 , we noted that certain samples of BlackEnergy malware began targeting Ukranian government organizations for information harvesting . In 2014 , APT32 leveraged a spear-phishing attachment titled " Plans to crackdown on protesters at the Embassy of Vietnam.exe , " which targeted dissident activity among the Vietnamese diaspora in Southeast Asia .


Carbanak is a remote backdoor ( initially based on Carberp ) , designed for espionage , data exfiltration and to provide remote access to infected machines . The mothership server is generally a VPS , which runs the Control panel software used to interact with the victims .


RIPPER will examine the contents of directories associated with the targeted ATM vendors and will replace legitimate executables with itself . Deepen told Threatpost the group has been operating since at least since 2008 and has targeted China and US relations experts , Defense Department entities , and geospatial groups within the federal government .


The threat actor relied on WMI and PsExec to move laterally and install their tools across multiple assets . Confucius targeted a particular set of individuals in South Asian countries , such as military personnel and businessmen , among others .


Mimikatz is a post-exploitation tool that allows attackers to extract credentials from volatile memory . BARIUM , a Chinese state player that also goes by APT17 , Axiom and Deputy Dog , was previously linked to the ShadowPad and CCleaner incidents , which were also supply-chain attacks that used software updates to sneak onto machines .


SHA256 15abd32342e87455b73f1e2ecf9ab10331600eb4eae54e1dfc25ba2f9d8c2e8a .


The Leafminer operators use EternalBlue to attempt lateral movement within target networks from compromised staging servers . However , despite the similarities to previous Turla campaigns , we believe that WhiteBear is a distinct project with a separate focus .


Other samples communicated with other servers listed at the bottom of this report . These incidents involved spear-phishing attacks , which characteristic of HELIX KITTEN , included emails containing malicious PowerShell in their macros that connects to known C2 infrastructure . This campaign shows a threat actor interested in specific Middle Eastern and Arabic-speaking countries . With regards to these similarities , we highlight the following trends which could manifest in future OT malware : •


The origins of MiniDuke can thus be traced back to the origins of GeminiDuke , of which the earliest observed sample was compiled in January of 2009 .


RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED - Allows the application to receive a broadcast after the system finishes booting . Discovered in 2014 , the campaign quickly gained notoriety after compromising the security systems of 100 banks in 40 countries and stealing up to $1 billion in the process . Between April 1 , 2018 and May 30 , 2018 , we observed the domain stevemike-fireforce.info used in a Gorgon Group cybercrime campaign involving more than 2,300 emails and 19 documents in the initial attack .


Spread command from C2 The victim receives the command sendSMSMass . APT10 has been in operation since at least 2009 , and has evolved its targeting from an early focus on the US defence industrial base ( DIB ) and the technology and telecommunications sector , to a widespread compromise of multiple industries and sectors across the globe , most recently with a focus on MSPs . OceanLotus : C:\Users\Meister\Documents\Projects\BrokenShield\Bin\x86\Release\BrokenShield.pdb Loader #2 . We believe this is a different campaign and threat actor altogether .


Therefore , it is possible that additional HIDDEN COBRA malware may be present on network infrastructure compromised with Volgmer . The first confirmed date when TajMahal samples were seen on a victim’s machine is August 2014 .


These techniques permit the CIA to bypass the encryption of WhatsApp , Signal , Telegram , Wiebo , Confide and Cloackman by hacking the smart phones that they run on and collecting audio and message traffic before encryption is applied . Examples as early as 2008 document malware operations against Tibetan non-governmental organizations ( NGOs ) that also targeted Falun Gong and Uyghur groups .


The dropper installs 2 files :


This report describes the details and type of operations carried out by Carbanak that focuses on financial industry , such as payment providers , retail industry and PR companies . Considering the language being used in the malicious code is Arabic , it seems that the attacker is familiar with Arabic language as well .


However , it was detected dynamically by the host intrusion prevention subsystem when it appeared in the system and was executed .


This variable is decoded with the base64 algorithm in order to get a Windows library ( PE file ) which is written to disk .


MESSAGE – send SMS containing specified text to a specified number . During this testing , we saw document filenames that contain the C2 we witnessed in the targeted attack above , specifically the filenames XLS-withyourface.xls and XLS-withyourface – test.xls . CTU researchers also identified components in the custom C2 protocol being used ( the ACT in which the malware talks to the Command and Control Servers ) which they have seen utilized by Nickel Academy ( Lazarus ) previously .


This was more complex .


Apps with a custom-made advertisement SDK The simplest PHA from the author 's portfolio used a specially crafted advertisement SDK to create a proxy for all ads-related network traffic . Unit 42 's analysis shows that NetTraveler attempted to exploit CVE-2012-0158 to install NetTraveler Trojan . The first spear phishing message was sent to a Taiwanese governmental employee on Dec. 1 . FireEye detects this activity across our platforms .


When DualToy began to spread in January 2015 , it was only capable of infecting Android devices . In 2018 , we discovered a new version of the Ketrican backdoor that featured some code improvements . Malware used by Lazarus Group correlates to other reported campaigns , including Operation Flame , Operation 1Mission , Operation Troy , DarkSeoul , and Ten Days of Rain .


Key : HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\AudioMgr Key : HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\GoogleIndexer .


Command Description push Shows a push notification . The SectorJ04 group’s preexisting targets were financial institutions located in countries such as North America and Europe , or general companies such as retail and manufacturing , but they recently expanded their areas of activity to include the medical , pharmaceutical , media , energy and manufacturing industries . Kaspersky found the group was exploiting a Adobe Flash Player zero-day vulnerability ( CVE-2016-4117 ) to remotely deliver the latest version of " FinSpy " malware , according to a new blog post published Monday .


We believe that , unusually , the purpose of the OnionDuke variant spread via the Tor node was not to pursue targeted attacks but instead to form a small botnet for later use .


Privilege escalation requests The screens asking for the user 's approval wo n't close unless the user approves the privilege escalation . Attackers use it to create , expand and cement their foothold in compromised environments . Prior to the discovery of Operation Daybreak , we observed the ScarCruft APT launching a series of attacks in Operation Erebus .


SHA256 : 4393ff391396cdfd229517dd98aa7faecad04da479fe8ca322f035ceee363273 .


Virulent Android malware returns , gets > 2 million downloads on Google Play HummingWhale is back with new tricks , including a way to gin user ratings . We believe they started this watering hole campaign at the end of 2016 after their other operation was interrupted in South East Asia . Two users in the targeted organization received a file called " JobDetails.rar " , which attempted to exploit the WinRAR vulnerability . UNC4899 targeting overlaps with a separate RGB - aligned group , APT43 , who in July , 2023 displayed interest in the cryptocurrency vertical , specifically targeting a variety of C - Suite executives from multiple fintech and cryptocurrency companies in the United States , South Korea , Hong Kong , and Singapore .


It controls each and every functionality based on the commands sent by the command and control ( C & C ) server . However , Buckeye had already been using some of these leaked tools at least a year beforehand . Gorgon Group is a threat group consisting of members who are suspected to be Pakistan based or have other connections to Pakistan .


In that report , we documented our observation that the Sofacy group appeared to use conventional obfuscation techniques to mask their infrastructure attribution by using random registrant and service provider information for each of their attacks .


We found new variants of the Powermud backdoor , a new backdoor ( Backdoor.Powemuddy ) , and custom tools for stealing passwords , creating reverse shells , privilege escalation , and the use of the native Windows cabinet creation tool , makecab.exe , probably for compressing stolen data to be uploaded . Threat actors have targeted the government of Thailand and delivered the newly discovered Bookworm Trojan since July 2015 .


This suggests that the operators of the Command & Control are not enforcing a validation of the targets . HELIX KITTEN is likely an Iranian-based adversary group , active since at least late 2015 , targeting organizations in the aerospace , energy , financial , government , hospitality and telecommunications business verticals . Additionally , the generated code by uncompyle6 varies depending on the version and the impact is important . Cisco Secure Malware Analytics ( formerly Threat Grid ) identifies malicious binaries and builds protection into all Cisco Secure products .


HammerDuke ’s use of Twitter and crafted image files is reminiscent of other Duke toolsets .


TG-3390 SWCs may be largely geographically independent , but the group's most frequently used C2 registrars and IP net blocks are located in the U.S. Using a U.S. based C2 infrastructure to compromise targets in the U.S. helps TG-3390 actors avoid geo-blocking and geo-flagging measures used in network defense .


Since late 2018 , based upon the most-recent posting , FireEye appears to have “ walked back ” the previously-used terminology of TEMP.Veles and instead refers rather cryptically to the “ TRITON actor ” , while Dragos leveraged identified behaviors to consistently refer to an activity group , XENOTIME .


February saw three particularly interesting publications on the topic of macOS malware: a Trojan Cocoa application that sends system information including keychain data back to the attacker , a macOS version of APT28’s Xagent malware , and a new Trojan ransomware . In this latest incident , the group registered a fake news domain , timesofindiaa.in , on May 18 , 2016 , and then used it to send spear phishing emails to Indian government officials on the same day .


A closer examination of the tool revealed the second user agent string was from a secondary payload that was retrieved by the cba5ab65a24be52214736bc1a5bc984953a9c15d0a3826d5b15e94036e5497df sample .


Chinese APK names : Some of FakeSpy ’ s APK package names contain anglicized Chinese ( Mandarin ) words that might be related to Chinese songs and lyrics , food , provinces , etc . Instead , the campaign used compromised legitimate accounts to trick victims into installing malware . Other names for the group are Vixen Panda , Ke3chang , Royal APT , and Playful Dragon .


The first , st07383.en17.docx , continues by utilizing 32 or 64 bit versions of CVE-2017-0001 to escalate privileges before executing a final JavaScript payload containing a malware implant known as SHIRIME . The group is well known : They hijacked WikiLeaks' DNS last month shortly after they took over HBO 's Twitter account ; last year , they took over Mark Zuckerberg 's Twitter and Pinterest accounts ; and they hit both BuzzFeed and TechCrunch not long after that .


While Sofacy is also known to use of custom exploit frameworks and spear-phishing attacks , it is possible in this case that they managed to obtain privileged credentials of network administrators within the Bundestag through the use of a phishing attack , which then allowed them to navigate through the network and gain access to more data .


The second stage The second stage apps contain the surveillanceware capabilities . What actually happens is that the malware is able to decode data from the PDF documents and interpret it as commands for the backdoor . The installed service registry key is opened and the 2 values under its Parameter subkey are created . A great example is that of the notorious bank robber slick Willy Sutton .


In the case of this malware , the activity groups strongly associated with Winnti are BARIUM and LEAD .


IOCs C & C IP addresses : 155.133.82.181 155.133.82.240 155.133.82.244 185.234.218.59 195.22.126.160 195.22.126.163 195.22.126.80 195.22.126.81 5.45.73.24 5.45.74.130 IP addresses from which the Trojan was downloaded : 185.174.173.31 185.234.218.59 188.166.156.110 195.22.126.160 195.22.126.80 195.22.126.81 In 2016 , the threat actors conducted a strategic web compromise ( SWC ) on the website of an international industry organization that affected aerospace , academic , media , technology , government , and utilities organizations around the world . With technologies that employ web/URL filtering , behavioral analysis , and custom sandboxing , XGen security offers protection against ever-changing threats that bypass traditional controls and exploit known and unknown vulnerabilities . Talos discovered multiple vulnerabilities in Foxit PDF Reader that could allow an adversary to execute , arbitrary code on the targeted machine .


As such , these findings represent a collection of compromised websites , compromised registrar accounts used to spin up subdomains , domains used by malware DGA ’s , phishing kits , carding forums , malware C2 sites , and a slew of other domains that revolve around criminal activity .


Otherwise , it will return a JSON encoded " OK , '' and if that is the case , the command to be executed . The United States and countries in Europe are targeted as well . The DUDELL sample is a weaponized Microsoft Excel B-IDTY I-TOOL document that contains a malicious macro E-TOOL that runs on the victim ’s machine . Subscribing to the Talos weekly newsletter provides information about the most prevalent malware .


Following are some examples of the decoys used by these droppers : The purpose of Exodus One seems to be to collect some basic identifying information about the device ( namely the IMEI code and the phone number ) and send it to the Command & Control server . The tester created the final test file less than 8 hours before the creation time of a delivery document , which was then delivered via a spear-phishing email 20 minutes later . The attacker used a second trick to avoid analysis of the python code . There was a massive decrease in the activity from Royal , for example , which normally dominates the monthly rankings — often cracking into the top five — with an average of roughly 30 attacks a month in that period .


Between November 26 , 2015 , and December 1 , 2015 , known and suspected China-based APT groups launched several spear phishing attacks targeting Japanese and Taiwanese organizations in the high-tech , government services , media and financial services industries . When the New York Times and Mandiant last year unmasked a large scale Chinese hacking operation , pinpointing its location down to the building , the report drew mainstream attention to what security professionals already well knew : sophisticated threat actors carry out persistent cyber operations over months and years .


The Shadow Brokers , the group that publicly dumped a cache of NSA hacking tools , appears to be back and ready to sell stolen material on an individual basis . According to the Fxmsp , they worked tirelessly for the first quarter of 2019 to breach these companies and finally succeeded and obtained access to the companies' internal networks .


Proofpoint is tracking this attacker , believed to operate out of China , as TA459 .


First Signs in September 2019 In September 2019 , a tweet by CERT-Bund caught the attention of the IBM Trusteer Mobile Security Research team . specifically CVE-2018-0798 , before downloading subsequent payloads . The OilRig group continues to be a persistent adversary group in the Middle East region .


In particular , the threat actors have exploited CVE-2011-3544 , a vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment , to deliver the HTTPBrowser backdoor ; and CVE-2010-0738 , a vulnerability in JBoss , to compromise internally and externally accessible assets used to redirect users' web browsers to exploit code . Initial attack targets are commonly software and gaming organizations in United States , Japan , South Korea , and China .


In particular , these packages have not been observed to contain or to download exploits which would be required to perform certain types of activities on iOS devices . Some of the documents exploited CVE-2017-0199 to deliver the payload . Cisco Talos assesses with moderate confidence that a campaign we recently discovered called " BlackWater " is associated with suspected persistent threat actor MuddyWater .


We found traces of the Gooligan malware code in dozens of legitimate-looking apps on third-party Android app stores . Although APT38 is distinct from other TEMP.Hermit activity , both groups operate consistently within the interests of the North Korean state . The global variable value dword_745BB58C is either even or odd , The most significant similarities we identified are with INDUSTROYER and INDUSTROYER.V2 , which were both malware variants deployed in the past to impact electricity transmission and distribution .


The Android banking Trojan rental business Rental of banking Trojans is not new . Machete was active and constantly working on very effective spearphishing campaigns . This is evidence of shared motivation and intent to target the SWIFT system by the North Korean operators performing the reconnaissance and APT38 which later targeted that organization .


'' The report said HummingBad apps are developed by Yingmob , a Chinese mobile ad server company that other researchers claim is behind the Yinspector iOS malware . These and other tools used by the Lazarus group can be mitigated by routinely scanning the network for any malicious activity to help prevent the malware from entering and spreading through an organization . APT33 : 64.251.19.214 mynetwork.ddns.net . To perform analysis of NetScaler memory core dump files , they need to be collected .


Disable , discontinue , or disallow the use of Internet Control Message Protocol ( ICMP ) and Simple Network Management Protocol ( SNMP ) as much as possible .


With Version 0.0.0.1 , there is a dedicated functions class where all main malicious activity happens and can be observed . Rapid7 reviewed malware discovered in the victim’s environment and found implants that used Dropbox as the C2 . POWRUNER was delivered using a malicious RTF file that exploited CVE-2017-0199 .


To bypass Google Play Store security checks , the malware creators used a very interesting method : they uploaded a clean app to the store at the end of March , 2017 , and would then update it with a malicious version for short period of time . COVELLITE operates globally with targets primarily in Europe , East Asia , and North America . The code is specifically looking for data in Portuguese and English , allowing the attackers to steal credit card data from web pages written in these languages . This dangerous malware was developed to exploit weaknesses in those systems and the communication protocols they use – systems developed decades ago with almost no security measures .


The recent activity in the U.S. is but one of many instances of Russian Government influence operations conducted in support of strategic political objectives , and it will not be the last .


EventBot web injects execution method Web injects execution method by a pre-established configuration . Create a link file in the startup folder for AutoHotkeyU32.exe , allowing the attack to persist even after a system restart . Although we have only observed APT33 use DROPSHOT to deliver TURNEDUP , we have identified multiple DROPSHOT samples in the wild that delivered wiper malware we call SHAPESHIFT .


Turla has been operating for a number of years and its activities have been monitored and analyzed by ESET research laboratories . The malware was initially distributed through a compromised software update system and then self-propagated through stolen credentials and SMB exploits , including the EternalBlue exploit used in the WannaCry attack from May 2017 .


HttpBrowser ( also known as TokenControl ) — A backdoor notable for HTTPS communications with the HttpBrowser User-Agent .


It saves the messages ’ metadata and content , filters the information by fields , and sends them to the C2 server using the URL /servlet/SendMassage2 . We believe the actors pivoted to other systems on the network using stolen credentials and by exploiting the CVE-2017-0144 (EternalBlue) vulnerability patched in MS17-010 . The Ke3chang have used three types of malware over the years and have traditionally targeted the aerospace , energy , government , high-tech , consulting services , chemicals , manufacturing , mining sectors .


Instead of running its service only at boot time , it registers a receiver that listens to the “ android.intent.action.SCREEN_ON ” and “ android.provider.Telephony.SMS_DELIVER ” broadcast actions . However , Brazilian actors commonly use several methods to do so , such as reselling cards they have created , paying bills with stolen cards in return for a portion of the bill's value and reselling illicitly obtained goods . While investigating recent attacks performed by the threat actor group OilRig using their new Bondupdater version , Unit 42 researchers searched for additional Microsoft Office documents used by OilRig hoping to locate additional malware being used in other attacks during the same time period .


The second timer will run every five seconds and it will try to enable the WiFi if it 's disabled . Gamaredon Group primarily target Ukrainian organizations and resources using spear-phishing attacks , and they use military or similar documents as bait . The compilation times of APT37 malware is consistent with a developer operating in the North Korea time zone ( UTC +8:30 ) and follows what is believed to be a typical North Korean workday .


In mid-2016 , malware that FireEye believes to be unique to APT32 was detected on the networks of a global hospitality industry developer with plans to expand operations into Vietnam . The most popular targets of SneakyPastes are embassies , government entities , education , media outlets , journalists , activists , political parties or personnel , healthcare and banking .


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 ) . The group , believed to be based in China , has also targeted defense contractors , colleges and universities , law firms , and political organizations — including organizations related to Chinese minority ethnic groups .


It ’ s not enough for this malware family to swap just one innocent application with an infected double . The campaign targets Middle Eastern organizations largely from the Lebanon and United Arab Emirates , though , Indian and Canadian companies with interests in those Middle Eastern countries are also targeted . Dexphot also generates the names for the tasks at runtime , which means a simple block list of hardcoded task names will not be effective in preventing them from running . Related activity may also include a Southeast Asian government and Central Asian telecom .


The macro then writes this data to a text file in the C:\Programdata folder using a random filename with the .txt extension .


This new campaign , dubbed HaoBao , resumes Lazarus ' previous phishing emails , posed as employee recruitment , but now targets financial organizations . This full-blown spying framework consists of two packages named ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Yokohama’ .


Based on the mutexes and domain names of some of their C&C servers , BlackTech 's campaigns are likely designed to steal their target 's technology . Like many threat groups , TG-3390 conducts strategic web compromises ( SWCs ) , also known as watering hole attacks , on websites associated with the target organization 's vertical or demographic to increase the likelihood of finding victims with relevant information .


Kryptowire says the code , which it found on a BLU R1 HD devices , transmitted fine-grained location information and allowed for the remote installation of other apps . KHRAT is a backdoor trojan purported to be used with the China-linked cyberespionage group DragonOK . Should the user become aware of the infection later , it may be difficult to find the cause due to the fact that the original embedded file contained within the SFX is benign .


In an extensive email to the victim , the INDRIK SPIDER operator provides a decryptor download link , decryptor deletion link ( to be used following decryptor download ) and a password . Kaspersky speculates that ScarCruft could also be behind another zero-day , CVE-2016-0147 , a vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services that was patched in April .


One sample in particular , cba5ab65a24be52214736bc1a5bc984953a9c15d0a3826d5b15e94036e5497df used yet another unique user agent string in combination with the previous user agent for its C2 : Mozilla v5.1 ( Windows NT 6.1 ; rv : 6.0.1 ) Gecko Firefox .


Validating Arabic keyboard and language settings on the infected machine .


Unlike many ransomware operations , which usually just require victims to make the payment and subsequently download a decryptor , INDRIK SPIDER requires the victim to engage in communication with an operator . The other one , ScarCruft 's Operation Erebus employs an older exploit , for CVE-2016-4117 and leverages watering holes .


Like EternalPetya , infpub.dat determines if a specific file exists on the system and will exit if found . 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 .


Take pictures with the embedded camera . The group uses an advanced piece of malware known as Remsec ( Backdoor.Remsec ) to conduct its attacks . Part one of this research investigates the Spark campaign , where attackers use social engineering to infect victims , mainly from the Palestinian territories , with the Spark backdoor . With ThreatConnect , teams get a single Platform to simplify the processing , categorization , and response to suspicious emails , reducing the time to remediate active threats from days to minutes .


Once this Intent object is generated with the action value pointing to the decrypted content , the decryption function returns the Intent object to the callee . In May 2017 , NCC Group 's Incident Response team reacted to an ongoing incident . ZIP archives are supposed to have one “End of Central Directory” (EOCD) signifying the end of the . In 2015 GReAT reported that CozyDuke often spear phishes targets with emails containing a link to a hacked website .


These attacks have included criminal groups responsible for the delivery of NewPosThings , MalumPOS and PoSeidon point of sale Malware , as well as Carbanak from the Russian criminal organization we track as Carbon Spider . It is not a new tactic for Turla to rely on fake Flash installers to try to trick the user to install one of their backdoors .


While computers using Microsoft Windows automatically adjust for DST , changes in timezone definitions require that an update to Windows be installed .


In the case of the infected application not specified in the code , “ Agent Smith ” will simply show ads on the activity being loaded . Clever Kitten primarily targets global companies with strategic importance to countries that are contrary to Iranian interests . The two monitoring services simultaneously check the status of all three malicious processes . Our investigation revealed that the files created on the Exchange servers were owned by the user NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM , a privileged local account on the Windows operating system .


Bluetooth — which allows the interaction with the Bluetooth interface , and net/deacon — which implements a beaconing system based on UDP . In early 2016 , the Callisto Group was observed sending targeted spear phishing emails . Based on past APT12 activity , we expect the threat group to continue to utilize phishing as a malware delivery method . 0824.1.doc : f6fafb7c30b1114befc93f39d0698560 , CVE-2012-0158 . Analyze packet contents to detect communications that do not follow the expected protocol behavior for the port that is being used .


Those targeted include applications like Paypal Business , Revolut , Barclays , UniCredit , CapitalOne UK , HSBC UK , Santander UK , TransferWise , Coinbase , paysafecard , and many more . At first look , it pretends to be a Java related application but after a quick analysis , it was obvious this was something more than just a simple Java file . APT40 relies heavily on web shells for an initial foothold into an organization .


List of package names of apps on events from which the Trojan opens a fake Google Play window ( for the Russian version of the Trojan ) Example of Trojan screen overlapping other apps When bank card details are entered in the fake window , Riltok performs basic validation checks : card validity period , number checksum , CVC length , whether the number is in the denylist sewn into the Trojan code : Examples of phishing pages imitating mobile banks At the time of writing , the functionality of most of the Western versions of Riltok Additionally Kaspersky identified a new backdoor that we attribute with medium confidence to Turla . In this version , the developer used a different API , the Wininet API which make more sense for Web requests .


Even though we could not find indications of being in use , two stand out . In October 2015 , the Callisto Group was observed sending targeted credential phishing emails . FireEye observed APT12 deliver these exploit documents via phishing emails in multiple cases . Properly configure firewalls and proxies to limit outgoing traffic to only necessary ports for that particular network segment .


Users may be required the help of their device manufacturer to get support for firmware flashing . In a recent spear-phishing campaign , the Cobalt Group used a known CVE to connect to its C&C server via Cobalt Strike , but ended up revealing all targets . To resolve that issue , The messages show that Harrison was hired in March 2010 to help promote Ashley Madison online , but the messages also reveal Harrison was heavily involved in helping to create and cultivate phony female accounts on the service .


If you take a look at the below PowerShell , you ’ll quickly understand why .


To reach this conclusion , we began by analyzing the apparent objectives and motivations of the group .


Islamawazi is also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party or “ TIP ” . Activity traces back to 2012 when individual members of APT41 conducted primarily financially motivated operations focused on the video game industry before expanding into likely statesponsored activity . However , three themes in APT28 's targeting clearly reflects LOCs of specific interest to an Eastern European government , most likely the Russian government .


“ jackhex ” is not a common word or phrase and , as noted above , was also seen in the beacon activity with the previously discussed 9002 sample . BalkanRAT enables the attacker to remotely control the compromised computer via a graphical interface , i.e , manually; BalkanDoor enables them to remotely control the compromised computer via a command line , i.e , possibly en masse . OceanLotus , also known as APT32 , is believed to be a Vietnam-based APT group that has become increasingly sophisticated in its attack tactics , techniques , and procedures ( TTPs ) .


Here are some of the Seduploader features :


Svpeng is capable of doing lots of things . Turla is known to run watering hole and spearphishing campaigns to better pinpoint their targets . For any inquiries , contact us at threatintel@eset.com . An attacker could exploit these issues by tricking a user into opening a specially crafted PDF document or , if the user has the browser extension enabled , by visiting a malicious web page :


It will also report the version of Android that the phone is running and any additional capabilities . During a recent incident response investigation , our team identified new attacks by the financially motivated attack group ITG08 , also known as FIN6 . Similarly , APT37 targeting of a Middle Eastern company in 2017 is also consistent with North Korean objectives given the entity 's extensive relationships inside North Korea .


With GozNym , attackers dupe users by showing them the actual bank 's URL and SSL certificate . The threat actors create PlugX DLL stub loaders that will run only after a specific date .


Kwampirs uses a fairly aggressive means to propagate itself once inside a victim 's network by copying itself over network shares . Further research led us to additional MoonWind samples using the same C2 ( dns.webswindows.com ) but hosted on a different compromised but legitimate website .


Generic Windows Defender ATP detections trigger alerts on FinFisher behavior While our analysis has allowed us to immediately protect our customers , we ’ d like to share our insights and add to the growing number of published analyses by other talented researchers ( listed below this blog post ) . The well-known threat group called DRAGONFISH or Lotus Blossom are distributing a new form of Elise malware targeting organizations for espionage purposes . Perhaps the attackers are trying to reduce the load from their C&C servers by avoiding callbacks from uninteresting victims . The domain name was created on the same day the ad appeared and the website is a copy of the real one .


The group primarily uses the MSR 606 Software (Figure 12) and Hardware (Figure 13) to create cloned cards . In late 2015 , Symantec identified suspicious activity involving a hacking tool used in a malicious manner against one of our customers .


This period started with their seeming disappearance in October 2018 and concluded with their return in April 2019 . he PassCV group typically utilized publicly available RATs in addition to some custom code , which ultimately provided backdoor functionality to affected systems via phony resumes and curriculum vitae ( CVs ) .


Check Point Mobile Threat Prevention has detected two instances of a mobile malware variant infecting multiple devices within the Check Point customer base . Sometimes the attackers send an MS PowerPoint document instead , which exploits CVE-2014-6352 . APT10 has been observed to exfiltrate stolen intellectual property via the MSPs , hence evading local network defences .


Upon start , it creates a window with the class name “ Hello ” and title “ Program ” , subscribes for device arrival notifications for that window and enters a standard Windows message processing loop .


Clicking on thenotification will result in launching a specified app startApp Starts the specified application getInstallApps Gets the list of installedapplications on the infected device getContacts Gets the contact names and phone numbers from the addressbook on the infected device deleteApplication Triggers the deletion of the specified application forwardCall Enables call forwarding to the specified number sendSms Sends a text message with specified text from the infecteddevice to the specified phone number startInject Triggers the overlay attack against the specified application startUssd The SectorJ04 group mainly used their own backdoor , ServHelper and FlawedAmmy RAT , for hacking . BlackOasis ' interests span a wide gamut of figures involved in Middle Eastern politics .


Results from the commands systeminfo and tasklist Current execution path Capture screenshot Drive enumeration Drive serial number .


The screenshots provided by the author align with the advertised features and the features that we discovered while doing our analysis . Once executed , tactical malware contains the capability to profile the network and manoeuvre through it to identify a key system of interest . The goal of the attack was to surgically target an unknown pool of users , which were identified by their network adapters’ MAC addresses . It is a challenge for any organisation to fight off a determined ransomware gang like Vice Society , but schools face the added pressure of doing so in a notoriously tight budgetary environment .


Influence operations , also frequently called “ information operations , ” have a long history of inclusion in Russian strategic doctrine , and have been intentionally developed , deployed , and modernized with the advent of the internet .


Check Point Software Hummingbad/Shedun infections by Android version . In November 2017 , Secureworks Counter Threat Unit™ ( CTU ) researchers discovered the North Korean cyber threat group , known as Lazarus Group and internally tracked as NICKEL ACADEMY by Secureworks , had launched a malicious spearphishing campaign using the lure of a job opening for the CFO role at a European-based cryptocurrency company . APT33 : 217.147.168.44 remserver.ddns.net . Establish robust network segmentation between MicroSCADA hosts and IT networks .


Shamoon2 : get.adobe.go-microstf.com .


In both cases , the executable file was a self-extracting executable containing PoisonIvy , a common backdoor Trojan developed by a Chinese speaker .


The same numerical code corresponded to one command in different versions , but the set of supported commands varied . TG-3390 actors have deployed the OwaAuth web shell to Exchange servers , disguising it as an ISAPI filter . These routines are indicative of the group ’s aim to get quantitative returns through varied cybercriminal profit streams . In November 2016 , Volexity documented new Dukes - related activity involving spear phishing with links to a ZIP archive containing a malicious LNK file , which would run PowerShell commands to install a new custom backdoor called PowerDuke .


We found the same Quasar code in an additional attack on the same day , but upon a different target .


Written by Jagadeesh Chandraiah JULY 23 , 2018 SophosLabs has uncovered a mobile malware distribution campaign that uses advertising placement to distribute the Red Alert Trojan , linking counterfeit branding of well-known apps to Web pages that deliver an updated , 2.0 version of this bank credential thief . In 2017 , APT37 targeted a Middle Eastern company that entered into a joint venture with the North Korean government to provide telecommunications service to the country ( read on for a case study ) . Config.ini is the file where the malware stores its encrypted configuration data.List of files to send to C2 using bitsadmin.exe from the dedicated thread: upLog.txt , upSCRLog.txt , upSpecial.txt , upFile.txt , upMSLog.txt . http://108.61.189.174 control server HTTP . The primary motivation of a hacker is money , and getting it can be done with a variety of methods .


If it ’ s not 0x1B ( for 32-bit systems ) or 0x23 ( for 32-bit system under Wow64 ) , the loader exits . The Magic Hound campaign was also discovered using a custom dropper tool , which we have named MagicHound.DropIt . Winnti : T1079 Multilayer Encryption . “ lun.vbs ” , which runs n.bat


As the Play Store has introduced new policies and Google Play Protect has scaled defenses , Bread apps were forced to continually iterate to search for gaps . PLA Navy Anchor Panda is an adversary that CrowdStrike has tracked extensively over the last year targeting both civilian and military maritime operations in the green/brown water regions primarily in the area of operations of the South Sea Fleet of the PLA Navy . This trick renders identification by firewall more cumbersome . In general terms , spyware is software that can be installed on a device and used to monitor activity and/or capture potentially sensitive data .


EventBot Obfuscated class names Obfuscated class names using letters of the alphabet . With default settings , SWAnalytics will scan through an Android device’s external storage , looking for directory tencent/MobileQQ/WebViewCheck” . The use of the Mia Ash persona demonstrates the creativity and persistence that threat actors employ to compromise targets .


The NetTraveler trojan has been known to be used in targeted cyber espionage attacks for more than a decade by nation state threat actors and continues to be used to target its victims and exfiltrate data . Most modules were created in 2012 .


The GeminiDuke toolset consists of a core information stealer , a loader and multiple persistencerelated components .


In 2017 and early 2018 , the group used PowerShell commands to call Mimikatz from an online PowerSploit repository , which is a collection of publicly available PowerShell modules for penetration testing . Based on data collected from Palo Alto Networks AutoFocus threat intelligence , we discovered continued operations of activity very similar to the Roaming Tiger attack campaign that began in the August 2015 timeframe , with a concentration of attacks in late October and continuing into December .


Sandworm Team went to ground shortly after being exposed in October of 2014 , and malware with Dune references ( the genesis for the ' Sandworm ' moniker ) which we had previously used to track them disappeared entirely . The group 's persistent use of spear phishing tactics ( phishing attempts aimed at specific individuals ) and access to previously undiscovered zero-day exploits have made it a highly resilient threat .


Although we are unable to provide details in support of such attribution , previous work by security vendor FireEye suggests the group might be of Russian origin , however no evidence allows to tie the attacks to governments of any particular country .


The Dukes have employed exploits both in their infection vectors as well as in their malware .


In the case of Android devices , accessing the malicious website or pressing any of the buttons will prompt the download of the APK . Our analysis has led us to conclude that APT1 is likely government-sponsored and one of the most persistent of China 's cyber threat actors . Glimpse is a PowerShell script that is executed silently by Visual Basic . The victims in this campaign a government in Asia and a telecommunications company in the Middle East do align with the kinds of victims we often see Budworm targeting .


It is ROPless , and instead constructs a fake vtable for a FileReference object that is modified for each call to a Windows API .


The new variant caught our attention because it ’ s an advanced malware with unmistakable malicious characteristic and behavior and yet manages to evade many available protections , registering a low detection rate against security solutions . Beginning in early March 2018 , Unit 42 started observing targeted attacks against Russian , Spanish and United States government agencies operating in Pakistan . Not yet implemented cases ( e.g , Darkrace specifically targets Windows operating systems and has several similarities to LockBit .


Ports 6203 and 6204 : Facebook extraction service . Secondary ProjectSauron modules are designed to perform specific functions like stealing documents , recording keystrokes , and hijacking encryption keys from both infected computers and attached USB sticks . While some are more neutral , quoting from newspapers and the media , others seem to report fake news to spread misinformation that serves a political agenda . Ways our customers can detect and block this threat are listed below .


After the the first instance of BrainTest was detected , Google removed the app from Google Play . The Word document usually exploits CVE-2012-0158 . We have also observed APT10 use DLL search order hijacking and sideloading , to execute some modified versions of open-source tools .


The operation , known as FASTCash” has enabled Lazarus to fraudulently empty ATMs of cash . In March 2018 we detected an ongoing campaign .


No zero-day vulnerabilities were used to breach targeted networks , instead " TG-3390 relied on old vulnerabilities such as CVE-2011-3544 " — a near-year-old Java security hole — " and CVE-2010-0738 to compromise their targets " , Dell SecureWorks' researchers reported . The Winnti umbrella and closely associated entities has been active since at least 2009 .


It is possible these names were used in spear phishing emails because they would seem benign to Saudi-based employees and lure them to open the attachment .


Ports 8080 and 5900 are common ports used with legitimate protocols , but can be abused by attackers when they are not secured .


Of course , not all the opcodes are can be easily read and understood due to additional steps that the authors have taken to make analysis extremely complicated . It is highly likely the Lotus Blossom used spear-phishing attacks containing links to these malicious documents as a delivery mechanism . Winnti : 8272c1f41f7c223316c0d78bd3bd5744e25c2e9f https://nw.infestexe.com/version/last.php . By understanding the TTPs of the leaked source codes , defenders will gain invaluable insights that are helpful in identifying and mitigating any existing security weakness in their environment and improving their security defense against these attack vectors .


During patching , the Trojan will overwrite the existing code with malicious code so that all it can do is execute /system/bin/ip . It appears the Desert Falcons sent malicious executables though phishing campaigns impersonating individuals associated with the Palestinian Security Services , the General Directorate of Civil Defence - Ministry of the Interior , and the 7th Fateh Conference of the Palestinian National Liberation Front ( held in late 2016 ) . If you want to be a savvy and safe traveler , it ’s highly recommended to use a virtual payment card for reservations made via OTAs , as these cards normally expire after one charge . The MiniDuke attackers are still active at this time and have created malware as recently as February 20 , 2013 .


Our Quasar RAT will connect to our own ( secured , of course ) Quasar serve , allowing us to control that attacker ’s server with his own RAT .


The Trojan functions primarily as a downloader that relies on emails to communicate between the Trojan and the C2 server .


PUTTER PANDA is a determined adversary group , conducting intelligence-gathering operations targeting the Government , Defense , Research , and Technology sectors in the United States , with specific targeting of the US Defense and European satellite and aerospace industries . Potao is another example of targeted espionage malware , a so-called APT , to use the popular buzzword , although technically the malware is not particularly advanced or sophisticated .


WolfRAT application screen The Google GMS and Firebase service has been added , however , no configuration has been found , even though services seem to be referenced in the of a new class . t's now relying on a new DNS-based attack technique to better cloak command and control communications between Greenbug and the malware " , said Dennis Schwarz , research analyst on Arbor 's ASERT Team , in an interview with Threatpost . Both the THREEBYTE and HIGHTIDE backdoors were written to the same filepath of C:\DOCUMENTS and SETTINGS\{user}\LOCAL SETTINGS\Temp\word.exe ; Spearphishing Attachment APT29 has used spearphishing emails with an attachment to deliver files with exploits to initial victims.002 Phishing : Spearphishing Link APT29 has used spearphishing with a link to trick victims into clicking on a link to a zip file containing malicious files.003 Phishing : Spearphishing via Service APT29 has used the legitimate mailing service Constant Contact to send phishing e - mails .003


Dragos does not corroborate nor conduct political attribution to threat activity . Of note , this methodology of naming abstracts aACT the " who " element – XENOTIME may represent a single discrete entity ( such as a Russian research institution ) or several entities working in coordination in a roughly repeatable , similar manner across multiple events .


The malicious documents that Unit 42 examined contained legitimate decoy lures as well as malicious embedded EPS files targeting the CVE-2015-2545 and CVE-2017-0261 vulnerabilities . the US had data stolen by members of Emissary Panda .


– a possible misspelling of the “ Opera ”


FakeSpy is an information stealer that exfiltrates and sends SMS messages , steals financial and application data , reads account information and contact lists , and more . APT10 frequently targets the Southeast Asia region . The batch script would then attempt to have the VNC program connect to a command and control ( C2 ) server to enable the server to control the compromised system .


The decoy document is a flyer concerning the Cyber Conflict U.S. conference with the following filename Conference_on_Cyber_Conflict.doc .


They have also been seen using Heartbleed vulnerability in order to directly get valid credentials . The other one , " Operation Erebus " employs an older exploit , for CVE-2016-4117 and leverages watering holes .


APT28 ’s already wide-ranging capabilities and tactics are continuing to grow and refine as the group expands its infection vectors .


A decoy document is deployed in this attack , with the contents purporting be a publicly available document from the United Nations regarding the Republic of Uzbekistan .


] ee Backend server October 8 , 2020 Sophisticated new Android malware marks the latest evolution of mobile ransomware Attackers are persistent and motivated to continuously evolve – and no platform is immune . While it 's not known if the attackers physically reside in Pakistan , all members of Gorgon Group purport to be in Pakistan based on their online personas . the immediate values used in comparison look different from assigned ones . COSMICENERGY accomplishes this via its two derivative components , which we track as PIEHOP and LIGHTWORK ( see appendices for technical analyses ) .


Obviously , this inevitably leaves the device open not only to further compromise but to data tampering as well . While tracking what days of the week Suckfly used its hacktools , we discovered that the group was only active Monday through Friday . In addition to the documents , the content includes a number of political cartoons that criticize Hamas ’ relations with Iran and Hamas ’ standing as a resistance movement . Facebook stated that the attackers also pretended to work in hospitality , medicine , journalism , NGOs , or airlines , sometimes conversing with their targets for months with profiles across various social media platforms .


Impact T1516 Input Injection Can enter text and perform clicks on behalf of user . The first observed evidence of Waterbug activity came on January 11 , 2018 , when a Waterbug-linked tool (a task scheduler named msfgi.exe) was dropped on to a computer on the victim’s network . KONNI : A Malware Under The Radar For Years .


The exploit installs Silence’s loader , designed to download backdoors and other malicious programs . Corkow provided remote access to the ITS-Broker system terminal by 《 Platforma soft 》 Ltd. , which enabled the fraud to be committed .


] it The rise of mobile banker Asacub 28 AUG 2018 We encountered the Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Asacub family for the first time in 2015 , when the first versions of the malware were detected , analyzed , and found to be more adept at spying than stealing funds . In comparison , XENOTIME was defined based on principles of infrastructure ( compromised third-party infrastructure and various networks associated with several Russian research institutions ) , capabilities ( publicly- and commercially-available tools with varying levels of customization ) and targeting ( an issue not meant for discussion in this blog ) . The Pierogi backdoor discovered by Cybereason during this investigation seems to be undocumented and gives the threat actors espionage capabilities over their victims . Indicators of Compromise vs. Indicators of Attack


This sample is packed by “ Netz ” , a simple .NET Framework packer which stores the original executable compressed ( zlib ) as a resource .


The components were an unexpected inclusion in this particular toolset .


We expect to see more diversification in the social engineering lures this threat group employs as time goes on . APT38 , in particular , is strongly distinguishable because of its specific focus on financial institutions and operations that attempt to use SWIFT fraud to steal millions of dollars at a time . In order to perform the deobfuscation , Facebook has spotted that same malware being used in this most recent campaign , but this operation has a far broader set of infection techniques and targets outside of the Middle East .


IoT devices are purposefully designed to connect to a network and many are simply connected to the internet with little management or oversight.Some IoT devices may even communicate basic telemetry back to the device manufacturer or have means to receive software updates .


We identified new MSIL components deployed by Zebrocy .


The use of the CARBANAK malware in FIN7 operations also provides limited evidence that these campaigns are linked to previously observed CARBANAK operations leading to fraudulent banking transactions , ATM compromise , and other monetization schemes . PCH is a nonprofit entity based in northern California that also manages significant amounts of the world 's DNS infrastructure , particularly the DNS for more than 500 top-level domains and a number of the Middle East top-level domains targeted by DNSpionage .


The HTA files contained job descriptions and links to job postings on popular employment websites . The final remaining known decoy includes photos of Chitpas Tant Kridakon ( Figure 7 ) , who is known as heiress to the largest brewery in Thailand .


The 24 target apps belong to 7 different Spanish banks : Caixa bank , Bankinter , Bankia , BBVA , EVO Banco , Kutxabank and Santander . Utilizing actors working for shell companies such as Huaying Haitai Science and Technology Development Co Ltd , the MSS has conducted an unprecedented campaign , dubbed Operation Cloud Hopper , ” against managed IT service providers (MSPs) designed to steal intellectual property and enable secondary attacks against their clients . These reports discussed the group ’s malware , Daserf ( a.k.a Muirim or Nioupale ) and some additional downloader programs .


In addition , the malware samples included the kasper PDB string reported by Unit 42 , prompting us to conclude that we were likely looking at new variants of KASPERAGENT .


After successfully infecting one of the computers and gaining initial access to the system , the attackers perform reconnaissance of the local network in order to gain domain administrator privileges and eventually consolidate control over the network . Despite multiple public disclosures of their activities , BRONZE UNION remains an active and formidable threat as of this publication .


CARBANAK malware has been used heavily by FIN7 in previous operations . The admin@338 used the popular Poison Ivy RAT and WinHTTPHelper malware to compromise the computers of government officials .


] it Brescia server1cs.exodus.connexxa [ . ЦНИИХМ ) , a Russian government-owned technical research institution located in Moscow . The GUID generated by the malware is saved in a file called GUID.bin . If the main function is called with only , it will only perform its cleanup routine and immediately terminate .


AntSword webshell has no functionality other than running a script provided by the AntSword Shell Manager , specifically within a field named Darr1R1ng of an HTTP POST request .


Let ’ s take an in-depth look at Asacub 5.0.3 , the most widespread version in 2018 . In activity analyzed by CTU researchers , TG-3390 executed the Hunter web application scanning tool against a target server running IIS . However , while we observed the presence of the codes , the functions of upd , sync and aptitude were disabled in the kits ’ latest version . This is just another example of how these groups can now quickly develop their own ransomware variants by standing on the shoulders of those criminals who had their previous work exposed publicly .


The names used for Android components are similar : Similarities with AnubisSimilarities with Anubis When analyzing these components , similarities were found in the code of both malware families : Similarities with Anubis Another major change that indicated that the actor copied code from the Anubis Trojan is the way of handling configuration values . They also used WinRAR and cURL for Windows , both often renamed , to compress and upload the exfiltrated files from the Visma network to the Dropbox API . One of subdomains , news.softfix.co.kr was the C2 server of Daserf ( 9c7a34390e92d4551c26a3feb5b181757b3309995acd1f92e0f63f888aa89423 ) .


A full list of all possible commands with descriptions can be found in Appendix II below . On February 28 , the McAfee discovered that the cybercrime group HIDDEN COBRA continues to target cryptocurrency and financial organizations . APT33 : a23c182349f17398076360b2cb72e81e5e23589351d3a6af59a27e1d552e1ec0 S-SHA2 Quasar RAT . Based on the use of domain names they registered , the group started out in the business of fake / rogue anti - virus products in 2007 .


Additional pivoting based on artifacts unique to this malware family expanded our dataset to hundreds of samples used over the last several years .


A new class was added called com.utils.RestClient . Chafer , uses Backdoor.Remexi.B . Similarly , WATERSPOUT is a newly discovered backdoor and the threat actors behind the campaign have not been positively identified . Derusbi has used unencrypted HTTP on port 443 for C2.[12 ]


simple CLI interface that ask when started for IP ,Port and proxy configuration to generate the initial payloads .


We assume it was rushed because , unlike GlanceLove , it lacked any real obfuscation . In 2014 , APT32 leveraged a spear-phishing attachment titled " Plans to crackdown on protesters at the Embassy of Vietnam.exe , " which targeted dissident activity among the Vietnamese diaspora in Southeast Asia . Using the VirusTotal Graph functionality these variants could be organized into several groups that were commonly associated by either metadata or document structures like macros or embedded image files ( depicted in the image below ) . None on the CrowdStrike Falcon ® console and of the market - leading CrowdStrike Falcon ® platform in action .


Charger was found embedded in an app called EnergyRescue . Silence also used Russian-language web hosting services . FIN7 ’s last campaigns were targeting banks in Europe and Central America . Monitor for contextual data about a file , which may include information such as name , the content ( ex : signature , headers , or data / media ) , user / ower , permissions that may attempt to hide artifacts associated with their behaviors to evade detection .


Gooligan potentially affects devices on Android 4 ( Jelly Bean , KitKat ) and 5 ( Lollipop ) , which is over 74 % of in-market devices today . The APT38 uses DYEPACK to manipulate the SWIFT transaction records and hide evidence of the malicious transactions , so bank personnel are none the wiser when they review recent transactions . another determines global variables , Attribution to the Dukes was made partly on the LNK file structure and other TTPs , including the targets of the attack .


. The Advanced Threat Research team uncovered activity related to this campaign in March 2018 , when the actors targeted Turkish banks . APT33 : a67461a0c14fc1528ad83b9bd874f53b7616cfed99656442fb4d9cdd7d09e449 S-SHA2 AutoIt backdoor . This rule was designed to match the decoded URI of any incoming request with the regex , so when the decoded URI matches this regex , the request is dropped .


The tool is written in C# whose malicious code exists in a namespace called cannon , which is the basis of the Trojan ’s name .


] it Catania server3.exodus.connexxa [ . XENOTIME configured TRISIS based on the specifics and functions of the Triconex system within the industrial control ( ICS ) environment . Uploading data ( mainly screenshots ) to the C2 : The leaked tooling included a Python script , , that when executed led CrowdStrike researchers to replicate the logs generated in recent Play ransomware attacks .


While investing a lot of resources in the development of this malware , the actor behind “ Agent Smith ” does not want a real update to remove all of the changes made , so here is where the “ patch ” module comes in to play With the sole purpose of disabling automatic updates for the infected application , this module observes the update directory for the original application and removes the file once it appears . Last week we discussed Numbered Panda , a group that is also based out of China and is fairly well known to the security community , though by many names . These executables are monitoring services for maintaining Dexphot ’s components . While there is a very large number of vulnerable websites , we already see some that have been injected with multiple different malicious code .


Kaspersky researchers attribute the campaign , which we call SpoiledLegacy” , to the LuckyMouse APT group (aka EmissaryPanda and APT27) . The malware appends encrypted data files with the .WCRY extension , drops and executes a decryptor tool , and demands $300 or $600 USD to decrypt the data .


PLATINUM 's persistent use of spear phishing tactics ( phishing attempts aimed at specific individuals ) and access to previously undiscovered zero-day exploits have made it a highly resilient threat . Since that time , MoneyTaker attacked companies in California , Utah , Oklahoma , Colorado , Illinois , Missouri , South Carolina , North Carolina , Virginia and Florida .


Kaspersky speculates that ScarCruft could also be behind another zero-day , CVE-2016-0147 , a vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services that was patched in April . Deepen told Threatpost the group has been operating since at least since 2008 and has targeted China and US relations experts , Defense Department entities , and geospatial groups within the federal government .


On the next step this file is executed by rundll32.exe via the KlpSvc export .


We were a bit disappointed that we did not see traces of a true privilege escalation exploit after all this deobfuscation work , but it seems these FinFisher samples were designed to work just using UAC bypasses . APT35 typically targets military , diplomatic and government , media , energy , engineering , business services and telecommunications sectors in U.S. and the Middle East . After decoding the .png image , the loader then proceeds to initialize the key and IV used to perform AES decryption of the encrypted payload . This is expressed in the form of decimal digits .


Beyond the Android app itself , other components such as the aforementioned ELF libraries have additional data-stealing capabilities . FireEye malware analysis identified source code overlaps between malware used by APT41 in May 2016 targeting of a U.S.-based game development studio and the malware observed in supply chain compromises in 2017 and 2018 . Russian citizens—journalists , software developers , politicians , researchers at universities , and artists are also targeted by Pawn Storm .


We were not able to find additional tools , but the attackers again compromised a legitimate Thai website to host their malware , in this case the student portal for a Thai University . CTU researchers have discovered numerous details about TG-3390 operations , including how the adversaries explore a network , move laterally , and exfiltrate data .


Cannon acknowledges the receipt of the secondary email address by sending an email to sahro.bella7@post.cz with s.txt ( contains {SysPar = 65} string ) as the attachment , ok within the body and a subject with the unique system identifier via SMTPS from one of the three accounts from Step 1 .


] org Ties to previous activity The registrant of cdncool [ . 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 . We are however only aware of one instance - the exploitation of CVE-2013-0640 to deploy MiniDuke - where we believe the exploited vulnerability was a zero-day at the time that the group acquired the exploit .


These additional IOCs will hopefully provide more context into the ongoing threat .


SEND_SMS - Allows the application to send SMS messages . PICKPOCKET is a credential theft tool that dumps the user's website login credentials from Chrome , Firefox , and Internet Explorer to a file . Unit 42 researchers have been tracking Gorgon Group for criminal and targeted attacks .


These HTTP requests match known patterns for a banking Trojan named Chthonic , which is a variant of Zeus .


FakeSpy is able to check the network connectivity status by using the function isNetworkAvailable . FIN7 operations are linked to numerous intrusion attempts having targeted hundreds of companies since at least as early as 2015 . The attackers have used three types of malware over the years and have traditionally targeted the aerospace , energy , government , high-tech , consulting services , and chemicals / manufacturing / mining sectors .


Below screen shot shows the posts made by the user , the hits column in the below screen shot gives an idea of number of times the links were visited ( probably by the malicious macro code ) , this can give rough idea of the number of users who are probably infected as a result of opening the malicious document .


In some samples deployed since March 2019 , Turla developers modified their PowerShell scripts in order to bypass the Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI) . In this report , we'll review how the NetTraveler attempted to exploit CVE-2012-0158 to install the NetTraveler Trojan .


For more detailed information about the threat , check out the blog post from CSIS . Gallmaker may well have continued to avoid detection were it not for Symantec 's technology . . Lastly , we emphasize that although the samples of COSMICENERGY we obtained are potentially red team related , threat actors regularly leverage contractors and red team tools in real world threat activity , including during OT attacks .


The following is the code routine for video capturing . We have previously observed the admin@338 group use BUBBLEWRAP . Upon deeper investigation into the installed Helminth fileless agent , we identified a near perfect match to the OilRig campaign executed by an Iranian hacker group against 140 financial institutions in the Middle East last year , as analyzed by FireEye , Palo Alto Networks and Logrhythm . In late 2022 , Mandiant responded to a disruptive cyber physical incident in which the Russia - linked threat actor Sandworm targeted a Ukrainian critical infrastructure organization .


These VNC exectuables would either be included in the SFX file or downloaded by the batch script . To make this data harvesting operation flexible , SWAnalytics equips the ability to receive and process configuration files from a remote Command-and-Control .


Stage 6 : The payload is a modular spyware framework for further analysis Our journey to deobfuscating FinFisher has allowed us to uncover the complex anti-analysis techniques used by this malware , as well as to use this intel to protect our customers , which is our top priority . It was a decoy to make visitor download a " Flash Player " , which was in fact DownPaper malware , analyzed later in this report . The launcher then calls the backdoor DLL’s entry point . Mandiant assesses that DPRK ’s


From the sample we analyzed , attacks started from one virtual private server ( VPS ) that searches for a vulnerable machine to compromise ( previous techniques used malicious URLs or infecting legitimate websites for bot propagation ) .


. The most recent NewsBeef campaign uses this toolset in conjunction with spearphishing emails , links sent over social media/standalone private messaging applications , and watering hole attacks that leverage compromised high-profile websites some belonging to the SA government . Molerats : Operation Molerats , Gaza Cybergang .


Rather than rooting devices , the latest variant includes new virtual machine techniques that allow the malware to perform ad fraud better than ever , company researchers said in a blog post published Monday . In terms of form factor , PapaAlfa comes in two flavors : service DLL and standalone executable . However , Symantec has found no further evidence to suggest Elfin was responsible for these Shamoon attacks to date . Mandiant identified novel operational technology ( OT ) / industrial control system ( ICS)-oriented malware , which we track as COSMICENERGY , uploaded to a public malware scanning utility in December 2021 by a submitter in Russia .


It follows Stuxnet which was used against Iran in 2010 and Industroyer which we believe was deployed by Sandworm Team against Ukraine in 2016 . Ke3chang has also leveraged a Java zero-day vulnerability ( CVE-2012-4681 ) , as well as older , reliable exploits for Microsoft Word ( CVE-2010-3333 ) and Adobe PDF Reader ( CVE-2010-2883 ) .


] infodavos-seaworth [ . Until the publication of the Palo Alto report , the developers of the Infy appeared to be actively updating and maintaining the codebase , and new releases were distributed to existing , as well as new , targets quite regularly . The FQDNs “ ug-co.hugesoft.org ” and “ 7cback.hugesoft.org ” are part of the “ hugesoft.org ” zone and are called “ subdomains ” of the zone . Monitor for contextual data about a file , which may include information such as name , the content ( ex : signature , headers , or data / media ) , user / ower , permissions that may attempt to hide artifacts associated with their behaviors to evade detection .


X-Force IRIS File name : cv_itworx.doc .


The VPN package is no longer present , further reinforcing our conclusion that it was not in use . It's now relying on a new DNS-based attack technique to better cloak command and control communications between Greenbug and the malware " , said Dennis Schwarz , research analyst on Arbor 's ASERT Team , in an interview with Threatpost . Both the THREEBYTE and HIGHTIDE backdoors were used in attacks targeting organizations in Taiwan ; Hybrid Identity APT29 has edited the Microsoft.IdentityServer.Servicehost.exe.config file to load a malicious DLL into the AD FS process , thereby enabling persistent access to any service federated with AD FS for a user with a specified User Principal Name .


CrowdStrike Services Inc. , our Incident Response group , was called by the Democratic National Committee ( DNC ) , the formal governing body for the US Democratic Party , to respond to a suspected breach .


Figure 9 . We have not yet identified FIN7’s ultimate goal in this campaign , as we have either blocked the delivery of the malicious emails or our FaaS team detected and contained the attack early enough in the lifecycle before we observed any data targeting or theft . Hilename: C:\Windows\svchost.exe .


The malware was first spotted by Tatyana Shishkova from Kaspersky by end October 2019 , but actually dates back to June 2019 . CIA hackers discussed what the NSA's Equation Group hackers did wrong and how the CIA's malware makers could avoid similar exposure . A similar group emerged in 2015 and was identified by Symantec as Dragonfly 2.0 .


It runs in an infinite loop , in each iteration it requests a command from the C2 , and then it sleeps for a time period it receives in the C2 response ( defaulting to 1 second if no sleep-time sent ) .


The LUNAR SPIDER threat group is the Eastern European-based operator and developer of the commodity banking malware called BokBot ( aka IcedID ) , which was first observed in April 2017 . Financially motivated APT groups which focus efforts on targeted attacks on the financial sector such as — Anunak , Corkow , Buhtrap — usually managed botnets using developed or modified banking Trojans .


The malware basically provides a remote CMD/PowerShell terminal for the attackers , enabling them to execute scripts/commands and receive the results via HTTP requests . If it's Cyrillic and the command to the shell is not ‘ipconfig’ , the threat converts the command result text encoding from Cyrillic to UTF-16 .


This suggests that this certificate might have been previously used for a similar attack against the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs , or associated targets , although there is no documentation of such attack available to the public .


Pitty Tiger group is sometimes using stolen material as spear phishing content to target other persons . registrant information points to activity possibly as early as 2011 .


TG-3390 : api.apigmail.com .


How these recorded calls are sent to the command and control server ( CnC ) is taken care of by MainService , which is discussed next . Beginning in August 2016 , a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers began releasing tools it claimed to have originated from the Equation Group . Gamaredon Group is a threat group that has been active since at least 2013 and has targeted individuals likely involved in the Ukrainian government .