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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence - October 18–22

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence - October 18–22 - Featured Image

Weekly Threat Briefing Oct 22, 2021

The Good

While the enemy of my enemy cannot always be a friend, it’s always fun to watch hackers pitting against each other. In one such case, REvil has been forced to close up shop once more! We always love bringing indictment news to you. In today’s episode of arrests, the Dutch Police incarcerated nine bank support fraudsters and the South African Police arrested eight suspects for siphoning off funds from romance scam victims.

  • The Tor payment portal and data leak site of REvil was sent to oblivion after an unknown hacker using the same private keys hijacked the group’s domains. The hacked server now leads to some other services.

  • Trustwave has made a BlackByte decryptor available for download at GitHub. This Windows-based ransomware takes advantage of the double extortion technique after targeting its victims.

  • The Dutch Police detained nine bank help desk fraudsters for targeting and stealing money from elderly people via phone calls. The investigators, further, froze the cryptocurrency assets belonging to the suspects.

  • Eight suspects were arrested by the South African Police Service for stealing and laundering more than $6.85 million from the victims of online romance scams.

  • Twitter suspended two accounts that were a part of a long-lived DPRK cyberespionage campaign operated by North Korean government hackers. The accounts redirected security researchers to malicious websites to infect them with malware.

The Bad

Cookie monsters have been crushed! Some 4,000 YouTube creators were targeted with cookie-stealing malware in a phishing campaign that spanned for two years, discovered Google TAG team. The week has been gloomy, but especially so for the Argentinian government, as a hacker gained access to the National Registry of Persons and stole ID cards of the entire population. While we hope that no medical facilities fall prey to malicious purposes, this time an insider breach by a former employee of the University Hospital Newark impacted the sensitive info of thousands of individuals.

  • High-profile YouTube creators were targeted with cookie-theft malware in phishing attacks, wherein hackers offered them fake collaboration opportunities. The campaign went on for two years.

  • LightBasin, an alleged Chinese hacker group, infiltrated at least 13 telecommunication companies around the globe and accessed call records and messages.

  • Data pertaining to at least one million users of Quickfox VPN was left open to the internet due to an unprotected Elasticsearch storage blob. The 100GB data trove contained 500 million sensitive records, including system data on 300,000 customers and PII of a million users.

  • The AvosLocker ransomware gang claimed to have breached Taiwanese company Gigabyte. The group has leaked some samples that, allegedly, belong to the victim firm.

  • The CISA, FBI, and NSA released a joint advisory that warns critical infrastructure entities—including two U.S. food and agriculture sector organizations—against BlackMatter ransomware intrusions.

  • The Argentinian Interior Ministry was targeted by a cybercriminal who pilfered ID card details for the entire population, including the country’s President and other political figures, journalists, and soccer personalities Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero.

  • After the attack on Acer India, the company announced that Acer Taiwan also suffered an attack. As per the company, this attack doesn’t involve any exposure to customer data.

  • Health Insurance company Anthem’s vendor PracticeMax and UMass Memorial Health disclosed the PHI and other data of its members and employees in different cyberattacks.

  • University Hospital Newark disclosed that the sensitive personal and medical records of 9,329 individuals were illegally accessed by a former employee for over a year.

  • A malware campaign in South Korea is propagating RATs impersonating as an adult game. The malware is being spread through torrents and webhards.

New Threats

The week presented us with two new distinct espionage campaigns. While one was conducted by TA551, the other perpetrator is yet unknown and has targeted Southeast Asia. Academic researchers from the U.S. discovered a new fingerprint capturing attack called Gummy Browsers. They have warned that the attack is really easy to perform and can have severe implications. The financially motivated TA505 gang has been propagating a new FlawedGrace RAT strain.

  • A new espionage campaign was associated with TA551. The threat actor was found relying on email threads to target its victims and using a legitimate open-source tool called Sliver.
  • The new MirrorBlast malware was spotted in a phishing campaign linked with the TA505 and PYSA groups.
  • Three malicious npm packages—klow, klown, and okhsa—were downloaded 150 times before being removed. They were running cryptocurrency malware on Windows and Linux systems.
  • Researchers at Texas A&M University and the University of Florida discovered Gummy Browsers, a new fingerprint capturing and browser spoofing attack.
  • Southeast Asia was rifled by a new espionage campaign that targeted defense, healthcare, and ICT sectors. The campaign began in September 2020 and ran at least until May this year.
  • In a new analysis, Karma ransomware and Nemty variants were found to possess similarities, including the exclusion of extensions and folders and the presence of debug messages.
  • Cryptojacking group TeamTNT was spotted hosting malicious container images in Docker Hub to install basic utilities and scanning tools Zgrab and masscanner to target more machines for cryptomining.
  • Academics from universities developed a new attack technique, dubbed SmashEx, that runs into Intel SGX and can allow adversaries to steal confidential data from Intel CPUs.
  • Symantec reported a hitherto unknown nation-state actor, Harvester, whose target is South Asian telecom providers, IT firms, and government entities.
  • Proofpoint unmasked a mass volume email attack by the TA505 group that delivers a new version of the FlawedGrace RAT across a wide range of industries.

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.