- IT threat evolution Q3 2019
November 29, 2019
Targeted attacks and malware campaigns, Mobile espionage targeting the Middle East At the end of June Kaspersky reported the details of a highly targeted campaign that we dubbed ‘Operation ViceLeaker’ involving the spread of malicious Android samples via instant messaging. The campaign affected several dozen victims in Israel and Iran. We discovered this activity in May ...
- Extensive hacking operation discovered in Kazakhstan
November 23, 2019
Chinese cyber-security vendor Qihoo 360 published a report on Friday exposing an extensive hacking operation targeting the country of Kazakhstan. Targets included individuals and organizations involving all walks of life, such as government agencies, military personnel, foreign diplomats, researchers, journalists, private companies, the educational sector, religious figures, government dissidents, and foreign diplomats alike. The campaign, Qihoo 360 ...
- DePriMon downloader uses novel ways to infect your PC with ColoredLambert malware
November 21, 2019
A malware downloader has been spotted using novel “Port Monitor” methods that have not been detected before in active campaigns. Dubbed DePriMon, the malicious downloader is used to deploy malware used by Lambert — also known as the Longhorn advanced persistent threat (APT) group — which specializes in attacks against European and Middle Eastern companies. Kaspersky estimates ...
- Mac Backdoor Linked to Lazarus Targets Korean Users
November 20, 2019
Criminal interest in MacOS continues to grow, with malware authors churning out more threats that target users of the popular OS. Case in point: A new variant of a Mac backdoor (detected by Trend Micro as Backdoor.MacOS.NUKESPED.A) attributed to the cybercriminal group Lazarus, which was observed targeting Korean users with a macro-embedded Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Similarities to an ...
- APT33 Mounts Focused, Highly Targeted Botnet Attacks Against U.S. Victims
November 14, 2019
The Iran-linked, espionage-focused advanced threat group known as APT33 has been spotted using more than a dozen obfuscated botnets to carry out narrowly targeted attacks against government and academic targets in the Middle East, the U.S. and Asia. Each botnet, linked to its own command-and-control (C2) server, comprises a small group of up to a dozen ...
- Kaspersky identifies mysterious APT mentioned in 2017 Shadow Brokers leak
November 5, 2019
In 2017, a mysterious group of hackers known as the Shadow Brokers published online a data dump called “Lost in Translation.” The data dump — believed to have been obtained from the US National Security Agency (NSA) — contained a collection of exploits and hacking tools, including the now-infamous EternalBlue, the exploit that provided the steam ...
- Calypso APT Emerges from the Shadows to Target Governments
October 31, 2019
A newly discovered APT group, dubbed Calypso after a custom malware RAT that it uses, has been targeting state institutions in six different countries since 2016. Government organizations in India (34 percent), Brazil and Kazakhstan (18 percent respectively), Russia and Thailand (12 percent respectively) and Turkey (6 percent) have all been successfully infiltrated at some point, ...
- Mobile Malware and APT Espionage: Prolific, Pervasive, and Cross-Platform
October 23, 2019
Until now, the public’s exposure to mobile phone malware has been dominated by news about the privately run “greyware” vendors who have made headlines for being purveyors of spyware tools. These commercial smartphone spyware tools reportedly end up in the hands of autocrats who use it to hamper free speech, quash dissent, or worse. Consumers ...
- Russian APT Turla targets 35 countries on the back of Iranian infrastructure
October 21, 2019
Dozens of countries have become embroiled in a state-backed spat between Russian and Iranian hacking groups, security agencies have warned. On Monday, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), together with the US National Security Agency (NSA), published an advisory warning that military establishments, government departments, scientific organizations, and universities are among victims of an ongoing hacking campaign ...
- Tortoiseshell Group Targets IT Providers in Saudi Arabia in Probable Supply Chain Attacks
October 18, 2019
Previously undocumented group hits IT providers in the Middle East. A previously undocumented attack group is using both custom and off-the-shelf malware to target IT providers in Saudi Arabia in what appear to be supply chain attacks with the end goal of compromising the IT providers’ customers. The group, which we are calling Tortoiseshell, has been active ...