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:
- Infosys subsidiary hit by cyber security attack
November 3, 2023
Infosys announced on Friday, November 3, that its US unit, Infosys McCamish Systems, was impacted by a cyber security event, resulting in the non-availability of certain applications and systems. The IT services major said it is working with a cyber security company to resolve the issue and that it had launched an investigation to identify the ...
- Payola ransomware operator demands remote access to PC
November 3, 2023
The Sonicwall threat research team have recently been tracking a new ransomware family called Payola. This family of ransomware appeared in late August 2023. It is written in .NET and is easy to analyze as it contains no obfuscation. Early variants would append “.Payola” to the names of encrypted files but the current variants use ...
- UK: Huge data breach at Southend-on-Sea City Council
November 2, 2023
Details of over 2,000 staff and councillors have been made public in a council data breach. Southend-on-Sea City Council could face six-figure fines for the mistake. The information disclosed included names, addresses and National Insurance numbers. The council leader has apologised and said that all those affected would be contacted and offered advice and support. ...
- Mortgage and loan giant Mr. Cooper blames cyberattack for ongoing outage
November 2, 2023
Mortgage and loan giant Mr. Cooper says a “cybersecurity incident” earlier this week was the cause of an ongoing outage, adding that the company is “working to resolve the issue.” The Texas-based company said in a statement on its website that on October 31, Mr. Cooper “became the target of a cyber security incident and took ...
- Boeing confirms ‘cyber incident’ after ransomware gang claims data theft
November 2, 2023
Aerospace giant Boeing has confirmed that it is dealing with a “cyber incident,” days after the company was listed on the leak site of the LockBit ransomware gang. In a statement given to TechCrunch, Boeing spokesperson Jim Prolux confirmed that attackers had targeted “elements of our parts and safety business.” The spokesperson added: “This issue does ...
- Atlassian update: “Take immediate action” to patch your Confluence Data Center and Server instances
November 2, 2023
Atlassian has released an advisory about a critical severity authentication vulnerability in the Confluence Server and Data Center. All versions of Confluence Data Center and Server are affected by this unexploited vulnerability. Atlassian Cloud sites are not impacted by this vulnerability, so if your Confluence site is accessed via an atlassian.net domain, it is not ...