Since February 2024, the World Watch Cyber Threat Intelligence team has been working on an extensive study of the private and public relationships within the Chinese cyber offensive ecosystem. This includes:
From mid-June through mid-July 2022, CISA conducted an incident response engagement at a Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) organization where CISA observed suspected advanced persistent threat (APT) activity. In the course of incident response activities, CISA determined that cyber threat actors exploited the Log4Shell vulnerability in an unpatched VMware Horizon server, installed XMRig crypto mining software, moved laterally to the domain controller (DC), compromised credentials, and then implanted Ngrok reverse proxies on several hosts to maintain persistence.
Actions to take today to mitigate cyber threats from ransomware: • Install updates for operating systems, software, and firmware as soon as they are released. • Require phishing-resistant MFA for as many services as possible. • Train users to recognize and report phishing attempts.
CISA analyzed 15 files associated with China Chopper malware. The files are modified Offline Address Book (OAB) Virtual Directory (VD) configuration files for Microsoft Exchange servers. The files have been modified with a variant of the China Chopper webshell. The webshells allow an attacker to remotely access the server and execute arbitrary code on the system(s).referenced in this bulletin or otherwise.
CISA analyzed 4 files associated with HyperBro malware. The files creates a backdoor program that is capable of uploading and downloading files to and from the system. The RAT is also capable of logging keystrokes and executing commands on the system.
CISA received seven files for analysis. Six Java Server Pages (JSP) webshells and a Bourne Again SHell (bash) file. Five JSP webshell files are designed to parse inbound requests for commands for execution, download files, and upload files. One JSP webshell file contains a form with input fields that prompts the attacker to enter the command in the input box and click "run" to execute. The command output will be displayed in a JSP page. The bash file is designed to perform ldapsearch queries and store the output into a newly created directory.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are releasing this joint Cybersecurity Advisory to provide information on recent cyber operations against the Government of Albania in July and September. This advisory provides a timeline of activity observed, from initial access to execution of encryption and wiper attacks. Additional information concerning files used by the actors during their exploitation of and cyber attack against the victim organization is provided in Appendices A and B.
Best Practices • Apply patches as soon as possible • Disable unnecessary ports and protocols • Replace end-of-life infrastructure • Implement a centralized patch management system
This joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) was coauthored by cybersecurity authorities of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom: the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS),
Actions to Take Today: • Set antivirus and antimalware programs to conduct regular scans. • Enable strong spam filters to prevent phishing emails from reaching end users. • Filter network traffic. • Update software. • Require multifactor authentication. Leading up to Russia’s unprovoked attack against Ukraine, threat actors deployed destructive malware against organizations in Ukraine to destroy computer systems and render them inoperable.
