Attackers typically try to pass off malware as legitimate applications or as potentially unwanted programs that users deliberately search for and download, such as cheats or cracks. They often rely on ad and affiliate networks to deliver their creations to victims’ devices. This post examines a less conventional case: a well-known backdoor distributed under the guise of adware. The attackers may have chosen this distribution method because the adware was signed by the developer. On top of that, users often manually add these apps to exclusions, so their useful features don’t get blocked.
Some time ago, a client asked us to analyze a file with the MD5 hash c24e99f9437feacaa63766a3cde3fe3d and add it to our detection database. We initially classified it as adware, but a cursory analysis turned up suspicious network activity, which prompted us to dig deeper. It turned out the sample did far more than serve ads. In fact, its advertising functionality doesn’t even work; instead, it triggers an infection chain that delivers the ValleyRAT backdoor.
Read more…
Source: Kaspersky
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Threat landscape for industrial automation systems in Q1 2025
May 15, 2025
Relative stability from quarter to quarter. The percentage of ICS computers on which malicious objects were blocked remained unchanged from Q4 2024 at 21.9%. Over the last three quarters, the value has ranged from 22.0% to 21.9%. The quarterly figures are decreasing from year to year. Since Q2 2023, the percentage of ICS computers on which ...
- Senior US Officials Impersonated in Malicious Messaging Campaign
May 15, 2025
FBI is issuing this announcement to warn and provide mitigation tips to the public about an ongoing malicious text and voice messaging campaign. Since April 2025, malicious actors have impersonated senior US officials to target individuals, many of whom are current or former senior US federal or state government officials and their contacts. If you receive ...
- Fashion giant Dior confirms customer data accessed in cyber attack
May 15, 2025
Luxury French fashion brand Dior is the latest high-profile retail firm to be hit by a cyber attack. In a statement, Dior said customer data was accessed as a result, however, no financial information was impacted. The incident comes in the wake of a number of UK retailers, including Marks and Spencer and Co-op, being hit ...
- Coinbase warns of $400m hit after data breach
May 15, 2025
Crypto exchange Coinbase has disclosed a significant cyber attack that could cost the company between $180m (£135m) and $400m (£300m), after hackers breached account data belonging to a “small subset” of its users. The news sent shares down three per cent in pre-market trading on Thursday. Coinbase said it received an email from an unknown threat ...
- Steelmaker Nucor halts some production after cyber security incident
May 14, 2025
Steelmaker Nucor said on Wednesday it had halted certain production at various locations after identifying a cyber security incident that involved unauthorized third-party access to certain information technology systems it used. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said it is in the process of restarting the affected operations as it investigates the incident along with external cyber ...
- Fortinet Releases Multiple Security Advisories
May 14, 2025
Fortinet has released security advisories to two critical vulnerabilities. The security advisories address one critical vulnerability in FortiOS, FortiProxy and FortiSwitchManager, and an exploited vulnerability in FortiVoice, FortiMail, FortiNDR, FortiRecorder and FortiCamera. CVE-2025-32756 is a ‘stack-based buffer overflow’ vulnerability with a CVSSv3 score of 9.6. Successful exploitation could allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary ...