Source: BlackBerry
A new report coming from BlackBerry titled Decade of the RATs: Cross-Platform APT Espionage Attacks Targeting Linux, Windows and Android is now available and it offers a closer examination of how five Chinese Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups have been targeting Linux, Windows, and Android.
As part of the report, BlackBerry notes the groups have been operating for nearly a decade now while remaining mostly undetected while conducting economic espionage focused on intellectual property and the ongoing attacks are taking advantage of the rise in work-from-home operations due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Source: BlackBerry
Key findings in the report include:
- The APT groups examined in this report are likely comprised of civilian contractors working in the interest of the Chinese government who readily share tools, techniques, infrastructure, and targeting information with one another and their government counterparts.
- The APT groups have traditionally pursued different objectives and focused on a wide array of targets; however, it was observed that there is a significant degree of coordination between these groups, particularly where targeting of Linux platforms is concerned.
- The research identifies two new examples of Android malware, continuing a trend seen in a previous report from BlackBerry researchers, titled Mobile Malware and APT Espionage: Prolific, Pervasive, and Cross-Platform, which examined how APT groups have been leveraging mobile malware in combination with traditional desktop malware in ongoing cross-platform surveillance and espionage campaigns.
- One of the Android malware samples very closely resembles the code in a commercially available penetration testing tool, yet the malware is shown to have been created nearly two years before the commercial tool was first made available for purchase.
- The report examines several new variants of well-known malware that are getting by network defenders through the use code-signing certificates for adware, a tactic that the attackers hope will increase infection rates as AV red flags are dismissed as just another blip in a constant stream of adware alerts.
- The research also highlights a shift by attackers towards the use of cloud service providers for command-and-control (C2) and data exfiltration communications which appear to be trusted network traffic.
"This research paints a picture of an espionage effort targeting the very backbone of large organizations' network infrastructure that is more systemic than has been previously acknowledged," says John McClurg, Chief Information Security Officer at BlackBerry. "This report opens another chapter in the Chinese IP theft story, providing us with new lessons to learn."
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