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:
- FINRA Alerts Firms to Phishing Email Using Invest-FINRA.org Domain Name
November 30, 2020
FINRA warns member firms of an ongoing phishing campaign that involves fraudulent emails that include the domain “@invest-finra.org”. FINRA recommends that anyone who clicked on any link or image in the email immediately notify the appropriate individuals in their firm of the incident. The domain of “invest-finra.org” is not connected to FINRA and firms should delete ...
- A hacker is selling access to the email accounts of hundreds of C-level executives
November 30, 2020
A threat actor is currently selling passwords for the email accounts of hundreds of C-level executives at companies across the world. The data is being sold on a closed-access underground forum for Russian-speaking hackers named Exploit.in, ZDNet has learned this week. The threat actor is selling email and password combinations for Office 365 and Microsoft accounts, which ...
- This new cyberattack can dupe DNA scientists into creating dangerous viruses and toxins
November 30, 2020
A new form of cyberattack has been developed which highlights the potential future ramifications of digital assaults against the biological research sector. On Monday, academics from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev described how “unwitting” biologists and scientists could become victims of cyberattacks designed to take biological warfare to another level. At a time where scientists worldwide ...
- Four years after the Dyn DDoS attack, critical DNS dependencies have only gone up
November 30, 2020
In 2016, Dyn, a provider of managed DNS servers, was the victim of a massive DDoS attack that crippled the company’s operations and took down domain-name-resolving operations for more than 175,000 websites. While some sites managed to stay up by activating a redundancy and switching DNS resolving to secondary servers, many websites were not prepared and ...
- IIoT chip maker Advantech hit by ransomware, $12.5 million ransom
November 28, 2020
The Conti ransomware gang hit the systems of industrial automation and Industrial IoT (IIoT) chip maker Advantech and is now demanding a $14 million ransom to decrypt affected systems and to stop leaking stolen company data. Advantech is a global leading manufacturer of IT products and solutions, including embedded PCs, network devices, IoT, servers, and healthcare ...
- New MacOS Backdoor Connected to OceanLotus Surfaces
November 27, 2020
Trend Micro researchers have recently discovered a new backdoor we believe to be related to the OceanLotus group. Some of the updates of this new variant (detected by Trend Micro as Backdoor.MacOS.OCEANLOTUS.F) include new behavior and domain names. As of writing, this sample is still undetected by other antimalware solutions. Due to similarities in dynamic behavior ...