Security News

New IcedID variants have been found without the usual online banking fraud functionality and instead focus on installing further malware on compromised systems. Proofpoint has identified two new variants of the IcedID loader, namely "Lite" and "Forked", both delivering the same IcedID bot with a more narrow-focused feature set.

A recent IcedID malware attack enabled the threat actor to compromise the Active Directory domain of an unnamed target less than 24 hours after gaining initial access. "Throughout the attack, the attacker followed a routine of recon commands, credential theft, lateral movement by abusing Windows protocols, and executing Cobalt Strike on the newly compromised host," Cybereason researchers said in a report published this week.

The threat actors behind IcedID malware phishing campaigns are utilizing a wide variety of distribution methods, likely to determine what works best against different targets. The IcedID malware started in 2017 as a modular banking trojan but has since evolved into a malware dropper that is commonly used to gain initial access to corporate networks.

Website owners are being targeted with fake copyright infringement complaints that utilize Yandex Forms to distribute the IcedID banking malware. These reports allegedly contain proof of DDoS attacks or copyrighted material used without permission but instead infect a target's device with various malware, including BazarLoader, BumbleBee, and IcedID. Switching to Yandex forms.

The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine has warned of a new wave of social engineering campaigns delivering IcedID malware and leveraging Zimbra exploits with the goal of stealing sensitive information. Attributing the IcedID phishing attacks to a threat cluster named UAC-0041, the agency said the infection sequence begins with an email containing a Microsoft Excel document that, when opened, prompts the users to enable macros, leading to the deployment of IcedID. The information-stealing malware, also known as BokBot, has followed a similar trajectory to that of TrickBot, Emotet, and ZLoader, evolving from its earlier roots as a banking trojan to a full-fledged crimeware service that facilities the retrieval of next-stage implants such as ransomware.

Hackers are targeting Ukrainian government agencies with new attacks exploiting Zimbra exploits and phishing attacks pushing the IcedID malware. The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine detected the new campaigns and attributed the IcedID phishing attack to the UAC-0041 threat cluster, previously connected with AgentTesla distribution, and the second to UAC-0097, a currently unknown actor.

The ever-evolving banking trojan IcedID is back again with a phishing campaign that uses previously compromised Microsoft Exchange servers to send emails that appear to come from legitimate accounts. The actors behind IcedID - as well as other spearphishers - have previously used phishing emails that "Reuse previously stolen emails to make the lure more convincing," researchers wrote.

Cyber-criminals are using compromised Microsoft Exchange servers to spam out emails designed to infect people's PCs with IcedID,. It popped up last year when crooks hijacked a BP Chargemaster domain to spam out emails to spread IcedID. On Monday, Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs said it observed an email sent to a Ukrainian fuel company with a.zip containing a file that when opened drops IcedID on the PC. Security vendor Intezer also on Monday said it had seen unsecured Microsoft Exchange servers spamming out IcedID emails.

The distribution of the IcedID malware has seen a spike recently due to a new campaign that hijacks existing email conversation threads and injects malicious payloads that are hard to spot.The ongoing IcedID campaign was discovered this month by researchers at Intezer, who have shared their findings with Bleeping Computer prior to publication.