Earth Koshchei Coopts Red Team Tools in Complex RDP Attacks


Red teaming provides essential tools and testing methodologies for organizations to strengthen their security defenses. Cybercriminals and advanced persistent threat (APT) actors pay close attention to new methods and tools red teams develop, and they may repurpose them with a malicious intent.

In October 2024, an APT group that Trend Micro tracks as Earth Koshchei (also known as APT29 and Midnight Blizzard), likely used a rogue remote desktop protocol (RDP) attack methodology against numerous targets. This methodology was described earlier in 2022 by Black Hills Information Security in detail. The attack technique is called “rogue RDP”, which involves an RDP relay, a rogue RDP server, and a malicious RDP configuration file. A victim of this technique would give partial control of their machine to the attacker, potentially leading to data leakage and malware installation.

Read more…
Source: Trend Micro


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • Internet Archive data breach exposes more than 31 million user accounts

    October 11, 2024

    The Internet Archive, a popular digital library known for its Wayback Machine, was hacked and suffered a data breach that reportedly exposed 31 million user accounts. Founder Brewster Kahle confirmed in a post on the social media platform X that a cyberattack on Tuesday knocked the website offline. He also said that usernames, emails, and encrypted ...

  • Nokia Report Highlights Surge in Cyber Attacks on Telecom Infrastructure

    October 11, 2024

    The latest findings from Nokia’s Threat Intelligence Report reveal an alarming increase in cybercriminal activity targeting telecom infrastructure, largely fueled by advances in Generative AI and automation. This escalation has significant implications for network security and operational reliability within the telecommunications sector. The report indicates that the frequency of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks has ...

  • Digital arrests – the newest deepfake tool used by cybercriminals

    October 11, 2024

    An Indian textile baron has revealed that he was duped out of 70 million rupees ($833,000) by online scammers impersonating federal investigators and even the Supreme Court chief justice. The fraudsters posing as officers from India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) called SP Oswal, chairman and managing director of the textile manufacturer Vardhman, on August 28 ...

  • Building cyber resilience key in securing future of Africa’s people

    October 11, 2024

    An average of 2 960 attacks: that is the number of cyber attacks to which the ordinary organisation in Africa is subjected each and every week. It is a staggering revelation and what makes it more worrying is that this is growing rapidly every year. This year’s figure is up 37% on the previous year, according ...

  • Education under siege: How cybercriminals target our schools​​

    October 10, 2024

    Education is essentially an “industry of industries,” with K-12 and higher education enterprises handling data that could include health records, financial data, and other regulated information. At the same time, their facilities can host payment processing systems, networks that are used as internet service providers (ISPs), and other diverse infrastructure. The cyberthreats that Microsoft observes across ...

  • Exploited Vulnerability in Multiple Fortinet Products

    October 10, 2024

    Fortinet has released a security advisory to address a critical vulnerability in the FortiOS fgfmd daemon. CVE-2024-23113 is a ‘use of externally-controlled format string’ vulnerability with a CVSSv3 score of 9.8. A remote unauthenticated attacker could send specially crafted requests to execute arbitrary code (ACE) or commands. Affected organisations are encouraged to review Fortinet PSIRT Advisory ...