Security News > 2024 > February
The US government today said it disrupted a botnet that Russia's GRU military intelligence unit used for phishing expeditions, spying, credential harvesting, and data theft against American and foreign governments and other strategic targets. Then the GRU spying team used Moobot to install their own bespoke scripts and files that repurposed the botnet, thus "Turning it into a global cyber espionage platform," according to the Feds.
Last night's launch of six Pentagon missile-detection satellites was well timed as fears mount that Russia is considering putting nuclear weapons into space. The US Department of Defense confirmed its payload included two satellites for the Missile Defense Agency's Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, and the final four Tranche 0 satellites for the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture communications constellation.
Microsoft claims to have fixed Windows Metadata connection issues which continue to plague customers, causing problems for users trying to manage their printers and other hardware. When new hardware is added to a Windows computer, the operating system connects to a Microsoft-operated website called the Windows Metadata and Internet Services to download metadata packages associated with the particular hardware.
The U.S. State Department is offering rewards of up to $10 million for information that could lead to the identification or location of ALPHV/Blackcat ransomware gang leaders. An additional $5 million bounty is also available for tips on individuals trying to take part in ALPHV ransomware attacks, likely to discourage affiliates and initial access brokers.
The RansomHouse ransomware operation has created a new tool named 'MrAgent' that automates the deployment of its data encrypter across multiple VMware ESXi hypervisors. ESXi servers often run critical applications and services for businesses, including databases and email servers, so the operational disruption from the ransomware attack is maximized.
The FBI took down a botnet of small office/home office routers used by Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff to proxy malicious traffic and to target the United States and its allies in spearphishing and credential theft attacks. This network of hundreds of Ubiquiti Edge OS routers infected with Moobot malware was controlled by GRU Military Unit 26165, also tracked as APT28, Fancy Bear, and Sednit.
The FBI took down a botnet of small office/home office routers used by Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff in spearphishing and credential theft attacks targeting the United States and its allies. Subsequently, the GRU hackers leveraged the Moobot malware to deploy their own custom malicious tools, effectively repurposing the botnet into a cyber espionage tool with global reach.
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Using a guide and pre-formatted malware response checklist, written by Erik Eckel for TechRepublic Premium can save organizations considerable time and effort for bringing security and sanity to initial infection response efforts. The specific information to be immediately collected.
OpenAI has removed accounts used by state-sponsored threat groups from Iran, North Korea, China, and Russia, that were abusing its artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT. The AI research organization took action against specific accounts associated with the hacking groups that were misusing its large language model services for malicious purposes after receiving key information from Microsoft's Threat Intelligence team. Forest Blizzard [Russia]: Utilized ChatGPT to conduct research into satellite and radar technologies pertinent to military operations and to optimize its cyber operations with scripting enhancements.