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:

  • To pay or not to pay – that’s the question as ransomware attacks rise

    March 28, 2023

    There is rarely a day that goes by when there isn’t a major local, national or international story about a well know organisation being hit by a cyber attack that has huge potential to disrupt the business and damage their brand. In the past few weeks alone we’ve seen Eurovision fans in a panic after Booking.com ...

  • APT43: North Korean Group Uses Cybercrime to Fund Espionage Operations

    March 28, 2023

    Mandiant researchers released a report on APT43, a prolific threat actor operating on behalf of the North Korean regime that they have observed engaging in cybercrime as a way to fund their espionage operations. According to Mandiant they track tons of activity throughout the year, but don’t always have enough evidence to attribute it to a ...

  • Crown Resorts confirms ransom demand after GoAnywhere breach

    March 28, 2023

    Crown Resorts, Australia’s largest gambling and entertainment company, has confirmed that it suffered a data breach after its GoAnywhere secure file-sharing server was breached using a zero-day vulnerability. The Blackstone-owned company has an annual revenue that surpasses $8 billion and operates complexes in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Macau, and London. Read more… Source: Bleeping Computer  

  • The criminal use of ChatGPT – a cautionary tale about large language models

    March 27, 2023

    Their insights are compiled in Europol’s first Tech Watch Flash report published today. Entitled ‘ChatGPT – the impact of Large Language Models on Law Enforcement’, this document provides an overview on the potential misuse of ChatGPT, and offers an outlook on what may still be to come. Read more… Source: Europol  

  • Gone in 120 seconds: Tesla Model 3 child’s play for hackers

    March 27, 2023

    A team of hackers from French security shop Synacktiv have won $100,000 and a Tesla Model 3 after subverting the Muskmobile’s entertainment system, and from there opening up the car’s core management systems. The prize was awarded at the annual Pwn2Own competition in Vancouver and it wasn’t Synacktiv’s only win. The team walked away from the ...

  • Earth Preta’s Cyberespionage Campaign Hits Over 200

    March 27, 2023

    Through extensive analysis and as of this writing, we discovered over 200 victims, leading to a wider intelligence analysis of the groups’ goals, different operation groups, and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Our study aimed at understanding the different phases and facets involved in this operation, shedding light on the motives and techniques used by ...