Skip to content
RealinfoSec.net

RealinfoSec.net

InfoSec News, Cybersecurity Awareness

  • Home
  • InfoSec News
    • Data Breach News
    • Latest Vulnerabilities
  • What Is InfoSec
  • CyberSecurity Newsletter
  • Cyber Academy
  • Cyber Help Desk
  • Cyber Knowledge Base
  • Contact Us
    • Contribute
  • My Bookmarks
  • Subscribers
    • Knowledge Quizzes
    • Register
  • Login
    • Password Reset
  • Register
  • Privacy Policy
    • Legal
  • Toggle search form
russia

Russian Hackers Repurpose Decade-Old Malware Infrastructure to Deploy New Backdoors

Posted on 8 January 20238 January 2023 By RiSec.Mitch No Comments on Russian Hackers Repurpose Decade-Old Malware Infrastructure to Deploy New Backdoors

Russian cybercriminals known as the Turla group have repurposed an old malware infrastructure to deploy new backdoors and infect victims’ systems. The group, which has been active since at least 2007, is known for its sophisticated campaigns targeting government and diplomatic organizations, as well as private sector companies.

In this recent campaign, the hackers were able to compromise the infrastructure of an older malware strain, allowing them to use it to launch new attacks and evade detection. The Turla group is known for its ability to leverage a wide range of tools and techniques to carry out its operations, and this latest campaign underscores the group’s continued evolution and adaptability.

The servers were taken over by a variation of a common virus dubbed ANDROMEDA (also known as Gamarue), according to Google-owned Mandiant, which is monitoring the operation under the uncategorized cluster identifier UNC4210. This malware was posted to VirusTotal in 2013.

“UNC4210 re-registered at least three expired ANDROMEDA command-and-control (C2) domains and began profiling victims to selectively deploy KOPILUWAK and QUIETCANARY in September 2022,” Mandiant researchers said in an analysis published last week.

Turla, also known by the names Iron Hunter, Krypton, Uroburos, Venomous Bear, and Waterbug, is an elite nation-state outfit that primarily targets government, diplomatic, and military organizations using a large set of custom malware.

Since the onset of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the adversarial collective has been linked to a string of credential phishing and reconnaissance efforts aimed at entities located in the country.

To allegedly “assist” pro-Ukrainian hacktivists in launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) assaults against Russian websites, Turla allegedly developed a malicious Android app in July 2022, according to Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG).

Recommended:  US Police Warn of Parking Meters with Fake QR Codes

The most recent discovery from Mandiant demonstrates how Turla has been covertly appropriating prior infections as a malware distribution strategy, in addition to profiting on ANDROMEDA’s ability to spread via infected USB keys.

“USB spreading malware continues to be a useful vector to gain initial access into organizations,” the threat intelligence firm said.

In the incident analyzed by Mandiant, an infected USB stick is said to have been inserted at an unnamed Ukrainian organization in December 2021, ultimately leading to the deployment of a legacy ANDROMEDA artifact on the host upon launching a malicious link (.LNK) file masquerading as a folder within the USB drive.

The threat actor then repurposed one of the dormant domains that were part of ANDROMEDA’s defunct C2 infrastructure – which it re-registered in January 2022 – to profile the victim by delivering the first-stage KOPILUWAK dropper, a JavaScript-based network reconnaissance utility.

Two days later, on September 8, 2022, the attack proceeded to the final phase with the execution of a .NET-based implant dubbed QUIETCANARY (aka Tunnus), resulting in the exfiltration of files created after January 1, 2021.

The tradecraft employed by Turla dovetails with prior reports of the group’s extensive victim profiling efforts coinciding with the Russo-Ukrainian war, potentially helping it tailor its follow-on exploitation efforts to harvest the information of interest to Russia.

It’s also one of the rare instances where a hacking unit has been identified targeting victims of a different malware campaign to meet its own strategic goals, while also obscuring its role.

“As older ANDROMEDA malware continues to spread from compromised USB devices, these re-registered domains pose a risk as new threat actors can take control and deliver new malware to victims,” the researchers said.

Recommended:  Malicious Telegram Installer Drops Purple Fox Rootkit

“This novel technique of claiming expired domains used by widely distributed, financially motivated malware can enable follow-on compromises at a wide array of entities. Further, older malware and infrastructure may be more likely to be overlooked by defenders triaging a wide variety of alerts.”

COLDRIVER Targets U.S. Nuclear Research Labs#

The findings also come as Reuters reported that another Russian state-sponsored threat group codenamed COLDRIVER (aka Callisto or SEABORGIUM) targeted three nuclear research labs in the U.S. in early 2022.

To that end, the digital assaults entailed creating fake login pages for Brookhaven, Argonne, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories in an attempt to trick nuclear scientists into revealing their passwords.

The tactics are consistent with known COLDRIVER activity, which recently was unmasked spoofing the login pages of defense and intelligence consulting companies as well as NGOs, think tanks, and higher education entities in the U.K. and the U.S.

Suggest an edit to this article

Cybersecurity Knowledge Base

Homepage

Remember, CyberSecurity Starts With You!

  • Globally, 30,000 websites are hacked daily.
  • 64% of companies worldwide have experienced at least one form of a cyber attack.
  • There were 20M breached records in March 2021.
  • In 2020, ransomware cases grew by 150%.
  • Email is responsible for around 94% of all malware.
  • Every 39 seconds, there is a new attack somewhere on the web.
  • An average of around 24,000 malicious mobile apps are blocked daily on the internet.
Bookmark

Please login to bookmark

Social Comments Box
  • About
  • Latest Posts
RiSec.Mitch
Just your average information security researcher from Delaware US.
Latest posts by RiSec.Mitch (see all)
  • Google Open-Source Vulnerability Scanning Tool - 18 January 2023
  • Polymorphic Malware Produced by ChatGPT - 18 January 2023
  • Russian Hackers Repurpose Decade-Old Malware Infrastructure to Deploy New Backdoors - 8 January 2023
Recommended:  Hackers leak Australian health records on dark web
Share the word, let's increase Cybersecurity Awareness as we know it

No related articles.

InfoSec News Tags:hackers, russian, Turla

Post navigation

Previous Post: Dridex Banking Malware Targets MacOS users with a new delivery method
Next Post: Polymorphic Malware Produced by ChatGPT

Related Posts

westminster UK: Foreign Office tells Britons in Ukraine to leave country now InfoSec News
e0ceba771b945ff0111295a729d80d72 $5.2 billion worth of Bitcoin transactions possibly tied to ransomware InfoSec News
apple Safari 15 Vulnerability Allows Cross-Site Tracking of Users InfoSec News
google acquiring mandiant Google is acquiring security intelligence firm Mandiant for $5.4B InfoSec News
ncsc national cyber security Hackers are targeting this ‘easy target’. Here’s how to protect yourself InfoSec News
2FA 2FA Authenticator on GooglePlay Store loaded well-known banking trojan InfoSec News

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RiSec Captcha 1 + 2 =

AbuseIPDB Contributor Badge

Follow Our Socials:

Latest InfoSec News

Data Breach News InfoSec News

JD Sports: Cyber Attack affects 10 million customers

RiSec.n0tst3
30 January 2023 0
what is infosec
Cybersecurity Academy

InfoSec – A Newbie Guide – InfoSecurity

RiSec.n0tst3
25 January 2023 0
google
Cybersecurity Academy How to

Google Open-Source Vulnerability Scanning Tool

RiSec.Mitch
18 January 2023 0
InfoSec News

Polymorphic Malware Produced by ChatGPT

RiSec.Mitch
18 January 2023 0
russia
InfoSec News

Russian Hackers Repurpose Decade-Old Malware Infrastructure to Deploy New Backdoors

RiSec.Mitch
8 January 2023 0
latest cybersecurity news
InfoSec News

Dridex Banking Malware Targets MacOS users with a new delivery method

RiSec.Mitch
8 January 2023 0
ransomware
InfoSec News

Microsoft Discloses Methods Employed by 4 Ransomware Families Aiming at macOS

RiSec.Mitch
8 January 2023 0
InfoSec News

$8 billion in cryptocurrency withdrawals strike US bank Silvergate

RiSec.Mitch
8 January 2023 0

Featured Posts

cve-2022-38970
Data Security Featured How to InfoSec News Vulnerabilities

ieGeek Security Vulnerabilities still prevalent in 2022 IG20

RiSec.n0tst3
28 August 2022 6
Data Security Featured InfoSec News

Hacking Campaign Steals 10,000 Login Credentials From 130 Different Organizations

RiSec.n0tst3
27 August 2022 0
DDoS
Featured InfoSec News

Google mitigates largest DDoS Attack in History – Peaked at 46 Million RPS

RiSec.n0tst3
19 August 2022 1
Security researcher contacted me
Cybersecurity Academy Featured How to

A Security Researcher Contacted Me – What should I do?

RiSec.n0tst3
30 June 2022 0
google chrome
Featured InfoSec News

Google Chrome extensions can be easily fingerprinted to track you online

RiSec.n0tst3
19 June 2022 0
MFA
Cybersecurity Academy Data Security Featured

3 Steps To Better Account Security

RiSec.n0tst3
21 February 2022 0
hardening vps security
Cybersecurity Academy Featured

HARDEN YOUR VPS: Steps to Hardening your VPS Security

RiSec.n0tst3
10 January 2022 2

Share the joy

Copyright © 2022 RealinfoSec.net. CyberSecurity News & Awareness. All Trademarks, Logos And Brand Names Are The Property Of Their Respective Owners

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of the cookies. Cookie & Privacy Policy
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
en English
af Afrikaanssq Albanianam Amharicar Arabichy Armenianaz Azerbaijanieu Basquebe Belarusianbn Bengalibs Bosnianbg Bulgarianca Catalanceb Cebuanony Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)zh-TW Chinese (Traditional)co Corsicanhr Croatiancs Czechda Danishnl Dutchen Englisheo Esperantoet Estoniantl Filipinofi Finnishfr Frenchfy Frisiangl Galicianka Georgiande Germanel Greekgu Gujaratiht Haitian Creoleha Hausahaw Hawaiianiw Hebrewhi Hindihmn Hmonghu Hungarianis Icelandicig Igboid Indonesianga Irishit Italianja Japanesejw Javanesekn Kannadakk Kazakhkm Khmerko Koreanku Kurdish (Kurmanji)ky Kyrgyzlo Laola Latinlv Latvianlt Lithuanianlb Luxembourgishmk Macedonianmg Malagasyms Malayml Malayalammt Maltesemi Maorimr Marathimn Mongolianmy Myanmar (Burmese)ne Nepalino Norwegianps Pashtofa Persianpl Polishpt Portuguesepa Punjabiro Romanianru Russiansm Samoangd Scottish Gaelicsr Serbianst Sesothosn Shonasd Sindhisi Sinhalask Slovaksl Slovenianso Somalies Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilisv Swedishtg Tajikta Tamilte Teluguth Thaitr Turkishuk Ukrainianur Urduuz Uzbekvi Vietnamesecy Welshxh Xhosayi Yiddishyo Yorubazu Zulu