Security News > 2021 > May > Iranian hacking group targets Israel with wiper disguised as ransomware
An Iranian hacking group has been observed camouflaging destructive attacks against Israeli targets as ransomware attacks while maintaining access to victims' networks for months in what looks like an extensive espionage campaign.
"Initially engaged in espionage activity, Agrius deployed a set of destructive wiper attacks against Israeli targets, masquerading the activity as ransomware attacks," said Amitai Ben Shushan Ehrlich, Threat Intelligence Researcher at SentinelOne.
At first, the group deployed a wiper malware known as DEADWOOD designed to destroy data on infected devices and previously used in attacks against Saudi Arabian targets in 2019.
Agrius is not the first threat group linked to Iran that deploys destructive wiper malware against Middle-Eastern targets.
The suspected Iranian-backed APT33 hacking group is believed to have been behind multiple attacks that used the Shamoon wiper against targets from the Middle East and Europe [1, 2]. Data-wiping malware dubbed ZeroCleare by IBM researchers and developed by Iran-backed threat actors tracked as APT34 and Hive0081 was also spotted in attacks targeting organizations from the energy and industrial sector in the Middle East.
Another Iranian-backed hacking group known as Fox Kitten has also been linked to the Pay2Key ransomware operation that targets organizations from Israel and Brazilin since November, hinting at a more extensive Iranian coordinated campaign.