Once used exclusively by the cybercriminals behind REVil ransomware and the Gootkit banking trojan, GootLoader and its primary payload have evolved into an initial access as a service platform—with Gootkit providing information stealing capabilities as well as the capability to deploy post-exploitation tools and ransomware.
GootLoader is known for using search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning for its initial access. Victims are often enticed into clicking on malicious adware or links disguised as legitimate marketing, or in this case a legitimate Google search directing the user to a compromised website hosting a malicious payload masquerading as the desired file. If the malware remains undetected on the victim’s machine, it makes way for a second-stage payload known as GootKit, which is a highly evasive info stealer and remote access Trojan (RAT) used to establish a persistent foothold in the victim’s network environment.
Read more…
Source: Sophos
Related:
- RSAC 2020: Ransomware a ‘National Crisis,’ CISA Says, Ramps ICS Focus
February 28, 2020
Industrial control systems (ICS) and critical infrastructure will be a main focus for the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) this year – especially as ransomware looms as a main threat to the sector going forward. That’s according to Christopher Krebs, director of CISA, speaking at RSA Conference 2020 this week. “My agency ...
- Roaming Mantis, part V
February 27, 2020
Kaspersky has continued to track the Roaming Mantis campaign. The group’s attack methods have improved and new targets continuously added in order to steal more funds. The attackers’ focus has also shifted to techniques that avoid tracking and research: whitelist for distribution, analysis environment detection and so on. We’ve also observed new malware families: Fakecop (also ...
- Billions of Devices Open to Wi-Fi Eavesdropping Attacks
February 26, 2020
A serious vulnerability in Wi-Fi chips has been discovered that affects billions of devices worldwide, according to researchers. It allows attackers to eavesdrop on Wi-Fi communications. The bug (CVE-2019-15126) stems from the use of an all-zero encryption key in chips made by Broadcom and Cypress, according to researchers at ESET, which results in data decryption. This ...
- PowerGhost Spreads Beyond Windows Devices, Haunts Linux Machines
February 24, 2020
Trend Micro researchers encountered a PowerGhost variant that infects Linux machines via EternalBlue, MSSQL, and Secure Shell (SSH) brute force attacks. The malware was previously known to target only Windows systems. PowerGhost is a fileless cryptocurrency-mining malware that attacks corporate servers and workstations, capable of embedding and spreading itself undetected across endpoints and servers. It was known to exploit PowerShell, a ...
- ObliqueRAT linked to threat group launching attacks against government targets
February 21, 2020
Researchers have uncovered a new Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that appears to be the handiwork of a threat group specializing in attacks against government and diplomatic targets. On Thursday, Cisco Talos researchers said the malware, dubbed ObliqueRAT, is being deployed in a new campaign focused on targets in Southeast Asia. The latest campaign started in January 2020 and ...
- Threat Spotlight: Nuke Ransomware
February 19, 2020
Nuke ransomware, first identified in 2016, encrypts files with an AES 256-bit encryption key that is protected by asymmetrically encrypting it using 2048-bit RSA. Once a file is encrypted, Nuke changes the file name to a combination of random characters followed by a .nuclear55 extension. For example, an infected file name might be “ab0a+afbamcdEcmf.nuclear55”. Once Nuke executes it ...