Several apps on Google Play posing as legitimate voice messenger platforms have automated functions such as fake survey pop-ups and fraudulent ad clicks. Observed variants were deployed one by one since October, with its evolution including evasive techniques and its infection behavior divided into several stages, as well as botnet codes possibly indicative of future attacks.
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We have been observing a malvertising campaign via Rig exploit kit delivering a cryptocurrency-mining malware and the GandCrab ransomware since July 25. On August 1, we found Rig’s traffic stream dropping a then-unknown ransomware. Delving into this seemingly new ransomware, we checked its ransom payment page in the Tor network and saw it was called Princess Evolution (detected by Trend Micro as RANSOM_PRINCESSLOCKER.B), and was actually a new version of the Princess Locker ransomware that emerged in 2016. Based on its recent advertisement in underground forums, it appears that its operators are peddling Princess Evolution as a ransomware as a service (RaaS) and are looking for affiliates.
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We discovered a new exploit kit we named Underminer that employs capabilities used by other exploit kits to deter researchers from tracking its activity or reverse engineering the payloads. Underminer delivers a bootkit that infects the system’s boot sectors as well as a cryptocurrency-mining malware named Hidden Mellifera. Underminer transfers malware via an encrypted transmission control protocol (TCP) tunnel and packages malicious files with a customized format similar to ROM file system format (romfs). These make the exploit kits and its payload challenging to analyze.
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Reconnaissance plays a vital role in criminal operations, and some groups go to great lengths to investigate their targets’ systems. A recent example is the Andariel Group, a known branch of the notorious Lazarus Group. Last month, we tracked new scouting techniques coming from Andariel, used mainly against South Korean targets.
Read More Exploit kits may be down, but they’re not out. While they’re still using the same techniques that involve malvertisements or embedding links in spam and malicious or compromised websites, their latest activities are making them significant factors in the threat landscape again. This is the case with Rig and GrandSoft, as well as the private exploit kit Magnitude — exploit kits we found roping in relatively recent vulnerabilities to deliver cryptocurrency-mining malware, ransomware, botnet loaders, and banking trojans.
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