In their previous report, Trend Micro researchers introduced the sophisticated cyberespionage campaign orchestrated by Earth Hundun, a threat actor known for targeting the Asia-Pacific region using the Waterbear malware and its latest iteration, Deuterbear. We first observed Deuterbear being used by Earth Hundun in October 2022, and it has since been part of the group’s subsequent campaigns.
Trend Micro analysis provided insights into the intricate workings of the downloader, detailing its infection flow, traffic behavior, anti-analysis techniques, and evolutionary trajectory. In this entry, we examine the behavior of the final Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that the researchers recently managed to download from a C&C server, based on an Earth Hundun campaign from 2024.
Read more…
Source: Trend Micro
Related:
- Iranian and Russian hackers targeting politicians and journalists, warn UK officials
January 26, 2023
Iranian and Russian hackers are targeting British politicians and journalists with espionage attacks, officials have warned. The National Cyber Security Centre has issued a fresh alert about increasing attempts to steal information from specific groups and individuals. Read more… Source: BBC News
- Hackers use Golang source code interpreter to evade detection
January 24, 2023
A Chinese-speaking hacking group tracked as ‘DragonSpark’ was observed employing Golang source code interpretation to evade detection while launching espionage attacks against organizations in East Asia. The attacks are tracked by SentinelLabs, whose researchers report that DragonSpark relies on a little-known open-source tool called SparkRAT to steal sensitive data from compromised systems, execute commands, perform lateral ...
- Chinese Playful Taurus Activity in Iran
January 18, 2023
Playful Taurus, also known as APT15, BackdoorDiplomacy, Vixen Panda, KeChang and NICKEL, is a Chinese advanced persistent threat group that routinely conducts cyber espionage campaigns. The group has been active since at least 2010 and has historically targeted government and diplomatic entities across North and South America, Africa and the Middle East. In June 2021, ESET ...
- US Supremes deny Pegasus spyware maker’s immunity claim
January 9, 2023
The US Supreme Court has quashed spyware maker NSO Group’s argument that it cannot be held legally responsible for using WhatsApp technology to deploy its Pegasus snoop-ware on users’ phones. Facebook and its WhatsApp subsidiary sued the notorious Isreal-based software company in 2019, alleging that NSO exploited a zero-day bug in WhatsApp to remotely drop Pegasus ...
- Russia’s Trident Ursa (aka Gamaredon APT) Cyber Conflict Operations Unwavering Since Invasion of Ukraine
December 20, 2022
Since Unit 42 last blog in early February covering the advanced persistent threat (APT) group Trident Ursa (aka Gamaredon, UAC-0010, Primitive Bear, Shuckworm), Ukraine and its cyber domain has faced ever-increasing threats from Russia. Trident Ursa is a group attributed by the Security Service of Ukraine to Russia’s Federal Security Service. As the conflict has continued ...
- Iran-linked Charming Kitten espionage gang bares claws to pollies, power orgs
December 15, 2022
An Iranian cyber espionage gang with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has learned new methods and phishing techniques, and aimed them at a wider set of targets – including politicians, government officials, critical infrastructure and medical researchers – according to email security vendor Proofpoint. Over the past two years, the threat actor group that ...

