Through the years of analyzing identity compromises in the cloud, Fortinet researchers have seen the same attackers pop up regularly, some more frequently than others. Among the more prolific ones they’ve come to know is one they’ve dubbed “EC2 Grouper”. Over the past couple of years, they’ve seen this actor in several dozen customer environments, making them one of the more active groups we’ve tracked.
This usual suspect is attributed by their penchant for using similar user agents and the same security group naming convention in their attacks. While indicators such as user agents and even security group names can assist in attribution and hunting, Fortinet have found them unreliable for comprehensive threat detection.
Read more…
Source: Fortinet
Related:
- Chrome 0-day exploit CVE-2019-13720 used in Operation WizardOpium
November 1, 2019
Kaspersky Exploit Prevention is a component part of Kaspersky products that has successfully detected a number of zero-day attacks in the past. Recently, it caught a new unknown exploit for Google’s Chrome browser. We promptly reported this to the Google Chrome security team. After reviewing of the PoC we provided, Google confirmed there was a ...
- Stubborn Malware Targets QNAP NAS Hardware Specifically
November 1, 2019
Top-selling network attached storage devices (NAS) made by QNAP Systems are being singled out by attackers, who have crafted malware specifically designed for the vendor’s hardware. Researchers at the Finland’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-FI) reported the targeted attacks late last month, dubbing the malware QSnatch. Once infected, hackers can access the NAS devices and retrieve all ...
- Office for Mac Users Warned of Malicious SYLK Files
November 1, 2019
Microsoft Office for Mac users are being warned that malicious SYLK files are sneaking past endpoint defenses even when the “disable all macros without notification” is turned on. This leaves systems vulnerable to a remote, unauthenticated attackers who can execute arbitrary code. The warning comes from United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), which said that ...
- Threat Spotlight: Neshta File Infector Endures
November 1, 2019
Neshta is an older file infector that is still prevalent in the wild. It was initially observed in 2003 and has been previously associated with BlackPOS malware. It prepends malicious code to infected files. This threat is commonly introduced into an environment through unintentional downloading or by other malware. It infects Windows executable files and ...
- Calypso APT Emerges from the Shadows to Target Governments
October 31, 2019
A newly discovered APT group, dubbed Calypso after a custom malware RAT that it uses, has been targeting state institutions in six different countries since 2016. Government organizations in India (34 percent), Brazil and Kazakhstan (18 percent respectively), Russia and Thailand (12 percent respectively) and Turkey (6 percent) have all been successfully infiltrated at some point, ...
- ICS Attackers Set To Inflict More Damage With Evolving Tactics
October 31, 2019
Future attacks on industrial control system (ICS) networks may inflict even more damage in the long run, according to new research. Analysts expect them to evolve from attacks that have immediate, direct impact to those with multiple stages and attack vectors that are more stealthy. While it remains extraordinarily difficult to mount successful attacks on critical ...