Nov 21 2023
Welcome to Gone Phishing, your daily cybersecurity newsletter that longs for the day when the cybersecurity award ceremonies are afforded the same glitz, glamour, and prestige as the 2023 Billboard Music Awards. May it come #Swift ๐ย ย
Todayโs hottest cybersecurity news stories:ย ย
๐จโ๐ป Darkode hacking forum mastermind โFubarโ jailed for 18 ๐จโโ๏ธย
โฉ๏ธ DarkGate, PikaBot malware borrow from QakBot playbook โ๏ธย
๐ RAT infestation worsens w/ NetSupport targeting govt, biz. ๐ฏย
๐ค Dive into the saga of Thomas Kennedy McCormick, aka 'Fubar,' a 30-year-old from Cambridge, Massachusetts, now sentenced to 18 years in the slammer for orchestrating the notorious cybercrime forum, Darkode. ๐ย
๐ The Hackerโs Kodeย
๐ฎโโ๏ธ McCormick, an integral Darkode member since 2009 and one of its final administrators, recently faced the gavel on RICO conspiracy (12 months) and aggravated identity theft (6 months) charges.ย ย
His cyber misdeeds included malware distribution, website hacking, and the illicit trade of personal info, payment cards, and bank credentials. ๐ฑย
๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ Darkode's demise in 2015 saw the arrest of 70 cybercriminals. Fubar's abode raid uncovered credit card info from nearly 30,000 individuals, revealing the scale of his illicit operations! ๐ฎย
๐ Breaking the Kodeย
๐ค Playing a surprising turn in 2022, McCormick struck a deal with law enforcement, pledging to aid in the prosecution of other Darkode cohorts. His confession acknowledged causing financial losses of almost $680,000. ๐ย
๐ป Despite some futile attempts to resurrect Darkode, the digital dungeon remains M.I.A., thanks to successful law enforcement operations. ๐๐ Justice prevails, making the online realm a tad safer!ย
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๐ Phishing campaigns deploying DarkGate and PikaBot are mirroring tactics reminiscent of the now-defunct QakBot trojan, warns a report from Cofense. ๐ฆ ย
๐ The attacks employ hijacked email threads for initial infection, unique URL patterns restricting user access, and an infection chain strikingly similar to QakBot's modus operandi. QakBot, shut down in Operation Duck Hunt this August, still influences current threats. ๐ซย
๐ป Both DarkGate and PikaBot serve as conduits for additional payloads, making them favoured choices for cybercriminals. Zscaler's May 2023 analysis highlighted PikaBot's parallels with QakBot in distribution methods and behaviours. ๐ญย
๐จ DarkGate stands outย ย
This is thanks to its advanced evasion techniques against antivirus systems, keystroke logging, PowerShell execution, and bidirectional remote control capabilities.ย ย
Cofense's analysis reveals a high-volume phishing campaign targeting various sectors, employing booby-trapped URLs in hijacked email threads.ย ย
The ZIP archives contain JavaScript droppers, with Excel add-ins observed in some variants, delivering DarkGate or PikaBot malware. ๐ย
๐ Beware!ย ย
A successful infection could unleash crypto miners, reconnaissance tools, ransomware, or other malicious files at the whim of threat actors. Stay vigilant, secure those inboxes! ๐ก๏ธย
๐ย The Motley Fool: โFool me once, shame on โ shame on you. Fool me โ you can't get fooled again.โ Good olโ George Dubya ๐ Let us tell whoโs not fooling around though; thatโs the Crรผe ๐ at Motley Fool. Youโd be a fool (alright, enough already! ๐) not to check out their Share Tips from time to time so your savings can one day emerge from their cocoon as a beautiful butterfly! ๐ Kidding aside, if you check out their website theyโve actually got a ton of great content with a wide variety of different investment ideas to suit most budgets ๐คย (LINK)
๐ตย Wander: Find your happy place. Cue Happy Gilmore flashback ๐๏ธโณ๐๐๏ธ Mmmm Happy Placeโฆ ๐ So, weโve noticed a lot of you guys are interested in travel. As are we! We stumbled upon this cool company that offers a range of breath-taking spots around the United States and, honestly, the website alone is worth a gander. When all you see about the Land of the free and the home of the brave is news of rioting, looting and school shootings, itโs easy to forget how beautiful some parts of it are. The awe-inspiring locations along with the innovative architecture of the hotels sets Wander apart from your run of the mill American getaway ๐๏ธ๐ย (LINK)
๐ย Digital Ocean: If you build it they will come. Nope, weโre not talking about a baseball field for ghosts โพ๐ป๐ฟ (Great movie, to be fair ๐). This is the Digital Ocean whoโve got a really cool platform for building and hosting pretty much anything you can think of. If you check out their website youโll find yourself catching the buzz even if you canโt code (guilty ๐). But if you can and youโre looking for somewhere to test things out or launch something new or simply enhance what youโve got, weโd recommend checking out their services foโ sho ๐ And how can you not love their slogan: Dream it. Build it. Grow it. Right on, brother! ๐ฟย (LINK)
Beware! Threat actors are deploying the NetSupport RAT in targeted attacks on the education, government, and business services sectors, according to VMware Carbon Black researchers. The trojan utilises various deceptive tactics, including fraudulent updates, drive-by downloads, malware loaders like GHOSTPULSE, and diverse phishing campaigns.ย
๐ Recent Surge in Infectionsย
In the last few weeks, researchers detected no less than 15 new infections related to NetSupport RAT. The surge highlights the severity and frequency of these targeted attacks.ย
๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ From Legit Tool to Cyber Threatย
Originally designed as a legitimate remote administration tool, NetSupport Manager has been misappropriated by malicious actors. It now serves as a beachhead for subsequent attacks on unsuspecting victims.ย
๐ Deceptive Delivery Methodsย
Victims unknowingly download the RAT through deceptive means such as fake browser updates and compromised websites. In a previous campaign, compromised WordPress sites were used to distribute NetSupport RAT via fraudulent Cloudflare DDoS protection pages.ย
๐ซ Advanced Malware Tacticsย
The use of bogus web browser updates aligns with tactics associated with SocGholish and BLISTER. These tactics involve JavaScript-based downloader malware and remote server connections, culminating in the installation of NetSupport RAT.ย
๐ป Capabilities and Impactย
Once infiltrated, NetSupport RAT empowers threat actors to monitor behaviour, transfer files, manipulate computer settings, and propagate within networks. The stakes are high, making it crucial to stay vigilant and fortify systems against these evolving cyber threats.ย
Stay informed, stay protected! ๐ก๏ธย
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So long and thanks for reading all the phish!