Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence - May 08–12

The Good

Taking down cybercrime operations requires diligent efforts and cooperation between national and international law enforcement agencies. Setting another such example, the FBI led an operation to dismantle the infrastructure behind the Snake malware used by Russian state actors. In a bid to improve cloud security, an open-source tool was launched this week to make a Kubernetes Bill of Materials (KBOM) standard accessible for security teams.

• CyberArk has introduced a new decryptor called 'White Phoenix' that enables victims to partially restore files affected by ransomware strains utilizing intermittent encryption. The development of White Phoenix involves CyberArk's experimentation with partially encrypted PDF files, aiming to recover text and images from stream objects. Intermittent encryption is a tactic employed by various ransomware groups, involving the alternating encryption and non-encryption of data chunks.
• Law enforcement in Spain has conducted a series of arrests, detaining numerous individuals believed to be part of a significant organized crime syndicate. These apprehensions come as a result of the gang's alleged involvement in phishing activities that helped them reportedly amass more than €700,000 ($767,000). Out of the 40 individuals apprehended, two were identified as hackers, while 15 were suspected members of the "Trinitarios" group.
• Operation Medusa, spearheaded by the FBI, successfully dismantled the Snake malware infrastructure operated by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) Center 16. The primary objective of this operation was to gather sensitive information from high-profile targets, including government entities, research facilities, and journalists. Snake malware infections were detected across more than 50 countries, encompassing regions such as the United States, Europe, and Asia. In the United States, numerous organizations in the education, media, financial, and government sectors fell victim to this cyberattack.
• The Kubernetes Security Operations Center (KSOC) has introduced the inaugural Kubernetes Bill of Materials (KBOM) standard, marking a significant milestone. This KBOM standard is accessible through an open-source command-line interface (CLI) tool, empowering cloud security teams to gain insights into the extent of third-party tools deployed in their environment. By doing so, teams can respond swiftly to emerging vulnerabilities, which have become increasingly prevalent in recent months.

The Bad

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows in the cyber landscape as cyber intruders continue to cause disruptions at numerous organizations. Some of the prominent victims this week include a U.S. food distributor, an iconic Canadian art gallery, and a SaaS provider for the education sector. Even more concerning, a new threat actor has surfaced with a track record of 350 BEC attack campaigns, carried out in a span of two years.

• Constellation Software Inc., headquartered in Toronto, reported that a select number of its IT systems were affected by a ransomware attack orchestrated by the BlackCat group. The cybercriminals purport to have stolen over 1TB of data. This event could potentially have jeopardized the private information of individuals and data pertinent to its partners.
• NextGen Healthcare, based in Atlanta, announced that its systems were breached by an unauthorized entity between March 29 and April 14, 2023. This breach resulted in the unauthorized access to patients' personal information, including names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers. The company, however, affirmed that the intruders were unable to access any health or medical records and data belonging to individuals.
• Following its decision not to comply with the ransom requests from the LockBit 3.0 group, lending company Fullerton India experienced a data breach involving 600 GB of information. It's expected that the cybercriminals may now resort to a triple extortion strategy. This could involve threatening Fullerton India's clients, business associates, and suppliers in an effort to coerce the company into negotiating with the ransomware perpetrators. The company officially acknowledged the data breach on April 24.
• OT&P Healthcare, a Hong Kong-based healthcare group, reportedly suffered a cyberattack that seems to have affected the personal data and medical records of approximately 100,000 patients. Though the full extent of the data theft is yet to be determined by the authorities, it's known that individuals' identification cards and passport numbers were also housed on the servers that were breached. The healthcare group operates a total of eight clinics across Central, Repulse Bay, and Clear Water Bay.
• Sysco, a prominent food distribution company, acknowledged a cyberattack that compromised its network earlier this year and exposed sensitive information belonging to both employees and customers. An investigation into this breach is currently underway, and initial findings indicate that the accessed data comprises employee names, Social Security numbers, and account numbers.
• In a recent announcement, the Metropolitan Opera disclosed that a cyberattack in December of last year had a significant impact on the personal details of more than 45,000 customers. The compromised information encompassed names, financial account details, tax identification numbers, Social Security numbers, payment card information, and driver's license numbers. The breach occurred between September 20, 2022, and December 6, 2022, during which the attackers gained unauthorized access to the opera's systems.
• The National Gallery of Canada disclosed that it experienced a ransomware attack, resulting in the temporary shutdown of its IT systems. As one of North America's largest art museums in terms of exhibition space, it assured the public that no customer data was compromised during the incident. Notably, no ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack at this time.
• American cloud-based software provider for schools, colleges, and universities, Brightly Software, disclosed a breach incident involving unauthorized access to the database of its SchoolDude online platform. The threat actors are believed to have stolen customer account information, including names, email addresses, account passwords, phone numbers (where available), and school district names.
• Following a thorough two-year investigation, the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) uncovered evidence of a cyberattack perpetrated by North Korean hackers targeting Seoul National University Hospital. The breach occurred between May and June 2021, resulting in the exposure of data belonging to 831,000 individuals. The compromised information consists of confidential medical records as well as personal data belonging to visitors and employees of the hospital.
• Over the past two years, an Israeli cybercriminal group has executed over 350 BEC campaigns, specifically targeting major MNCs worldwide, revealed Abnormal Security. This group distinguishes itself through the utilization of various techniques, such as email display name spoofing and the creation of multiple fictitious personas within email chains. Notably, their attempts to extort abnormally large sums of money from organizations also set them apart from other cybercriminals.
• As a consequence of the recent ransomware attack on Micro-Star International (MSI), it is alleged that the Intel Boot Guard OEM private keys were compromised. This event has raised concerns since PCs equipped with Intel chips and Boot Guard protection rely on these keys to ensure the authenticity of the firmware. If individuals possess these private Boot Guard keys, they could potentially sign malicious software, bypassing the defenses on MSI systems.
• ABB, a multinational company specializing in electrification and automation technology, fell victim to a significant cyberattack by the Black Basta ransomware group. This attack affected ABB's business operations, particularly its Windows Active Directory, impacting numerous devices. To contain the spread of the ransomware, ABB promptly terminated VPN connections with its customers.

New Threats

This week saw the discovery of multiple new malware threats. This included two ransomware groups, namely Akira and Cactus. While Akira targets enterprise networks to extract up to millions of dollars in ransomware, Cactus is noteworthy for its unique self-encryption features that enable it to avoid detection by security solutions. Meanwhile, the Papercut vulnerability saga continues to threaten vulnerable servers with the release of a brand new exploit and the discovery of two Iranian state-backed threat actors abusing the flaw.

• Akira, a new ransomware group that first emerged in March, was exposed by MalwareHunterTeam for its global infiltration of corporate networks. The group targets corporate victims and demands ransom payments, often reaching millions of dollars. However, for those unwilling to pay for decryptors, the criminals propose reducing the ransom amount to prevent data leaks.
• Another recently discovered ransomware operation known as Cactus garnered attention for its distinctive self-encryption capability, enabling it to evade detection. Cybersecurity experts from Kroll have determined that this malware variant has been active since at least March 2023. Cactus specifically targets vulnerabilities found in Fortinet VPN appliances and utilizes a customized version of the open-source PSnmap Tool.
• Ruckus, a manufacturer of wired and wireless networking equipment, faced a targeted DDoS attack from a botnet threat named AndoryuBot. This particular botnet took advantage of a recently patched vulnerability in Ruckus access points (APs). Exploiting CVE-2023-25717, an RCE bug, threat actors were able to compromise the devices. Once infected, the botnet quickly spreads and establishes communication with its command-and-control (C2) server through the SOCKS protocol.
• Red Stinger, a newly discovered advanced persistent threat (APT) actor, was found conducting targeted attacks in Eastern Europe since 2020. Military, transportation, and critical infrastructure entities were among their primary targets, along with organizations involved in the September East Ukraine referendums. The attackers utilized various techniques, including exfiltration of data like snapshots, USB drives, keystrokes, and microphone recordings.
• FortiGuard Labs discovered a fresh iteration of the RapperBot botnet, which has been actively utilized in an attack campaign ongoing since January. In a notable evolution, the attackers behind this variant have extended their malicious operations from solely conducting DDoS attacks to now incorporating cryptojacking capabilities. The updated version incorporates an enhanced C2 communication protocol.
• Government institutions in Kazakhstan and Afghanistan were targeted in a cyberattack campaign employing decoy documents posing as authentic diplomats. This attack leveraged a newly identified malware called DownEx, as identified by Bitdefender Labs. DownEx possesses the capability to move laterally across local and network drives and extract files of various formats.
• In this month’s round of Patch Tuesday updates, Microsoft rolled out fixes for around 38 vulnerabilities, including three zero-day flaws. Intel and AMD both have released advisories for more than 100 vulnerabilities found in their products. SAP announced the release of security notes that addresses 18 new security vulnerabilities. Siemens and Schneider Electric issued several new advisories to address over 30 vulnerabilities affecting their products.
• Cybercriminals were observed distributing the Aurora info-stealer malware in a malvertising campaign by simulating a Windows update within the browser. Researchers discovered over a dozen domains involved, some pretending to be adult websites. The adversaries disguised the malware loader as a Chrome updater named 'Invalid Printer'.
• The tale of the PaperCut vulnerability is still unfinished this week with security experts at VulCheck developing a new PoC exploit against the critical bug earmarked CVE-2023-27350. The PoC exploit is capable of evading all known detection rules. Meanwhile, a couple of Iranian state-sponsored groups, Mint Sandstorm and Mango Sandstorm, were observed targeting the recently patched flaw in PaperCut MF/NG print management solutions.
• Experts at Cisco Talos discovered that a phishing-as-a-service (PaaS) platform named "Greatness" has been utilized by various cybercriminals in multiple phishing campaigns. Greatness, operational since mid-2022, stands out by incorporating advanced features commonly found in sophisticated PaaS offerings, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) bypass, IP filtering, and integration with Telegram bots.
• A stealthier version of the Linux malware 'BPFDoor' has emerged, exhibiting enhanced encryption and reverse shell communication. Initially discovered by researchers approximately a year ago, BPFDoor has been active since at least 2017. Prior to 2022, the malware employed RC4 encryption, bind shell, and iptables for communication, with hardcoded commands and filenames. The newly analyzed variant, as observed by Deep Instinct, incorporates static library encryption, reverse shell communication, and all commands are transmitted by the C2 server.
• The CISA and FBI issued a joint cybersecurity advisory highlighting the exploitation of a vulnerability in PaperCut MF/NG (CVE-2023-27350) by the Bl00dy Ransomware group. Additionally, attackers have been attempting to exploit vulnerable PaperCut servers in the U.S. education sector. The FBI observed malicious actors targeting this vulnerability from mid-April 2023 to the present.