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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence - April 25–29

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence - April 25–29 - Featured Image

Weekly Threat Briefing Apr 29, 2022

The Good

Given the rising number of attacks against Android devices via malicious apps, Google has rolled out a new program, dubbed Data Safety. Now you can actually see who is collecting your data and why. Energy systems are part of a nation's critical infrastructure and hence, require stronger cyber defenses. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a grant of $12 million to fund research in this direction.

  • The U.S. Department of Energy declared $12 million in grants to six university teams, which will work toward securing critical controls within the country’s power grid. The teams will also develop innovative technology for energy systems to quickly recover post-incident.

  • Google released a new Data Safety program for Android apps on the Play Store that will have the details of the type of data being collected and shared with third parties. The Data Safety section will include information such as if the developer is collecting data and for what purpose, whether the data is shared with third parties, and app security practices, among others.

  • CERT-In rolled out a new set of rules for organizations that mandate organizations to report 20 different types of infosec incidents within six hours of detection. The rules will apply to service providers, data center operators, intermediaries, government organizations, and companies.

The Bad

Whenever there is a new trend in the digital world, cybercriminals don’t waste any time abusing it. Just as Elon Musk sealed the deal with Twitter, scammers jumped onto the opportunity to scam users with fake giveaways. NFTs are all the hype now and almost all of us have heard of the Bored Ape NFT. Well, the Bored Ape Yacht Club was hacked with millions worth of NFTs siphoned away. Emotet's resurgence is coming on strong as it fixed its flaw and heavily targeted Japanese organizations.

  • Cybersecurity authorities from the Five Eyes nations—Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.S., and the U.K—have released a report on the top frequently exploited security vulnerabilities in 2021. These include Log4Shell, ProxyShell, ProLogon, ZeroLogon, and flaws in Zoho ManageEngine AD SelfService Plus, Atlassian Confluence, and VMware vSphere Client.

  • Coca-Cola is investigating a ransomware attack after hackers claimed to steal documents from the beverage giant. The Stormous ransomware group took to underground forums to claim the attack by putting 161 GB of stolen data on sale. The group is offering the stolen data for about $64,000.

  • The Instagram account and Discord server of Bored Ape Yacht Club were hacked by cybercriminals, enabling them to compromise multiple wallets of users. The attackers leveraged an upcoming feature, OthersideMeta, on the NFT project to steal 24 Bored Apes and 30 Mutant Apes (which are estimated to be $13.7 million).

  • Researchers have associated SCSKAppLink.dll malware with the Lazarus group. The group exploited an executable (inisafecrosswebexsvc.exe) of INISAFE CrossWeb EXV3 to distribute the malware. So far, the malware has infected 47 companies and institutions worldwide.

  • Emotet operators resumed their email spam campaign after a short break to infect more users. The operators fixed a flaw in the campaign that prevented them from spreading across the systems. In another related news, Avast found that Japanese companies suffered major Emotet spam mail attacks in March. The malicious Excel files attempted to deceive users into running a malicious macro under the pretext of unlocking the document.

  • Scammers leveraged a current trend around Elon Musk to conduct fake cryptocurrency giveaway scams. They made use of bots to send messages to multiple people on Twitter. In order to look convincing, the messages had the same current profile picture of the Tesla CEO as on his official Twitter account. These messages included short URLs that redirected recipients to fake cryptocurrency giveaway sites.

  • Emotet trojan has joined hands with Conti ransomware to launch a plethora of malicious schemes. Over a dozen entities targeted, between December 2021 and March 2022, by Conti ransomware were driven via Emotet malspam campaigns. It is likely that Emotet is highly relied upon by Conti operators to find victims.

  • Iranian-linked threat actor group, Rocket Kitten, has been observed actively exploiting a recently patched VMware vulnerability to gain initial access and deploy the Core Impact penetration testing tool on vulnerable systems. Tracked as CVE-2022-22954, the remote code execution vulnerability affects VMware Workspace ONE Access and Identity Manager.

  • The CISA has added seven new vulnerabilities to its list of actively exploited security issues, including those from Microsoft, Linux, and Jenkins. The vulnerabilities can allow threat actors to perform a variety of attacks, including stealing credentials, gaining access to networks, remotely executing commands, or stealing information from devices.

  • The CERT-UA has sent out a new alert about phishing attacks targeting organizations in Ukraine. The phishing messages use the subject ‘Azovstal’ and a weaponized Microsoft Office document to unleash Cobalt Strike Beacon in the last stage of the infection chain. The encryption techniques employed in the campaign are associated with TrickBot operators.

  • T-Mobile acknowledged that the security of its systems was compromised after the Lapsus$ gang gained access to its networks. The attackers accessed internal networks using stolen credentials. This enabled the hackers to obtain over 30,000 source code repositories, as well as the key to an internal customer account management application called Atlas.

  • Decentralized finance platform Deus Finance confirmed reports on a hack that allowed the attackers to steal more than $13 million from the platform. A variant of a flash loan attack was used to pilfer funds from users’ wallets.

  • Multiple Facebook pages claiming to be account recovery services were uncovered by researchers. The hijacked pages belonged to musicians, products, and businesses. Once the phishers took over the page, they changed the name, profile picture, and other identities to make it look like a support page.

  • CERT-UA has published a warning of ongoing DDoS attacks against pro-Ukraine sites and government web portals. Threat actors are compromising WordPress sites and injecting malicious JavaScript code to perform the attacks. At least 36 websites have, so far, been targeted in the attacks.

**New Threats **

A new ransomware operation, named Black Basta, came, saw, and conquered at least a dozen companies in a single month. The nail in the coffin comes with the double extortion tactic followed by the gang. Internet Explorer is under target once again by attackers propagating RedLine Stealer in a new campaign. Patch your devices ASAP! A new malware—Prynt Stealer—is for sale on underground forums. For a few bucks, the malware is capable of extraordinary feats.

  • A newly found Black Basta ransomware group has breached at least 12 companies in just a few weeks of April. The gang has demanded over $2 million in ransomware from one victim to decrypt files and not leak data. The gang makes use of the double extortion method as part of its attack process.
  • A new Onyx ransomware has targeted six organizations, so far, by destroying large files instead of encrypting them. The group also leverages the double-extortion scheme to threaten victims if a ransom is not paid. The ransomware only encrypts files that are smaller than 200MB in size and overwrites the remaining files.
  • Cybercriminals actors, observed delivering BazarLoader and IceID, have transitioned to a new loader called Bumblebee that’s under active development. Researchers identified the first campaign in March 2022, with the loader delivering Cobalt Strike Beacon, Silver and Meterpreter, and Silver onto the victims’ systems.
  • In a new finding, researchers discovered that threat actors behind the Quantum ransomware are leveraging IcedID malware as one of their initial access vectors to accelerate the attack process that lasted for only 3 hours and 44 minutes.
  • A new campaign has surfaced recently that distributes the notorious RedLine Stealer malware. The campaign leverages the RIG exploit tool to exploit a vulnerability (CVE-2021-26411) in Internet Explorer. Once executed, RedLine Stealer exfiltrates passwords, saved credit cards, crypto wallets, and VPN logins from infected systems and sends them to a remote C2 server.
  • Microsoft discovered two new security vulnerabilities that can be used to gain root privileges on Linux systems. Collectively called Nimbuspwn, the flaws are tracked as CVE-2022-29799 and CVE-2022-29800 and reside in a system component named networkd-dispatcher.
  • A vulnerability discovered in the web version of the Ever Surf cryptocurrency wallet can be exploited to decrypt PINs, recover decryption keys, and take over web wallets. Ever Surf has confirmed the issue and released patches.
  • A newly-found Prynt Stealer malware is being offered for sale on underground forums for a small price. The malware is capable of harvesting data from a wide range of applications, such as cryptocurrency wallets, messaging platforms, and gaming apps. Additionally, it can also perform direct financial compromise.
  • New findings by ESET revealed that the threat group TA410—known for targeting attacks against U.S. utilities—actually comprised three independent subgroups that have been operating globally since 2018.

Related Threat Briefings

Feb 14, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, February 10–14, 2025

Cyber defenders are sharpening their tools, and EARLYCROW is the latest weapon against stealthy APT operations. This method detects C2 activity over HTTP(S) using a novel traffic analysis format called PAIRFLOW. India is taking digital banking security up a notch. The RBI is launching a dedicated domain to curb financial fraud and enhance trust in online banking. Starting April 2025, financial institutions will register under this domain. China’s RedMike hackers are dialing into telecom networks - literally. Between December 2024 and January 2025, they targeted over 1,000 unpatched Cisco devices. Their primary focus? Global telecoms and university networks in Argentina, Bangladesh, and the U.S. Russia’s Sandworm hackers are using pirated software as bait. Their latest attack on Ukrainian Windows users disguises malware inside trojanized KMS activators and fake Windows updates. Love is in the air, but so are phishing scams. In late January, cybercriminals launched a Valentine’s-themed phishing campaign, offering fake gift baskets in exchange for stolen credentials. Cybercriminals are upping their game with Astaroth, a phishing kit that doesn’t just steal credentials but also hijacks entire sessions. By using a reverse proxy, Astaroth intercepts logins and 2FA tokens in real time, allowing attackers to bypass security measures undetected. South America’s foreign ministry was caught in the crosshairs of an advanced cyber-espionage campaign. In November 2024, attackers linked to REF7707 deployed the PATHLOADER and FINALDRAFT malware to infiltrate diplomatic networks. A new malware named Ratatouille is stirring up trouble by bypassing UAC and using I2P for anonymous communications. Spreading through phishing emails and fake CAPTCHA pages, it tricks victims into running an embedded PowerShell script.

Feb 7, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, February 03–07, 2025

PyPI is taking a "dead but not gone" approach to abandoned software with Project Archival, a new system that flags inactive projects while keeping them accessible. Developers will see warnings about outdated dependencies, helping them make smarter security choices and avoid relying on unmaintained code. The U.K is bringing earthquake-style metrics to cybersecurity with its new Cyber Monitoring Centre, designed to track digital disasters as precisely as natural ones. Inspired by the Richter scale, the CMC will quantify cyber incidents based on financial impact and affected users, offering clearer insights for national security planning. Kimsuky is back with another phishing trick, this time using fake Office and PDF files to sneak forceCopy malware onto victims' systems. Its latest campaign delivers PEBBLEDASH and RDP Wrapper by disguising malware as harmless shortcuts, ultimately hijacking browser credentials and sensitive data. Hackers have found a new way to skim credit card data - by hiding malware inside Google Tag Manager scripts. CISA is flagging major security holes in Microsoft Outlook and Sophos XG Firewall, urging agencies to patch them before February 27. One flaw allows remote code execution in Outlook, while another exposes firewall users to serious risks. Bitcoin scammers are switching tactics, swapping static images for video attachments in MMS to make their schemes more convincing. A recent case involved a tiny .3gp video luring victims into WhatsApp groups where scammers apply pressure to extract money or personal data. XE Group has shifted from credit card skimming to zero-day exploitation, now targeting manufacturing and distribution companies. A new version of ValleyRAT is making the rounds, using stealthy techniques to infiltrate systems. Morphisec found the malware being spread through fake Chrome downloads from a fraudulent Chinese telecom site.

Jan 10, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, January 06–10, 2025

The U.K is fortifying its digital defenses with the launch of Cyber Local, a £1.9 million initiative to bridge cyber skills gaps and secure the digital economy. Spanning 30 projects across England and Northern Ireland, the scheme emphasizes local business resilience, neurodiverse talent, and cybersecurity careers for youth. Across the Atlantic, the White House introduced the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, a consumer-friendly cybersecurity labeling program for smart devices. Overseen by the FCC, the initiative tests products like baby monitors and security systems for compliance with rigorous cybersecurity standards, ensuring Americans can make safer choices for their connected homes. China-linked threat actor RedDelta has ramped up its cyber-espionage activities across Asia, targeting nations such as Mongolia, Taiwan, Myanmar, and Vietnam with a modified PlugX backdoor. Cybercriminals have weaponized trust by deploying a fake PoC exploit tied to a patched Microsoft Windows LDAP vulnerability. CrowdStrike reported a phishing operation impersonating the company, using fake job offers to lure victims into downloading a fraudulent CRM application. Once installed, the malware deploys a Monero cryptocurrency miner. A new Mirai-based botnet, dubbed Gayfemboy, has emerged as a formidable threat, leveraging zero-day exploits in industrial routers and smart home devices. With 15,000 active bot nodes daily across China, the U.S., and Russia, the botnet executes high-intensity DDoS attacks exceeding 100 Gbps. In the Middle East, fraudsters are posing as government officials in a social engineering scheme targeting disgruntled customers. Cybercriminals have weaponized WordPress with a malicious plugin named PhishWP to create realistic fake payment pages mimicking services like Stripe. The plugin not only captures payment details in real time but also sends fake confirmation emails to delay detection.

Dec 20, 2024

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, December 16–20, 2024

In a digital age where borders are blurred, governments are sharpening their strategies to outpace cyber adversaries. The draft update to the National Cyber Incident Response Plan (NCIRP) introduces a comprehensive framework for managing nationwide cyberattacks that impact critical infrastructure and the economy. Meanwhile, the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill, recently approved by the Senate, emphasizes strengthening cybersecurity measures both at home and abroad. A deceptive health app on the Amazon Appstore turned out to be a Trojan horse for spyware. Masquerading as BMI CalculationVsn, the app recorded device screens, intercepted SMS messages, and scanned for installed apps to steal sensitive data. Malicious extensions targeting developers and cryptocurrency projects have infiltrated the VSCode marketplace and NPM. Disguised as productivity tools, these extensions employed downloader functionality to deliver obfuscated PowerShell payloads. The BADBOX botnet has resurfaced, compromising over 192,000 Android devices, including high-end smartphones and smart TVs, directly from the supply chain. Industrial control systems are facing heightened risks as malware like Ramnit and Chaya_003 targets engineering workstations from Mitsubishi and Siemens. Both malware families exploit legitimate services, complicating detection and mitigation efforts in ICS environments. The Chinese hacking group Winnti has been leveraging a PHP backdoor called Glutton, targeting organizations in China and the U.S. This modular ELF-based malware facilitates tailored attacks across industries and even embeds itself into software packages to compromise other cybercriminals. A tax-themed phishing campaign, dubbed FLUX#CONSOLE, is deploying backdoor payloads to compromise systems in Pakistan. Threat actors employ phishing emails with double-extension files masquerading as PDFs.

Dec 13, 2024

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, December 09–13, 2024

Cybercrime’s web of deception unraveled in South Korea as authorities dismantled a fraud network responsible for extorting $6.3 million through fake online trading platforms. Dubbed Operation Midas, the effort led to the arrest of 32 individuals and the seizure of 20 servers. In a significant move to combat surveillance abuses, the U.S. defense policy bill for 2025 introduced measures to shield military and diplomatic personnel from commercial spyware threats. The legislation calls for stringent cybersecurity standards, a review of spyware incidents, and regular reporting to Congress. The subtle art of deception found a new stage with a Microsoft Teams call, as attackers used social engineering to manipulate victims into granting remote access. By convincing users to install AnyDesk, they gained control of systems, executing commands to download the DarkGate malware. Russian APT Secret Blizzard has resurfaced and used the Amadey bot to infiltrate Ukrainian military devices and deploy their Tavdig backdoor. In a phishing spree dubbed "Aggressive Inventory Zombies (AIZ)," scammers impersonated brands like Etsy, Amazon, and Binance to target retail and crypto audiences. Surveillance has reached unsettling new depths with the discovery of BoneSpy and PlainGnome, two spyware families linked to the Russian group Gamaredon. Designed for extensive espionage, these Android malware tools track GPS, capture audio, and harvest data. A new Android banking trojan has already caused havoc among Indian users, masquerading as utility and banking apps to steal sensitive financial information. With 419 devices compromised, the malware intercepts SMS messages, exfiltrates personal data via Supabase, and even tricks victims into entering details under the pretense of bill payment. Iranian threat actors have set their sights on critical infrastructure, deploying IOCONTROL malware to infiltrate IoT and OT/SCADA systems in Israel and the U.S.

Dec 6, 2024

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, December 02–06, 2024

NIST sharpened the tools for organizations to measure their cybersecurity readiness, addressing both technical and leadership challenges. The two-volume guidance blends data-driven assessments with managerial insights, emphasizing the critical role of leadership in applying findings. The Manson Market, a notorious hub for phishing networks, fell in a sweeping Europol-led takedown. With over 50 servers seized and 200TB of stolen data recovered, the operation spanned multiple countries, including Germany and Austria. Russian APT group BlueAlpha leveraged Cloudflare Tunnels to cloak its GammaDrop malware campaign from prying eyes. The group deployed HTML smuggling and DNS fast-fluxing to bypass detection, targeting Ukrainian organizations with precision. Earth Minotaur intensified its surveillance operations against Tibetan and Uyghur communities through the MOONSHINE exploit kit. The kit, now updated with newer exploits, enables the installation of the DarkNimbus backdoor on Android and Windows devices. Cloudflare Pages became an unwitting ally in the sharp rise of phishing campaigns, with a staggering 198% increase in abuse cases. Cybercriminals exploited the platform's infrastructure to host malicious pages, fueling a surge from 460 incidents in 2023 to over 1,370 by October 2024. DroidBot has quietly infiltrated over 77 cryptocurrency exchanges and banking apps, building a web of theft across Europe. Active since June 2024, this Android malware operates as a MaaS platform, enabling affiliates to tailor attacks. Rockstar 2FA, a phishing platform targeting Microsoft 365 users, has set the stage for large-scale credential theft. With over 5,000 phishing domains launched, the platform is marketed on Telegram. The Gafgyt malware is shifting gears, targeting exposed Docker Remote API servers through legitimate Docker images, creating botnets capable of launching DDoS attacks.