Introduction
Kaspersky Lab has observed new waves of attacks that started on the 8th and the 27th of June 2016. These have been highly active in the Middle East region and unveiled ongoing targeted attacks in multiple regions. The attackers try to lure targets through spear phishing emails that include compressed executables. The malware collects all data such as passwords, keystrokes and screenshots, then sends it to the attackers.
#OpGhoul targeting industrial, manufacturing and engineering organizations in 30+ countriesTweet
We found that the group behind this campaign targeted mainly industrial, engineering and manufacturing organizations in more than 30 countries. In total, over 130 organizations have been identified as victims of this campaign. Using the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) and artifacts from malware files and attack sites, we were able to trace the attacks back to March 2015. Noteworthy is that since the beginning of their activities, the attackers’ motivations are apparently financial, whether through the victims’ banking accounts or through selling their intellectual property to interested parties, most infiltrated victim organizations are considered SMBs (Small to Medium size businesses, 30-300 employees), the utilization of commercial off-the-shelf malware makes the attribution of the attacks more difficult.
In total, over 130 organizations have been identified as victims of Operation Ghoul #OpGhoulTweet
In ancient Folklore, the Ghoul is an evil spirit associated with consuming human flesh and hunting kids, originally a Mesopotamian demon. Today, the term is sometimes used to describe a greedy or materialistic individual.
Main infection vector: malicious emails
The following picture represents emails that are being used to deliver malware to the victims, in what looks like a payment document. The e-mails sent by attackers appear to be coming from a bank in the UAE, the Emirates NBD, and include a 7z file with malware. In other cases, victims received phishing links. A quick analysis of the email headers reveals fake sources being utilised to deliver the emails to victims.
Malicious attachments
In the case of spear phishing emails with an attachment, the 7z does not contain payment instructions but a malware executable (EmiratesNBD_ADVICE.exe). We have observed executables with the following MD5s:
Malware MD5 hashes
fc8da575077ae3db4f9b5991ae67dab1b8f6e6a0cb1bcf1f100b8d8ee5cccc4c08c18d38809910667bbed747b274620155358155f96b67879938fe1a14a00dd6
Email file MD5 hashes
5f684750129e83b9b47dc53c96770e09460e18f5ae3e3eb38f8cae911d447590
The spear phishing emails are mostly sent to senior members and executives of targeted organizations, most likely because the attackers hope to get access to core intelligence, controlling accounts and other interesting information from people who have the following positions or similar:
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Operations Officer
General Manager
General Manager, Sales and Marketing
Deputy General Manager
Finance and Admin Manager
Business Development Manager
Manager
Export manager
Finance Manager
Purchase manager
Head of Logistics
Sales Executive
Supervisor
Engineer
Technical details
Malware functionality
The malware is based on the Hawkeye commercial spyware, which provides a variety of tools for the attackers, in addition to malware anonymity from attribution. It initiates by self-deploying and configuring persistence, while using anti-debugging and timeout techniques, then starts collecting interesting data from the victim’s device, including:
Keystrokes
Clipboard data
FileZilla ftp server credentials
Account data from local browsers
Account data from local messaging clients (Paltalk, Google talk, AIM…)
Account data from local email clients (Outlook, Windows Live mail…)
License information of some installed applications
#OpGhoul malware collects all data such as #passwords, keystrokes and screenshotsTweet
Data exfiltration
Data is collected by the attackers using primarily:
Http GET posts
Sent to hxxp://192.169.82.86
Email messages
mail.ozlercelikkapi[.]com (37.230.110.53), mail to info@ozlercelikkapi[.]com
mail.eminenture[.]com (192.185.140.232), mail to eminfo@eminenture[.]com
Both ozlercelikkapi[.]com and eminenture[.]com seem to belong to compromised organisations operating in manufacturing and technology services.
Malware command center
The malware connects to 192.169.82.86 to deliver collected information from the victim’s PC. This information includes passwords, clipboard data, screenshots…
hxxp://192.169.82.86/~loftyco/skool/login.phphxxp://192.169.82.86/~loftyco/okilo/login.php
The IP address 192.169.82.86 seems to belong to a compromised device running multiple malware campaigns.
Victim information
Victim organizations are distributed in different countries worldwide with attackers focused on certain countries more than others:
Number of Victim Organisations by Country
Countries marked as “others” have less than three victim organizations each, they are: Switzerland, Gibraltar, USA, Sweden, China, France, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkey, Romania, Iran, Iraq and Italy.
Victim industry information
Victim industry types were also indicators of targeted attacks as attackers were looking to infiltrate organizations that belong to the product life cycle of multiple goods, especially industrial equipment.
#Manufacturing #transportation #travel targets of #OpGhoulTweet
Number of Victim Organizations by Industry Type
Victim industry description
Industrial
Petrochemical, naval, military, aerospace, heavy machinery, solar energy, steel, pumps, plastics
Engineering
Construction, architecture, automation, chemical, transport, water
Shipping
International freight shipping
Pharmaceutical
Production/research of pharmaceutical and beauty products
Manufacturing
Furniture, decor, textiles
Trading
Industrial, electronics and food trading
Education
Training centers, universities, academic publishing
Tourism
Travel agencies
Technology/IT
Providers of IT technologies and consulting services
Unknown
Unidentified victims
The last attack waves
Kaspersky Lab user statistics indicate the new waves of attacks that started in June 2016 are focused on certain countries more than others.
#opghoul highly active in #MiddleEastTweet
Hundreds of detections have been reported by Kaspersky Lab users; 70% of the attacked users were found in the United Arab Emirates alone, the other 30% were distributed in Russia, Malaysia, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Algeria, Germany, Iran, Egypt, Japan, Switzerland, Bahrain and Tunisia.
Other attack information
Phishing pages have also been spotted through 192.169.82.86, and although they are taken down quickly, more than 150 user accounts were identified as victims of the phishing links sent by the attackers. Victims were connecting from the following devices and inserting their credentials, a reminder that phishing attacks do work on all platforms:
Windows
Mac OS X
Ubuntu
iPhone
Android
The malware files are detected using the following heuristic signatures:
Trojan.MSIL.ShopBot.wwTrojan.Win32.Fsysna.dfahTrojan.Win32.Generic
Conclusion
Operation Ghoul is one of the many attacks in the wild targeting industrial, manufacturing and engineering organizations, Kaspersky Lab recommends users to be extra cautious while checking and opening emails and attachments. In addition, privileged users need to be well trained and ready to deal with cyber threats; failure in this is, in most cases, the cause behind private or corporate data leakage, reputation and financial loss.
Indicators of Compromise
The following are common among the different malware infections; the presence of these is an indication of a possible infection.
Filenames and paths related to malware
C:Users%UserName%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsbthserv.exeC:Users%UserName%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsBsBhvScan.exeC:Users%UserName%AppDataLocalClientWinHttpAutoProxySync.exeC:Users%UserName%AppDataLocalClientWdiServiceHost.exeC:Users%UserName%AppDataLocalTempAF7B1841C6A70C858E3201422E2D0BEA.datC:Users%UserName%AppDataRoamingHelperBrowser.txtC:Users%UserName%AppDataRoamingHelperMail.txtC:Users%UserName%AppDataRoamingHelperMess.txtC:Users%UserName%AppDataRoamingHelperOS.txtC:ProgramDataMails.txtC:ProgramDataBrowsers.txt
List of malware related MD5 hashes
55358155f96b67879938fe1a14a00dd6f9ef50c53a10db09fc78c123a95e8eecb8f6e6a0cb1bcf1f100b8d8ee5cccc4c 07b105f15010b8c99d7d727ff3a9e70fae2a78473d4544ed2acd46af2e09633d 21ea64157c84ef6b0451513d0d11d02e08c18d38809910667bbed747b2746201fc8da575077ae3db4f9b5991ae67dab18d46ee2d141176e9543dea9bf1c079c836a9ae8c6d32599f21c9d1725485f1a3cc6926cde42c6e29e96474f740d12a786e959ccb692668e70780ff92757d23353664d7150ac98571e7b5652fd7e44085d87d26309ef01b162882ee5069dc0bde5a97d62dc84ede64846ea4f3ad4d2f935a68f149c193715d13a361732f5adaa1dabc47df7ae7d921f18faf685c367889aaee8ba81bee3deb1c95bd3aaa6b13d7460e18f5ae3e3eb38f8cae911d447590c3cf7b29426b9749ece1465a4ab4259e
List of malware related domains
Indyproject[.]orgStudiousb[.]comcopylines[.]bizGlazeautocaree[.]comBrokelimiteds[.]inmeedlifespeed[.]com468213579[.]com468213579[.]com357912468[.]comaboranian[.]comapple-recovery[.]ussecurity-block[.]comcom-wn[.]inf444c4f547116bfd052461b0b3ab1bc2b445a[.]comdeluxepharmacy[.]netkatynew[.]pw Mercadojs[.]com
Observed phishing URLs
hxxp://free.meedlifespeed[.]com/ComCast/hxxp://emailreferentie.appleid.apple.nl.468213579[.]com/hxxp://468213579[.]com/emailreferentie.appleid.apple.nl/emailverificatie-40985443/home/login.phphxxp://verificatie.appleid.apple.nl.referentie.357912468[.]com/emailverificatie-40985443/home/lo…hxxp://192.169.82.86/~gurgenle/verify/webmail/hxxp://customer.comcast.com.aboranian[.]com/loginhxxp://apple-recovery[.]us/hxxp://apple.security-block[.]com/Apple%20-%20My%20Apple%20ID.htmlhxxp://cgi.ebay.com-wn[.]in/itm/2000-Jeep-Wrangler-Sport-4×4-/?ViewItem&item=17475607809hxxp://https.portal.apple.com.idmswebauth.login.html.appidkey.05c7e09b5896b0334b3af1139274f266b2hxxp://2b68.f444c4f547116bfd052461b0b3ab1bc2b445a[.]com/login.htmlhxxp://www.deluxepharmacy[.]net
Other malware links
Malware links observed on 192.169.82.86 dating back to March and April 2016:
hxxp://glazeautocaree[.]com/proforma-invoice.exehxxp://brokelimiteds[.]in/cdn/images/bro.exehxxp://brokelimiteds[.]in/cdn/images/onowu.exehxxp://brokelimiteds[.]in/cdn/images/obe.exehxxp://brokelimiteds[.]in/wp-admin/css/upload/order.exehxxp://brokelimiteds[.]in/wp-admin/css/upload/orders.exehxxp://papercuts[.]info/SocialMedia/java.exehxxp://studiousb[.]com/mercadolivrestudio/f.ziphxxp://copylines[.]biz/lasagna/gate.php?request=true
For more information on how you can protect your business from similar attacks, please visit this post from Kaspersky Business.
Source: Kaspersky