Hackers have been discovered launching opportunistic phishing attacks against victims that pretend to be security updates for the Kaseya VSA product, vulnerable software recently exposed to a ransomware attack.
The phishing emails warn victims that they should “install the update from Microsoft to protect against ransomware as soon as possible. This is fixing a vulnerability in Kaseya", according to a blog post by Malwarebytes.
This appears to be a classic example of an opportunistic attack likely conducted by another hacking group off the back of a high-profile cyber attack, the researchers claim.
“With Kaseya being a big name in the MSP world and the company attempting to take their VSA SaaS platform off the ground, post-attack, it’s the perfect time and opportunity to also capitalize on organizations who are eagerly waiting for the hotfix that REvil exploited in the first place so they can get back to business as quickly as possible,” said the researchers.
The emails appear to be using SecurityUpdates.exe and ploader.exe as attachments, both of which use the Cobalt Strike payload.
Researchers also noted that the location where the payload is hosted appears to be the same IP address used in another malspam campaign that was pushing Dridex, a known information stealer. They added that hackers behind Dridex campaigns were also observed using Cobalt Strike.
RELATED RESOURCE
X-Force Threat Intelligence Index
Top security threats and recommendations for resilience
Cobalt Strike itself is legitimate software used as “adversary simulation software”, however, ransomware actors have abused such software to target organizations.
Last month, researchers at Proofpoint said that the use of legitimate tools, such as Cobalt Strike, had increased 161% from 2019 to 2020 and remains a high-volume threat in 2021.
Researchers warned organizations affected by the Kaseya ransomware attack should only get patches straight from their vendor.
“Links and/or attachments sent over your way, even from a trusted colleague, should be suspect until you have confirmed with your vendor of the availability of a patch and where or how to get it,” they added.
“Opportunists will show no mercy in targeting cyber attack victims multiple times as long as they get something out of it.”
Researchers added that with the use of Cobalt Strike, hackers intend to also gain access to already-compromised systems, possibly for further reconnaissance or to conduct a local, follow-up attack.
-
Prolific ransomware operator added to Europe’s Most Wanted list as US dangles $10 million rewardNews The US Department of Justice is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Volodymyr Viktorovych Tymoshchuk, an alleged ransomware criminal.
-
Jaguar Land Rover “did the right thing” shutting down systems to thwart cyber attackNews The attack on Jaguar Land Rover highlights the growing attractiveness of the automotive sector
-
Ransomware attack on IT supplier disrupts hundreds of Swedish municipalitiesNews The attack on IT systems supplier Miljödata has impacted public sector services across the country
-
A notorious hacker group is ramping up cloud-based ransomware attacksNews The Storm-0501 threat group is refining its tactics, according to Microsoft, shifting away from traditional endpoint-based attacks and toward cloud-based ransomware.
-
Security researchers have just identified what could be the first ‘AI-powered’ ransomware strain – and it uses OpenAI’s gpt-oss-20b modelNews Using OpenAI's gpt-oss:20b model, ‘PromptLock’ generates malicious Lua scripts via the Ollama API.
-
Data I/O shuts down systems in wake of ransomware attack
News Regulatory filings by Data I/O suggest the costs of dealing with the attack could be significant
-
Average ransom payment doubles in a single quarterNews Targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the biggest tactics as three major ransomware groups dominate
-
BlackSuit ransomware gang taken down in latest law enforcement sting – but members have already formed a new groupNews The notorious gang has seen its servers taken down and bitcoin seized, but may have morphed into a new group called Chaos
