Frozen in transit: Secret Blizzard’s AiTM campaign against diplomats


Microsoft Threat Intelligence has uncovered a cyberespionage campaign by the Russian state actor we track as Secret Blizzard that has been targeting embassies located in Moscow using an adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) position to deploy their custom ApolloShadow malware.

ApolloShadow has the capability to install a trusted root certificate to trick devices into trusting malicious actor-controlled sites, enabling Secret Blizzard to maintain persistence on diplomatic devices, likely for intelligence collection. This campaign, which has been ongoing since at least 2024, poses a high risk to foreign embassies, diplomatic entities, and other sensitive organizations operating in Moscow, particularly to those entities who rely on local internet providers.

Read more…
Source: Microsoft


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


Related:

  • Unique P2P Architecture Gives DDG Botnet ‘Unstoppable’ Status

    April 9, 2020

    The coin-mining botnet known as DDG has seen a flurry of activity since the beginning of the year, releasing 16 different updates over the course of the past three months. Most notably, its operators have adopted a proprietary peer-to-peer (P2P) mechanism that has turned the DDG into a highly sophisticated, “seemingly unstoppable” threat, according to ...

  • Copycat Site Serves Up Raccoon Stealer

    April 9, 2020

    Someone is targeting web denizens with a malicious, copycat Malwarebytes website, which serves up the Raccoon information stealer malware to unsuspecting visitors. According to the security firm itself, the attackers set up the domain “malwarebytes-freecom” with a domain registrar in Russia in late March. “We don’t expect to hear from either the registrar or hosting provider,” ...

  • FIN6 and TrickBot Combine Forces in ‘Anchor’ Attacks

    April 7, 2020

    Researchers say, two cybercriminal groups, FIN6 and the operators of the TrickBot malware, have paired up together to target several organizations with TrickBot’s malware framework called “Anchor.” The two threat groups joining forces is a “new and dangerous twist” in an existing trend of cybercrime groups working together, say researchers with IBM X-Force. The FIN6 group (also known as “ITG08”) has ...

  • Email provider got hacked, data of 600,000 users now sold on the dark web

    April 7, 2020

    The data of more than 600,000 Email.it users is currently being sold on the dark web, ZDNet has learned following a tip from one of our readers. “Unfortunately, we must confirm that we have suffered a hacker attack,” the Italian email service provider said in a statement to ZDNet on Monday. The Email.it hack came to light on Sunday, ...

  • Analysis: Suspicious “Very Hidden” Formula on Excel 4.0 Macro Sheet

    April 6, 2020

    A malicious Microsoft Excel 4.0 Macro sheet with a suspicious formula that is set as “Very Hidden” was submitted by a customer and further analyzed by Trend Micro researchers. The sheet is not readily accessible via the Microsoft Excel User Interface (UI) due to a feature documented in the Microsoft website that allows users to hide sheets. ...

  • DarkHotel hackers use VPN zero-day to breach Chinese government agencies

    April 6, 2020

    Foreign state-sponsored hackers have launched a massive hacking operation aimed at Chinese government agencies and their employees. Attacks began last month, in March, and are believed to be related to the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Chinese security-firm Qihoo 360, which detected the intrusions, said the hackers used a zero-day vulnerability in Sangfor SSL VPN servers, used to provide ...