OilRig Targets Middle Eastern Telecom Organization and Adds Novel C2 Channel with Steganography to Its Inventory

While analyzing an attack against a Middle Eastern telecommunications organization, Unit 42 has discovered a variant of an OilRig-associated tool we call RDAT using a novel email-based command and control (C2) channel that relied on a technique known as steganography Read More …

MATA: Multi-platform targeted malware framework

As the IT and OT environment becomes more complex, adversaries are quick to adapt their attack strategy. For example, as users’ work environments diversify, adversaries are busy acquiring the TTPs to infiltrate systems. Recently, we reported to our Threat Intelligence Read More …

Updates on ThiefQuest, the Quickly-Evolving macOS Malware

Right as July of this year began, we noticed an emerging malware dubbed by most as ThiefQuest (also known as EvilQuest), a threat that targets macOS devices, encrypts files, and installs keyloggers in affected systems. It has been found in Read More …

Conti ransomware uses 32 simultaneous CPU threads for blazing-fast encryption

A lesser-known ransomware strain known as Conti is using up to 32 simultaneous CPU threads to encrypt files on infected computers for blazing-fast encryption speeds, security researchers from Carbon Black said in a report on Wednesday. Conti is just the Read More …

New Mirai Variant Expands Arsenal, Exploits CVE-2020-10173

Researchers at Trend Micro discovered a new Mirai variant (detected as  IoT.Linux.MIRAI.VWISI) that exploits nine vulnerabilities, most notable of which is CVE-2020-10173 in Comtrend VR-3033 routers which we have not observed exploited by past Mirai variants. This discovery is a new addition Read More …

Purple Fox EK Adds Microsoft Exploits to Arsenal

The Purple Fox exploit kit (EK) has added two new exploits targeting critical- and high-severity Microsoft vulnerabilities to its bag of tricks – and researchers say they expect more attacks to be added in the future. The Purple Fox EK Read More …

Threat Assessment: EKANS Ransomware

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 Read More …