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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence - May 23–27

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence - May 23–27 - Featured Image

Weekly Threat Briefing May 27, 2022

The Good

Collective defense strategies are the need of the hour as countries continue to deal with a wide range of cyberattacks. Taking an initiative along these lines, leaders from the U.S., India, Japan, and Australia have announced the new Quad Cybersecurity Partnership program that focuses on fortifying software, supply chain management, and user data. In parallel, the U.S. has also set up a Joint Ransomware Task Force to tackle illegal cryptocurrency activities related to ransomware.

  • Leaders from the U.S, Australia, India, and Japan have entered into a partnership to work together on several cybersecurity initiatives centered around fortifying software, supply chains, and user data. The Quad leaders are committed to improving the collective cybersecurity infrastructure by sharing threat information and identifying potential risks in supply chains.

  • Interpol and cops in Africa arrested a Nigerian man suspected of running a multi-continent cybercrime ring named SilverTerrier. The gang made use of phishing emails and social engineering tactics to steal sensitive information or wire funds to the scammer.

  • The U.S. has announced the launch of the Joint Ransomware Task Force, which will be headed by the CISA and the FBI. The main purpose of the task force is to disrupt ransomware activities and confiscate crypto assets routed through the blockchain.

  • The NCSC-U.K issued the fifth edition of its Active Cyber Defense report that revealed the rise in phishing emails masquerading as vaccine appointments. These emails were designed to harvest financial and personal information from users.

The Bad

Credential stuffing attacks remained the top highlight of this week as General Motors and Zola reported the repercussions of such attacks. As a result, threat actors were able to access users' accounts and redeem gift card points. The education sector has also been asked to be on alert as reports from the FBI suggest that cybercriminals have put over 30,000 email account credentials—stolen from different colleges and universities—for sale on various dark web forums. The agency noted that these credentials can open doors for spear-phishing attacks, ransomware attacks, or other types of intrusions in the future.

  • The FBI alerted the higher education sector about the sale of credentials on multiple public and dark web marketplaces. In some cases, VPN and network access credentials are being sold for thousands of dollars. The agency noted that these credentials can open doors for spear-phishing attacks, ransomware attacks, or other types of intrusions in the future.
  • A hacker demanded a reward of $250,000 in exchange for the data stolen from a database belonging to Verizon. The stolen data includes full names, corporate ID numbers, email addresses, and phone numbers of employees.
  • Intuit warned against a wave of phishing attacks targeting QuickBooks customers. The adversary was found impersonating the brand and attempting to trick them with false account suspension warnings.
  • Akamai reported a DDoS attack against one of its clients, which is believed to be the work of the REvil ransomware gang. However, the coordinated DDoS attack did not involve any data encryption or ransomware.
  • A scammer stole dozens of NFTs that amounted to almost $1.5 million from a single collector. The collection also included 29 NFTs from the Moonbirds collection, valued at $48,000.
  • The Chicago Public Schools disclosed a data breach that occurred due to a ransomware attack at its Ohio-based third-party vendor, Battelle for Kids. The incident reportedly affected the personal records of 495,448 students and 56,138 employees stored in its school system.
  • U.S. automobile giant General Motors confirmed a credential stuffing attack that occurred last month. As a result, the hackers were able to access customer information and redeem gift card reward points. The firm has advised victims to review their credit reports and initiate a security freeze if they see some irregularities.
  • A hacker group infiltrated the networks of the wedding planning website Zola through a credential stuffing attack to access the user accounts. They attempted to initiate fraudulent cash transfers.
  • vpnMentor has reported that approximately 142 million records belonging to 30 million customers of MGM Resorts International were exposed on Telegram. The dumps included names, postal addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and dates of birth of millions of people.
  • The SafetyDetectives team discovered a misconfigured Elasticsearch server that leaked 147 GB of data for millions of microloan applicants from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Researchers attribute the ownership of the server to a Russian entity.
  • A breach at St. Louis-based Washington University School of Medicine had potentially exposed PHI, as well other personal data of patients. An unauthorized person seemingly accessed the email accounts of certain employees between March 4 and March 28.
  • The Toronto-based Scarborough Health Network (SHN) disclosed an intrusion that may have impacted individuals who received in-patient care at any of the SHN hospitals prior to February 1. Possible compromised data includes patient ID numbers, names, genders, dates of birth, contact information, and medical histories, as well as insurance information.

New Threats

Coming to new threats, a newly found Cheerscrypt malware joined the league of ransomware families targeting virtual machines. Similar to other ransomware, it employs the double extortion scheme to coerce its victims into paying the ransom. The relatively new Nokoyawa ransomware has also been improved with new features to target Windows users. Meanwhile, the ERMAC Android banking trojan has expanded its capabilities in version 2.0, enabling its operators to steal account credentials and crypto wallets from over 400 applications.

  • A new Linux-based ransomware named Cheerscrypt has been found targeting ESXi servers used to manage VMware files. It employs the double extortion scheme to coerce its victim to pay the ransom.
  • Researchers noted a surge in ChromeLoader malware that uses a malicious ISO archive file to infect its victims. It comes disguised as cracked executables for games or commercial software.
  • The infamous ERMAC Android banking trojan expanded its territory by increasing the number of applications targeted from 378 to 467 with the launch of its version 2.0. It is capable of stealing account credentials and crypto wallets, which are sent to threat actors to hijack victims’ banking and cryptocurrency accounts for financial theft and fraud.
  • Eclypsium found that Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT) servers are victims of the severe "Pantsdown" Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) flaw. An attacker can exploit the flaw to laterally move to the server management network, thereby crippling other servers by obtaining further permissions and access. The bug is tracked as CVE-2019-6260 and has a CVSS score of 9.8.
  • Fortinet has observed a new variant of Nokoyawa ransomware targeting Windows users. It has been created by reusing code from publicly available sources and is capable of deleting volume snapshots by resizing the allocated space for snapshots of volume shadow copies to one byte.
  • The BlackBerry team has discovered the latest version of the Chaos ransomware dubbed Yashma. Since its discovery in June 2021, Chaos has undergone five successive iterations for improving its functionalities. The variant, also known as Chaos 4.0, has expanded its upper limit of files to encrypt to 2.1MB.
  • A researcher from Microsoft Security Response Center and an independent researcher warned that cybercriminals are abusing vulnerabilities that were already fixed for platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Zoom, WordPress, and Dropbox. These bugs can be exploited to hijack the online accounts of users even before they create or register them.
  • HP Wolf Security uncovered an attack campaign that leverages a malicious PDF file and a 22-year-old Office bug to drop the Snake Keylogger malware. First appearing in late 2020, the malware can pilfer sensitive data from a device, such as credentials, keystrokes, screenshots, and clipboard data.
  • Threat actors leveraged a fake PoC for a Windows SMB RCE vulnerability (CVE-2022-26809) to target the infosec community with Cobalt Strike Beacon. The Cobalt Strike Beacon can be used for other malicious activities such as downloading additional payloads, lateral movement, etc.
  • A new deep fake scam motivated to steal cryptocurrency from users’ wallets is doing the rounds. It involves the use of deep fake videos of Elon Musk and other cryptocurrency-related personalities to promote a fraudulent BitVex trading platform. The scam claims that the platform is owned by Elon Musk and was created to allow everyone to earn up to 30% returns on their crypto deposits.

Related Threat Briefings

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.