Unsurprisingly, it seems like AI was the talk of the town.

Thursday, August 17, 2023 14:08

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Threat Source newsletter.

I had a significant amount of FOMO last week seeing everyone out in Vegas. (I was happy to not get conference crud sickness, but it seems like I missed a great time otherwise.)

But, as anyone who works with me could guess, I was following closely online through social media and news reporting. If you’re in the same boat as me and couldn’t attend BlackHat or DEF CON in person, I wanted to use this space to recap what I felt were the top stories and headlines coming out of the various new research that was published, talks, interviews and more.

Unsurprisingly, it seems like AI was the talk of the town. One panel, which featured the former Cyber Czar in the Obama administration, promised coming action from the Biden administration around AI and its intersection with cybersecurity, including an executive order that apparently will be as broad as earlier orders around the U.S.’ broader approach to security.

There were many other panels and talks around AI, along with questions about whether the technology has plateaued after so many companies developed their own ChatGPT-like.

I was also fascinated by several interviews and talks from an FBI official about distributed denial-of-service attacks. I’ve written before about how there’s a renewed interest in DDoS attacks recently, especially those targeting high-profile companies and games.

Two high-ranking government officials gave a joint talk at Black Hat where they said the majority of DDoS attacks are the result of a dispute over business transactions or good ‘ol fashioned video game beef.

The same presenters gave additional details on how the FBI prioritizes stopping DDoS attacks. Chances are, if you’re a bad actor who makes the news for DDoS attacks, the federal government is not far behind.

I also always love the crazy vulnerabilities or hacking methods that come out of both these conferences. A highlight for me was a group of researchers who found a way to hijack one of the most popular automatic card shufflers (fitting for Vegas) to the point that someone could know the order of cards ahead of time in a gambling game.

I’m not quite sure what the actual attack surface is here because the potential hacker would need to install a tiny physical USB device into the shuffler, and I don’t think any casino worker would be thrilled to see you crawling around on the floor, but I do always love to see the downside of putting a USB port on everything.

And there was the brief, but confusing, saga at DEFCON about the pop-up notifications iPhone users were getting asking people to pair with a rogue Apple TV. Turns out it was a harmless prank from one of the attendees, who just wanted to drive home the point that it’s important to really turn off Bluetooth all the way, and not just click the little button in the Control Center.

Lastly, we wanted to thank Viktor Zhora, the deputy chairman and chief digital transformation officer at the State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection for Ukraine, for taking the time to say “Hi” to us on the show floor. He specifically took time out of his day to make sure he could meet Matt Olney, who’s been one of our leaders in helping support Ukraine. Viktor was a speaker at BlackHat and had a very busy schedule of media appearances, so we were flattered that he made sure to see Matt.

**The one big thing**

Since AI was already the talk of the town at Black Hat and DEF CON, we wanted to continue the conversation around tehse tools and the implications on cybersecurity. As one of our incident responders wrote in the latest in our “On the Radar” series, AI’s influence is growing across the security space, bringing with it major implications for cybercriminals and defenders. The recent adoption of AI has raised significant concerns for cybersecurity due to the many ways that criminals can use AI for disruption and profit.

**Why do I care?**

AI can help streamline criminals' operations, making them more efficient, sophisticated, and scalable while allowing them to evade detection and attribution. AI presents another avenue for cybercriminals to exploit by utilizing it to analyze enormous amounts of information, including leaked data. This analysis empowers them to identify vulnerabilities or high-value targets, enabling more precise and effective attacks that could potentially yield greater financial gains. For defenders, though, AI also opens the door to new defensive tactics and tools, so it’s important to see the positives and negatives of AI in security.

**So now what?**

There is no real action for the average user to take at this point, but I feel this piece is a good opportunity for everyone to take a step back about what we currently know, and don’t know, about AI and its intersection with security.

**Top security headlines of the week**

**Two police precincts in the U.K. had mistakenly been leaking the personal information of individuals connected to crimes for years.** The UK's Norfolk and Suffolk police constabularies disclosed that, between April 2021 and March 2022, the information was accidentally attached to crime statistics distributed as part of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The data includes personally identifiable information related to witnesses, suspects and victims of a variety of crimes, including domestic violence, assaults, thefts and hate crimes. The forces say they are now contacting more than 1,200 people who may have been affected. Representatives from the two departments said in a statement that, “Strenuous efforts have been made to determine if the data released has been accessed by anyone outside of policing. At this stage we have found nothing to suggest that this is the case.” (CSO Online, Politico)

Viktor Zhora, one of Ukraine’s top cybersecurity officials, said at Black Hat that **his country is taking several steps to document what may constitute war crimes committed by Russian state-sponsored actors.** Zhora said that attacks affecting critical infrastructure and communications for civilians could fall under such umbrellas and his team is actively collecting evidence as the kinetic military conflict continues. Speaking alongside Zhora, Jen Easterly, the U.S.’ top cybersecurity official, said the U.S. has learned several lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including the importance of assistance from private cybersecurity companies. (CyberScoop, The Record)

**Several years’ worth of Intel chips contains a newly discovered flaw known as “Downfall,”** which is like the Meltdown and Spectre bugs from several years ago. Identified as CVE-2022-40982, the issue could allow the CPU to “unintentionally reveal internal hardware registers to software,” according to a write-up from Google’s security research team. Proof of concept code shows that an attacker could use Downfall to steal encryption keys from other users on a given server and other sensitive data. Downfall affects most CPUs in Intel's 6th through 11th-generation Core lineups for consumer PCs. Most of the affected devices were sold starting in 2015 and may still be available in systems today. Intel’s patch for the issue negatively affects the performance of the CPUs, with some studies finding that performance could dip to 40 percent. (Ars Technica, PC World)

**Can’t get enough Talos?**

*   Cisco XDR: from detection and response to continuity after a cyberattack
*   As Ransomware Gangs Shift To Data Extortion, Some Adopt A New Tactic: ‘Customer Service’
*   Talos Takes Ep. #150: What's the difference between data theft extortion and ransomware?

**Upcoming events where you can find Talos**

**Grace Hopper Celebration (Sept. 26 - 29)**

Orlando, Florida

> _Caitlin Huey, Susan Paskey and Alexis Merritt present a "Level Up Lab" titled "Don’t Fail Knowledge Checks: Accelerating Incident Response with Threat Intelligence." Participate in several fast-paced activities that emphasize the importance of threat intelligence in security incident investigations. Attendees will act as incident responders investigating a simulated incident that unfolds throughout this session. Periodic checkpoints will include discussions that highlight how incident response and threat intelligence complement each other during an active security investigation._

**ATT&CKcon 4.0** **(Oct. 24 - 25)**

McLean, Virginia

> Nicole Hoffman and James Nutland discuss the MIRE ATT&CK framework in “One Leg to Stand on: Adventures in Adversary Tracking with ATT&CK.” Even though ATT&CK has become an industry standard for cyber threat intelligence reporting, all too often, techniques are thrown at the bottoms of reports and blogs without any context never to be seen again after dissemination. This is not useful for intelligence producers or consumers. In this presentation, Nicole and James will show analysts how to use ATT&CK as a guideline for creating a contextual knowledge base for adversary tracking.

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

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

**SHA 256:** 00ab15b194cc1fc8e48e849ca9717c0700ef7ce2265511276f7015d7037d8725  
**MD5:** d47fa115154927113b05bd3c8a308201  
**Typical Filename:** mssqlsrv.exe  
**Claimed Product:** N/A  
**Detection Name:** Trojan.GenericKD.65065311

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

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

**SHA 256:** 1c25a55f121d4fe4344914e4d5c89747b838506090717f3fb749852b2d8109b6  
**MD5:** 4c9a8e82a41a41323d941391767f63f7  
**Typical Filename:** !!Mreader.exe  
**Claimed Product:** N/A  
**Detection Name:** Win.Dropper.Generic::sheath

Recapping the top stories from Black Hat and DEF CON

A major area of impact of AI tools in cybercrime is the reduced need for human involvement in certain aspects of cybercriminal organizations.

Monday, August 14, 2023 08:08

*   AI’s influence is growing across the security space, bringing with it major implications for cybercriminals and defenders.
*   The recent adoption of AI has raised significant concerns for cybersecurity due to the many ways that criminals can use AI for disruption and profit.
*   Defenders and law enforcement can use AI to strengthen cybersecurity and counteract illicit activities.

The past decade has seen a massive adoption in machine learning and artificial intelligence. An increasing number of organizations have been leveraging such technologies to automate their operations and make their products and services better.

Despite the extensive use of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) by organizations for some time now, many users have first interacted with such technologies over the past few months in the form of generative AI helping users to generate text, code, images and other digital assets with the provision of limited input. The likes of ChatGPT have brought AI to the top of the public’s mind, fueling an intensive race for AI development.

As with any innovation, the use of AI is expected to have positive and negative effects on global culture as we know it, but I suspect that cybercrime will be one of the areas most affected. On the negative side, AI can help streamline criminals' operations, making them more efficient, sophisticated, and scalable while allowing them to evade detection and attribution. Concerning the positive impact of AI on cybersecurity, defenders, and law enforcement, can use AI to counteract advancements in illicit activity by developing new tools, tactics and strategies to automate data analysis, perform predictive detection of illicit activity and perform more effective attribution of criminal activity.

It is important to acknowledge that the AI use cases discussed in this blog encompass a range of varying complexities to achieve for both criminals and defenders. Certain use cases can be accomplished using readily available AI-enabled tools, while others demand advanced technical skills, costly infrastructure, and considerable time investments.

**Empowering cybercrime**

Cybercriminals are expected to benefit in many ways from advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

A major area of impact of AI tools in cybercrime is the reduced need for human involvement in certain aspects of cybercriminal organizations, such as software development, scamming, extortions, etc., which in turn will decrease the need to recruit new members and lower operational costs due to the reduced need for headcount. While crime-related "job" postings typically find their way onto dark web forums and other anonymous channels, striving to ensure author anonymity, this practice carries significant risks as it could potentially unveil the identities and operations of criminals to whistleblowers and undercover law enforcement agents.

AI presents another avenue for cybercriminals to exploit by utilizing it to analyze enormous amounts of information, including leaked data. This analysis empowers them to identify vulnerabilities or high-value targets, enabling more precise and effective attacks that could potentially yield greater financial gains. Big data analytics is a complex undertaking necessitating significant processing power and thereby limiting its application to potentially large criminal organizations and state-sponsored actors capable of harvesting such power.

Another area of criminal activity that can thrive with AI is the development of more sophisticated phishing and social engineering attacks. This includes the creation of remarkably realistic deepfakes, deceitful websites, disinformation campaigns, fraudulent social media profiles and AI-powered scam bots. To illustrate the impact, consider an incident from 2020 wherein an AI-powered voice cloning attack successfully impersonated a CEO, resulting in the theft of more than $240,000 from a UK-based energy company. Similarly, in India criminals employed a machine learning model to analyze and mimic the writing style of a victim's email contacts to create highly personalized and persuasive phishing emails.

The utilization of AI is anticipated to also be prevalent among state-sponsored actors and prominent criminal organizations, to propagate disinformation and manipulate the public. Such tactics involve the creation and dissemination of deceptive content, including deep fakes, voice cloning, and the deployment of bots. Evidence of such practices already exists by a cybercriminal group employing AI for social media manipulation and spreading disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. This campaign relied on machine learning to identify emerging trends and generate highly convincing fake news articles.

The advancement of malware can also be impacted by allowing authors to streamline the process with the help of AI, enabling the creation of sophisticated and more adaptable malware. Allowing AI-powered malware to employ advanced techniques to evade detection by security solutions, utilizing "self-metamorphic" mechanisms rendering them capable of changing their operations based on the environment they operate in. Furthermore, criminals can potentially harness AI technology in the development of AI-powered malware development kits. These kits employ AI agents that learn from the latest tools, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) employed by malware authors, as well as stay updated with the latest advancements in security. An example of AI-powered malware is demonstrated by the researchers behind DeepLocker. Showcased how AI can be used to enhance targeted attacks, ensuring exploitation only when the intended target is present and to evade detection by concealing itself within benign applications.

**Counteracting cybercrime**

On the other side, cybersecurity professionals, defenders, and law enforcement agencies can harness the power of AI to counteract the advancements made in cybercrime. They can utilize AI to develop innovative tools, tactics, and strategies in their fight against malicious activities.

Areas such as threat detection and prevention will be at the forefront of AI security research. Many existing security tools, heavily rely solely on malicious signatures and user input, which render them ineffective for detecting advanced attacks. Consequently, an increasing number of vendors are turning to machine learning (ML) and AI technologies to achieve more precise and effective threat detection. Prominent examples include Cisco Secure Endpoint and Cisco Umbrella utilizing advanced machine learning to detect and mitigate suspicious behavior in an automated manner on end hosts and networks respectively. The inclusion of these technologies is likely to counter the malware being generated by AI discussed above.

Analysis of large amounts of data for the identification of indicators of compromise can be a tedious undertaking, consuming considerable time and money. As such, one area that can benefit from AI is Incident response and forensics for the automated analysis of large volumes of logs, system images, network traffic and user behavior for the identification of indicators of compromise (IOCs) and adversarial activity. AI can help speed up the investigation process, identify patterns that may be difficult to detect manually, and provide insights into the techniques and tools used by adversaries. Allowing more companies globally to have incident response and forensic capabilities.

Another potential use for AI by defenders and law enforcement alike is to enhance the attribution of criminal activity to adversaries through the analysis of multiple data points, including attack signatures, malware characteristics, and historical attack patterns, tools, tactics, and procedures. By examining these data sets, AI can identify patterns and trends that aid cybersecurity experts in narrowing down the potential origin of an attack. This attribution is valuable as it provides insights into the motives and capabilities of the attackers, allowing for a better understanding of their tactics and potential future threats. In addition, it allows defenders to more accurately identify adversaries that are leveraging tactics to evade identification by misleading attribution (e.g., use techniques, methodologies and tools another hacking group is using), which is an existing occurrence that defenders must consider when performing attribution. Such capabilities are primarily expected to be witnessed in the arsenal of state-affiliated cyber agencies as well as on a corporate level from threat intelligence providers.

ML algorithms and AI are set to expand their utilization for automated analysis and the identification of threats. Through the automated analysis of security-related data from multiple sources like threat intelligence feeds, dark web monitoring, and open-source intelligence, emerging threats can be identified and mitigated effectively. Cisco Talos has been leveraging AI for several years to automate threat intelligence operations such as the classification of similarly rendered web pages, identify spoofing attempts through logo analysis, phishing email classification based on text analytics and binary similarities analysis. Although existing work around emerging threats has proven to be highly effective, AI will further the area by allowing for more automate data collection, analysis, and correlation on a larger scale, facilitating the identification of patterns and trends that may signify new attack techniques or threat actors. This empowers cybersecurity professionals to proactively respond to emerging cyber threats by leveraging AI's ability to process and interpret vast amounts of data swiftly and accurately.

AI can also serve as a valuable tool for predictive analytics, enabling the anticipation of potential cyber threats and vulnerabilities based on historical data and patterns. By analyzing data from past attacks and adversaries, AI systems can identify common trends, patterns, or groups that may indicate or trigger future attacks. This capability empowers cybersecurity experts to take a more proactive stance to security, such as promptly patching vulnerabilities or implementing supplementary security controls, to mitigate potential risks before they are exploited by adversaries. Additionally, AI-driven predictive analytics allows for closer monitoring of adversaries' activities, enabling experts to anticipate and prepare for new attacks. By leveraging AI in this manner, cybersecurity professionals can enhance their defenses and stay one step ahead of evolving threats. A sizable number of cybercrime predictive research exists, highlighting how to practically use AI to support cybercrime research, as well as how to perform predictive analysis based on social and economic factors using the Bayesian and Markov Theories.

The rise of AI presents new challenges and great opportunities as its user base and applications continue to expand. The effective and targeted utilization of AI-related technologies will play a pivotal role for cybersecurity experts and law enforcement agencies in detecting, defending against, and attributing digital criminal behavior. By harnessing the power of AI, these entities can enhance their capabilities in combating evolving threats and ensuring the security of digital ecosystems. As the landscape of cybercrime evolves, embracing AI will be instrumental in staying ahead of adversaries.

The rise of AI-powered criminals: Identifying threats and opportunities

With BlackHat and “Hacker Summer Camp” going on over the next few weeks, this seems like the right time to step back and reflect on what’s happened so far this year.

Thursday, August 10, 2023 14:08

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Threat Source newsletter.

Between the Talos Takes episode last week and helping my colleague Hazel with the Half-Year in Review, I realized how much I had already forgotten about 2023 already.

It’s been a whirlwind, personally and professionally, and I think it’s important for the security community to take a step back occasionally, to look back on what’s already happened in a year and what that tells us about the coming months.

For me, in reading the Year in Review so far and reflecting on it on the podcast, I had completely forgotten about supply chain attacks. I personally think the MOVEit file transfer breach, and follow-on breaches and compromises, has been placed on the back burner because it’s almost too big for us to even conceive of. At this point, nearly every Fortune 500 company has been affected by this in some way.

The dangers of the MOVEit breach continue to grow, with Clop now using torrents to leak targets’ information, potentially making the leaks more dangerous and faster for bad actors to download.

The list of affected organizations grows every day, with the Clop ransomware group adding more names to its leak site, and public companies having to make disclosures about potential data leaks or theft. Yet the news around this seems to have been relegated to regular news posts about, “Company X just got added to the Clop leak site” rather than reflecting on the dangers of supply chain attacks.

I’ve written before about how we aren’t talking about supply chain attacks enough already, and this year alone we’ve seen MOVEit (which, in my opinion, kind of straddles the line as a “traditional” supply chain attack because it’s more of a data breach with more follow-on data breaches), 3CX, and another attack against CircleCI, a continuous integration platform vendor.

3CX was a big deal in the moment, but looking at the Half-Year in Review, I feel like we moved past it so quickly. Instead, headlines are still dominated by ransomware attacks and big-game hunting, which are certainly no less important on the security landscape — but it is so easy to get swept up in the day’s goings-on by looking for the latest, fastest updates on security social media.

With BlackHat and “Hacker Summer Camp” going on over the next few weeks, this seems like the right time to step back and reflect on what’s happened so far this year. This could include just taking time to look back on personal successes, team wins, or just one or two things that happened in February that you may have already forgotten about.

**The one big thing**

Our researchers recently discovered an unknown threat actor, seemingly of Vietnamese origin, conducting a ransomware operation that’s been going on since at least June 4. This ongoing attack uses a variant of the Yashma ransomware likely to target multiple geographic areas by mimicking WannaCry characteristics. The threat actor uses an uncommon technique to deliver the ransom note. Instead of embedding the ransom note strings in the binary, they download the ransom note from the actor-controlled GitHub repository by executing an embedded batch file.

**Why do I care?**

This new actor appears to target users and companies all over the world, including a variety of English-speaking nations, Bulgaria, China and Vietnam. Victims hit with this malware are asked to pay a requested ransom in the form of Bitcoin, an amount that doubles if it’s not made within three days post-infection. This Yashma variant also appears to be harder to recover from than the average ransomware — after encrypting files, the ransomware wipes the contents of the original, unencrypted file and then replaces the file name with a “?”.

**So now what?**

Cisco Secure Endpoint users can use Orbital Advanced Search to run complex OSqueries to see if their endpoints are infected with this specific threat. For specific OSqueries on this threat, click here. There are also numerous protections in place to detect and defend against this malware, as outlined in our blog post.

**Top security headlines of the week**

**Dozens of hospitals and healthcare facilities across the U.S. are still recovering after a large healthcare system was forced to take its computer systems offline** as the result of a ransomware attack. Prospect Medical Holdings, a chain that operates hospitals and outpatient facilities, in California, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, first disclosed the incident last week, announcing it was having to shut down some emergency rooms and reroute ambulances to other facilities. The FBI announced it was launching an investigation into the cause, and actors behind, the attack. Some outpatient facilities, like radiology and heart health clinics, had to close altogether temporarily because they could not function without the use of the company’s computer systems. (CBS News, NBC News)

**Cult of the Dead Cow, an infamous hacking group once known for shaming companies into improving their security, is planning to launch a new app framework that puts privacy first.** The system will allow individuals and companies to create social media and messaging apps that do not hold onto users’ personal data. Traditional social media companies make a large chunk of their profits off selling that information to advertisers and other companies looking to reach certain demographics. Representatives from the hacking collective are expected to discuss the framework more at the upcoming DEF CON conference. Creators say the framework uses the in-house “Veilid” protocol for end-to-end encryption that could make it difficult for even governments to view information on the apps without proper authorization. However, they still face the challenge of convincing developers and companies to design apps that are compatible with Veilid. (Washington Post, DarkReading)

**The U.K.’s Electoral Commission revealed this week it was the target of a “complex cyber attack”** that potentially exposed the personal details of millions of British voters. The Commission said adversaries stole copies of the electoral registers from August 2021, but the breach was not discovered until October 2022. However, they’ve yet to “conclusively” determine what files, exactly, were accessed. An early report on the attack from the Electoral Commission found that the personal data found on the registers did not present a “high risk” to the individuals listed on it. However, that information could be paired with other public information or stolen data from other attacks to “identify and profile individuals.” The adversaries were removed from the network as soon as the breach was discovered in October. (Infosecurity Magazine, BBC)

**Can’t get enough Talos?**

*   What Cisco Talos knows about the Rhysida ransomware
*   Code leaks are causing an influx of new ransomware actors
*   The Need to Know: What is commercial spyware?
*   Six critical vulnerabilities included in August’s Microsoft security update
*   Cisco Talos Discusses Flaws in SOHO Routers Post-VPNFilter
*   Suspected Vietnamese hacker targets Chinese, Bulgarian organizations with new ransomware
*   Sloppy security from cybercriminals is creating a new generation of ransomware gangs

**Upcoming events where you can find Talos****Upcoming events where you can find Talos**

**BlackHat (Aug. 5 - 10)**

Las Vegas, Nevada

**Grace Hopper Celebration** **(Sept. 26 - 29)**

Orlando, Florida

> _Caitlin Huey, Susan Paskey and Alexis Merritt present a "Level Up Lab" titled "Don’t Fail Knowledge Checks: Accelerating Incident Response with Threat Intelligence." Participate in several fast-paced activities that emphasize the importance of threat intelligence in security incident investigations. Attendees will act as incident responders investigating a simulated incident that unfolds throughout this session. Periodic checkpoints will include discussions that highlight how incident response and threat intelligence complement each other during an active security investigation._

**ATT&CKcon 4.0 (Oct. 24 - 25)**

McLean, Virginia

> Nicole Hoffman and James Nutland discuss the MIRE ATT&CK framework in “One Leg to Stand on: Adventures in Adversary Tracking with ATT&CK.” Even though ATT&CK has become an industry standard for cyber threat intelligence reporting, all too often, techniques are thrown at the bottoms of reports and blogs without any context never to be seen again after dissemination. This is not useful for intelligence producers or consumers. In this presentation, Nicole and James will show analysts how to use ATT&CK as a guideline for creating a contextual knowledge base for adversary tracking.

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

**SHA 256:** 1c25a55f121d4fe4344914e4d5c89747b838506090717f3fb749852b2d8109b6  
**MD5:** 4c9a8e82a41a41323d941391767f63f7  
**Typical Filename:** !!Mreader.exe  
**Claimed Product:** N/A  
**Detection Name:** Win.Dropper.Generic::sheath

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

**SHA 256:** 7bf7550ae929d6fea87140ab70e6444250581c87a990e74c1cd7f0df5661575b  
**MD5:** f5e908f1fac5f98ec63e3ec355ef6279  
**Typical Filename:** IMG001.exe  
**Claimed Product:** N/A  
**Detection Name:** Win.Dropper.Coinminer::tpd

Reflecting on supply chain attacks halfway through 2023

Seven of the vulnerabilities included in today’s Vulnerability Roundup have a CVSS severity score of 9.8 out of a possible 10.

Wednesday, August 9, 2023 12:08

Cisco Talos recently worked with two vendors to patch multiple vulnerabilities in a favored software library used in chemistry laboratories and the Foxit PDF Reader, one of the most popular PDF reader alternatives to Adobe Acrobat.

Attackers could exploit these vulnerabilities to carry out a variety of attacks, in some cases gaining the ability to execute remote code on the targeted machine.

Seven of the vulnerabilities included in today’s Vulnerability Roundup have a CVSS severity score of 9.8 out of a possible 10.

For Snort coverage that can detect the exploitation of these vulnerabilities, download the latest rule sets from Snort.org, and our latest Vulnerability Advisories are always posted on Talos Intelligence’s website.

**Multiple vulnerabilities in Open Babel software**

Talos researchers recently discovered multiple vulnerabilities in Open Babel, an open-source software library used in a variety of chemistry and research settings.

Open Babel allows users to “search, convert, analyze, or store data from molecular modeling, chemistry, solid-state materials, biochemistry, or related areas,” according to its website, and is used in other popular pieces of software in the science field. Therefore, there are cases where these vulnerabilities are accessible via the internet.

The vulnerabilities Talos disclosed to the operators of Open Babel can all be triggered by tricking a user into opening a specially crafted, malformed file. Depending on the platform and on how the code is compiled, these vulnerabilities could lead to arbitrary code execution:

*   TALOS-2022-1664 (CVE-2022-43607)
*   TALOS-2022-1665 (CVE-2022-46289, CVE-2022-46290)
*   TALOS-2022-1666 (CVE-2022-46292, CVE-2022-46295, CVE-2022-46294, CVE-2022-46293, CVE-2022-46291)
*   TALOS-2022-1667 (CVE-2022-41793)
*   TALOS-2022-1668 (CVE-2022-42885)
*   TALOS-2022-1669 (CVE-2022-44451)
*   TALOS-2022-1670 (CVE-2022-46280)
*   TALOS-2022-1671 (CVE-2022-43467)
*   TALOS-2022-1672 (CVE-2022-37331)

Talos is disclosing these vulnerabilities despite no official fix from Open Babel. The vendor declined to release an update within the 90-day period as outlined in Cisco’s vulnerability disclosure policy.

**Several issues in Foxit PDF reader could lead to arbitrary code execution**

Foxit PDF Reader is one of the most popular PDF readers on the market, offering many similar features to Adobe Acrobat. The software also includes a browser extension that allows users to read PDFs right in their web browsers.

Talos discovered multiple vulnerabilities in Foxit PDF Reader that could allow an adversary to execute , arbitrary code on the targeted machine. An attacker could exploit these issues by tricking a user into opening a specially crafted PDF document or, if the user has the browser extension enabled, by visiting a malicious web page:

*   TALOS-2023-1739 (CVE-2023-28744)
*   TALOS-2023-1756 (CVE-2023-27379)
*   TALOS-2023-1757 (CVE-2023-33866)
*   TALOS-2023-1795 (CVE-2023-32664)
*   TALOS-2023-1796 (CVE-2023-33876)

Out-of-bounds write vulnerabilities in popular chemistry software; Foxit PDF Reader issues could lead to remote code execution

As the victims of commercial spyware are highly targeted individuals, the sobering truth is that some attackers have the means to be able to spend six figures to compromise a single target.

Wednesday, August 9, 2023 08:08

We’ve talked quite a bit about spyware recently, with very good reason. Recently, concerns have grown regarding the rapid growth of commercial spyware tools, and the way in which they are being used against their intended victims.

This Need to Know article talk about the broader effects of spyware becoming more commercialized, how it is being used, and the differences between commercial spyware and digital extortion.

**What is commercial spyware, and why is it a growing trend?**

In general terms, spyware is software that can be installed on a device and used to monitor activity and/or capture potentially sensitive data. The term has been around since the 1990s, and the first spyware to be identified was developed by criminals to steal passwords or financial information from devices.  Spyware can even be used to track the device's physical location and record from the camera or microphone.

The opportunities for governments and law enforcement to use spyware as part of legal investigations led to the development of commercial spyware.  Attackers have long used commercial products developed by legitimate companies to compromise targeted devices.

These products are known as commercial spyware. Commercial spyware operations mainly target mobile platforms with zero- or one-click zero-day exploits to deliver spyware.

Commercial spyware can be seen as having legitimate reasons to exist, especially in instances of crime and terrorism (as long as it is highly regulated). The problem is that there isn’t a universal or global way in which these companies are being regulated.

As such, we’ve seen a growing number of reports of victims who are targeted with commercial spyware. These victims are not criminals or terrorists, but instead, they are associated with activism. For example, there have been reports of journalists who report on human rights abuses, and activists shining a light on oppressive regimes, who have been targeted and compromised with this tooling.

Problems also arise when organizations turn a blind eye to the usage of commercial spyware.

A recent report from the United Kingdom’s National CyberSecurity Center (NCSC) highlights how the accessibility of these tools “lowers the barrier to entry to state and non-state actors in obtaining capability and intelligence.” The United States government also threatened to step in when it looked like a U.S. company was going to purchase NSO Group, an infamous Israeli maker of the Pegasus spyware.

**What ways can you protect yourself if you might be a target of commercial spyware?**

As the victims of commercial spyware are highly targeted individuals, the sobering truth is that some attackers have the means to be able to spend six figures to compromise a single target. It is therefore likely that they will try many things to compromise your mobile phone, including using zero-day attacks or unknown vulnerabilities.

That is very concerning to us, however, there are a couple of things that end users can look out for:

Although zero-click exploits do exist, they're not very common. Most of the time, unsolicited messages from various people are the first entry point. So, if you get a bunch of messages from strangers, don't click on the links, and don’t click on any attachments.

Additionally, something as simple as rebooting your phone can help clear the spyware from your device. This is because commercial spyware companies typically do not build persistence into their spyware.

If you are talking to someone who may be a target of commercial spyware (i.e., human rights journalists, activists, dissidents and lawyers) it’s a good idea to reboot your phone before you talk to them. It is entirely possible that these threat actors will go as far as compromising close contacts of their targets.

**Notable example of commercial spyware**

Talos provided a highly informative article on the PREDATOR commercial spyware, which has been around since 2019.

PREDATOR is intended to work with another spyware component called “ALIEN” (it’s not “Alien vs. Predator” this time; they’re working together). They work to bypass traditional security barriers on the Android operating system and provide a variety of information stealing, surveillance and remote access capabilities.

**The differences between commercial spyware and digital extortion attacks**

You may have received an email something like, “We know you’ve visited this adult website. We filmed you watching some videos. Now we’re going to send all your friends and family that footage unless you pay us in bitcoins.”

These are typically digital extortion attacks, not actual spyware. Attackers send these emails to multiple accounts, hoping that someone will believe the story, and pay up.

As we’ve talked about, commercial spyware is highly targeted. The customers of these commercial spyware organizations know who their victim(s) are. In digital extortion attacks, cyber criminals generally don’t know who their victims are, but they’re hoping as many people as possible believe the story, and pay up.

They will usually have found your email address via a data breach of a third party. If you receive such an email, just delete it and don’t give it a second thought. The email you received will be one of many thousands.

**What is Cisco doing to take action against the growth of commercial spyware?**

Cisco, Microsoft, and other tech companies have joined in supporting Meta's lawsuit against the NSO Group referenced above through court filings. Cisco was also a key drafter of the Cyber Mercenary Principles document adopted by the Cyber Tech Accord. The document acknowledges the threat realized by these commercial offerings and outlines the steps that organizations are taking to help limit the impacts of commercial spyware.

**Learn more**

Researchers at Cisco Talos recently wrote an ‘On the Radar’ article about the growth of spyware-based intelligence providers, without legal or ethical supervision. The article also looks to the untethered future of commercial spyware and contains advice about what to do if you feel you have been targeted with spyware - especially if you have a higher risk profile (i.e., journalists and dissidents).

Also check out this episode of the Talos Takes podcast, where Asheer Malhotra talks to Jon Munshaw about the dangers of spyware and mercenary groups.

What is commercial spyware?

The group appears to commonly deploy double extortion — of the victims that have been listed on the leak site, several of them have had some portion of their exfiltrated data exposed.

Tuesday, August 8, 2023 15:08

Cisco Talos is aware of the recent advisory published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warning the healthcare industry about Rhysida ransomware activity.

As we've discussed recently, there has been huge growth in the ransomware and extortion space, potentially linked to the plethora of leaked builders and source code related to various ransomware cartels. This is just another example of how these groups can now quickly develop their own ransomware variants by standing on the shoulders of those criminals who had their previous work exposed publicly. Rhysida appears to have first popped up back in May, with several high-profile compromises posted on their leak site.

**Rhysida ransomware details**

As we commonly see in the ransomware space, this threat is delivered through a variety of mechanisms which can include phishing and being dropped as secondary payloads from command and control (C2) frameworks like Cobalt Strike. These frameworks are commonly delivered as part of traditional commodity malware, so infection chains can vary widely.

The group itself likes to pretend to be a cybersecurity organization as shown in the ransom note below. They claim to have compromised the company and are willing to help resolve the issue.  These types of approaches are not uncommon — historically, groups have done things like provide "security reports" to compromised organizations to help them "resolve the issue."

Sample ransom note.

The group appears to commonly deploy double extortion — of the victims that have been listed on the leak site, several of them have had some portion of their exfiltrated data exposed.

**Encryption algorithm**

Rhysida’s encryption algorithm is relatively straightforward and uses the ChaCha20 encryption algorithm. We have seen this algorithm deployed by other groups before, either as a standalone encryption algorithm or as part of a more custom approach. Rhysida will enumerate through directories and files in directories starting from “A:” to “Z:” drives, ensure they’re missing from the “exclude list” and then “process,” i.e., encrypt the files. Once encrypted, the file is then renamed to “<filename>.rhysida”.

Rhysida’s algorithm for “processing” files.

The file exclusion list maintained in Rhysida samples is most of the usual system directories required for the operating system to function:

Excluded folders.

Excluded extensions include:

.bat .bin .cab .cmd .com .cur .diagcab .diagcfg, .diagpkg .drv .dll .exe .hlp .hta .ico .lnk .msi .ocx .ps1 .psm1 .scr .sys .ini Thumbs.db .url .iso .cab

After encryption, the ransomware will display the ransom note by creating and opening it as a PDF and the background wallpaper. The PDF usually named  “CriticalBreachDetected.pdf” is generated using content embedded in the ransomware binary, including the skeleton PDF and the ransom note (shown above). The ransom note is also used to generate a message in the form of the background wallpaper typically located at “C:/Users/Public/bg.jpg”.

This new ransomware variant doesn't have any novel features or functionality and points to the challenges organizations are facing as the landscape continues to shift and a plethora of new actors join their ranks. This isn't even the only new ransomware group we've written about this week.

**Coverage**

Ways our customers can detect and block this threat are listed below.

Cisco Secure Endpoint (formerly AMP for Endpoints) is ideally suited to prevent the execution of the malware detailed in this post. Try Secure Endpoint for free here.

Cisco Secure Email (formerly Cisco Email Security) can block malicious emails sent by threat actors as part of their campaign. You can try Secure Email for free here.

Cisco Secure Firewall (formerly Next-Generation Firewall and Firepower NGFW) appliances such as Threat Defense Virtual, Adaptive Security Appliance and Meraki MX can detect malicious activity associated with this threat.

Cisco Secure Network/Cloud Analytics (Stealthwatch/Stealthwatch Cloud) analyzes network traffic automatically and alerts users of potentially unwanted activity on every connected device.

Cisco Secure Malware Analytics (Threat Grid) identifies malicious binaries and builds protection into all Cisco Secure products.

Umbrella, Cisco’s secure internet gateway (SIG), blocks users from connecting to malicious domains, IPs and URLs, whether users are on or off the corporate network. Sign up for a free trial of Umbrella here.

Cisco Secure Web Appliance (formerly Web Security Appliance) automatically blocks potentially dangerous sites and tests suspicious sites before users access them.

Additional protections with context to your specific environment and threat data are available from the Firewall Management Center.

Cisco Duo provides multi-factor authentication for users to ensure only those authorized are accessing your network.

Open-source Snort Subscriber Rule Set customers can stay up to date by downloading the latest rule pack available for purchase on Snort.org.

Cisco Talos is releasing the following Snort SIDs to protect against this threat: 62220 - 62229, 300653 - 300657.

**Indicators of compromise**

D5C2F87033A5BAEEB1B5B681F2C4A156FF1C05CCD1BFDAF6EAE019FC4D5320EE  
1A9C27E5BE8C58DA1C02FC4245A07831D5D431CDD1A91CD35D2DD0AD62DA71CD  
258DDD78655AC0587F64D7146E52549115B67465302C0CBD15A0CBA746F05595  
0BB0E1FCFF8CCF54C6F9ECFD4BBB6757F6A25CB0E7A173D12CF0F402A3AE706F  
F6F74E05E24DD2E4E60E5FB50F73FC720EE826A43F2F0056E5B88724FA06FBAB  
250E81EEB4DF4649CCB13E271AE3F80D44995B2F8FFCA7A2C5E1C738546C2AB1  
A864282FEA5A536510AE86C77CE46F7827687783628E4F2CEB5BF2C41B8CD3C6  
6903B00A15EFF9B494947896F222BD5B093A63AA1F340815823645FD57BD61DE  
3BC0340007F3A9831CB35766F2EB42DE81D13AEB99B3A8C07DEE0BB8B000CB96  
2A3942D213548573AF8CB07C13547C0D52D1C3D72365276D6623B3951BD6D1B2

What Cisco Talos knows about the Rhysida ransomware

The only vulnerability Microsoft states is being exploited in the wild is CVE-2023-38180, a denial-of-service vulnerability in .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio.

Tuesday, August 8, 2023 15:08

Microsoft disclosed 73 vulnerabilities across its suite of products and software Tuesday, including six that are considered “critical.”

One of the vulnerabilities, which Microsoft considers to be only of "moderate" severity, has been actively exploited in the wild. The company has had to address many zero-day vulnerabilities in its monthly security updates this year, including four last month and one in May. Microsoft also released an advisory detailing changes to its defense-in-depth model to defend against tactics adversaries are currently using in the wild.

Outside of the six critical issues, two are considered to be of “moderate” severity, while the remainder are listed as “important.”

Two of the critical vulnerabilities lie in Microsoft Teams, the company’s popular collaboration and messaging platform. An attacker could exploit CVE-2023-29328 and CVE-2023-29330 to perform remote code execution in the context of the victim user.

An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by tricking the victim into joining an adversary-created Teams meeting.

Three other critical remote code execution vulnerabilities — CVE-2023-35385, CVE-2023-36910 and CVE-2023-36911 — exist in Microsoft’s message queuing service for certain versions of Windows 10, 11 and Windows Server.

Message queuing would need to be manually enabled on a target’s machine for it to be exploitable, according to Microsoft. Users can check to see if they’re vulnerable by checking if there is a service named “Message Queuing” running on their device and if port 1801 is listening on the machine.

The last critical vulnerability included in August’s Patch Tuesday is CVE-2023-36895, a remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft word. However, it has a relatively low severity score of 7.8 out of 10 for a critical vulnerability.

Microsoft Exchange also contains four remote code execution vulnerabilities, though all are considered “important.”

An authenticated attacker who is on the same intranet as the Exchange Server could achieve remote code execution via a PowerShell remoting session, according to Microsoft, by exploiting CVE-2023-35388, CVE-2023-35368, CVE-2023-38182 and CVE-2023-38185.

An adversary could only exploit the vulnerabilities in Exchange Server if they have valid credentials to log in with LAN access and have access to a valid Exchange user account.

There are also four elevation of privilege issues in the Windows kernel that could allow an adversary to gain SYSTEM-level privileges: CVE-2023-35359, CVE-2023-35380, CVE-2023-35382 and CVE-2023-35386.

Microsoft’s advisories state that these issues are “more likely” to be exploited, though the adversary must first have local access to the targeted machine, and the targeted user needs to be able to create folders and performance traces on the machine, which most users have by default.

Another privilege escalation vulnerability, CVE-2023-36900, exists in the Windows Common Log File System Driver. An attacker could also exploit this vulnerability to gain SYSTEM-level privileges, though they first must be able to log into the targeted system with the privileges of a standard user.

The only vulnerability Microsoft states is being exploited in the wild is CVE-2023-38180, a denial-of-service vulnerability in .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio. Though there are little details available currently about this issue, Microsoft states that the attack complexity is “low” and does not require any user privileges or interaction for an attacker to exploit it.

Talos would also like to highlight five “important” vulnerabilities that Microsoft considers “less likely” to be exploited. However, as these issues exist in the popular Microsoft Office suite of products and could lead to remote code execution, are still worth noting:

*   CVE-2023-35371
*   CVE-2023-35372
*   CVE-2023-36865
*   CVE-2023-36866
*   CVE-2023-36896

A complete list of all the vulnerabilities Microsoft disclosed this month is available on its update page.

In response to these vulnerability disclosures, Talos is releasing a new Snort rule set that detects attempts to exploit some of them. Please note that additional rules may be released at a future date and current rules are subject to change pending additional information. Cisco Secure Firewall customers should use the latest update to their ruleset by updating their SRU. Open-source Snort Subscriber Rule Set customers can stay up to date by downloading the latest rule pack available for purchase on Snort.org.

The rules included in this release that protect against the exploitation of many of these vulnerabilities are 40689, 40690, 62202, 62203, 62208 - 62211, 62215 and 62216. There are also Snort 3 rules are 300648 - 300650 and 300652.

Six critical vulnerabilities included in August’s Microsoft security update

Cisco Talos is seeing an increasing number of ransomware variants emerge, since 2021,  leading to more frequent attacks and new challenges for cybersecurity professionals, particularly regarding actor attribution.

Monday, August 7, 2023 08:08

Ransomware gangs are consistently rebranding or merging with other groups, as highlighted in our 2022 Year in Review, or these actors work for multiple ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) outfits at a time, and new groups are always emerging.

This trend is already continuing this year. Since 2021, there have been multiple leaks of ransomware source code and builders — components that are essential to creating and modifying ransomware. This has had a significant effect on the threat landscape, giving unsophisticated actors the ability to easily generate their own ransomware with little effort or knowledge. As more actors enter this space, Cisco Talos is seeing an increasing number of ransomware variants emerge, leading to more frequent attacks and new challenges for cybersecurity professionals, particularly regarding actor attribution.

**Code leaks are benefitting threat actors**

Since September 2021, we have seen actors publicly disclosing source code and builders for prominent ransomware families, including Babuk, Conti, LockBit 3.0 and Chaos. In some cases, such as LockBit 3.0’s ransomware builder, these leaks have been intentional, with affiliates posting these tools and codes to protest against broader group policies they are unhappy with. In other instances, such as the Babuk source code, the leaks were seemingly an operational error. Regardless of the cause, these leaks are having a significant effect on the threat landscape, making it easier for novice or unskilled actors to develop their own ransomware variants without much effort or knowledge.

Ransomware source code is a malicious program that contains the instructions and algorithms that define the ransomware’s behavior. It is usually complex and often requires skilled technicians to create. Therefore, having access to such code allows threat actors with minimum programming knowledge to modify and compile their own ransomware variants.

Ransomware builders usually have a user interface that allows users to choose the underlying features and customize the configurations to build a new ransomware binary executable without exposing the source code or needing a compiler installed. The availability of such builders allows novice actors to generate their own customized ransomware variants. An example of a leaked Chaos ransomware builder V5 is shown in the picture below.

When ransomware source code or builders are leaked, it becomes easier for aspiring cybercriminals who lack the technical expertise to develop their own ransomware variants by making only minor modifications to the original code. Additionally, by using leaked source code, threat actors can confuse or mislead investigators, as security professionals may be more likely to misattribute the activity to the wrong actor.

**New variants based on leaked code are becoming more common**

We have continued seeing various malicious campaigns since the start of 2023, where the threat actors have used new ransomware variants based on leaked source code or builders. Early this year, Talos discovered a new ransomware family called MortalKombat generated by the leaked Xorist ransomware builder. Xorist ransomware, which operates under the RaaS model, has a builder called “Encoder Builder v.24” that is available on underground forums. Based on our research, we discovered an unknown threat actor using MortalKombat ransomware since December 2022 to target individuals and smaller companies. This campaign has a multi-stage attack chain that begins with a phishing email delivered to victims impersonating CoinPayments, a legitimate global cryptocurrency payment gateway.

In April, Talos discovered a new ransomware actor, RA Group, conducting double extortion attacks using their ransomware variant based on leaked Babuk source code. Babuk, a Russian ransomware group that emerged in 2021, has conducted a series of high-profile ransomware attacks across various industries, including government, healthcare, logistics, and professional services. Since an alleged member of the Babuk group leaked the full source code of its ransomware in September 2021, several new variants based on the leaked code have emerged, with many appearing in 2023, including ESXiArgs, Rorschach and RTM Locker, in addition to RA Group. RA Group, in its ongoing campaigns, has targeted the U.S., South Korea, Taiwan, the U.K. and India across several business verticals, including manufacturing, wealth management, insurance providers, pharmaceuticals and financial management consulting companies.

Most recently, Talos observed a surge in new ransomware strains emerging from the Yashma ransomware builder. Yashma ransomware builder, which first appeared in May 2022, is a rebranded version of the Chaos ransomware builder V5, which was leaked in April 2022. Since early 2023, we have seen several new Yashma strains emerge, including ANXZ, Sirattacker, and Shadow Men Team. Shadow Men Team — whose name we derived from a translation of their Hindi name in the ransom note — appears to be a new actor in the ransomware space. The actors appear to target victims in Kuwait, as the ransom note demands payment in Kuwaiti dinar before translating that sum to its U.S. dollar equivalent in Bitcoin.

Another new actor we discovered, seemingly of Vietnamese origin, uses a Yashma ransomware variant to target victims in Bulgaria, China, Vietnam and other countries. The campaign started in at least June 2023, and the ransom note appears to mimic certain aspects of the ransom note used in the global WannaCry attacks from 2017.

**Actors repurposing leaked code are demanding low ransom payments  
**

Cybercriminals leveraging leaked code and builders are seemingly more conservative in their ransom demands, a possible indication that they are lone wolf operators, proceeding cautiously as they test their new variants or are new players in this space. Actors behind many of these new ransomware variants, including Sirattacker, Chaos 2.0, Chaos 4.0, DCrypt, and Shadow Men Team, are demanding payments ranging from USD $3.50 to $4,390 in Bitcoin from victims. These ransom demands are significantly lower than those made by many well-known ransomware gangs like RYUK, Babuk, REvil, Conti, DarkSide, BlackMatter, BlackCat, and Yanluowang, which are typically in the millions of dollars. These more profitable groups usually operate under the RaaS model, meaning their affiliates are free to set their own (often high) ransom demands, and/or are structured so they pay their operators and developers, thereby driving up the amount of money they seek to take in during the course of their operations.

Below is a comparison of ransom demands made by actors using leaked code or builders and well-known ransomware gangs.

**Opportunities for security researchers and defenders**

While these changes in the threat landscape have largely benefitted threat actors, security researchers and defenders also have an advantage with access to the leaked code. It allows security researchers to analyze the source code and understand the attacker’s tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), which helps security professionals develop effective detection rules and enhance security products' capabilities in combating ransomware threats.

By analyzing the source code, researchers can identify similar patterns and techniques used by different threat actors, providing defenders with a way to proactively detect and block the new variants at the initial stage of an attack. Security researchers can also share the intelligence information derived from the leaked code with the broader security community, thereby contributing to strengthening the cybersecurity space. By understanding the TTPs of the leaked source codes, defenders will gain invaluable insights that are helpful in identifying and mitigating any existing security weakness in their environment and improving their security defense against these attack vectors.

Code leaks are causing an influx of new ransomware actors

Cisco Talos discovered an unknown threat actor, seemingly of Vietnamese origin, conducting a ransomware operation that began at least as early as June 4, 2023 with customized Yashma ransomware.

Monday, August 7, 2023 08:08

*   Cisco Talos discovered an unknown threat actor, seemingly of Vietnamese origin, conducting a ransomware operation that began at least as early as June 4, 2023.
*   This ongoing attack uses a variant of the Yashma ransomware likely to target multiple geographic areas by mimicking WannaCry characteristics.
*   The threat actor uses an uncommon technique to deliver the ransom note. Instead of embedding the ransom note strings in the binary, they download the ransom note from the actor-controlled GitHub repository by executing an embedded batch file.

**Threat actor analysis**

Talos assesses with high confidence that this threat actor is targeting victims in English-speaking countries, Bulgaria, China and Vietnam, as the actor’s GitHub account, “nguyenvietphat,” has ransomware notes written in these countries’ languages. The presence of an English version could indicate the actor intends to target a wide range of geographic areas.

Talos assesses with moderate confidence that the threat actor may be of Vietnamese origin because their GitHub account name and email contact on the ransomware notes spoofs a legitimate Vietnamese organization’s name. The ransom note also asks victims to contact them between 7 and 11 p.m. UTC+7, which overlaps with Vietnam’s time zone. We also spotted a slight difference in the Vietnamese language ransom note, as it starts with, “Sorry, your file is encrypted!” in contrast to the others that begin with, “Oops, your files are encrypted!” By saying “sorry,” the threat actor may have intended to show a heightened sensitivity toward victims in Vietnam, which could indicate the attackers themselves are Vietnamese.

We further assess the threat actor began this campaign around June 4, 2023, because they joined GitHub and created a public repository called “Ransomware” on that date, which overlaps with the compilation date of the ransomware binary. In the repository, they added ransom note text files in five languages: English, Bulgarian, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

GitHub repository that contains ransom notes.

**Ransom note**

The actor demands the ransom payment in Bitcoins to the wallet address “bc1qtd4qv0wmgtu2rdr0wr8tka2jg44cgmz04z5mc7” and they double the ransomware price if the victim fails to pay within three days, according to our ransomware note analysis. The actor has an email address, “nguyenvietphat\[.\]n\[at\]gmail\[.\]com,” for the victims to contact them. At the time of our analysis, we had not observed any Bitcoin in the wallet, and the ransom note did not specify an amount, indicating the ransomware operation might still be in a nascent stage.

The ransom note text resembles the well-known WannaCry ransom note, possibly to obfuscate the threat actor’s identity and confuse incident responders.

The ransom note for WannaCry ransomware.

Ransom notes samples of the Yashma variant.

After encryption, the Yashma ransomware variant sets the wallpaper on the victim’s machine, as seen in the image below. It seems that the operator downloaded this picture from www\[.\]FXXZ\[.\]com and embedded it in the Yashma variant binary. The wallpaper set by the Yashma variant in the victim’s machine also mimics the WannaCry ransomware.

Yashma variant wallpaper (left) and WannaCry wallpaper (right).

**Customized Yashma ransomware variant**

The actor deployed a variant of Yashma ransomware, which they compiled on June 4, 2023.  Yashma is a 32-bit executable written in .Net and a rebranded version of Chaos ransomware V5, which appeared in May 2022. In this variant, most of Yashma’s features remained unchanged and have been described by the security researchers at Blackberry, with the exception of a few notable modifications.

Usually, ransomware stores the ransom note text as strings in the binary. However, this variant of Yashma executes an embedded batch file, which has the commands to download the ransom note from the actor-controlled GitHub repository. This modification evades endpoint detection solutions and anti-virus software, which usually detect embedded ransom note strings in the binary.

Contents of the batch file.

Earlier versions of the Yashma ransomware established persistence on the victim machine in the Run registry key and by dropping a Windows shortcut file pointing to the ransomware executable path in the startup folder. The variant we observed also established persistence in the Run registry key. Still, it was modified to create a “.url” bookmark file in the startup folder that points to the dropped executable located at “%AppData%\\Roaming\\svchost.exe”.

A function that creates the bookmark file.

One notable feature the threat actor chose to keep in this variant is Yashma’s anti-recovery capability. After encrypting a file, the ransomware wipes the contents of the original unencrypted files, writes a single character “?” and then deletes the file. This technique makes it more challenging for incident responders and forensic analysts to recover the deleted files from the victim’s hard drive.

The code snippet shows the anti-recovery feature of the ransomware.

**Coverage**

Cisco Secure Endpoint (formerly AMP for Endpoints) is ideally suited to prevent the execution of the malware detailed in this post. Try Secure Endpoint for free here.

Cisco Secure Web Appliance web scanning prevents access to malicious websites and detects malware used in these attacks.

Cisco Secure Email (formerly Cisco Email Security) can block malicious emails sent by threat actors as part of their campaign. You can try Secure Email for free here.

Cisco Secure Firewall (formerly Next-Generation Firewall and Firepower NGFW) appliances such as Threat Defense Virtual, Adaptive Security Appliance and Meraki MX can detect malicious activity associated with this threat.

Cisco Secure Malware Analytics (Threat Grid) identifies malicious binaries and builds protection into all Cisco Secure products.

Umbrella, Cisco's secure internet gateway (SIG), blocks users from connecting to malicious domains, IPs, and URLs, whether users are on or off the corporate network. Sign up for a free trial of Umbrella here.

Cisco Secure Web Appliance (formerly Web Security Appliance) automatically blocks potentially dangerous sites and tests suspicious sites before users access them.

Additional protections with context to your specific environment and threat data are available from the Firewall Management Center.

Cisco Duo provides multi-factor authentication for users to ensure only those authorized are accessing your network.

Open-source Snort Subscriber Rule Set customers can stay up to date by downloading the latest rule pack available for purchase on Snort.org. Snort SIDs for this threat are **62131 - 62143 and 300633 - 300638.**

ClamAV detections are available for this threat:

Win.Ransomware.Hydracrypt-9878672-0

Cisco Secure Endpoint users can use Orbital Advanced Search to run complex OSqueries to see if their endpoints are infected with this specific threat. For specific OSqueries on this threat, click here.

**IOCs**

Indicators of Compromise associated with this threat can be found here.

New threat actor targets Bulgaria, China, Vietnam and other countries with customized Yashma ransomware

Cisco Talos will be well-represented at BlackHat and DEF CON over the course of the next few weeks with a slew of presentations, demos and appearances to speak to the security community.

Thursday, August 3, 2023 14:08

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Threat Source newsletter.

The time has come once again for all of us (well, not me specifically but lots of other Talos people) to descend on Las Vegas for Hacker Summer Camp. Cisco Talos will be well-represented at BlackHat and DEF CON over the course of the next few weeks with a slew of presentations, demos and appearances to speak to the security community.

As always, we’ll be at the Cisco booth at BlackHat, located just north of the main entrance (it’s #1532 if you’re searching!). If you need help finding us, download the BlackHat app to see a map of the entire conference. Talos researchers will be at the booth throughout the conference to give lightning talks on a wide range of topics — everything from machine learning to the basics of spotting phishing emails. New talks will take place every other half hour starting at 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

We’ll also have a presence at the BlackHat Career Zone — diagonal from Startup City on the show floor at Kiosk #CZ2 — throughout the conference, where you can talk to us about current job openings, ask for advice on career advancement or just talk about future opportunities for how you could become part of our team. On Thursday, Aug. 10, from 10 a.m. - noon local time, we’ll have Talos hiring managers at the Cisco booth to also talk about potential job opportunities.

The highlight of BlackHat is our sponsored talk on Aug. 9 at 11:30 a.m. local time in Business Hall Theater A. Nick Biasini, our head of Outreach, joins Cisco’s Vice President of Product Management for Threat, Detection and Response A.J. Shipley to talk about Cisco XDR. Learn how the newest offering from Cisco Secure combines telemetry from multiple sources and applies analytics to uncover malicious activities and attacker tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs).

The following week at DEF CON, Vitor Ventura and Asheer Malhotra will be at the Crypto and Privacy Village, delivering a talk on “Mercenary” threat actors and the spyware they create on the Saturday of the conference at 6 p.m local time. Asheer and Vitor have written extensively about this topic and why the malware they’re creating and selling is potentially more dangerous than “traditional” spyware.

Keep an eye out on our Twitter (or X, whatever we’re calling it) for more information about a live Beers with Talos podcast recording and other opportunities to ask our researchers questions.

If you're flying out to Vegas for either conference, make sure to bookmark our Half-Year in Review to read during your travels. This is a great overview of the top threats of 2023 so far this year and looks at where the cybersecurity landscape might head next.

**The one big thing**

Since the discovery of the high-profile VPNFilter malware in 2018, our vulnerability research team has had a renewed focus on small and home office (SOHO) wireless routers. These are devices that are present in almost every house and business in the modern world because they are necessary to deliver the internet to multiple devices everyone possesses and relies on today. Over the past four-plus years, Talos worked with multiple vendors to disclose and patch nearly 290 CVEs in a wide range of products and libraries these routers use. This week, we released a full rundown of all these vulnerabilities and what the major takeaways are for users and the manufacturers behind these products.

**Why do I care?**

Given the privileged position these devices occupy on the networks they serve, they are prime targets for attackers, so their security posture is of paramount importance. However, they are also often deployed without a sophisticated security team in place to mitigate vulnerabilities. These routers are usually connected to the internet directly and all local network traffic passes through these devices. Since VPNFilter, Talos has investigated 13 SOHO and industrial routers from various vendors. Our reports to these vendors resulted in appropriate Snort network intrusion detection coverage and several security fixes from each vendor. These fixes help customers who deploy Cisco Secure solutions and improve the security posture of anyone using these devices once the vulnerabilities are patched.

**So now what?**

The most important security step a user of these devices can take is to assess each service present on the device. Verify that each service running is required for the day-to-day operation of each device and disable all extraneous services. Services that cannot be disabled should be restricted to absolute minimal access or completely blocked using alternative methods, such as firewall rules to block traffic. During the acquisition process, if possible, basic research should be done to ensure the devices have sane, secure defaults enabled, such as the use of encrypted protocols for remote access and administration, if applicable.

**Top security headlines of the week**

American military officials and cybersecurity experts are **actively hunting for malware that is reportedly loaded onto systems belonging to major power and water suppliers and communications systems that service U.S. military bases.** A new report from the New York Times states that the malware is a “ticking time bomb” that could disrupt U.S. military operations in the event of a direct or indirect military conflict with China. Sources in the report indicated that the malware comes from a Chinese state-sponsored actor that may be working for the People’s Liberation Army. While the government is still actively hunting for the malicious code, it is apparently hidden deep within targeted networks and has taken months to find. Microsoft and the White House disclosed that Chinese state-sponsored actors accessed the emails of at least two dozen American organizations, including some federal government agencies. (The New York Times, CNN)

**The effects of the MOVEit data breach continue to spread.** Government contractor Maximus disclosed last week that, although its systems were not directly affected by the Clop ransomware gang’s attack on the MOVEit file transfer software, as many as 8 million to 11 million individuals’ personal information may have been compromised. The company said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that attackers may have accessed files that "contain personal information, including Social Security numbers, protected health information, and/or other personal information, of at least 8-to-11 million individuals.” Clop claims on its leak site that it stole 169 GB of data from Maximus. More than 200 organizations have reportedly been affected by the MOVEit breach. (TechCrunch, Dark Reading)

**Russian state-sponsored actors are suspected to be behind a series of denial-of-service attacks against multiple Italian banks** on Wednesday, leaving many consumers unable to access their accounts. Italy’s cybersecurity agency said at least five banks were affected, though they were able to restore services fairly quickly. The group NoName057(16) took credit for the attacks on its Telegram channels, accusing Italian government officials of being anti-Russian and supporting Ukraine. Security researchers said the DDoS attacks caused “short-lived disruption with little to no wider consequence.” Actors with potential links to Russia have been behind several recent high-profile denial-of-service attacks, including against video game company Blizzard and Microsoft Outlook. (Reuters, The Record by Recorded Future)

**Can’t get enough Talos?**

*   Half-Year in Review: Recapping the top threats and security trends so far in 2023
*   Talos IR On Air Reviewing Q2’s top threats
*   Beers with Talos Ep. #137: Yarrr! There be mercenaries on the high seas!
*   Beers with Talos Ep. #138: Rachel Tobac on social engineering, expanding opportunities for women in cybersecurity
*   Talos Takes Ep. #148: Audio version of the Talos IR On Air stream

**Upcoming events where you can find Talos**

**BlackHat (Aug. 5 - 10)**

Las Vegas, Nevada

**Grace Hopper Celebration** **(Sept. 26 - 29)**

Orlando, Florida

> _Caitlin Huey, Susan Paskey and Alexis Merritt present a "Level Up Lab" titled "Don’t Fail Knowledge Checks: Accelerating Incident Response with Threat Intelligence." Participate in several fast-paced activities that emphasize the importance of threat intelligence in security incident investigations. Attendees will act as incident responders investigating a simulated incident that unfolds throughout this session. Periodic checkpoints will include discussions that highlight how incident response and threat intelligence complement each other during an active security investigation._

**ATT&CKcon 4.0 (Oct. 24 - 25)**

McLean, Virginia

> Nicole Hoffman and James Nutland discuss the MIRE ATT&CK framework in “One Leg to Stand on: Adventures in Adversary Tracking with ATT&CK.” Even though ATT&CK has become an industry standard for cyber threat intelligence reporting, all too often, techniques are thrown at the bottoms of reports and blogs without any context never to be seen again after dissemination. This is not useful for intelligence producers or consumers. In this presentation, Nicole and James will show analysts how to use ATT&CK as a guideline for creating a contextual knowledge base for adversary tracking.

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

**SHA 256:** 7bf7550ae929d6fea87140ab70e6444250581c87a990e74c1cd7f0df5661575b  
**MD5:** f5e908f1fac5f98ec63e3ec355ef6279  
**Typical Filename:** IMG001.exe  
**Claimed Product:** N/A  
**Detection Name:** Win.Dropper.Coinminer::tpd

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

**SHA 256:** e12b6641d7e7e4da97a0ff8e1a0d4840c882569d47b8fab8fb187ac2b475636c  
**MD5:** a087b2e6ec57b08c0d0750c60f96a74c  
**Typical Filename:** AAct.exe  
**Claimed Product:** N/A  
**Detection Name:** PUA.Win.Tool.Kmsauto::1201