Hackers target Windows security experts with fake exploits
Instead of getting exploit PoC, they’re getting something a lot more sinister
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Cybersecurity researchers, analyzing proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits published on GitHub, recently found themselves on the receiving end of a Cobalt Strike-powered cyberattack.
It’s common practice for researchers to publish a PoC of recently patched flaws on code repositories, such as GitHub. That way, they can test different solutions among themselves and force admins to apply the fixes as soon as possible.
WhenMicrosoftpatched two remote code execution vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2022-24500 and CVE-2022-26809, a few PoCs popped up on GitHub, one of them coming from an account named “rkxxz”.
Share your thoughts on Cybersecurity and get a free copy of the Hacker’s Manual 2022. Help us find how businesses are preparing for the post-Covid world and the implications of these activities on their cybersecurity plans. Enter your email at theend of this surveyto get the bookazine, worth $10.99/£10.99.
Cobalt Strike
However, the PoC turned out to be bogus, and what it did instead was install Cobalt Strike beacons on the researchers’ endpoints. Cyble’s researchers toldBleepingComputerthat the fake PoC was in fact a .NET application that launches a PowerShell script, which in turn executes a gzip-compressed PowerShell script malshare, which injects the beacon into device memory.
Cobalt Strike itself is not malware, but rather a legitimate tool being used for penetration testing. Still, it’s one of cybercriminals’ favorite weapons, ideal for stealthy lateral movement throughout the target network.
In the meantime, the fake PoC was removed, and the account distributing it, banned.
Security researchers under attack from North Korea>Hackers have turned their attention to the researchers hunting them down>What SMBs are getting wrong about cyber security
In the world of cyber-warfare, every now and then, the hunter becomes the game. In late January this year, individuals working forGoogle’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) discovered a cyberattack campaign coming out of North Korea that targeted other security researchers. The attack was broad in scope, utilizing blog posts, fake social media profiles, and email accounts to engage with the researchers.
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
Two months later, in March, the same group discovered another campaign out of North Korea, with the same goal. This time around, the attackers even set up a fake cybersecurity firm, called SecuriElite, through which they invited other researchers for collaborations. However, instead of actually collaborating, the group tried to infect the researchers’endpointswith malware.
Via:BleepingComputer
Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.
This new phishing strategy utilizes GitHub comments to distribute malware
Should your VPN always be on?
Phishing attacks surge in 2024 as cybercriminals adopt AI tools and multi-channel tactics
