- NetWalker Ransomware Gang Hunts for Top-Notch Affiliates
May 20, 2020
The NetWalker ransomware – the scourge behind one of the recent Toll Group attacks – has transitioned to a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, and its operators are placing a heavy emphasis on targeting and attracting technically advanced affiliates, according to researchers. Traditionally, “technically advanced” and RaaS don’t tend to go together – after all, one of the benefits of ...
- NXNSAttack technique can be abused for large-scale DDoS attacks
May 19, 2020
A team of academics from Israel has disclosed today details about NXNSAttack, a vulnerability in DNS servers that can be abused to launch DDoS attacks of massive proportions. According to the research team, NXNSAttack impacts recursive DNS servers and the process of DNS delegation. Recursive DNS servers are DNS systems that pass DNS queries upstream in order to ...
- Hacker arrested in Ukraine for selling billions of stolen credentials
May 19, 2020
The Ukrainian Secret Service (SSU) announced today the arrest of a hacker known as Sanix, responsible for selling billions of hacked credentials on hacking forums and Telegram channels. The SSU says it arrested Sanix in Ivano-Frankivsk, a city in western Ukraine. Authorities did not release the hacker’s name. Sanix has a long history on underground hacking forums, ...
- Eleethub: A Cryptocurrency Mining Botnet with Rootkit for Self-Hiding
May 18, 2020
Unit 42 researchers uncovered a new botnet campaign using Perl Shellbot, intended to mine Bitcoin, while avoiding detection using a specially crafted rootkit. The bot is propagated by sending a malicious shell script to a compromised device that then downloads other scripts. After the victim device executes the downloaded scripts, it starts waiting for commands from its ...
- Easyjet hacked: 9 million people’s data accessed plus 2,200 credit card details grabbed
May 17, 2020
Budget British airline Easyjet has been hacked, it has told the stock markets, admitting nine million people’s details were accessed and more than 2,000 customers’ credit card details stolen. Some information about the attack was released to the London Stock Exchange by the company, which claimed it had been targeted by “a highly sophisticated source”. Email addresses and “travel ...
- Mirai and Hoaxcalls Botnets Target Legacy Symantec Web Gateways
May 14, 2020
As part of Unit 42’s efforts to proactively monitor threats circulating in the wild, I recently came across new Hoaxcalls and Mirai botnet campaigns targeting a post-authentication Remote Code Execution vulnerability in Symantec Secure Web Gateway 5.0.2.8, which is a product that became end-of-life (EOL) in 2015 and end-of-support-life (EOSL) in 2019. There is no ...
- QNodeService: Node.js Trojan Spread via Covid-19 Lure
May 14, 2020
We recently noticed a Twitter post by MalwareHunterTeam that showed a Java downloader with a low detection rate. Its name, “Company PLP_Tax relief due to Covid-19 outbreak CI+PL.jar”, suggests it may have been used in a Covid-19-themed phishing campaign. Running this file led to the download of a new, undetected malware sample written in Node.js; this trojan ...
- COVID-19 blamed for 238% surge in cyberattacks against banks
May 14, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has been connected to a 238% surge in cyberattacks against banks, new research claims. On Thursday, VMware Carbon Black released the third edition of the Modern Bank Heists report, which says that financial organizations experienced a massive uptick in cyberattack attempts between February and April this year — the same months in which COVID-19 began to spread ...
- Texas Courts Won’t Pay Up in Ransomware Attack
May 14, 2020
A ransomware attack has hit the information technology office that supports Texas appellate courts and judicial agencies, leading to their websites and computer servers being shut down. The office said that it will not pay the ransom requested by the cybercriminals. Specifically affected is the Office of Court Administration (OCA), which is the IT provider for ...
- This powerful Android malware stayed hidden for years, infecting tens of thousands of smartphones
May 14, 2020
A carefully managed hacking and espionage campaign is infecting smartphones with a potent form of Android malware, providing those behind it with total control of the device, while also remaining completely hidden from the user. Mandrake spyware abuses legitimate Android functions to help gain access to everything on the compromised device in attacks that can gather ...