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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, July 04 - 08, 2022

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence,  July 04 - 08, 2022 - Featured Image

Weekly Threat Briefing Jul 8, 2022

The Good

In a new stride taken toward protecting cryptographic security protocols from quantum computing-powered cyberattacks, the NIST has reportedly added four new encryption algorithms that will be used for protecting digital signatures and access to websites. In a big relief, victims infected by AstraLocker and Yashma ransomware will now be able to decrypt files without paying any ransom.

  • NIST has selected four encryption algorithms—CRYSTALS-Kyber, CRYSTALS-Dilithium, FALCON, and SPHINCS+—that will withstand attacks from quantum computers. While CRYSTALS-Kyber will be used for access to websites, the other three are to protect digital signatures.

  • Emsisoft has released a free decryption tool for victims affected by AstraLocker and Yashma ransomware. The tool will also work for those victim systems that have been compromised via Windows Remote Desktop Protocol.

  • The FBI will launch a cybersecurity awareness campaign in North Carolina. The campaign will run through the month of September and aims at educating private and public sector organizations about the growing threat of cyberattacks.

The Bad

Moving on to the bad, data breach incidents exposing users and other sensitive information have put multiple firms like Marriott International, Eye Care Leaders, and American Marriage Ministries under the scanner of federal authorities. Meanwhile, Crema Finance became the latest victim of a DeFi hack, enabling hackers to steal $8.78 million worth of cryptocurrencies.

  • American Marriage Ministries (AMM) disclosed a data breach incident that affected the data of about 185,000 officiants and 15,000 married couples as well as their wedding guests. This occurred due to an unsecured Amazon bucket that contained around 630 GB of data.

  • Military entities located in Bangladesh remain a primary target of the Bitter APT group, SECUINFRA has reported. The attacks are launched using malicious Office document files.

  • Solana-based liquidity protocol Crema Finance lost more than $8.78 million worth of cryptocurrencies after hackers attacked the platform. The attackers used the infamous flash loan trick to manipulate the prices of assets before stealing the assets.

  • The Marriott hotel chain has suffered another data breach incident that allowed attackers to exfiltrate around 20GB of data, including customer credit card details. Threat actors used social engineering to trick an employee into providing access to the computer.

  • Threat actors impersonated the Ministry of Human Resources of the UAE government to target individuals and businesses in the Middle East in a large-scale phishing attack. They had created fake domains and websites to defraud users.

  • A data breach at Eye Care Leaders affected 92,361 patients’ data belonging to Missouri-based Mattax Neu Prater Eye Center. The adversary gained unauthorized access to the system and deleted system configuration files and databases.

  • TA578 group is leveraging fake copyright infringement complaints to target website owners to disseminate IcedID, BumbleBee, and BazarLoader malware. The campaign has been active for over a year.

  • A misconfigured Amazon S3 bucket resulted in the exposure of 3TB of airport data. The exposed information included employee PII and other sensitive company data, affecting at least four airports in Colombia and Peru.

  • In a new discovery, the notorious AsyncRAT was found infecting vulnerable MySQL servers. The malware was distributed via a crack program of commercial software hosted on malicious websites.

  • Websites, phone lines, and online services of College of the Desert were knocked out following a ransomware attack. While the college continues to experience a system-wide outage, it notes that programs such as Canvas, Adobe, and Microsoft Teams are still available to students.

New Threats

Software repositories and code samples are being actively abused to automate cyberattacks and this is evidenced by two cryptomining incidents that were observed this week. The week also witnessed an explosion in ransomware attacks across the globe as federal authorities and researchers release technical details and activities of Maui, HavanaCrypt, Hive, RedAlert, and AstraLocker ransomware. In a new twist, the infamous Conti group has also brought on board the TrickBot trojan to launch stealthy attacks against Ukrainians.

  • A new report by IBM X-Force revealed that TrickBot was deployed in at least six different malspam campaigns launched against users in Ukraine. Researchers highlighted that the attacks were carried out between April and June and were launched in collaboration with Wizard Spider, DEV-0193, and Conti ransomware groups.
  • Another new malware targeting the Linux operating system has surfaced this week. Named OrBit, the malware is primarily designed to drop malicious payloads. It implements advanced evasion capabilities to gain persistence on targeted machines.
  • Trend Micro identified over a thousand malicious repositories and more than 550 code samples that abused GitHub Actions to mine cryptocurrency in an automated attack. The attack involved threat actors forking a legitimate repository that has GitHub Actions enabled. This allowed them to inject malicious code into legitimate repositories.
  • In another incident, researchers attributed a large-scale cryptocurrency mining campaign that targeted over 1,200 NPM JavaScript packages to a threat actor named CuteBoi. This was done using automation which included the ability to pass the 2FA challenge. In another incident, more than two dozen NPM packages were found harvesting sensitive data from forms embedded in mobile applications and websites
  • QNAP has warned customers about a new Checkmate ransomware attack aimed at its NAS devices. The ransomware employs dictionary attacks to break accounts with weak passwords. It appends .checkmate extension to encrypted files and drops a ransom note named !CHECKMATE_DECRYPTION_README.
  • A new ransomware family, dubbed HavanaCrypt, makes use of a fake Google Software Update application to propagate across systems. Additionally, it relies on Microsoft web hosting service IP address to circumvent detection.
  • The operators of Hive ransomware have switched from Golang to Rust language in an attempt to enhance the encryption and evasion capabilities. The malware variant uses ‘string’ encryption that can make it more stealthy.
  • RedAlert is a new ransomware that encrypts both Windows and Linux VMWare ESXi servers. When encrypting files, the ransomware utilizes the NTRUEncrypt public-key algorithm.
  • The threat actor behind the lesser-known AstraLocker ransomware is planning to switch to cryptojacking attacks as it announced shutting down its current operation. As part of the shutdown, the operators have released decryption keys.
  • North Korean cyber actors have been found using Maui ransomware to target the healthcare sector, revealed a new advisory from the CISA. The sample is active since May 2021 and uses AES, RSA, and XOR algorithms to encrypt files.
  • VSingle, a malware used by Lazarus, has been updated to retrieve C2 server information from GitHub. It uses the ‘wget’ command to communicate with its C2 servers.
  • Researchers reported a new malware attack campaign that exploited the known Follina vulnerability to distribute a backdoor malware dubbed Rozena. The malware is capable of injecting a remote shell connection linking back to the attacker’s machine.

Related Threat Briefings

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.