Affected Platforms: Microsoft WindowsImpacted Users: Microsoft Windows UsersImpact: This loader has been used to load multiple RATs and info stealers, which can lead to compromised credentials and enable further malicious activitiesSeverity Level: Medium
Executive SummaryWhile analyzing malware samples collected from several victims, the FortiGuard team identified a grouping of malware droppers used to deliver various final-stage payloads throughout 2023.…
This is the first article in a series focusing on syscall evasion as a means to work around detection by security tools and what we can do to combat such efforts. We’ll be starting out the series discussing how this applies to Linux operating systems, but this is a technique that applies to Windows as well, and we’ll touch on some of this later on in the series. …
Remote Monitoring & Management (RMM) software, including popular tools like AnyDesk, Atera, and Splashtop, are invaluable for IT administrators today, streamlining tasks and ensuring network integrity from afar. However, these same tools have caught the eye of cybercriminals, who exploit them to infiltrate company networks and pilfer sensitive data.…
In Q1 2024, ReliaQuest detected suspicious JavaScript files in customer environments—including “update.js,” a common file name used by SocGholish and other fake-update malware variants. While reviewing the execution of the first-stage payload, we identified a new behavior for this malware: the ingress of Python for persistence. …
Through its managed security services offerings, Volexity routinely identifies spear-phishing campaigns targeting its customers. One persistent threat actor, whose campaigns Volexity frequently observes, is the Iranian-origin threat actor CharmingCypress (aka Charming Kitten, APT42, TA453). Volexity assesses that CharmingCypress is tasked with collecting political intelligence against foreign targets, particularly focusing on think tanks, NGOs, and journalists.…
Ever since the SQL Slammer worm of 2003, and even before then, MSSQL database servers exposed to the Internet with default configurations have been targeted, and in many cases, exploited. More recently, Securonix shared a threat research security advisory regarding Turkish hackers targeting MSSQL servers in order to deliver ransomware across the enterprise.…
This Threat Analysis Report will delve into compromised YouTube accounts being used as a vector for the spread of malware. It will outline how this attack vector is exploited for low-burn, low-cost campaigns, highlighting strategies used by threat actors and how defenders can detect and prevent these attacks. …
The Sandman APT group has garnered massive attention in 2023 for its targeted attacks against telecommunications providers in regions including Europe and Asia. As revealed by By Aleksandar Milenkoski, Bendik Hagen (PwC), and Microsoft Threat Intelligence, utilizing a unique and sophisticated LuaJIT-based modular backdoor, LuaDream; Sandman distinguishes itself through a strategic and stealthy approach, minimizing detection risks and leaving a minimal digital footprint.…
In June 2023, we’ve observed multiple alerts that seemingly came from different sources. A quick search through our telemetry allowed us to identify multiple infected machines across our clients. Although they would sometimes present different behaviour, the initial infection vector stayed the same.
The servers were still actively delivering the initial payloads in early August in an intermittent fashion, and some of the malware sill went undetected by antivirus engines.…
On February 7, 2024, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) assessing that People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyber actors were seeking to pre-position themselves on IT networks for disruptive or destructive cyberattacks against U.S.…
Welcome to the new edition of our report. As we bid farewell to the year 2023, let’s briefly revisit the threat landscape that defined the past year. In 2023, the overall number of unique blocked attacks surged, reaching an unprecedented milestone of more than 10 billion attacks and a remarkable 49% increase year-over-year.…
On December 13, 2023, Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs reported our findings on the KV-botnet, a covert data transfer network used by state-sponsored actors based in China to conduct espionage and intelligence activities targeting U.S. critical infrastructure. Around the time of the first publication, we identified a spike in activity that we assess aligns with a significant effort by the operators managing this network to combat takedown efforts underway by the U.S.…
Ransomware threat actors have been extorting money after taking control over organizations’ internal networks, distributing ransomware, encrypting systems, and holding system restoration for ransom. Recently, however, threat actors not only encrypts the systems but also leaks internal data and threatens to expose them publicly if the ransom is not paid.…
If you have anything to do with cyber security, you know it employs its own unique and ever-evolving language. Jargon and acronyms are the enemies of clear writing—and are beloved by cyber security experts. So Morphisec has created a comprehensive cyber security glossary that explains commonly used cybersecurity terms, phrases, and technologies.…
By Securonix Threat Research: D. Iuzvyk, T.Peck, O.Kolesnikov
tldr:An interesting campaign leveraging a new SUBTLE-PAWS PowerShell-based backdoor has been identified targeting Ukraine which follows stealthy tactics to evade detection and spreads by infecting USB drives.
The Securonix Threat Research team has been monitoring an ongoing campaign likely related to Shuckworm targeting Ukrainian military personnel (tracked by Securonix Threat Research as STEADY#URSA).…
On Jan. 12, 2024, Mandiant published a blog post detailing two high-impact zero-day vulnerabilities, CVE-2023-46805 and CVE-2024-21887, affecting Ivanti Connect Secure VPN (CS, formerly Pulse Secure) and Ivanti Policy Secure (PS) appliances. On Jan. 31, 2024, Ivanti disclosed two additional vulnerabilities impacting CS and PS devices, CVE-2024-21888 and CVE-2024-21893.
The vulnerabilities allow for an unauthenticated threat actor to execute arbitrary commands on the appliance with elevated privileges.…
On a bi-weekly basis, FortiGuard Labs gathers data on ransomware variants of interest that have been gaining traction within our datasets and the OSINT community. The Ransomware Roundup report aims to provide readers with brief insights into the evolving ransomware landscape and the Fortinet solutions that protect against those variants.…
Public cloud infrastructure is, by now, the default approach to both spinning up a new venture from scratch and rapidly scaling your business. From a security perspective, this is a brand new (well, by now more than a decade old) attack surface. “Attack surface” is a commonly used term that denotes the aggregate of your exploitable IT estate, or all of the different pathways a hacker might be able to use to gain access to your systems, steal your data, or otherwise harm your business.…