By Deeba Ahmed
Russian hackers, part of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, are using compromised Ubiquiti EdgeRouters to…
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: FBI Alert: Russian Hackers Target Ubiquiti Routers for Data, Botnet Creation

Russian hackers, part of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, are using compromised Ubiquiti EdgeRouters to build extensive botnets, steal credentials, collect NTLMv2 digests, and proxy malicious traffic.

The FBI, NSA, US Cyber Command, and international partners have released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory to caution against Russian state-sponsored cyber actors using compromised Ubiquiti EdgeRouters for malicious cyber operations. They have also used compromised routers for spoofed landing pages and post-exploitation tools.

As per the advisory (PDF), Russia-backed APT28 actors (aka Fancy Bear) have been using compromised Ubiquiti EdgeRouters since 2022 to carry out covert cyber operations against various industries, including Aerospace & Defense, Education, and Energy & Utilities. The Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Jordan, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the US are some of its key targets. 

In 2023, APT28 actors used Python scripts to collect webmail user credentials and uploaded them to compromised Ubiquiti routers via cross-site scripting and browser-in-the-browser spear-phishing campaigns. They also exploited the CVE-2023-23397 zero-day, despite being patched, to install tools like Impacket ntlmrelayx.py and Responder on compromised routers, allowing NTLM relay attacks and host rogue authentication servers.

For your information, Microsoft’s Threat Protection Intelligence team discovered this vulnerability in Outlook that allowed attackers to steal Net-NTLMv2 hashes and access user accounts. The vulnerability was previously exploited by the group Forest Blizzard, suspected to have affiliations with the Russian military intelligence agency.  

The FBI has identified IOCs for the Mirai-baed Moobot OpenSSH trojan and APT28 activity on EdgeRouters. APT28 actors exploit vulnerabilities in OpenSSH server processes, hosting Python scripts to collect and validate stolen webmail account credentials. The actors have used iptables rules on EdgeRouters to establish reverse proxy connections and upload adversary-controlled SSH RSA keys to compromised routers. They have also used masEPIE, a Python backdoor capable of executing arbitrary commands on victim machines.

Further probing revealed that APT28 used compromised Ubiquiti EdgeRouters as C2 infrastructure for MASEPIE backdoors deployed against targets. Data sent to and from the EdgeRouters was encrypted using a randomly generated 16-character AES key.

The FBI recommends remediating compromised EdgeRouters by performing a hardware factory reset, upgrading to the latest firmware, changing default usernames and passwords, and implementing strategic firewall rules on WAN-side interfaces.

Network owners should keep their operating systems, software, and firmware up-to-date, and update Microsoft Outlook to mitigate CVE-2023-23397. To mitigate other forms of NTLM relay, network owners should consider disabling NTLM or enabling server signing and Extended Protection for Authentication configurations.

****Experts Opinions:****

For insights into the latest advisory, we reached out to John Bambenek, President at Bambenek Consulting who emphasised on the importance of patching flaws and keeping the system up-to-date.

“The single biggest advance in cybersecurity across the technical stack in 25 years was when Microsoft made auto-updating the default setting in Windows. Across the IoT, embedded devices, and network stack, this is not the norm,” John argued.

“We know devices aren’t patched by consumers or most organizations so why wouldn’t nation-state actors get in on the target-rich environment? These devices have all the weaknesses of normal computers, just without the ability of the user to harden them, put EDR on them, or do anything we would to a server to make it safer. Until manufacturers treat this problem seriously, whether it’s Mirai or a spy, these devices will continue to be compromised in bulk.”

1.  **Hackers Steal $47 Million From American Tech Firm Ubiquiti**
2.  **US Military Satellite Access Sold on Russian Forum for $15K**
3.  **Russian Hackers Employ Telekopye Toolkit in Phishing Attacks**
4.  **Russian APT29 Hacked US Biomedical Giant in TeamCity Breach**
5.  **Russian Midnight Blizzard Hackers Hit MS Teams in Precision Attack**
6.  **Russian Hackers Hit European Mail Servers for Political, Military Intel**

FBI Alert: Russian Hackers Target Ubiquiti Routers for Data, Botnet Creation

Fake news, disinformation, misinformation – whatever label you want to put on it – will not just go away if one election in the U.S. goes one way or the other.

Thursday, February 22, 2024 14:00

When we talk about the term “fake news,” most people likely picture a certain person who made the term infamous. 

And when we talk about misinformation and disinformation, many will remember the “Russian troll farms” that popped up during the 2016 U.S. presidential election and were unmasked and shut down during former president Barack Obama’s final days in office. 

But a few recent actions from TikTok, the most popular online social media platform, show that the problem of spreading misinformation and disinformation goes far beyond the borders of the U.S. 

TikTok announced last week it was launching in-app “election centres” to help combat misinformation and inform users of facts when they view videos about elections in European Union nations. This includes 27 unique apps that all use the country’s native language.  

In a statement on their site, the social media company said this effort is to “ensure people can easily separate fact from fiction.” 

Part of me can’t help but wonder if this wasn’t a problem of the company’s own creation after they allowed misinformation about the COVID-19 global pandemic to spread rapidly and use an algorithm that enhances “controversial” videos about different international brands. But I can certainly hope that these election centres provide more context than the little info box Twitter launched a while ago.  

I think this is important to note, though, that this problem just goes beyond American culture. Fake news, disinformation, misinformation – whatever label you want to put on it – will not just go away if one election in the U.S. goes one way or the other. It is an issue that is spreading on all platforms in all countries. 

I’ve been at fault in the past for just wanting to put the blame on Twitter. While they have been one of the worst offenders of allowing misinformation on their site, they are far from the only offenders or the only platform where users can spread this time of misinformation, even if they are doing it by accident. 

Just like any other platform, it’s easy for someone on TikTok to simply “share” or “like” someone else’s video if they find it compelling without giving it a second thought. Your friends and family are likely spreading misinformation on their feeds without even knowing it or doing it with any malicious intent. Regardless of where you live in the world, this is likely true. 

It’s amplified in the U.S. because our political theater is such that when something happens, everyone else on the world stage notices it. I can’t say that folks in the U.S. are necessarily invested in the national elections in Greece.  

But if misinformation is allowed to spread during the Greek elections, it’s going to spread to U.S. presidential elections. Once the infrastructure is in place for disinformation to flourish on a platform, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of, no matter the topic.  

**The one big thing **

Google Cloud Run is currently being abused in high-volume malware distribution campaigns, spreading several banking trojans such as Astaroth (aka Guildma), Mekotio and Ousaban to targets across Latin America and Europe. The volume of emails associated with these campaigns has significantly increased since September 2023 and we continue to regularly observe new email distribution campaigns. We have observed all three malware families being delivered during the same timeframe from the same storage bucket within Google Cloud. 

**Why do I care? **

Some of the highest volume campaigns recently observed were being used to deliver the Astaroth, Mekotio, and Ousaban banking trojans to victims largely located in Latin American countries. We have also observed lower volume campaign victims located throughout Europe and North America, which may indicate less geographically focused targeting by threat actors moving forward. For example, the current variant of Astaroth targets more than 300 institutions across 15 Latin American countries. 

**So now what? **

Talos has released new ClamAV signatures and Snort rules to protect against these various banking trojans. Our researchers have also alerted Google of this activity so that they may address it internally on Cloud Run. 

**Top security headlines of the week **

**Poland is launching a formal investigation into whether its former government leaders misused the Pegasus spyware.** Parliament created a coalition to see if the Law and Justice (PiS) government, previously the ruling party of Poland, used the controversial spyware to track and target its political opponents. Current ruling leaders used a promise of an investigation as one of their top campaign platforms. Meanwhile, NSO Group, the creators of Pegasus, have reportedly created a new one-click exploit called “MMS Fingerprint” that it offers as an infection tool for the spyware. MMS Fingerprint allows Pegasus users to learn a great deal about a target Blackberry, iPhone or Android device by sending a specially crafted Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message. A contract between an NSO Group reseller and a customer in Ghana exposed the information, including a promise that MMS Fingerprint required “No user interaction, engagement, or message opening ... to receive the device fingerprint.” (Politico, DarkReading) 

**The spyware startup Variston is reportedly shrinking and is preparing to completely close.** Variston is known for launching spyware that can target iPhones, Android devices and some PCs. A disgruntled employee reportedly leaked information about the company and the zero-day exploits they used to Google’s Threat Analysis Group, which allowed Google to unmask the operation. This eventually led to several employees and developers leaving Variston. Variston, founded in 2018, previously used three zero-day vulnerabilities to target Apple devices, including a campaign in March 2023 to target iPhones in Indonesia. Reporters and researchers have yet to find who, exactly, Variston sold their services and technology to, though former employees have said some of the spyware was sent to the United Arab Emirates. (Tech Crunch, Google) 

**Volt Typhoon, a large APT based in China, is reportedly still exfiltrating sensitive information on operational technology (OT) networks.** Volt Typhoon has been known to target organizations in the communications, manufacturing, utility, IT and education sectors across the globe, though it’s recently become more noteworthy for its targeting of critical networks in the U.S. A new report from cybersecurity firm Dragos says that it spotted Volt Typhoon conducting scanning activities against electric companies between November and December 2023. Volt Typhoon is traditionally known for espionage and data theft on behalf of the Chinese government. But Dragos also says that the actor has also recently infiltrated a large U.S. city's emergency services network, as well as critical infrastructure networks in Africa. The report states that the OT data stolen may cause “unintended disruption to critical industrial processes or provide the adversary with crucial intelligence to aid in follow-up offensive tool development or attacks against ICS networks.” (SecurityWeek, The Register) 

**Can’t get enough Talos? **

*   Talos Takes Ep. #172: Case study: How Talos IR helped a healthcare tech company avoid a ransomware attack 
*   How CVSS 4.0 changes (or doesn’t) the way we see vulnerability severity 
*   Network infrastructure was a prime target for cyber threats in 2023 
*   Russian APT Turla Wields Novel Backdoor Malware Against Polish NGOs 
*   Turla hackers backdoor NGOs with new TinyTurla-NG malware 

**Upcoming events where you can find Talos **

**S4x24** **(March 4 - 27)** 

Miami Beach, Florida 

_To protect themselves during Russian aggression, the Ukrainian military utilizes electronic warfare to blanket critical infrastructure to defeat radar and GPS-guided smart munitions. This has the unintended consequence of disrupting GPS synchrophasor clock measurements and creating service outages on an already beleaguered and damaged transmission electric grid. Joe Marshall from Talos’ Strategic Communications team will tell an incredible story of how a group of engineers and security professionals from a diverse coalition of organizations came together to solve this electronic warfare GPS problem in an unconventional technical way, and helped stabilize parts of the transmission grid of Ukraine._ 

**RSA** **(May 6 - 9)** 

_San Francisco, California_ 

**Most prevalent malware files from Talos telemetry over the past week **

**SHA 256:** 9f1f11a708d393e0a4109ae189bc64f1f3e312653dcf317a2bd406f18ffcc507    
**MD5:** 2915b3f8b703eb744fc54c81f4a9c67f    
**Typical Filename:** VID001.exe    
**Claimed Product:** N/A    
**Detection Name:** Win.Worm.Coinminer::1201 

**SHA 256:** 6d167aee7013d61b0832937773cd71d77493a05d6ffb1849bdfb1477622e54c2   
**MD5:** 36503fd339663027f5909793ea49ccbc   
**Typical Filename:** telivy\_agent\_2.3.1.exe   
**Claimed Product:** N/A    
**Detection Name:** W32.File.MalParent

**SHA 256:** a31f222fc283227f5e7988d1ad9c0aecd66d58bb7b4d8518ae23e110308dbf91    
**MD5:** 7bdbd180c081fa63ca94f9c22c457376   
**Typical Filename:** c0dwjdi6a.dll   
**Claimed Product:** N/A    
**Detection Name:** Trojan.GenericKD.33515991 

**SHA 256:** 5616b94f1a40b49096e2f8f78d646891b45c649473a5b67b8beddac46ad398e1      
**MD5:** 3e10a74a7613d1cae4b9749d7ec93515      
**Typical Filename:** IMG001.exe      
**Claimed Product:** N/A      
**Detection Name:** Win.Dropper.Coinminer::1201 

**SHA 256:** 59f1e69b68de4839c65b6e6d39ac7a272e2611ec1ed1bf73a4f455e2ca20eeaa     
**MD5:** df11b3105df8d7c70e7b501e210e3cc3     
**Typical Filename:** DOC001.exe     
**Claimed Product:** N/A     
**Detection Name:** Win.Worm.Coinminer::1201

TikTok’s latest actions to combat misinformation shows it’s not just a U.S. problem

By Waqas
Another day, another Apple Security Vulnerability!
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Apple Shortcuts Vulnerability Exposes Sensitive Data, Update Now!

Apple Shortcuts security vulnerability (CVE-2024-23204) allows attackers to access targeted devices and steal sensitive data – update your devices now!

Cybersecurity firm Bitdefender has discovered a 7.5/10 severity rating vulnerability in Apple Shortcuts, allowing attackers to access sensitive data without prompting users. According to Bitdefender’s blog post published on 22 February 2024, this vulnerability tracked as **CVE-2024-23204**, allows attackers to create a Shortcuts file bypassing Apple’s security framework for macOS and iOS.

Apple Shortcuts is a popular **macOS and iOS** automation app that simplifies tasks by allowing users to create personalized workflows using visual programming to automate tasks like app control, media management, messaging, location-based actions, and more. Users can create workflows for file management, health tracking, web automation, education, and smart home integration, thereby improving productivity and user experience.

The vulnerability was found in the shortcut sharing/expanding mechanism in Apple’s Shortcuts community. The community allows users to discover and expedite automation workflows and export/share shortcuts.

CVE-2024-23204 on the other hand, lets users unknowingly import shortcuts that could exploit the Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) security framework in macOS and iOS. This framework helps ensure user privacy and security by requiring explicit permission before accessing sensitive data or functionalities.

During the attack, as noted by researchers in their **blog post**, the ‘Expand URL’ function in Shortcuts lets attackers transmit base64-encoded photo data to a malicious website. This involves selecting sensitive data, importing it, converting it using the base64 encode option, and forwarding it to the server. A Flask program captures the transmitted data, allowing the attacker to store it for exploitation. The issue is fixed in **macOS Sonoma 14.3**, **watchOS 10.3**, **iOS 17.3, and iPadOS 17.3**. 

Still, it highlights the need for continuous security vigilance in Apple’s Shortcuts application, given its potential for privacy breaches. Users are advised to use the latest software. Users are advised to update macOS, iPadOS, and watchOS devices, remain cautious when executing shortcuts from untrusted sources, and regularly check for **Apple security updates and patches**.

****Watch the vulnerability in action!****

The rising number of flaws identified in Apple apps and devices recently has effectively busted the myth of Apple products being the most reliable in safeguarding user data. Last year Apple patched a record number of vulnerabilities.

In July 2023, Apple issued a critical **security alert** for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users, urging them to update their devices soon due to a software vulnerability in its Safari WebKit browser engine.

In October 2023, researchers from Georgia Tech, the University of Michigan, and Ruhr University Bochum **discovered an iLeakage** vulnerability in Apple devices, affecting Macs and iPhones since 2020. The attack exploited a side-channel vulnerability in CPUs, allowing Safari to divulge sensitive data, including passwords and Gmail content.

In December 2023, a **Bluetooth vulnerability**, CVE-2023-45866, let attackers control Android, Linux, macOS, and iOS devices without user confirmation to install malicious apps, run commands, and perform unauthorized actions.

The same month, Apple **released** security updates to address two zero-day vulnerabilities, CVE-2023-42916 and CVE-2023-42917, which allowed hackers to execute code and access sensitive data on compromised devices through malicious web pages.

1.  **Apple Approves Fake App Before Real Rabby Wallet**
2.  **Apple Safari Safest, Google Chrome Riskiest Browser**
3.  **Apple AirTags can be used as trojan for credential hacking**
4.  **55 Apple vulnerabilities risked iCloud account takeover, data theft**
5.  **Apple Bug bounty: Earn big backs for hacking iPhone, other products**

Apple Shortcuts Vulnerability Exposes Sensitive Data, Update Now!

By Deeba Ahmed
Email servers compromised in 80 organizations as Russian-linked TAG-70 group targets European governments.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Russian Hackers Hit Mail Servers in Europe for Political and Military Intel

A Russian-linked actor, TAG-70, has targeted mail servers in Ukraine, Georgia, and Poland, aiming to collect intelligence on European political and military activities, particularly related to Ukraine’s war efforts.

Recorded Future’s Insikt Group has identified TAG-70, a potential threat actor allegedly working for Belarus and Russia, targeting government, military, and infrastructure entities across Europe and Central Asia since December 2020. The latest round of attacks was observed between October and December 2023.

The group is also known as Winter Vivern, TA-473, and UAC-0114. According to Insikt Group’s report (PDF), Tag-70 was discovered exploiting cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in Roundcube webmail servers across Europe.

The group mainly targeted government, military, and national infrastructure in Georgia, Poland, and Ukraine whereas targets were also observed in Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, Germany, and the UK. 

TAG-70, reportedly, used social engineering techniques to gain unauthorized access to mail servers across 80 organizations, including the Iranian Embassies in Moscow and the Netherlands, and the Georgia Embassy in Sweden.

The campaign aimed to gather intelligence on European political and military affairs, potentially gaining strategic advantages or undermining European security and alliances. Servers were primarily affected in Ukraine (30.9%), Georgia (13.6%), and Poland (12.3%)

The geographical distribution of victims affected by the TAG-70s Roundcube exploit in October 2023, according to Recorded Future.

This espionage attack uses spearphishing emails to deliver JavaScript payloads, exploiting the Roundcube vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-563. Malicious code logs users out of Roundcube, presenting a new sign-in window.

The zero-day exploit allowed unauthorized access to mail servers across 80 organizations, including transport, education, chemical, and biological research sectors. The activity is similar to previous campaigns by other Russian-aligned threat groups like BlueDelta and Sandworm, which also targeted email solutions like Roundcube.

The compromised email servers pose a significant risk to Ukraine’s war effort, diplomatic relations, and coalition partners. Researchers warn that cyber-espionage groups targeting webmail software platforms, including Roundcube, may expose sensitive information about Ukraine’s defence efforts, partner countries, and third-party cooperation. They predict that these groups will continue targeting these platforms as Ukraine’s conflict continues and tensions with the EU and NATO rise.

Organizations must patch Roundcube installations, detect indicators of compromise (IoCs), and implement robust cybersecurity measures to mitigate the threat. Other effective security measures include strengthening email security, preferring encryption, secure email gateways, regular audits, employee awareness training, and network segmentation. The sophisticated attack methods and potential national security impact highlight the need for vigilance and awareness.

****RELATED ARTICLES****

1.  **Microsoft Executives’ Emails Breached by Russia Hackers**
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4.  **Microsoft Outlook Flaw Exploited by Russian Forest Blizzard Group**
5.  **Russian Midnight Blizzard Hackers Hit MS Teams in Precision Attack**

Russian Hackers Hit Mail Servers in Europe for Political and Military Intel

There was about a 24-hour period where many news outlets reported on a reported DDoS attack that involved a botnet made up of thousands of internet-connected toothbrushes.

Thursday, February 15, 2024 14:00

I’ll be the first to admit that, like many people on the internet last week, I got caught up in the toothbrush distributed denial-of-service attack that wasn’t.  

I had a whole section on it written up in last week’s newsletter, and then I came across Graham Cluley’s blog post debunking the whole thing, and I had to delete it about an hour before the newsletter went live.  

There was about a 24-hour period where many news outlets reported on a reported DDoS attack that involved a botnet made up of thousands of internet-connected toothbrushes, it all started with one international newspaper report, and then was aggregated to death and spread quickly on social media.  

This attack was only a _hypothetical_ that a security researcher posed in an interview but was reported or translated as an attack that happened. 

To me, I think we can all learn from a few major takeaways from this entire saga — myself included.  

It’s easy to see why this was a ready-made story to go viral: It involved a silly device that probably doesn’t need to be connected to the internet anyway, it involved a large number that would grab headlines and it was a DDoS attack, which have suddenly come back in vogue over the past year. 

But, I’ll admit, the aggregated stories seemed a little fishy to me at first, because all the reports didn’t include any specifics about which company was targeted, how long the attack lasted, or the name of the device that was reportedly compromised. 

That last part should be a red flag going forward for any of us wanting to share a meme about something the next time a cybersecurity story goes viral — in my opinion, responsible disclosure of an attack or compromise should always include information about whatever vulnerability it was that was exploited. In this hypothetical scenario, I don’t think an adversary would have been able to compromise an internet-connected toothbrush without first exploiting some sort of vulnerability, which if it’s being reported on in public, should at least include information on patches or mitigations. 

I also think we all need to be asking the fundamental question: Why? In this case, I should have asked myself why an attacker would want to go through the trouble of compromising smart toothbrushes. And what would be the end goal of targeting a private company with a DDoS attack? Likely, it would be to demand a ransom in exchange for the attacker stopping the attack, but without knowing what sector the targeted company was in, it’s tough to guess how profitable that might even be. (For example, a health care agency may be looking to do anything to get back to operating asap, as lives could literally be at stake.) 

And once the attacker compromised a toothbrush, what information can they glean from the user besides their dental hygiene habits? Usually, they’d be looking to steal some sort of personal information, login credentials or financial data that they could then turn around and sell on the dark web. 

Needless to say, there were multiple red flags we all ignored when this story started to spread. And I’m not here to blame anyone in this case; it was all honest mistakes that, all things considered, ended up not being that serious. But the toothbrush botnet that wasn’t does serve as a reminder to all of us to be a bit more mindful before clicking share or posting a story on social media.  

**The one big thing **

Cisco Talos has identified a new backdoor authored and operated by the Turla APT group, a Russian cyber espionage threat group. This new backdoor we’re calling “TinyTurla-NG” (TTNG) is similar to Turla’s previously disclosed implant, TinyTurla, in coding style and functionality implementation. Talos assesses with high confidence that TinyTurla-NG, just like TinyTurla, is a small “last chance” backdoor that is left behind to be used when all other unauthorized access/backdoor mechanisms have failed or been detected on the infected systems. 

**Why do I care? **

Turla has been widely known to target entities across the world using a huge set of offensive tools in geographies including the U.S., European Union, Ukraine and Asia. They’ve previously used malware families such as CAPIBAR and KAZUAR to target Ukrainian defense forces. After Crutch and TinyTurla, Turla has now expanded their arsenal to include the TinyTurla-NG and TurlaPower-NG malware families, while also widening its net of targets to NGOs. 

**So now what? **

Talos has released new ClamAV signatures and Snort rules to protect against TinyTurla and the actors’ actions. We don’t know what the initial access vector is, so it’s tough to give targeted advice on how to avoid this malware, but having any endpoint detection in place will block this “last chance” backdoor.  

**Top security headlines of the week **

**Chinese state-sponsored actor Volt Typhoon may have silently sat on U.S. critical infrastructure networks for more than five years,** according to a new report from American intelligence agencies. According to the advisory, the infamous hacking group has been exploiting vulnerabilities in routers, firewalls and VPNs to target water, transportation, energy and communications systems across the country. Volt Typhoon has been able to control some victims’ surveillance camera systems, and the access could have allowed them to disrupt critical energy and water controls. The actor is known for using living-off-the-land binaries (LoLBins) to remain undetected once they gain an initial foothold. Authorities in Canada, Australia and New Zealand also contributed to last week’s advisory, citing their concern for similar activity in their countries. The FBI’s director recently said in testimony to U.S. Congress that authorities had dismantled a bot network of hundreds of compromised devices that was connected to VoltTyphoon. (Axios, The Guardian) 

**A new spyware network called TheTruthSpy may have compromised hundreds of Android devices using silent tracking apps that users download thinking they’re legitimate.** Security researchers uncovered the information of thousands of devices that have already been compromised, including their IMEI numbers and advertising IDs. TheTruthSpy appears to actively spy on large clusters of victims across Europe, India, Indonesia, the U.S. and U.K. The operators behind TheTruthSpy also did not address a security vulnerability in the software, identified as CVE-2022-0732, which left the victim data they stole potentially vulnerable to other bad actors. These types of stalkerware tools are often used by family members, spouses or peers of victims who want to track their physical locations and spy on messages and phone calls. The spyware is downloaded via an app, which doesn’t appear on the victim’s home screen and operates quietly in the background. (TechCrunch, maia blog) 

**Apple removed a fake LastPass app called “LassPass” after the popular password management service reported it.** The phony LassPass used a similar logo to that of the legitimate LastPass and was up on the App Store for an unknown amount of time. Apple also said it was removing the creator of the app from its Developer Program. This is a very rare case for the Apple App Store, as it has a strict review policy. LastPass released a warning to all users last week of the fake app’s existence, including a link to the legitimate LastPass app. LassPass only had one review on the store, and multiple reviews warning it was fake. However, it’s safe to assume that the app was likely set up as some sort of phishing scam meant to get users to enter their legitimate LastPass login information to be stolen by the fake app’s creator. (Ars Technica, Bleeping Computer) 

**Can’t get enough Talos? **

*   Beers with Talos Ep. #143: The Reddit security diaries 
*   The Need to Know: How are attackers using QR codes in phishing emails and lure documents? 
*   First Microsoft Patch Tuesday zero-day of 2024 disclosed as part of group of 75 vulnerabilities 

**Upcoming events where you can find Talos **

**S4x24** **(March 4 - 27)** 

Miami Beach, Florida 

_To protect themselves during Russian aggression, the Ukrainian military utilizes electronic warfare to blanket critical infrastructure to defeat radar and GPS-guided smart munitions. This has the unintended consequence of disrupting GPS synchrophasor clock measurements and creating service outages on an already beleaguered and damaged transmission electric grid. Joe Marshall from Talos’ Strategic Communications team will tell an incredible story of how a group of engineers and security professionals from a diverse coalition of organizations came together to solve this electronic warfare GPS problem in an unconventional technical way, and helped stabilize parts of the transmission grid of Ukraine._ 

**RSA** **(May 6 - 9)** 

_San Francisco, California_ 

**Most prevalent malware files from Talos telemetry over the past week **

**SHA 256:** a31f222fc283227f5e7988d1ad9c0aecd66d58bb7b4d8518ae23e110308dbf91    
**MD5:** 7bdbd180c081fa63ca94f9c22c457376   
**Typical Filename:** c0dwjdi6a.dll   
**Claimed Product:** N/A    
**Detection Name:** Trojan.GenericKD.33515991 

**SHA 256:** 5616b94f1a40b49096e2f8f78d646891b45c649473a5b67b8beddac46ad398e1      
**MD5:** 3e10a74a7613d1cae4b9749d7ec93515      
**Typical Filename:** IMG001.exe      
**Claimed Product:** N/A      
**Detection Name:** Win.Dropper.Coinminer::1201 

**SHA 256:** 59f1e69b68de4839c65b6e6d39ac7a272e2611ec1ed1bf73a4f455e2ca20eeaa     
**MD5:** df11b3105df8d7c70e7b501e210e3cc3     
**Typical Filename:** DOC001.exe     
**Claimed Product:** N/A     
**Detection Name:** Win.Worm.Coinminer::1201 

**SHA 256:** 5e537dee6d7478cba56ebbcc7a695cae2609010a897d766ff578a4260c2ac9cf   
**MD5:** 2cfc15cb15acc1ff2b2da65c790d7551   
**Typical Filename:** rcx4d83.tmp   
**Claimed Product:** N/A     
**Detection Name:** Win.Dropper.Pykspa::tpd 

**SHA 256:** 77c2372364b6dd56bc787fda46e6f4240aaa0353ead1e3071224d454038a545e   
**MD5:** 040cd888e971f2872d6d5dafd52e6194   
**Typical Filename:** tmp000c3787   
**Claimed Product:** Ultra Virus Killer   
**Detection Name:** PUA.Win.Virus.Ultra::95.sbx.tg

Why the toothbrush DDoS story fooled us all

By Deeba Ahmed
This is the first instance of an iOS trojan that has been found stealing facial data from victims.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: New iOS Trojan “GoldPickaxe” Steals Facial Recognition Data

Beware, as a new iOS trojan dubbed GoldPickaxe has emerged, capable of stealing banking data, ID documents, and even facial data from infected devices.

Group-IB has discovered a new iOS Trojan, dubbed GoldPickaxe.iOS designed to steal facial recognition data, identity documents, and intercept SMS. The company’s Threat Intelligence Unit has attributed the entire threat cluster to a threat actor dubbed GoldFactory.

The GoldPickaxe family has been active since mid-2023, targeting the Asia-Pacific region, specifically Thailand and Vietnam and the attack method involves impersonating local banks and government organizations.

As per Group-IB, the threat actor exploits stolen biometric data using AI-driven face-swapping services to create deepfakes, allowing unauthorized access to a victim’s banking account, which is a new monetary theft technique.

In this campaign, GoldFactory has successfully used Mobile Device Management (MDM) to manipulate Apple devices, distributing its iOS Trojan by abusing TestFlight. Victims receive seemingly innocent URLs (e.g. testflight.apple.com/join/) leading to the installation of malicious software.

Another sophisticated method is tricking victims into interacting with fraudulent websites to install an MDM profile, allowing cybercriminals complete control over the victim’s device.

Thailand Banking Sector CERT (TB-CERT) has also reported that cybercriminals are distributing malicious links via messengers to lure victims into a fraudulent app posing as a ‘Digital Pension’ app. The app’s credibility is doubtful as Group-IB’s investigation confirmed multiple versions of GoldPickaxe impersonating official Thai government services, including the Digital Pension app for Thailand.

Researchers believe that the group may be engaging operators proficient in Thai and Vietnamese or possibly running a call center since an SMS written in Thai was found in the phishing campaign. In Thailand, cybercriminals impersonate government authorities and convince victims to use LINE, a popular messaging application.

According to Group-IB’s blog post, the gang reportedly employs a combination of smishing and phishing techniques to carry out their malicious activities in Vietnam and Thailand. Despite evidence that it is a Chinese-speaking group, the involvement/role of local cybercriminals cannot be ruled out when calls made to victims are examined.

It is worth noting that Group-IB previously discovered an Android Trojan, codenamed GoldDigger, stealing facial data, targeting over 50 Vietnamese banking applications, electronic wallets, and cryptocurrency wallets since June 2023.

GoldDigger stealing facial data from Android devices (Group-IB)

The newly discovered GoldPickaxe family is based on the GoldDigger Android Trojan. However, researchers claim the infection chain for GoldPickaxe iOS variants is not significantly different for other Trojans within the GoldFactory family.

GoldPickaxe malware was developed using the same communication mechanism and cloud bucket URL as GoldDigger but has fewer functionalities compared to its Android sibling due to iOS’s closed nature and stricter permissions.

Both versions use fake login pages to access fake Digital pension applications, potentially avoiding detection. Another variant, GoldDiggerPlus, was also identified with extended GoldDigger’s functionality, allowing real-time call calls through a specially designed APK called GoldKefu. All Trojans identified are currently in the active stage of evolution.

“_Overall, we identified four Trojan families that were used by cybercriminals. We maintained the naming convention by using the prefix Gold for the newly discovered malware as a symbolic representation that they have been developed by the same threat actor_,” Group-IB researchers noted.

Researchers couldn’t identify the toolset GoldFactory uses, indicating that this is a highly organized and technically advanced group.

For your information, in March 2023, the Bank of Thailand mandated facial biometric verification for transactions exceeding 50,000 baht, and 200,000 baht per day, and raised credit transfer limits on mobile devices. As per Group-IB’s research, GoldPickaxe likely reached Vietnam in February 2024 when a Vietnamese citizen performed a facial recognition scan, withdrawing over 40,000 USD.

The State Bank of Vietnam plans to mandate facial authentication as a security measure for all money transfers from April 2024, indicating the potential exploitation of GoldPickaxe in the country. The use of GoldPickaxe in Vietnam is expected to increase assessed Group—IB.

_“GoldFactory is a resourceful team, having many tricks up their sleeve: impersonation, accessibility keylogging, fake banking websites, fake bank alerts, fake call screens, identity and facial recognition data collection. Equipped with diverse tools, they have the flexibility to select and execute the most suitable one that fits the scenario,”_ researchers noted.

The report highlights the growing cybersecurity threat and the sophisticated techniques used by cybercriminals. They have refined GoldDigger malware, introduced new categories for facial recognition data harvesting, and developed a tool for communication between victims and cybercriminals. Group-IB researchers emphasize the need for proactive, multi-faceted cybersecurity measures, including user education.

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5.  **Zero-Day iOS Exploit Chain Infects Devices with Predator Spyware**

New iOS Trojan “GoldPickaxe” Steals Facial Recognition Data

In 2023, the CL0P ransomware gang broke the scalability barrier and shook the security world with a series of short, automated campaigns.

In 2023, the CL0P ransomware gang broke the scalability barrier and shook the security world with a series of short, automated campaigns, hitting hundreds of unsuspecting targets simultaneously with attacks based on zero-day exploits. The gang’s novel approach challenged a bottleneck that makes it hard to scale ransomware attacks, and other gangs may try to replicate its approach in 2024.

Big game ransomware attacks are devastating but relatively rare compared to other forms of cyberattack. There were about 4,500 known ransomware attacks in 2023, although the true figure is probably twice that. These attacks extorted more than $1 billion in ransoms in 2023, according to blockchain data platform Chainalysis.

The potential riches are enormous and there’s no other form of cybercrime that’s so lucrative, so why aren’t we seeing more attacks? It doesn’t seem to be a lack of targets, in fact the evidence suggests that the gangs are picky about who they attack. The most likely reason is that each attack takes a lot of work. Broadly speaking, an attack requires a team of people that: Breaks in to an internet-connected computer, researches the target to see if they’re worth the effort of an attack, explores their network, elevates their privileges until they’re an all-conquering administrator, steals and stores terabytes of data, attacks security software and backups, positions ransomware, runs it, and then conducts negotiations.

Doing all of this efficiently requires people, tools, infrastructure, expertise, and experience, and that seems to make it a difficult business model to scale up. The number of known ransomware attacks a year is increasing steadily, by tens of percentage points rather than exploding by thousands. This suggests that most of the people who are drawn to this life of crime are probably already doing it, and there isn’t a vast pool of untapped criminal talent waiting in the wings.

Known ransomware attacks, July 2022-December 2023

Before 2023, cybercrime’s best answer to this scalability problem was Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), which splits the work between vendors that provide the malware and infrastructure, and affiliates that carry out the attacks.

CL0P found another way. It weaponised zero-day vulnerabilities in file transfer software, notably GoAnywhere MFT and MOVEit Transfer, and created automated attacks that plundered data from them. Hundreds of unsuspecting victims were attacked in a pair of short, sharp campaigns lasting a few days, leaving Cl0P as the third most active gang of the year, beating ransomware groups that were active in every month of 2023.

It remains to be seen if other gangs can or will follow CL0P’s lead. The repeated use of zero-days signaled a new level of sophistication for a ransomware gang and it may take a while for its rivals to catch up. However, the likes of LockBit—the most prolific group of them all—don’t want for resources so this is probably a matter of time and will, rather than a fundamental barrier.

There is also a question mark about how successful the attacks were. While automation allowed CL0P to increase its reach, it’s reported that a much lower percentage of victims paid a ransom than normal. However, ransomware incident response firm Coveware believes the group managed to compensate by demanding higher ransoms, earning the gang as much as $100 million.

Because of CL0P’s actions, the shape of ransomware in 2024 is in flux and organisations need to be ready. To learn more about how big game ransomware is evolving, the threat of zero-day ransomware, and how to protect against them, read our 2024 State of Malware report.

 How ransomware changed in 2023 

Microsoft has issued patches for 73 security vulnerabilities in its February 2024 Patch Tuesday.

Microsoft has issued patches for 73 security vulnerabilities in its February 2024 Patch Tuesday. Among these vulnerabilities are two zero-days that are reportedly being used in the wild.

The two zero-day vulnerabilities have already been added to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency’s catalog of  Known Exploited Vulnerabilities, based on evidence of active exploitation. This means that Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies need to remediate these vulnerabilities by March 5, 2024, in order to protect their devices.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database lists publicly disclosed computer security flaws. The zero-days patched in this round of updates are:

CVE-2024-21351 (CVSS score 7.6 out of 10): a Windows SmartScreen security feature bypass vulnerability. The vulnerability allows a malicious actor to inject code into SmartScreen and potentially gain code execution, which could potentially lead to some data exposure, lack of system availability, or both. An authorized attacker must send the user a malicious file and convince the user to open it.

CVE-2024-21412 (CVSS score 8.1 out of 10): an Internet Shortcut Files security feature bypass vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker could send the targeted user a specially crafted file that is designed to bypass displayed security checks. However, the attacker would have no way to force a user to view the attacker-controlled content. Instead, the attacker would have to convince them to take action by clicking on the file link.

The bypassed security feature in both cases is the Mark of the Web (MOTW), the technology that ensures Windows pops a warning message when trying to open a file downloaded from the Internet. When a file is downloaded, Windows adds a ZoneId in the form of an Alternate Data Stream to the file which is responsible for the warning message(s).

Another vulnerability worth keeping an eye on is CVE-2024-21413 (CVSS score 9.8 out of 10): a Microsoft Outlook remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability would allow an attacker to bypass the Office Protected View and to gain high privileges, which include read, write, and delete functionality. Microsoft notes that the Preview Pane is an attack vector. The update guide for this vulnerability lists a number of required updates before protection is achieved.

**Other vendors**

Other vendors have synchronized their periodic updates with Microsoft. Here are few major ones that you may find in your environment.

**Adobe** has released security updates to address vulnerabilities in several products:

*   Adobe Commerce and Magento
*   Adobe Substance 3D Painter
*   Adobe Acrobat and Reader
*   Adobe FrameMaker Publishing Server
*   Adobe Audition 
*   Adobe Substance 3D Designer

The **Android** Security Bulletin for February contains details of security vulnerabilities for patch level 2024-02-05 or later.

**Ivanti** has urged customers to patch yet another critical vulnerability.

**SAP** has released its February 2024 Patch Day updates.

**We don’t just report on vulnerabilities—we identify them, and prioritize action.**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep vulnerabilities in tow by using ThreatDown Vulnerability and Patch Management.

 Update now! Microsoft fixes two zero-days on February Patch Tuesday 

By Deeba Ahmed
QNAP has released fixes for the zero-day vulnerability, so it's important to install them immediately.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Zero-Day in QNAP QTS Affects NAS Devices Globally

Unit 42 researchers discovered a new vulnerability in QNAP devices on 7 November 2023, which was confirmed by the vendor on 19 December 2023, and a security advisory was released subsequently to provide guidance and recommendations.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42’s Advanced Threat Prevention (ATP) and telemetry systems identified a new zero-day vulnerability in QNAP QTS and QuTS hero firmware from the vendor QNAP. The vulnerability is tracked as **CVE-2023-50358** and affects QNAP Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices.

For your information, QNAP, a company specializing in NAS devices, is known for its QNAP Turbo NAS System (QTS) operating system, which is often embedded in the firmware of QNAP NAS devices.

In its **report** published on 13 February 2024, authors Chao Lei, Jeff Luo, and Zhibin Zhang explained that CVE-2023-50358 is a command injection vulnerability found in the quick.cgi component of QNAP QTS firmware that is accessible without authentication. The vulnerability occurs when the HTTP request parameter todo=set\_timeinfo is set, and the parameter SPECIFIC\_SERVER is saved into a configuration file /tmp/quick/quick\_tmp.conf with the entry name NTP Address.

The component then starts time synchronization using the ntpdate utility, and the command-line execution is ensured by reading the NTP Address in quick\_tmp.conf and system(). Untrusted data from the SPECIFIC\_SERVER parameter helps build a command line, which is executed in the shell, leading to arbitrary command execution.

It is worth noting that this vulnerability affects 289,665 separate IP addresses. The top five countries affected by the vulnerability are Germany, the United States, China, Italy, and Japan.

Proof of command-line execution and heatmap shows the most impacted countries. (Screenshot: Unit 42)

According to Unit 42 researchers threat actors constantly search for vulnerabilities in network-connected hosts, such as NAS devices because these can be exploited quickly. This is why ensuring foolproof security of these devices is necessary.

IoT devices are vulnerable to remote code execution vulnerabilities due to their low attack complexity and critical impact. To protect against these threats, QNAP recommends updating to the latest version of QTS or QuTScloud hero- QTS 5.1.5 or QuTS hero h5.1.5.

****List of Affected Devices****

*   QTS 5.1.x
*   QTS 5.0.1
*   QTS 5.0.0
*   QTS 4.5.x
*   QTS 4.3.6
*   QTS 4.3.4
*   QTS 4.3.x
*   QTS 4.2.x
*   QuTS hero h5.1.x
*   QuTS hero h5.0.1
*   QuTS hero h5.0.0
*   QuTS hero h4.x

QNAP has **released** a security advisory, advising affected organizations to follow mitigation instructions or apply firmware updates. 

“Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported to affect several QNAP operating system versions. If exploited, the OS command injection vulnerabilities could allow users to execute commands via a network.”

In its advisory, the vendor noted fixing two vulnerabilities, CVE-2023-47218 and CVE-2023-50358 and explained how to implement the fixes.

“If you do not want to install a fully fixed version for your device, you can still mitigate the vulnerabilities by installing a partially fixed version. However, note that the vulnerabilities still exist during the installation process of a partially fixed version. The vulnerabilities only disappear after installation is complete.”

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Zero-Day in QNAP QTS Affects NAS Devices Globally

A newly disclosed security flaw in the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen has been exploited as a zero-day by an advanced persistent threat actor called Water Hydra (aka DarkCasino) targeting financial market traders.
Trend Micro, which began tracking the campaign in late December 2023, said it entails the exploitation of CVE-2024-21412, a security bypass vulnerability related to Internet

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#zero_day