2-May-2023
Welcome to the weekly threat detection update report from Stamus Networks. Each week, you will receive this email with a summary of the updates.
Current Stamus Threat Intelligence (STI) release version: 733
This week, in addition to daily ruleset and IOC updates, we provided Stamus Security Platform customers with the following improved defense(s):
Note: a "method" as referenced below, is a discrete detection vector for a given threat.
The following detections were added to your Stamus Security Platform this past week:
Cylance is the name of malicious software that operates as ransomware. Its purpose is to encrypt files (to prevent victims from accessing their data). Additionally, Cylance appends the ".Cylance" extension to filenames and creates the "CYLANCE_README.txt" file (a ransom note).
Cylance targets Windows and Linux operating systems. An example of how Cylance modifies filenames: it renames "1.jpg" to "1.jpg.Cylance", "2.png" to "2.png.Cylance", and so forth. This ransomware shares the same name as Cylance enterprise cybersecurity, but the latter offers customers endpoint security services that are completely unrelated to the ransomware.pcrisk
Trojan.Clipper is Malwarebytes' generic detection name for a type of Trojan that tries to steal currencies from the affected system by stealing or manipulating the data on the Windows clipboard.Malwarebytes
StrelaStealer, as its name implies, is a stealer-type malware. This malicious program specifically targets email account log-in credentials. StrelaStealer was first discovered by DCSO CyTec's researchers in November of 2022. Their findings revealed that this malicious program was distributed using spam mail targeting Spanish-speaking users. Pcrisk
Strela Stealer - Malpedia |
BRONZE BUTLER is a cyber espionage group with likely Chinese origins that has been active since at least 2008. The group primarily targets Japanese organizations, particularly those in government, biotechnology, electronics manufacturing, and industrial chemistry MITRE
BRONZE BUTLER - Trend micro |
CryptoJoker is an open source ransomware written in C#. CryptoJoker uses a combination of a "custom XOR" encryption and RSA. A private public/private pair key is generated for every computer. Malpedia
Plutocrypt is a variatant of CryptoJoker
The following detections were updated this past week with changes to kill chain phase(s) or MITRE ATT&CK tactic(s)/technique(s):
VICEROY TIGER is an adversary with a nexus to India that has historically targeted entities throughout multiple sectors. Older activity targeted multiple sectors and countries; however, since 2015 this adversary appears to focus on entities in Pakistan with a particular focus on government and security organizations. This adversary consistently leverages spear phishing emails containing malicious Microsoft Office documents, malware designed to target the Android mobile platform, and phishing activity designed to harvest user credentials. In March 2017, the 360 Chasing Team found a sample of targeted attacks that confirmed the previously unknown sample of APT's attack actions, which the organization can now trace back at least in April 2016. The chasing team named the attack organization APT-C-35. In June 2017, the 360 Threat Intelligence Center discovered the organization’s new attack activity, confirmed and exposed the gang’s targeted attacks against Pakistan, and analyzed in detail. The unique EHDevel malicious code framework used by the organization. Malpedia
APT-C-36 is a suspected South America espionage group that has been active since at least 2018. The group mainly targets Colombian government institutions as well as important corporations in the financial sector, petroleum industry, and professional manufacturing. MITRE
APT28 (also known as - Fancy Bear/Sofacy/Strontum) is a threat group that has been attributed to Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff by a July 2018 U.S. Department of Justice indictment.
This group reportedly compromised the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2016 in an attempt to interfere with the U.S. presidential election. APT28 has been active since at least 2004.
Magic Hound is an Iranian-sponsored threat group that conducts long term, resource-intensive cyber espionage operations, likely on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They have targeted U.S. and Middle Eastern government and military personnel, academics, journalists, and organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), via complex social engineering campaigns since at least 2014. MITRE
APT37 is a North Korean state-sponsored cyber espionage group that has been active since at least 2012. The group has targeted victims primarily in South Korea, but also in Japan, Vietnam, Russia, Nepal, China, India, Romania, Kuwait, and other parts of the Middle East. APT37 has also been linked to the following campaigns between 2016-2018: Operation Daybreak, Operation Erebus, Golden Time, Evil New Year, Are you Happy?, FreeMilk, North Korean Human Rights, and Evil New Year 2018.[1][2][3] MITRE
Agent Tesla is a spyware Trojan written for the .NET framework that has been observed since at least 2014. MITRE
A remote access tool (RAT) is a piece of software that allows a remote user to control a system as if they had physical access to that system. An adversary may utilize existing RATs, modify existing RATs, or create their own RAT. MITRE
The term info stealer is self-explanatory. This type of malware resides in an infected computer and gathers data in order to send it to the attacker. Typical targets are credentials used in online banking services, social media sites, emails, or FTP accounts.
Info stealers may use many methods of data acquisition. The most common are:
hooking browsers (and sometimes other applications) and stealing credentials that are typed by the user using web injection scripts that are adding extra fields to web forms and submitting information from them to a server owned by the attacker form grabbing (finding specific opened windows and stealing their content) keylogging stealing passwords saved in the system and cookies Modern info stealers are usually parts of botnets. Sometimes the target of attack and related events are configured remotely by the command sent from the Command and Control server (C&C). Malwarebytes
Inception is a cyber espionage group active since at least 2014. The group has targeted multiple industries and governmental entities primarily in Russia, but has also been active in the United States and throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. MITRE
A typical infostealer, capable of obtaining credentials for browsers, crypto currency wallets, browser cookies, credit cards, and creates screenshots of the infected system. All stolen data is bundled into a zip-file that is uploaded to the c2. Malpedia
Gamaredon Group is a threat group that has been active since at least 2013 and has targeted individuals likely involved in the Ukrainian government. The name Gamaredon Group comes from a misspelling of the word "Armageddon", which was detected in the adversary's early campaigns. MITRE
The IcedID banking Trojan was discovered by IBM X-Force researchers in 2017. At that time, it targeted banks, payment card providers, mobile services providers, payroll, webmail and e-commerce sites, mainly in the U.S. IcedID has since continued to evolve, and while one of its more recent versions became active in late-2019, X-Force researchers have identified a new major version release that emerged in 2020 with some substantial changes. securityintelligence.com
Cyber criminals violated the law TDS (Traffic Direction System) platform Keitaro and used it to redirect them users in exploit kits RIG and Fallout in order to infect them with malicious software.
TDS platforms are designed for redirection of users in particular sites. Legitimate TDS platforms, such as Keitaro, are mainly used by individuals and companies that want to advertise services or their products. Platforms drive users to the pages that companies want, targeting specific customers and promoting an ad campaign. techbizweb
FIN6(Magecart) is a cyber crime group that has stolen payment card data and sold it for profit on underground marketplaces. This group has aggressively targeted and compromised point of sale (PoS) systems in the hospitality and retail sectors. MITRE
An adversary may rely upon a user opening a malicious file in order to gain execution. Users may be subjected to social engineering to get them to open a file that will lead to code execution. This user action will typically be observed as follow-on behavior from Spearphishing Attachment. Adversaries may use several types of files that require a user to execute them, including .doc, .pdf, .xls, .rtf, .scr, .exe, .lnk, .pif, and .cpl.
Adversaries may employ various forms of Masquerading on the file to increase the likelihood that a user will open it.
While Malicious File frequently occurs shortly after Initial Access it may occur at other phases of an intrusion, such as when an adversary places a file in a shared directory or on a user's desktop hoping that a user will click on it. This activity may also be seen shortly after Internal Spearphishing. MITRE
Mekotio is a typical Latin American banking trojan that has been active since at least 2015. As such, it attacks by displaying fake pop-up windows to its victims, trying to entice them to divulge sensitive information. These windows are carefully designed to target Latin American banks and other financial institutions. welivesecurity
Proofpoint researchers have recently begun tracking the Phorpiex/Trik botnet (SDBot fork, referred to as Trik throughout this post) as several sophisticated actors have been using it to distribute a range of malware. Despite the recent attention, though, Trik, not to be confused with the TrickBot banking Trojan, is a relatively old botnet. It is not especially sophisticated or complex but has been active for almost a decade, flying under the radar and attracting a solid customer base of threat actors. As we began tracking this botnet more closely, we discovered that a number of familiar actors were repeatedly leveraging Trik’s power and distribution capabilities for delivery of their malware.
Analysis shows that Trik has been present for a decade and first began spreading via Windows Live Messenger and removable USB storage. It later began including Skype in its worming capabilities but this appears to have stopped a few years ago and Trik now propagates via removable media storage and email spam. Proofpoint
StormKitty is a stealer, clipper and keylogger written in the C# programming language. Cyber criminals can use it to steal various sensitive information, which could be misused for malicious purposes and to generate revenue. Research shows that StormKitty is not detected by a number of antivirus programs. Therefore, it is likely that many users will be unaware that they have StormKitty installed on their computers. Pcrisk
DPRK APT actor tracked by Proofpoint as TA444 Malpedia
Proofpoint researchers have identified a phishing campaign originating from an email address (ukr[.]net) that appears to belong to a compromised Ukranian armed service member. This discovery comes on the heels of alerts by the Ukrainian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) and the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine about widespread phishing campaigns targeting private email accounts of Ukrainian armed service members by ‘UNC1151’, which Proofpoint tracks as part of TA445. The email observed by Proofpoint may represent the next stage of these attacks. The email included a malicious macro attachment which utilised social engineering themes pertaining to the Emergency Meeting of the NATO Security Council held on February 23, 2022. The email also contained a malicious attachment which attempted to download malicious Lua malware named SunSeed and targeted European government personnel tasked with managing transportation and population movement in Europe. While Proofpoint has not definitively attributed this campaign to the threat actor TA445, researchers acknowledge that the timeline, use of compromised sender addresses aligning with Ukrainian government reports, and the victimology of the campaign align with published TA445 tactics to include the targeting and collection around refugee movement in Europe. Proofpoint
Again, the generic nature of this detection means that the Payloads performed by this group of trojans may be highly variable, and therefore difficult to describe specifically. This group of trojans has been observed to perform any, or all, of the following actions:
redirect Web traffic
- manipulate certain Windows or third-party applications including settings or configurations
- drop or install additional malicious programs
- download and run additional malicious programs
Please note that this list is not exhaustive.
Microsoft
Malicious programs of this family secretly send information to the criminal from the user’s infected Android mobile device. Kaspersky
In early August 2022, Cyble Research Labs (a cybercrime monitoring service) uncovered a new crypto miner/stealer for hire that the malware author named Typhon Stealer. Shortly thereafter, they released an updated version called Typhon Reborn. Both versions have the ability to steal crypto wallets, monitor keystrokes in sensitive applications and evade antivirus products. This new version has increased anti-analysis techniques and more malicious features. The threat actors have also improved their stealer and file grabber features. Paloalto
During a routine threat-hunting exercise, Cyble research labs discovered a dark web post where a malware developer was advertising a powerful Windows RAT. Cyble
The following threat detection(s) were improved this past week with new or updated threat methods.
| Name of threat | New coverage | Total coverage | Last updated | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Detection methods | Kill chain phases | Protocols involved | Detection methods | Kill chain phases | Protocols involved | ||
| APT-C-35 | 4 | delivery, command and control | http, dns | 195 | command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tls | 2023-04-29 |
| APT-C-36 | 1 | command and control | dns | 4 | command and control | dns | 2023-04-26 |
| APT28 | 19 | delivery, command and control | http, dns, tls | 329 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-04-25 |
| APT35 | 13 | command and control, delivery | dns, http | 221 | command and control, delivery | dns, ftp, http, tcp, tls, udp | 2023-04-28 |
| APT37 | 1 | delivery | http | 21 | command and control, delivery | dns, http | 2023-04-25 |
| AgentTesla | 1 | command and control | http | 37 | actions on objectives, command and control | dns, ftp, http, smtp, tcp, tls | 2023-04-28 |
| AsyncRAT | 1 | command and control | tls | 425 | command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tls | 2023-04-26 |
| BRONZE BUTLER | 12 | command and control | http | 13 | command and control | http | 2023-04-25 |
| Banker Stealer | 1 | command and control | http | 232 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, smtp, tcp, tls | 2023-04-27 |
| Cloud Atlas | 1 | command and control | dns | 34 | command and control, delivery | dns, http, tls | 2023-04-25 |
| CryptBot | 2 | command and control | http | 24 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http | 2023-04-29 |
| Cylance Ransomware | 1 | command and control | http | 1 | command and control | http | 2023-04-25 |
| Gamaredon | 22 | command and control | dns | 285 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-04-29 |
| IcedID | 11 | command and control | dns | 449 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tls | 2023-04-28 |
| Keitaro | 6 | exploitation | dns, http | 84 | command and control, delivery, exploitation | dns, http, tls | 2023-04-27 |
| MageCart | 7 | command and control | dns | 199 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tls | 2023-04-29 |
| MalDoc | 1 | delivery | dns | 489 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-04-27 |
| Mekotio | 1 | actions on objectives | http | 10 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt | 2023-04-27 |
| Phorpiex | 1 | weaponization | smtp | 105 | command and control, delivery, weaponization | dns, http, smtp, tcp, udp | 2023-04-29 |
| PlutoCrypt | 1 | actions on objectives | http | 1 | actions on objectives | http | 2023-04-25 |
| StormKitty | 2 | command and control | http | 13 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | http, smtp | 2023-04-25 |
| Strela Stealer | 1 | actions on objectives | http | 1 | actions on objectives | http | 2023-04-25 |
| TA444 | 1 | command and control | dns | 229 | command and control | dns, http, tls | 2023-04-25 |
| TA445 | 3 | command and control | dns | 9 | command and control, delivery | dns, http | 2023-04-25 |
| Trojan Agent | 3 | actions on objectives, command and control | http, dns | 384 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, installation | dns, http, ip, smtp, tcp, tcp-pkt, tcp-stream, tls, udp | 2023-04-25 |
| Trojan clipper | 1 | command and control | http | 1 | command and control | http | 2023-04-25 |
| TrojanSpy-Android | 2 | actions on objectives, installation | http, tcp | 490 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, installation | dns, http, tcp, tls | 2023-04-25 |
| Typhon Stealer | 2 | actions on objectives | http | 3 | actions on objectives, command and control | http | 2023-04-25 |
| XWorm | 26 | command and control | tcp-pkt | 597 | command and control | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt | 2023-04-26 |
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Stamus Networks believes in a world where defenders are heroes, and a future where those they protect remain safe. As organizations face threats from well-funded adversaries, we relentlessly pursue solutions that make the defender’s job easier and more impactful. The global leader in Suricata-based network security solutions, Stamus Networks helps enterprise security teams know more, respond sooner and mitigate their risk with insights gathered from cloud and on-premise network activity. Our Stamus Security Platform combines the best of intrusion detection (IDS), network security monitoring (NSM), and network detection and response (NDR) systems into a single solution that exposes serious and imminent threats to critical assets and empowers rapid response.
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