- TrickBot malware now checks screen resolution to evade analysis
July 1, 2020
The infamous TrickBot trojan has started to check the screen resolutions of victims to detect whether the malware is running in a virtual machine. When researchers analyze malware, they typically do it in a virtual machine that is configured with various analysis tools. Due to this, malware commonly uses anti-VM techniques to detect whether the malware is ...
- New Android Spyware Tools Emerge in Widespread Surveillance Campaign
July 1, 2020
Researchers have uncovered a surveillance campaign, dating back to at least 2013, which has used a slew of Android surveillanceware tools to spy on the Uyghur ethnic minority group. The campaign uses three never-before-seen Android surveillanceware tools, dubbed SilkBean, GoldenEagle and CarbonSteal, and one previously disclosed tool, DoubleAgent. The purpose of these tools is to gather and ...
- ThiefQuest ransomware is a file-stealing Mac wiper in disguise
June 30, 2020
A new data wiper and info-stealer called ThiefQuest is using ransomware as a decoy to steal files from macOS users. The victims get infected after downloading trojanized installers of popular apps from torrent trackers. While not common, ransomware has been known to target the macOS platform in the past, with KeRanger, FileCoder (aka Findzip), and Patcher being three other examples of malware ...
- New EvilQuest ransomware discovered targeting macOS users
June 30, 2020
Security researchers have discovered this week a new ransomware strain targeting macOS users. Named OSX.EvilQuest, this ransomware is different from previous macOS ransomware threats because besides encrypting the victim’s files, EvilQuest also installs a keylogger, a reverse shell, and steals cryptocurrency wallet-related files from infected hosts. “Armed with these capabilities, the attacker can main full control over ...
- Chinese malware used in attacks against Australian orgs
June 28, 2020
The Australian government released an advisory late last week about increased cyber activity from a state actor against networks belonging to its agencies and companies in the country. Behind the attack is a “sophisticated” adversary that relies on slightly modified proof-of-concept exploit code for yesteryear vulnerabilities, the government says. An unofficial blame finger points to China. The ...
- Developer of Mirai, Qbot-based DDoS botnets jailed for 13 months
June 26, 2020
A 22-year-old Washington man was sentenced to 13 months in prison for renting and developing Mirai and Qbot-based DDoS botnets used in DDoS attacks against targets from all over the world. Schuchman, also known as Nexus Zeta, pleaded guilty to the charges of being involved in the creation and operation of the Satori , Okiru, Masuta, and Tsunami/Fbot botnets and was released to the ...
- DarkCrewFriends Returns with Botnet Strategy
June 26, 2020
The hackers-for-hire group DarkCrewFriends has resurfaced and is targeting content management systems to build a botnet. The botnet can be marshalled into service to carry out a variety of criminal activities, including distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, command execution, information exfiltration or sabotage of an infected system. Researchers said they observed DarkCrewFriends exploiting an unrestricted file upload ...
- Threat Assessment: EKANS Ransomware
June 26, 2020
Unit 42 researchers have observed recent EKANS (Snake backward) ransomware activity affecting multiple industries in the U.S and Europe. As a result, we’ve created this threat assessment report for the activities of this ransomware. Identified techniques and campaigns can be visualized using the Unit 42 Playbook Viewer. EKANS, which was first observed in January 2020, has relatively ...
- Lucifer: New Cryptojacking and DDoS Hybrid Malware Exploiting High and Critical Vulnerabilities to Infect Windows Devices
June 24, 2020
On May 29, 2020, Unit 42 researchers discovered a new variant of a hybrid cryptojacking malware from numerous incidents of CVE-2019-9081 exploitation in the wild. A closer look revealed the malware, which we’ve dubbed “Lucifer”, is capable of conducting DDoS attacks and well-equipped with all kinds of exploits against vulnerable Windows hosts. The first wave of the ...
- Magnitude exploit kit – evolution
June 24, 2020
Exploit kits are not as widespread as they used to be. In the past, they relied on the use of already patched vulnerabilities. Newer and more secure web browsers with automatic updates simply do not allow known vulnerabilities to be exploited. It was very different back in the heyday of Adobe Flash because it’s just ...