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102
They have focused most of their efforts on planting crypto-mining malware on cloud servers in an effort to mine Monero coins, but we have also seen them utilize DDoS IRC bots, steal cloud account credentials, and exfil data.
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As you can see from the above diagram, all of these are end goals for most attacks.
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Speaking of data exfil, in the first half we saw APT actors utilize cloud-based file storage to exfiltrate their stolen data.
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For example, we found that Conti operators use the cloud storage synchronization tool Rclone to upload files to the Mega cloud storage service.
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Similarly, DarkSide operators used Mega client for exfiltrating files to cloud storage, 7-Zip for archiving, and PuTTY application for network file transfers.
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This use of known, legitimate tools is not new; we call that “living off the land” and have seen this tactic pick up recently, including usage by ransomware actors.
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Many organizations now need to look at ways of monitoring legitimate tools usage within their networks to identify any malicious uses.
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Cloud Security Architecture
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When developing your cloud security architecture and strategy, it is important to always keep the ends in mind.
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In this case, what are the motivation and end goals of an attacker?
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As you see in the image above, most cloud attacks are going to fall into one of these areas.
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Depending on what you are doing as part of your cloud infrastructure, you should be able to identify if any or all of these end goals could be targeted in your environment.
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From there, you can work backwards to develop your strategy for protecting those initial access areas tied to the different attacks.
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A challenge many organizations face is that the cloud isn’t simple, and many of the technologies that make up the cloud are new, with new features being deployed all the time.
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Understanding how these work and – more importantly – how to secure them can be very difficult.
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Utilizing a security platform approach can help build your cloud to be more secure, but educating your architects and administrators will also help.
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One key area is hardening your cloud account credentials, as these will be regularly targeted by malicious actors.
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Using multi-factor authentication to access all accounts can minimize this risk tremendously.
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Take a look at Trend Micro Cloud One, part of our complete cybersecurity platform, to learn more.
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The cloud is only one aspect of our full 1H 2021 report.
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To get more details on all the different threats and attacks we observed, download and read the full report here.
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Tags Cloud | Cyber Crime | Expert Perspective | Cyber Threats | APT & Targeted Attacks | Network | Articles, News, Reports
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Cybercriminals have embraced the anonymous nature of cryptocurrency as a new preferred method of profit.
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Unit 42 released details about attackers hijacking web browsers to mine for compute resources and exchange for cryptocurrency.
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With the increasing value of cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin and Ethereum, and a better business model with higher returns than malware- and exploit-type attacks, it’s no surprise these types of attacks are becoming more commonplace.
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Cybercriminals will compromise a website and abuse a legitimate tool on that site to gain access to the compute resources of site visitors’ systems.
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Using this access, attackers will essentially steal compute resources and exchange them for cryptocurrency credit.
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This all occurs without the users’ consent or knowledge throughout the duration of their site visits.
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The malicious activity itself doesn’t cause long-term damage to systems, and ends as soon as users leave the malicious or compromised site.
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Additionally, the site will still provide users with its normal, intended functionality.
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However, users likely experience a noticeable slowdown in system performance.
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If you believe your system is being affected by this type of attack, leaving the site or closing your browser will, in most cases, end the attack.
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Additionally, you should practice good cybersecurity hygiene.
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This means avoiding unfamiliar websites, clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown email senders, keeping products updated with the latest security patches, enabling multi-factor authentication, and using reputable security products.
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In our updated report on ransomware from Unit 42, “Ransomware: Unlocking the Lucrative Criminal Business Model,” Unit 42 researcher Bryan Lee notes: “In 2016, it was thought that there were less than one hundred active ransomware variants out in the wild.
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Today, the number of total ransomware variants at least over 150, if not hundreds more.” It’s reasonable to ask why ransomware continues not only to exist but to thrive.
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The first answer to this, as we’ve outlined in our report, is that ransomware is a lucrative cybercriminal business model.
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However, in addition to the human factor, there are technical reasons.
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Specifically, there are three things that combine to make ransomware a particularly potent threat on the technical level:
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In some ways, these three points state the obvious.
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But the full ramifications and why these make ransomware hard to stop aren’t always discussed.
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The way ransomware works is well documented, but let’s recap here.
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Ransomware is downloaded to a user’s system and executed on it.
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The way the attackers get the ransomware on the system varies: it can be through unpatched vulnerabilities, social engineering or both.
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The most common way ransomware operators levy attacks is through email or by web browsing to malicious or compromised sites.
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The overwhelming majority of ransomware attacks are against Microsoft Windows systems.
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Once malware is running on the user’s system, it seeks out and encrypts files and folders that hold information critical for the user, such as documents, business applications or even database files.
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In some cases, the ransomware is sophisticated enough to target specific application files.
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Most importantly, because the ransomware is executing with the compromised user’s privileges, any file the legitimate, now-compromised user has access to, including network shares and backups, is fair game for the ransomware.
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It’s this last point that gets to the heart of why ransomware is so potent.
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From an operating system point of view, the ransomware IS the user.
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Even though Microsoft Windows today features a robust user access control system, that system has inherent limitations.
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In the early days of Window Vista, Microsoft enabled aggressive security checking to ensure user-initiated actions were legitimate.
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This was well-intentioned but ultimately backfired: users got fed up clicking “Are you sure?” dialog boxes and quickly disabled the feature, or just mindlessly clicked “OK” every time they saw it.
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Microsoft made reasonable adjustments so that these alerts are now raised sparingly.
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Although that feature was never enabled to protect user data files like ransomware targets, there is a clear lesson from the experience: too many security checks on user activity fails in the end.
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Bringing that lesson to bear here, the only way the operating system could protect against ransomware would be to raise “Are you sure?” dialog boxes on everyday operations against the kinds of files that ransomware targets.
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And this is where the second point comes to bear.
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Unlike other forms of malware, ransomware is very specific in its targeting.
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It goes after the files users are most likely to care about.
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These also happen to be files users are most likely to use on a day-to-day basis or that are critical to an organization’s operations.
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Extra layers of protection for those files would be incredibly onerous.
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Imagine having to click through “Are you sure?” dialog boxes for every document or picture you opened in a day.
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From an engineering point of view, this sole, specific targeting of files that matter significantly increases the chances of ransomware’s success.
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This brings us to the third point: there is little attack time wasted on files that don’t matter to the victim.
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Even a successful ransomware attack that is halted early by security software will achieve some level of damage – enough to make the victim consider paying the ransom to get the files back.
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If user32.dll were encrypted and unusable, it would be a problem.
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But when your organization’s overall accounting and audit report is inaccessible right before the big deadline, that’s catastrophic.
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The net of these three points is that ransomware is a threat such that focus needs to be placed solely around prevention.
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There is no effective solution for ransomware at the operating system level, as outlined above.
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And unlike other attacks, ransomware attacks can’t succeed “just a little.”
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In some cases, a single file lost is more than enough to count as a fully successful attack.
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In some ways, ransomware is a threat unlike any other.
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Its impact and scope are both broad and deep in ways that are unique.
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Because of that, from a risk assessment point of view, ransomware needs to be put in a class by itself – a class that acknowledges that the risks from a successful attack of any kind are very high.
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Over the past several weeks, Russia-Ukraine cyber activity has escalated substantially.
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Beginning on Feb. 15, a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks commenced.
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These attacks have continued over the past week, impacting both the Ukrainian government and banking institutions.
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On Feb. 23, a new variant of wiper malware named HermeticWiper was discovered in Ukraine.
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Shortly after, a new round of website defacement attacks were also observed impacting Ukrainian government organizations.
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Consistent with our previous reporting on the topic, several western governments have issued recommendations for their populations to prepare for cyberattacks that could disrupt, disable or destroy critical infrastructure.
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We have already observed an increase in Russian cyber activity, which we reported on in our initial Threat Brief published last month and our recent report on the Gamaredon group.
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Future attacks may target U.S. and Western European organizations in retaliation for increased sanctions or other political measures against the Russian government.
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We recommend that all organizations proactively prepare to defend against this potential threat.
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This post was substantially updated on Feb. 24 to add information on the recent DDoS attacks, HermeticWiper malware and website defacement; update our recommendations for how organizations should prepare for potential cyber impact; and provide additional details for our customers and clients on how we can help.
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This post was substantially updated March 31 to add information on phishing and scam attacks, cybersquatting trends, fake donation websites, DoS attacks on Ukrainian news sites and distribution of malicious binaries.
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Full visualization of the techniques observed, relevant courses of action and indicators of compromise (IoCs) related to this report can be found in the Unit 42 ATOM viewer. We will continue to provide updates with new information and recommendations as they become available.
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DDoS Attacks Impacting Ukrainian Government and Banking Institutions HermeticWiper Malware Website Defacement Rise in Phishing and Scam Attacks Increase in Cybersquatting Trends Fake Donation Websites DoS Attacks on Ukrainian News Sites Distribution of Apps How Palo Alto Networks Is Working to Keep You Safe How You Should Prepare for an Increase in Cyberthreats Such as Wipers, DDoS, Website Defacement and Other Related Attacks How Unit 42 Threat Intelligence and Security Consulting Can Help Additional Cybersecurity Resources Indicators of Compromise
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Appendix A: Cortex Xpanse: Identifying Assets That May Be Impacted by CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities
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On Feb. 15, the Cyberpolice of Ukraine reported that residents were actively receiving fake SMS text messages.
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These messages were likely intended to cause alarm among the population, as they claimed that ATMs were malfunctioning.
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Shortly after the text messages were observed, several DDoS attacks occurred.
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These attacks impacted Ukrainian government organizations including the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Armed Forces of Ukraine and the publicly funded broadcaster Ukrainian Radio.
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