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:

  • Researchers find stealthy MSSQL server backdoor developed by Chinese cyberspies

    October 21, 2019

    Chinese cyberspies have developed malware that alters Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) databases and creates a backdoor mechanism that can let hackers connect to any account by using a “magic password.” Furthermore, as an added benefit, the backdoor also hides user sessions inside the database’s connection logs every time the “magic password” is used, helping hackers remain ...

  • Major Airport Malware Attack Shines a Light on OT Security

    October 18, 2019

    A cryptomining infection managed to spread to half of all workstations at a major international airport in Europe – shining a spotlight on security for operational tech and IT convergence. Researchers at Cyberbit found the XMRig Monero mining malware, which was a known strain called “Playerz,” but which skated by antivirus solutions on the endpoints by adding a ...

  • Tortoiseshell Group Targets IT Providers in Saudi Arabia in Probable Supply Chain Attacks

    October 18, 2019

    Previously undocumented group hits IT providers in the Middle East. A previously undocumented attack group is using both custom and off-the-shelf malware to target IT providers in Saudi Arabia in what appear to be supply chain attacks with the end goal of compromising the IT providers’ customers. The group, which we are calling Tortoiseshell, has been active ...

  • Phorpiex Botnet Shifts Gears From Ransomware to Sextortion

    October 17, 2019

    A  recent wide-scale campaign indicates that a decade-old botnet is shifting gears from distributing ransomware to delivering millions of sextortion threats to innocent recipients. Worse, researchers say that the botnet’s spam campaign can affect up to 27 million potential victims. The botnet, Phorpiex, has been active for almost a decade and currently controls almost 500,000 computers globally. The ...

  • Equipping the Education Sector With Threat Intelligence to Defend Against Cyberattacks

    October 17, 2019

    When you think about sophisticated cyberattacks, certain targeted industries probably come to mind immediately — government, critical infrastructure, and financial services, to name a few. It’s fair to say that for most people, the education sector isn’t generally first on that list. Despite this, educational institutions (particularly those in higher education) have become an increasingly popular ...

  • Cisco Aironet Access Points Plagued By Critical, High-Severity Flaws

    October 17, 2019

    Cisco Systems has released a security update stomping out critical and high-severity flaws impacting its Aironet access points, which are entry-level wireless access points (APs) used by mid-size enterprises in their offices or small warehouses. It also issued a slew of additional patches addressing other flaws in its products. The most severe of the AP bugs is ...