Tag: Cyberthreat | SpinSafe

Inside the Cyberthreat That’s Costing Millions

March 18, 2023/in Internet Security

U.S. government agencies have released a joint cybersecurity advisory detailing the indicators of compromise (IoCs) and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) associated with the notorious LockBit 3.0 ransomware.

“The LockBit 3.0 ransomware operations function as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model and is a continuation of previous versions of the ransomware, LockBit 2.0, and LockBit,” the authorities said.

The alert comes courtesy of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center (MS-ISAC).

Since emerging in late 2019, the LockBit actors have invested significant technical efforts to develop and fine-tune its malware, issuing two major updates — LockBit 2.0, released in mid-2021, and LockBit 3.0, released in June 2022. The two versions are also known as LockBit Red and LockBit Black, respectively.

“LockBit 3.0 accepts additional arguments for specific operations in lateral movement and rebooting into Safe Mode,” according to the alert. “If a LockBit affiliate does not have access to passwordless LockBit 3.0 ransomware, then a password argument is mandatory during the execution of the ransomware.”

The ransomware is also designed to infect only those machines whose language settings do not overlap with those specified in an exclusion list, which includes Romanian (Moldova), Arabic (Syria), and Tatar (Russia).

Initial access to victim networks is obtained via remote desktop protocol (RDP) exploitation, drive-by compromise, phishing campaigns, abuse of valid accounts, and weaponization of public-facing applications.

Upon finding a successful ingress point, the malware takes steps to establish persistence, escalate privileges, carry out lateral movement, and purge log files, files in the Windows Recycle Bin folder, and shadow copies, before initiating the encryption routine.

“LockBit affiliates have been observed using various freeware and open source tools during their intrusions,” the agencies said. “These tools are used for a range of activities such as network reconnaissance, remote access and tunneling, credential dumping, and file exfiltration.”

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December 19, 2022/in Video

Cyber-Threat Actor Uses Booby-Trapped VPN App to Deploy Android Spyware

November 2, 2022/in Mobile Security

Adware and other unwanted and potentially risky applications continue to represent the biggest threat that users of mobile devices currently face. But that doesn’t mean attackers aren’t constantly trying to deploy other sophisticated mobile malware as well.

The latest example is “SandStrike,” a booby-trapped VPN application for loading spyware on Android devices. The malware is designed to find and steal call logs, contact lists, and other sensitive data from infected devices; it can also track and monitor targeted users, Kaspersky said in a report this week.

The security vendor said its researchers had observed the operators of SandStrike attempting to deploy the sophisticated spyware on devices belonging to members of Iran’s Baha’i community, a persecuted, Persian-speaking minority group. But the vendor did not disclose how many devices the threat actor might have targeted or succeeded in infecting. Kaspersky could not be immediately reached for comment.

Elaborate Social Media Lures

To lure users into downloading the weaponized app, the threat actors have established multiple Facebook and Instagram accounts, all of which purport to have more than 1,000 followers. The social media accounts are loaded with what Kaspersky described as attractive, religious-themed graphics designed to grab the attention of members of the targeted faith group. The accounts often also contain a link to a Telegram channel that offers a free VPN app for users wishing to access sites containing banned religious materials.

According to Kaspersky, the threat actors have even set up their own VPN infrastructure to make the app fully functional. But when a user downloads and uses SandStrike, it quietly collects and exfiltrates sensitive data associated with the owner of the infected device.

The campaign is just the latest in a growing list of espionage efforts involving advanced infrastructure and mobile spyware — an arena that includes well-known threats like NSO Group’s notorious Pegasus spyware along with emerging problems like Hermit.