Cookie Settings

This website uses cookies and similar technologies to provide essential functionality and improve your experience. Some features, such as demo scheduling and chat support, require marketing cookies to function. By clicking "Accept All", you consent to all cookies. Alternatively, you can customize your preferences, but note that declining marketing cookies will limit certain website features.

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, August 17 - 21, 2020

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, August 17 - 21, 2020 - Featured Image

Weekly Threat Briefing Aug 21, 2020

The Good

There’s no denying that the threat of the malware landscape is becoming commonplace with every passing day. However, amidst this rising menace, security experts and analysts are continuously making efforts to deflate the risks posed by malware. Talking on this aspect, the week witnessed some exciting discoveries of defensive tools for use against the Emotet trojan, GoldenSpy backdoor, and WannaRen ransomware.

  • A kill switch called EmoCrash enabled researchers to hold back the spread of Emotet trojan for nearly six months, between February 6 and August 6, 2020. The kill switch was created by incorporating a buffer overflow flaw found in the trojan.

  • Researchers identified five uninstallers meant to remove the China-linked GoldenSpy backdoor from infected computers. These uninstallers have identical behavior but differ in execution flows and string obfuscation techniques.

  • A decryption tool that enables victims of WannaRen ransomware to recover their files is publicly available for download. The ransomware bears similarities to the well-known WannaCry ransomware.

The Bad

Along with the favorable news, the week noticed some disappointing ransomware attacks. While the University of Utah paid a huge ransom to prevent the leak of its student data, other organizations such as SnapFulfil, SK Hynix, Konica Minolta, and Carnival Corporation continue to struggle after getting hit by disruptive ransomware attacks.

  • The University of Utah paid a ransom of over $450,000 to prevent the ransomware gang from leaking student data on the internet. The decision was made by the university to protect the integrity of the data even after it was restored from backups.

  • In a press release, grocery delivery and pick-up service, Instacart, revealed that the recent data breach affecting the company occurred due to two employees working with a third-party support vendor. The firm notified 2,180 shoppers about the incident via email.

  • Utah Gun Exchange admitted that its users’ data was compromised and leaked on a public forum which also included data from other sites such as muleyfreak.com and deepjunglekratom.com. Although the leaked data contained personal information of users, there was no evidence of any financial data breach in the incident.

  • The week was no better when it came to ransomware attacks. This time, the affected organizations included SnapFulfil, SK Hynix, and Carnival Corporation. The Ponca City’s public school district also struggled to cope with a ransomware attack that occurred over the weekend.

  • Even the Japanese technology giant, Konica Minolta, and the U.S. wine and spirits company, Brown-Forman, were not spared from the terror of ransomware attacks. While the ransomware behind Konica Minolta is still unknown, the attack on Brown-Forman was conducted using the REvil ransomware.

  • The South African branch of the consumer credit reporting agency, Experian, disclosed a data breach that impacted the personal details of 24 million South Africans and 793,749 local businesses. The incident occurred after the agency handed over the sensitive data to a fraudster posing as a client.

  • A misconfigured database allowed a data broker to expose the profiles of nearly 235 million users of Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Each of these records included profile name, real name, profile picture, account description, age, gender, and more.

  • About 80 Israel-based gym and sports apps suffered data breaches due to several vulnerabilities in the Fizikal management platform. The flaws could allow hackers to bypass security checks and launch brute-force attacks on app users.

  • An artificial intelligence company, Cense, leaked 2.5 million records that contained sensitive medical data and Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The breached data was stored directly on the same IP address as that of Cense’s website.

  • Some 513 emails associated with SANS Institute were inadvertently sent to an unknown email address in a phishing attack. This resulted in the compromise of 28,000 records of the institute.

  • Nine data leak incidents that caused the compromise of medical data of 200,000 U.S. users came to light after researchers discovered misconfiguration issues in GitHub repositories. The affected entities included Xybion, MedPro Billing, Texas Physician House Calls, VirMedica, MaineCare, Waystar, Shields Health Care Group, and AccQData.

  • Cooke County, Texas, mailed more than 2,000 letters to inform residents about a ransomware attack that occurred in July. It is believed to have impacted the personal data of some users.

New Threats

Coming to new threats, the week witnessed the discovery of two new and sophisticated malware called BLINDINGCAN and FritzFrog. While BLINDINGCAN was used in attacks on the U.S. defense and aerospace sectors, the FritzFrog botnet is being actively used to target SSH servers.

  • A massive attack campaign linked with the Transparent Tribe APT group targeted government and military personnel in India and Afghanistan. The attack chain involved the use of spearphishing emails that contained malicious Microsoft Office documents.
  • Researchers demonstrated a new attack technique, called SpiKey, which can enable attackers to spy on users and reverse engineer their door keys through audio recordings collected by installing malware on their smart doorbells, smartwatches, or smartphones.
  • The recently discovered Lucifer DDoS botnet is now capable of scanning vulnerable Linux systems to launch Monero cryptomining bots. Earlier, the botnet was used only against Windows systems to steal credentials and escalate privileges using the Mimikatz post-exploitation tool.
  • The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published an alert about a new North Korean malware, dubbed BLINDINGCAN, that was used in attacks on the country’s defense and aerospace sectors. The malware was distributed using fake job offers as a bait.
  • A group of academics devised a new attack targeting the OpenPGP and S/MIME encryption schemes. This can enable attackers to conduct a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack and exfiltrate sensitive information from encrypted emails.
  • A new version of a Magento credit card stealer was discovered sending compromised data to a malicious cdn-filestore[.]com. The malicious code includes a form with all the credit card information along with the CDN-Filestore domain used for the exfiltration of the skimmed payment data.
  • A multi-functional peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet, called FritzFrog, has been actively targeting SSH servers since January 2020. So far, the modular botnet has breached more than 500 servers, including many associated with universities in the U.S. and Europe.
  • A new attack campaign, dubbed Duri, used HTML smuggling and data blob techniques to evade detection and deliver malware onto victim machines. The attack relied on redirecting users to an HTML page hosted on duckdns[.]org.
  • In yet another discovery, researchers explained that mailto links could be abused to launch attacks on the users of several popular desktop mail clients. This is possible either by sending emails containing boobytrapped mailto links or by placing boobytrapped mailto links on websites.
  • Akamai warned that cybercriminals claiming to represent well-known threat groups such as Fancy Bear and Armada Collective, are targeting a variety of sectors in an attempt to extort a large sum of money. These attackers would contact the target companies and warn them of an imminent DDoS attack on their infrastructure unless a ransom is paid.
  • TeamTNT became the first threat actor group to use a crypto-mining malware that contains the functionality to steal AWS credentials from infected servers. The group’s modus operandi involves scanning the internet for misconfigured Docker systems.
  • Researchers found an open directory containing malicious files for a cryptocurrency miner and DDoS bot that targets open Docker daemon ports. To launch these files, the attackers used a shell script named mxutzh.sh that scanned for open ports.

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.