From cause to cash: a cross-border look at hacktivist activity


While tracking the activities of 4BID Kaspersky researchers uncovered a new string of campaigns that appear to be the work of several interconnected actors. While politically motivated groups generally limit their scope to specific nations – for 4BID and its peers, primarily Russian and occasionally Belarusian organizations – the latest findings reveal a shift. The actual geographic footprint of these attacks became broader than expected, striking companies across Kazakhstan, the UAE, Syria, and Egypt.

What triggered Kaspersky’s investigation was spotting a cluster of indicators of compromise within a breached Russian organization’s infrastructure. The researchers used these footprints to successfully track down other environments hit by the same threat actors and piece together the bigger picture.

Read more…
Source:  Kaspersky


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Ransomware: Get ready for the next wave of destructive cyberattacks

    February 26, 2018

    It might look to be out of the limelight compared to 2017, but it would be foolish to write ransomware off yet, as more attacks using the file-encrypting malware are ahead. High profile incidents like WannaCry, NotPetya and Bad Rabbit made ransomeware infamous last year. WannaCry and NotPetya have since both been attributed to be the work of nation-states – the former to North ...

  • Hackers are selling legitimate code-signing certificates to evade malware detection

    February 22, 2018

    Security researchers have found that hackers are using code-signing certificates more to make it easier to bypass security appliances and infect their victims. New research by Recorded Future’s Insikt Group found that hackers and malicious actors are obtaining legitimate certificates from issuing authorities in order to sign malicious code. Read more… Source: ZDNet  

  • Bot and drone misuse could lead to cybercrime explosion

    February 21, 2018

    The rapid development of drones and artificial intelligence is a “game-changer” that will present a serious threat to national security if it isn’t addressed. The assessment, made by 26 experts from institutions including Cambridge and Oxford Universities, warns of the potential for malicious use of artificial intelligence (AI) by rogue states, criminals, and terrorists. The panel forecast ...

  • Reported Critical Vulnerabilities In Microsoft Software On the Rise

    February 15, 2018

    The number of reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft software has mounted from 325 in 2013 to 685 last year, a rise of 111 percent, according to new research. Moreover, there has also been a 54 percent increase in critical Microsoft vulnerabilities since 2016, researchers at Avecto said in their report, which is based on data from Microsoft’s Security ...

  • Crucial iPhone source code posted in unprecedented leak

    February 8, 2018

    Critical, top secret Apple code for the iPhone’s operating system was posted on Github, opening a new, dangerous avenue for hackers and jailbreakers to access the device, Motherboard reported. The code, known as “iBoot,” has since been pulled, but Apple may have confirmed it was the real deal when it issued a DMCA takedown to Github, as Twitter user ...

  • X.509 metadata can carry information through the firewall

    February 6, 2018

    A security researcher, who last year demonstrated that X.509 certificate exchanges could carry malicious traffic, has now published his proof-of-concept code. Fidelis Cybersecurity’s Jason Reaves has disclosed a covert channel that uses fields in X.509 extensions to sneak data out of corporate networks. The X.509 standard defines the characteristics of public key certificates, and anchors much of ...