Moving Target Defense Blog

Introduction:

Morphisec has been tracking an uptick in the delivery of Ursnif/Gozi during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we have noticed a significant spike both in numbers and sophistication. The latest delivery methods will many times involve old-school Excel 4.0 macro functionality, which historically is a blind spot for AV detection as it has nothing to do with the VBA macro engine and is integrated as part of the workbook. INQUEST reported the use of similar techniques as part of a Zloader delivery campaign. Interestingly, in the latest campaign, it looks like the malware writers removed the image from the Excel document to avoid OCR heuristic detection following the INQUEST article.

Guloader is a downloader that has been widely used from December 2019. Several security researchers have identified the downloader in the wild, signifying that it has quickly gained popularity among threat actors. When it first appeared, GuLoader was used to download Parallax RAT, but has been applied to other remote access trojans and info-stealers such as Netwire, FormBook, and Tesla.

Following the increase in Parallax RAT campaigns -- the new RAT on the block, Morphisec Labs decided to release more technical details on some of the latest campaigns that the Morphisec Unified Threat Prevention Platform intercepted and prevented on our customer’s sites.

The Trickbot trojan is one of the most advanced malware delivery vehicles currently in use. Attackers have leveraged it to deliver a wide variety of malicious code, in many different methods. Just yesterday, Bleeping Computer reported that news articles from President Trump’s impeachment trial have been used to hide Trickbot from antivirus scanners.

A whopping 186.4 million Americans shopped in stores and online between Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, according to the National Retail Federation. On average, these shoppers spent $361.90 per person over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.

Last week, a new strain of ransomware hit dozens of targets across Germany. The categorization as ransomware is really a misnomer as, while the attackers do demand a ransom, by that time the victim’s data has already been irreversibly wiped, even if the ransom is paid.

Morphisec Labs recently investigated an ongoing BitPaymer ransomware campaign that has been attacking companies across the U.S., both public and private, over the last 3 months.

Hworm/njRAT is a Remote Access Tool (RAT) that first appeared in 2013 in targeted attacks against the international energy industry, primarily in the Middle East. It was soon commoditized and is now part of a constantly evolving family of RATs that pop-up in various new formats. Today we see this attack employed on a regular basis as part of widespread spam phishing campaigns - if successful, Hworm gives the attacker complete control of the victim’s system. Morphisec Labs recently observed a new version with a minor modification to its obfuscation technique.