Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, July 27 - 31, 2020

Weekly Threat Briefing • July 31, 2020
Weekly Threat Briefing • July 31, 2020
The Good
The rise in phishing attempts aimed at stealing taxpayer data during the COVID-19 calls for additional security measures. Realizing the need of the hour, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has asked tax professionals to enable multi-factor authentication to defend against such cyberattacks. Moreover, a sum of $53 million has been dedicated by the Senate Appropriations Committee to prevent attackers from pilfering coronavirus vaccine research.
The Bad
Along with the good, comes the bad. Having said that, the week witnessed data leaks of cosmetic giant Avon, an Israel-based marketing site, Promo, and the streaming service, IndieFlix. A massive cyberespionage campaign named ‘Operation North Star’ — associated with the Hidden Cobra attackers — also came to light this week.
New Threats
Talking about new threats, researchers found a previously described ‘EMV-Bypass Cloning’ technique being used in the wild. The method can allow attackers to conduct fraudulent purchases from otherwise secure EVM chip cards. There was also a discovery of another attack technique —named ‘Timeless Timing Attacks’ — that exploited HTTP/2 and WPA3 protocols.
A technique ‘EMV-Bypass Cloning’ first described in 2008, has been found to be used in the wild this year. The method can allow attackers to conduct fraudulent purchases by copying the information stored on the magnetic stripes present on EVM chip cards.
Researchers have demonstrated a new ‘Timeless Timing’ Attacks technique that exploits the HTTP/2 and WPA3 protocols. This new attack technique can be used to leak sensitive information.
A malspam campaign was observed pushing GuLoader through malicious attachment. The campaign used the DHL delivery lure to push the malware.
TrickBot’s Anchor backdoor has been ported to infect Linux devices. In addition to acting as a backdoor, the malware contains an embedded Windows TrickBot executable.
The FBI issued a security alert about the Netwalker ransomware operators targeting the U.S. and foreign government organizations. According to the alert, the operators began targeting the organizations from June 2020.
The FBI also warned about the discovery of new network protocols that are being used to launch large scale DDoS attacks. The three new attack vectors are CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol), WS-DD (Web Services Dynamic Discovery), ARMS (Apple Remote Management Service), and the Jenkins web-based automation software as well.
A new variant of Mirai botnet that includes an exploit for remote code execution vulnerability in F5 networks was discovered this week. The flaw in question is CVE-2020-5902.
A serious BootHole vulnerability can put billions of Windows and Linux devices at risk. The flaw is a buffer overflow issue related to the way GRUB2 parses its grub.cfg configuration file. Attackers can exploit the flaw to install stealthy and persistent malware.
Kaspersky revealed that the Lazarus threat actor group is behind a new ransomware strain known as VHD. The ransomware is deployed as a final payload while using the MATA malware framework.
A new malware, Doki, associated with Ngrok threat actors is being used to deploy malicious payloads on misconfigured Docker servers. The malware leverages a unique method to abuse the Dogecoin cryptocurrency blockchain to contact its operators.
A new hacker-for-hire mercenary group, Deceptikons, has been found to be active for almost a decade. The group has primarily targeted law and fintech firms.