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:
- More than 40% of ICS computers were attacked in H1 2018
September 11, 2018
More than 40% of all industrial control system (ICS) computers protected by Kaspersky Lab solutions were attacked by malicious software at least once during the first half of 2018. The most impacted countries turned out to be Vietnam, Algeria and Sri Lanka, while the safest region for industrial machines was Denmark. These are among the ...
- Schneider Electric Modicon vulnerability impacts ICS operation in industrial settings
September 6, 2018
A security vulnerability discovered in Schneider Electric Modicon controllers has the potential to severely disrupt industrial equipment and networks. According to researchers from industrial cybersecurity firm Radiflow, the bug, tracked as CVE-2018-7789, “severely exposes the safety and availability of the ICS networks on which these devices were installed.” The vulnerability is present in the Schneider Electric Modicon M221 controller ...
- Cybercrooks home in on infosec’s weakest link – you poor gullible people
September 5, 2018
Cybercrims are ramping up their efforts to target employees through fraudulent email and social media scams, according to a new study by email security firm Proofpoint. Retailers and government agencies saw huge quarter-on-quarter increases in email fraud attempts in calendar Q2, with attacks per company and agency soaring 91 per cent and 84 per cent respectively. ...
- Recent Windows ALPC zero-day has been exploited in the wild for almost a week
September 5, 2018
Two days after a security researcher released details and proof-of-concept code about an unpatched Windows zero-day, one malware group had already incorporated the vulnerability in their exploit chain and was attempting to infect users around the globe. The zero-day used in this malware distribution campaign is a (still-unpatched) vulnerability in the Windows Task Scheduler feature, affecting ...
- OilRig Sends an OopsIE to Mideast Government Targets
September 5, 2018
The Iran-linked group is using a variant of the data-exfiltration OopsIE trojan to attack a Mideast government entity. The OilRig group is back, using a reboot of the OopsIE trojan to pump information from its favorite resource: entities in the Middle East region. OilRig, which is also called Cobalt Gypsy, Crambus, Helix Kitten or PT34, is suspected ...
- FIN6 returns to attack retailer point of sale systems in US, Europe
September 5, 2018
A new malware campaign has been detected which is targeting point-of-sale (PoS) systems across the United States and Europe. On Wednesday, researchers from IBM X-Force IRIS said the attacks have been attributed to the FIN6 cybercriminal group. This is only the second time that a campaign has been documented which appears to be the handiwork of FIN6. According to FireEye (.PDF), ...