- 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 ...
- LoJax rootkit used by Russian-linked Fancy Bear has been silently active since 2016
January 17, 2019
Researchers have discovered that LoJax, the malware that formed the foundation for devastating Fancy Bear attacks in 2018, has been silently active for years. Use of this infrastructure by the Russian-linked hacking group was exposed in September 2018, just a few months after the LoJax servers were first discovered by security researchers in May. LoJax was last ...
- The Rise of Physical Crime in the Cybercrime Underground
January 14, 2019
While underground forums have long been the purview of digital or internet-enabled crimes, recent developments have shown signs of increasing synergy and interaction between traditional criminals and cybercrime actors. Given the nature of the underground, it shouldn’t be a surprise that even traditional criminals communicate and even sell their wares via these underground forums. Is it ...
- ‘Unprecedented’ DNS Hijacking Attacks Linked to Iran
January 10, 2019
The attacks, targeting several countries to redirect traffic and harvest credentials, have been linked to Iran. A wave of DNS hijacking attacks targeting victims in North America, Europe, Middle East and North Africa have been linked to Iran. The attacks, which have been ongoing over the past two years, have had “a high degree of success” ...
- Your Word is Your Bond: Trust and Ethics in Underground Forums
January 7, 2019
Although the general public thinks of underground forums as a place where scams and suspicious dealings are rampant, the opposite is usually true: the threat actors who inhabit these sites often consider their reputation a major asset. Many of the individuals and groups in underground forums go to great lengths to ensure that transactions go through ...
- Newsmaker Interview: Bruce Schneier on Physical Cyber Threats
January 2, 2019
Bruce Schneier discusses the clash between critical infrastructure and cyber threats. Attacks on physical devices and infrastructure offer a new target for cyber crime, a new opportunity for espionage and even a few front in cyber war. Rather than exploit computers and their applications, the Internet of Things allows malicious actors to go after a whole new ...
- First-Ever UEFI Rootkit Tied to Sednit APT
December 28, 2018
Researchers hunting cyber-espionage group Sednit (an APT also known as Sofacy, Fancy Bear and APT28) say they have discovered the first-ever instance of a rootkit targeting the Windows Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) in successful attacks. The discussion of Sednit was part of the 35C3 conference, and a session given by Frédéric Vachon, a malware researcher at ESET who published a technical ...
- Five other countries formally accuse China of APT10 hacking spree
December 21, 2018
After the US Department of Justice charged two Chinese nationals for being members of a state-sponsored hacking group and accused the Chinese government of orchestrating a string of hacks around the world, five other governments have stepped in with similar accusations. Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the UK have published official statements today formally blaming China of ...