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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, March 22 - 26, 2021

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, March 22 - 26, 2021 - Featured Image

Weekly Threat Briefing Mar 26, 2021

The Good

The smell of fresh coffee. Morning sunlight. The smell of new books. Quite a few good news. We believe that these exude the same feeling - inexplicable happiness. Your smartphone facial recognition is going to get more secure as researchers are going to leverage more facial features. In other news, the CISA is soon to start working with ISPs and warn the latter’s customers about vulnerabilities in their systems.

  • The CISA unveiled its plans to work in tandem with internet service providers to obtain the personal data of their customers to warn them about existing vulnerabilities in their systems.

  • Facebook claimed to disrupt a network of Chinese hackers targeting the Uyghur community by luring them into downloading spyware.

  • Researchers have devised a way to fortify smartphone security by adding facial features while unlocking phones with facial recognition. Dubbed Concurrent Two-Factor Identity Verification (C2FIV), the technology relies on an integrated neural network framework.

  • The CISA added two new Malware Analysis Reports (MARs) in its Mitigate Microsoft Exchange Server Vulnerabilities alert. The agency has also updated YARA rules in seven existing MARs so that organizations can identify the malware.

The Bad

Ripping off the bandaid straightaway. Threat actors behind REvil attacked Acer and demanded a ransom of $50 million. This only points to the fact that no organization is free from devastating cyberattacks. One of the major banks in the U.S. fell victim to a cyberattack and the threat actors managed to get away with the sensitive data of multiple customers. Not only this, the hackers contacted the customers and informed them of the breach. The Accellion hack claimed another victim - Shell.

  • Over 20TB of sensitive data belonging to forex broker FBS was leaked online due to an unprotected Elasticsearch database. The database contained over 16 billion records of customers’ personally identifiable information.

  • Michigan-based Flagstar Bank fell victim to a ransomware attack in January this year. Following the attack, the ransomware operators not only encrypted the database but also, siphoned banking data that includes social security numbers.

  • A threat actor calling itself The Israeli Autumn took credit for leaking registration and personal details of millions of Israeli citizens. The details include full names, phone numbers, ID card numbers, home addresses, gender, age, and political preferences.

  • Industrial giant Honeywell revealed that some of its IT systems were disrupted as a result of malware attacks. Although an investigation into the incident is ongoing, Honeywell stated it has found no evidence of data being exfiltrated from systems.

  • Popular manga reader MangaDex decided to rebuild its website after suffering a major breach. The incident resulted in the compromise of source code and potentially a customer database.

  • Canadian multinational Sierra Wireless was forced to halt production at its manufacturing sites across the world after a ransomware attack. The attack had hit the company on March 20, 2021.

  • World’s largest PC and device maker, Acer, has reportedly been targeted by the REvil ransomware gang who demanded $50 million in ransom to release the decryption key. To claim the attack, the gang has shared screenshots of customer data, payment application forms, and other information on the REvil darknet site.

  • A major cyberattack crippled the website of the Ministry of Defence academy, the U.K, in a state-sponsored attack, allegedly, conducted by Russian and Chinese hackers.

  • Energy giant Shell disclosed a data breach that occurred due to the compromise of Accellion’s File Transfer Appliance. The company claims that no IT systems have been affected during the attack.

New Threats

Agent Tesla is probably the Swiss knife of spyware. And now, it is back with more capabilities. Talking of upgraded malware, a new strain of Purple Fox has emerged with a worm module that is being leveraged in a recent attack campaign. Let’s finish this with a ransomware news. An insurance company got hit by a new ransomware strain.

  • A botnet written in Golang was found scanning the Ultimate GDPR & CCPA Compliance Toolkit plugin for a critical vulnerability that lets attackers redirect traffic to a malicious website. The flaw affects plugin version 2.4 and lower.
  • A new version of Agent Tesla includes capabilities to steal information via HTTP, SMTP, or FTP. Researchers have observed more than 100 indicators related to the infrastructure that is used to deliver the malware variant.
  • A serious security flaw was detected in the architecture of 5G network slicing and virtualized network functions. The vulnerability has the potential to allow data access and denial of service attacks between different mobile operators using the 5G network.
  • Attackers are actively exploiting the unpatched Thrive Themes plugin that is vulnerable to two remote code vulnerabilities. It is estimated that more than 100,000 WordPress sites using the plugin are vulnerable to the attack.
  • The U.K’s National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Center warned citizens about a National Insurance scam that targets their PII. The scam works by victims receiving automated phone calls mentioning that their National Insurance number has been exposed.
  • An upgraded variant of Purple Fox malware with worm capabilities has been found to be deployed in an ongoing attack campaign. The malware is being spread through indiscriminate port scanning and exploitation of exposed SMB services with weak passwords and hashes.
  • BlackKingdom is the second confirmed ransomware targeting Microsoft Exchange ProxyLogon vulnerabilities. Based on the logs collected from honeypots, victims are located in the USA, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, France, Israel, the U.K, Italy, Germany, Greece, Australia, and Croatia.
  • A new ransomware variant—Phoenix CryptoLocker—hit insurance giant CNA. affecting its business operations and online services. This strain is suspected to be associated with the Evil Corp threat actor.
  • Employees who are returning to work in offices and other company premises are being targeted in a new phishing campaign that impersonates their colleagues, as well as company leadership. The campaign uses several lures such as a ‘survey regarding the COVID-19 vaccine’, ‘internal precautionary measures’, and ‘changes in rules and new security roles within the company’.
  • Scammers are using demos and early access promises as bait to lure Resident Evil gamers. For this, they are using fake emails offering ‘Early access invitations’ to play Village itself.

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

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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.