Beyond the Surface: the evolution and expansion of the SideWinder APT group


SideWinder, aka T-APT-04 or RattleSnake, is one of the most prolific APT groups that began its activities in 2012 and was first publicly mentioned by us in 2018. Over the years, the group has launched attacks against high-profile entities in South and Southeast Asia. Its primary targets have been military and government entities in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China and Nepal.

Over the years, SideWinder has carried out an impressive number of attacks and its activities have been extensively described in various analyses and reports published by different researchers and vendors, one of the latest of which was released at the end of July 2024. The group may be perceived as a low-skilled actor due to the use of public exploits, malicious LNK files and scripts as infection vectors, and the use of public RATs, but their true capabilities only become apparent when you carefully examine the details of their operations.

Read more…
Source: Kaspersky


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • OpenImageIO file processing issues could lead to arbitrary code execution, sensitive information leak and denial of service

    December 22, 2022

    Cisco Talos recently discovered nineteen vulnerabilities in OpenImageIO, an image processing library, which could lead to sensitive information disclosure, denial of service and heap buffer overflows which could further lead to code execution. OpenImageIO is an image processing library useful for conversion and processing, as well as image comparison. This library is utilized by 3D-processing software ...

  • Vice Society ransomware gang switches to new custom encryptor

    December 22, 2022

    The Vice Society ransomware operation has switched to using a custom ransomware encrypt that implements a strong, hybrid encryption scheme based on NTRUEncrypt and ChaCha20-Poly1305. According to cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, which discovered the new strain and named it “PolyVice,” it’s likely that Vice Society sourced it from a vendor who supplies similar tools to other ransomware ...

  • After ransomware hits Colombian energy firm, Moody’s says low patch rate suggests inadequacies in cyber practices

    December 22, 2022

    A ransomware attack at top Colombian energy company Empresas Publicas de Medellin (EPM) may damage its credit quality, setting an alarm clock for the critical infrastructure industry to develop efficient mitigation practices and vulnerability management programs, Moody’s said. EPM, one of Colombia’s largest public energy, water, and gas providers suffered from a ransomware attack reported on ...

  • FIN7 hackers create auto-attack platform to breach Exchange servers

    December 22, 2022

    The notorious FIN7 hacking group uses an automated attack system that exploits Microsoft Exchange and SQL injection vulnerabilities to breach corporate networks, steal data, and select targets for ransomware attacks based on financial size. This system was discovered by Prodaft’s threat intelligence team, which has been closely following FIN7 operations for years now. In a report shared ...

  • What Can Schools Do Against the Onslaught of Ransomware?

    December 22, 2022

    Cyber attacks have become a pressing issue for K-12 schools, but school districts aren’t waging the fight alone. A variety of free federal and state resources can offer guidance and assistance, while cyber best practices and automated and managed services can help schools get the most impact from their limited budgets, said speakers during a ...

  • Comcast Xfinity accounts hacked in widespread 2FA bypass attacks

    December 22, 2022

    ​Comcast Xfinity customers report their accounts being hacked in widespread attacks that bypass two-factor authentication. These compromised accounts are then used to reset passwords for other services, such as the Coinbase and Gemini crypto exchanges. Starting on December 19th, many Xfinity email users began receiving notifications that their account information had been changed. However, when attempting ...