14-November-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: 895
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 (SSP) this past week:
Threat actors lured blockchain engineers with a Python application to gain initial access to the environment This intrusion involved multiple complex stages that each employed deliberate defense evasion techniques The intrusion set was observed on a macOS system where an adversary attempted to load binaries into memory, which is atypical of macOS intrusions Elastic
NodeStealer is a relatively new info-stealer, discovered by Meta’s security team in January 2023, that allows threat actors to steal browser cookies and conduct account takeovers at scale. The first NodeStealer campaign (documented by Meta) was attributed to threat actors in Vietnam, who custom-built the malicious tool (written in JavaScript and executed through Node.js) to target business users via fake communications through Facebook Messenger. The malware let attackers seize control of business accounts, without the need for any further interactions with the victim, and even bypassed security mechanisms such as two-factor authentication. Although the stealer was primarily designed to hijack cookie sessions from web browsers including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave and Opera, and take over Facebook accounts, threat actors have worked diligently to equip the malware with new capabilities during the year. Bitdefender
NodeStealer - Malpedia | NodeStealer - Microsoft |
Higaisa is a threat group suspected to have South Korean origins. Higaisa has targeted government, public, and trade organizations in North Korea; however, they have also carried out attacks in China, Japan, Russia, Poland, and other nations. Higaisa was first disclosed in early 2019 but is assessed to have operated as early as 2009. MITRE
Higaisa APT - Malpedia | Higaisa APT - Microsoft |
A proxy botnet called 'Socks5Systemz' has been infecting computers worldwide via the 'PrivateLoader' and 'Amadey' malware loaders, currently counting 10,000 infected devices.
The malware infects computers and turns them into traffic-forwarding proxies for malicious, illegal, or anonymous traffic. It sells this service to subscribers who pay between $1 and $140 per day in crypto to access it. Bleeping Computer
Socks5Systemz - Bitsight |
The following detections were updated this past week with changes to kill chain phase(s) or MITRE ATT&CK tactic(s)/technique(s):
APT38 is a financially-motivated threat group that is backed by the North Korean regime. The group mainly targets banks and financial institutions and has targeted more than 16 organizations in at least 13 countries since at least 2014.
North Korean group definitions are known to have significant overlap, and the name Lazarus Group is known to encompass a broad range of activity. Some organizations use the name Lazarus Group to refer to any activity attributed to North Korea. Some organizations track North Korean clusters or groups such as Bluenoroff, APT37, and APT38 separately, while other organizations may track some activity associated with those group names by the name Lazarus Group. MITRE
Agent Tesla is a spyware Trojan written for the .NET framework that has been observed since at least 2014. MITRE
Backdoors are designed to give malicious users remote control over an infected computer. In terms of functionality, Backdoors are similar to many administration systems designed and distributed by software developers.
These types of malicious programs make it possible to do anything the author wants on the infected computer: send and receive files, launch files or delete them, display messages, delete data, reboot the computer, etc.
The programs in this category are often used in order to unite a group of victim computers and form a botnet or zombie network. This gives malicious users centralized control over an army of infected computers which can then be used for criminal purposes.
There is also a group of Backdoors which are capable of spreading via networks and infecting other computers as Net-Worms do. The difference is that such Backdoors do not spread automatically (as Net-Worms do), but only upon a special “command” from the malicious user that controls them. Kaspersky
Zscaler ThreatLabz has been tracking a new information stealer called Bandit Stealer that emerged in April 2023. Bandit collects sensitive information from victims' machines including cookies, saved login data, and credit card information from more than a dozen web browsers. The stealer also performs credential theft for popular FTP clients and email clients. Lastly, Bandit targets desktop cryptocurrency wallet applications. All of the stolen information is then exfiltrated back to a command and control (C2) server via Telegram. The malware is written in the Go (a.k.a. Golang) programming language and is especially notable with the large number of attempts to evade virtual environments and automated malware analysis platforms.
APT17 is a China-based threat group that has conducted network intrusions against U.S. government entities, the defense industry, law firms, information technology companies, mining companies, and non-government organizations. MITRE
Attackers are utilizing hacked web sites that promote fake browser updates to infect targets with banking trojans. In some cases, post exploitation toolkits are later executed to encrypt the compromised network with ransomware.
Between May and September 2019, FireEye has conducted multiple incident response cases where enterprise customers were infected with malware through fake browser updates.
Hacked sites would display these "fakeupdates" through JavaScript alerts that state the user is using an old version of a web browser and that they should download an offered "update" to keep the browser running "smoothly and securely".
Loaders, for the most part, have one job: grab malicious executables or payloads from an attacker-controlled server. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t more happening under the hood of some, such as a user-friendly UI, self-healing capabilities, or the equivalent of a retail shop where a botmaster can sell his bots to potential clients.
Loaders are essentially basic remote access Trojans that give an attacker the ability to remotely interact with and control a compromised computer, or bot. While traditionally lightweight (smaller than 50 KB in size) in order to bypass detection by antivirus and other security monitoring technology, loaders evolve, and their viability to cybercriminals remains.
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
Ransom malware, or ransomware, is a type of malware that prevents users from accessing their system or personal files and demands ransom payment in order to regain access. The earliest variants of ransomware were developed in the late 1980s, and payment was to be sent via snail mail. Today, ransomware authors order that payment be sent via cryptocurrency or credit card. Malwarebytes
It leverages compromised websites and performs some of the most creative fingerprinting checks we’ve seen, before delivering its payload (NetSupport RAT). Malwarebytes
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
An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a stealthy computer network threat actor, typically a nation state or state-sponsored group, which gains unauthorized access to a computer network and remains undetected for an extended period. In recent times, the term may also refer to non-state sponsored groups conducting large-scale targeted intrusions for specific goals.
Such threat actors' motivations are typically political or economic. To date, every major business sector has recorded instances of attacks by advanced actors with specific goals seeking to steal, spy or disrupt. These include government, defense, financial services, legal services, industrial, telecoms, consumer goods, and many more. Some groups utilize traditional espionage vectors, including social engineering, human intelligence and infiltration to gain access to a physical location to enable network attacks. The purpose of these attacks is to place custom malicious code on one or multiple computers for specific tasks.
Source: Wikipedia
A TOAD attack is a relatively new form of phishing attack that combines voice and email phishing techniques. Attackers aim to trick users into disclosing sensitive information over the phone, such as login credentials or financial data, by impersonating a trusted authority figure. They will get on a call with the victim, claiming to be a representative from a reputable company or organization. Then, they will follow up with an email that contains a phishing link or attachment. 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
A Trojan downloader is a type of Trojan horse that downloads and installs files, often malicious programs. A Trojan horse is a type of software that looks legitimate but can be malicious in nature. Sometimes these programs can be downloaded onto a device without the user’s knowledge or consent. A Trojan’s purpose is to damage, disrupt, steal, or generally inflict some other harm on your computer and devices. Norton
Vidar (also known as Vidar Stealer) is a trojan (a malicious program) commonly used by cyber criminals. The program steals various personal information from users who have computers infected with the virus. Pcrsik
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 | ||
| APT38 | 12 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 234 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tls | 2023-11-08 |
| AgentTesla | 1 | actions on objectives | tcp | 52 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, ftp, http, smtp, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-11-11 |
| Backdoor | 4 | command and control | tcp-pkt | 449 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, installation | dns, ftp, http, icmp, smtp, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls, udp | 2023-11-10 |
| Bandit Stealer | 2 | installation, actions on objectives | http | 4 | actions on objectives, installation | http | 2023-11-09 |
| Bitter | 3 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 70 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-11-08 |
| Fake Browser | 9 | exploitation | dns, tls, http | 153 | delivery, exploitation | dns, http, tls | 2023-11-10 |
| Generic Loader | 1 | command and control | http | 2 | command and control, delivery | http | 2023-11-10 |
| Higaisa APT | 2 | command and control | http | 2 | command and control | http | 2023-11-10 |
| KANDYKORN APT | 35 | command and control | dns, tls, tcp-pkt, http | 35 | command and control | dns, tls, tcp-pkt, http | 2023-11-10 |
| Keitaro | 4 | exploitation | http, dns, tls | 238 | command and control, delivery, exploitation | dns, http, tls | 2023-11-09 |
| Lockbit | 4 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 11 | command and control | dns, http, tls | 2023-11-09 |
| NodeStealer | 1 | command and control | http | 1 | command and control | http | 2023-11-10 |
| SocGholish | 9 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 848 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, exploitation, reconnaissance | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-11-10 |
| Socks5Systemz | 3 | command and control | http | 4 | command and control | http | 2023-11-10 |
| Stealer and Exfiltration | 1 | actions on objectives | http | 376 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, exploitation, installation | dns, ftp, http, smtp, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-11-10 |
| TA4903 | 9 | delivery | dns, tls, http | 216 | delivery | dns, http, tls | 2023-11-07 |
| TOAD Phishing | 1 | delivery | tls | 317 | delivery | dns, http, tls | 2023-11-11 |
| Trojan Agent | 17 | command and control | http, dns, tls, tcp-pkt, tcp | 425 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, installation | dns, http, ip, smtp, tcp, tcp-pkt, tcp-stream, tls, udp | 2023-11-11 |
| Trojan Downloader | 1 | command and control | tcp | 275 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, installation | dns, http, tcp, tls, udp | 2023-11-11 |
| Vidar | 1 | actions on objectives | http | 36 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, installation | dns, http, tls | 2023-11-07 |
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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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