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Forge Report: First Half Threat Trends of 2024
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FBI's Operation 'Duck Hunt' Disrupts Qakbot Botnet
In August 2023, the FBI's Operation 'Duck Hunt' took decisive action against the decade-old Qakbot malware botnet. Joining forces with international law enforcement, the FBI identified over 700,000 infected systems globally. In a strategic move, Qakbot's traffic was redirected to remove the malware, effectively untethering these computers from the botnet. The Qakbot malware, active since 2008, has played a significant role in ransomware attacks, notably with the Black Basta gang.
Levels of Deception in a Cobalt Strike Phishing Intrusion
In late June 2023, a sophisticated Cobalt Strike phishing attack was uncovered by researcher Kostas. Attackers cunningly used a faux opinion survey email, disguised their malicious payload as a PDF, and employed various evasion tactics, such as altering file attributes. They interacted with the infected host hours after the initial breach, utilizing Cobalt Strike beacons for deeper system penetration and eventual data exfiltration. The report emphasizes the importance of monitoring specific system processes for early threat detection.
Leaked Builders Continues to Inspire New Actors
LockBit, known for its formidable ransomware capabilities, has faced a significant leak of its Lockbit v3 encryptor builder. This has prompted the emergence of new ransomware groups exploiting the tool. Kaspersky's analysis of recent intrusions reveals different ransom notes and patterns, suggesting that actors outside of the original LockBit group may be harnessing the leaked builder for their malicious campaigns.
A Meticulous Espionage Group Circling Gov & Tech Orgs
Earth Estries, a cyberespionage group active since 2020, targets government and tech sectors worldwide. Linked to the FamousSparrow APT, they employ advanced tactics like PowerShell downgrade attacks and DLL sideloading. Trend Micro's research highlights their stealthy operations across countries like the Philippines, Taiwan, and the US, emphasizing their rising threat in the cybersecurity realm.
Lucrative Intelligence Pursuits Puts Spotlight on U.S. Aerospace Entities
Foreign intelligence entities are ramping up cyberattack efforts against U.S. aerospace organizations, eyeing classified data that can boost their economic leverage in a rapidly expanding space economy. As detailed in an advisory from U.S. intelligence agencies, including the NCSC, FBI, and AFOSI, the global space sector's value could exceed $1 trillion by 2030. These aggressive campaigns employ cyberattacks, strategic investments, supply chain targeting, and other methods to access vital U.S. aerospace data. The repercussions range from economic implications, as adversaries can bypass R&D expenses, to national security threats, endangering satellite communications.
Group-IB: Discovers Zero-Day Vulnerability Exploited by Threat Actors in WinRAR
Group-IB's Threat Intelligence discovers a zero-day vulnerability in WinRAR (CVE-2023-38831) that allows cybercriminals to masquerade harmful scripts as benign files within ZIP archives. Predominantly targeting traders on public forums, the malicious archives have been used to deploy malware like DarkMe, GuLoader, and Remcos RAT. Originating from a "file processing error," the vulnerability has been addressed in WinRAR version 6.23, released on August 2, 2023. Group-IB recommends immediate updates to safeguard against potential exploits.
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