- The fourth horseman: CVE-2019-0797 vulnerability
March 13, 2019
The new zero-day in the Windows OS exploited in targeted attacks In February 2019, our Automatic Exploit Prevention (AEP) systems detected an attempt to exploit a vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows operating system. Further analysis of this event led to us discovering a zero-day vulnerability in win32k.sys. We reported it to Microsoft on February 22, 2019. ...
- Researchers Link ‘Sharpshooter’ Cyber Attacks to North Korean Hackers
March 4, 2019
Security researchers have finally, with “high confidence,” linked a previously discovered global cyber espionage campaign targeting critical infrastructure around the world to a North Korean APT hacking group. Thanks to the new evidence collected by researchers after analyzing a command-and-control (C2) server involved in the espionage campaign and seized by law enforcement. Dubbed Operation Sharpshooter, the cyber espionage ...
- Bronze Union APT Updates Remote Access Trojans in Fresh Wave of Attacks
February 27, 2019
The notorious Chinese-linked threat group, dubbed Bronze Union, has been spotted in a widespread 2018 campaign updating its arsenal of cyberweapons by breathing new life into old tools. The threat group was spotted in 2018 using updated source code to target data owned by political, technology, manufacturing and humanitarian organizations, researchers with the Dell Secureworks Counter ...
- APT Adversaries Up the Ante on Speed, Target Telecom
February 19, 2019
Despite law-enforcement wins in the form of several high-profile arrests and indictments during 2018, nation-state adversaries have upped their games when it comes to speed. That’s according to CrowdStrike’s 2019 Global Threat Report, which found that when analyzing how long it takes to go from initial compromise to the attacker’s first lateral movement within the network, Russian-speaking APTs (such ...
- North Korea Turns Against New Targets?!
February 19, 2019
Over the past few weeks, we have been monitoring suspicious activity directed against Russian-based companies that exposed a predator-prey relationship that we had not seen before. For the first time we were observing what seemed to be a coordinated North Korean attack against Russian entities. While attributing attacks to a certain threat group or another is ...
- The APT Name Game: How Grim Threat Actors Get Goofy Monikers
February 5, 2019
What’s in a name? When it comes to advanced persistent threat groups, it is often quite a bit. While their monikers’ may seem whimsical – Fancy Bear, Nomadic Octopus, Ocean Lotus and Darkhotel – the reality is these are not arbitrary names. In fact, many are similar to schoolyard nicknames or a type of shorthand – ...
- Chafer APT Takes Aim at Diplomats in Iran with Improved Custom Malware
February 1, 2019
The Remexi spyware has been improved and retooled. An Iran-linked APT known as Chafer has been targeting various entities based in Iran with an enhanced version of a custom malware. Meanwhile the victimology suggests the threat group is waging a cyber-espionage operation against diplomats there. Over the course of the autumn, analysts at Kaspersky Lab observed attackers ...
- FBI Mapping ‘Joanap Malware’ Victims to Disrupt the North Korean Botnet
January 31, 2019
The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) announced Wednesday its effort to “map and further disrupt” a botnet tied to North Korea that has infected numerous Microsoft Windows computers across the globe over the last decade. Dubbed Joanap, the botnet is believed to be part of “Hidden Cobra“—an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors’ group often known as ...
- GreyEnergy’s overlap with Zebrocy
January 24, 2019
In October 2018, ESET published a report describing a set of activity they called GreyEnergy, which is believed to be a successor to BlackEnergy group. BlackEnergy (a.k.a. Sandworm) is best known, among other things, for having been involved in attacks against Ukrainian energy facilities in 2015, which led to power outages. Like its predecessor, GreyEnergy malware has ...
- DarkHydrus abuses Google Drive to spread RogueRobin Trojan
January 21, 2019
The DarkHydrus advanced persistent threat (APT) group is back and this time is not only using Windows vulnerabilities to infect victims but is also abusing Google Drive as an alternative communications channel. Last week, researchers from the 360 Threat Intelligence Center (360TIC) said the hackers have a new campaign underway which is focusing on targets in the Middle ...