Star Blizzard’s new spear-phishing campaign, while novel in that it uses and targets WhatsApp for the first time, exhibits familiar spear-phishing TTPs for Star Blizzard, with the threat actor initiating email contact with their targets, to engage them, before sending them a second message containing a malicious link.
The sender address used by the threat actor in this campaign impersonates a US government official, continuing Star Blizzard’s practice of impersonating known political/diplomatic figures, to further ensure target engagement. The initial email sent to targets contains a quick response (QR) code purporting to direct users to join a WhatsApp group on “the latest non-governmental initiatives aimed at supporting Ukraine NGOs.”
Read more…
Source: Microsoft
Related:
- The state of ransomware: national emergencies and million-dollar blackmail
September 14, 2021
Banks have been “disproportionately affected” by a surge in ransomware attacks, clocking a 1,318% increase year-on-year in 2021. Ransomware has become one of the most well-known and prevalent threats against the enterprise today. This year alone, we have seen high-profile cases of ransomware infection — including against Colonial Pipeline, Kaseya, and Ireland’s health service — cause ...
- Hacker-made Linux Cobalt Strike beacon used in ongoing attacks
September 14, 2021
An unofficial Cobalt Strike Beacon Linux version made by unknown threat actors from scratch has been spotted by security researchers while actively used in attacks targeting organizations worldwide. Cobalt Strike is a legitimate penetration testing tool designed as an attack framework for red teams (groups of security professionals who act as attackers on their own org’s ...
- Pair of Google Chrome Zero-Day Bugs Actively Exploited
September 14, 2021
Google has addressed two zero-day security bugs that are being actively exploited in the wild. As part of the internet giant’s latest stable channel release (version 93.0.4577.82 for Windows, Mac and Linux), it fixed 11 total vulnerabilities, all of them rated high-severity. The two zero days are tracked as CVE-2021-30632 and CVE-2021-30633. “Google is aware that exploits ...
- Apple rushes to block ‘zero-click’ iPhone spyware
September 14, 2021
Apple has issued a software patch to block so-called “zero-click” spyware that could infect iPhones and iPads. Independent researchers identified the flaw, which lets hackers access devices through the iMessage service even if users do not click on a link or file. The problem affects all of the technology giant’s operating systems, the researchers said. Read more… Source: BBC ...
- Cybersecurity: Rising risk for airlines
September 13, 2021
After remaking their security procedures following the 9/11 attacks to stop airline hijackings, carriers are now faced with rising threats targeting computers and electronic equipment critical to their operations and safety. Since the tragedy 20 years ago on Saturday, airlines and airports have fortified cockpits, barred sharp objects in carry-on luggage and improved technology to ...
- APT-C-36 Updates Its Spam Campaign Against South American Entities With Commodity RATs
September 13, 2021
In 2019, Trend Micro researchers wrote a blog entry about a threat actor, likely based in Colombia, targeting entities in Colombia and other South American countries with spam emails. This threat actor is sometimes referred to as APT-C-36 or Blind Eagle. Since then, we have continued tracking this threat actor. In this blog entry, we ...