CISA issues alert with South Korean government about DPRK's ransomware antics

CISA and other federal agencies were joined by the National Intelligence Service NIS and the Defense Security Agency of the Republic of Korea ROK in releasing the latest cybersecurity advisory in the US government's ongoing StopRansomware effort. This alert highlights continuous state-sponsored...

Chrome targeted by Magnitude exploit kit

Exploit kits EK are not as widespread as they used to be. One of the reasons is likely that most exploit kits targeted software that is hardly ever used anymore. Internet Explorer, Silverlight, and Flash Player to name a few, have been deprecated, replaced, and quickly lost their user-base. So,...

A week in security (April 16 – April 22)

Last week, we took a stroll down memory lane talking about Facebook and MySpace, noticed a change in the Magnitude exploit kit—wherein it started adopting the GandCrab ransomware, took a good look at a new form of adware that is based on Python, chatted a bit about Russian hacking with a...

Magnitude EK actor goes for Bitcoin multiplier scam (updated)

It is well known that hot commodities tend to attract scammers and online criminals. The continuous rise of Bitcoin over the past year valued at over USD $7,188 at the time of writing is generating frenzy amongst fans of cryptocurrencies as well as those watching from the sidelines. While the...

This Week in Security News

Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. Below you’ll find a quick recap of topics followed by links to news articles and/or our blog posts providing additional insight. Be sure to check back...

Magniber Ransomware Wants to Infect Only the Right People

Introduction Exploit kit EK use has been on the decline since late 2016; however, certain activity remains consistent. The Magnitude Exploit Kit is one such example that continues to affect users, particularly in the APAC region. In Figure 1, which is based on FireEye Dynamic threat Intelligence...

Magniber ransomware: exclusively for South Koreans

The Magnitude exploit kit has been pretty consistent over the last few months, dropping the same payload—namely, the Cerber ransomware—and targeting a few select countries in Asia. Strangely, Magnitude EK disappeared in late September, and for a while we wondered whether this was yet another...

Enemy at the gates: Reviewing the Magnitude exploit kit redirection chain

Over the last few months, we have been keeping an eye on the Magnitude exploit kit which is mainly used to deliver the Cerber ransomware to specific countries in Asia. Our telemetry shows that South Korea is most impacted via ongoing malvertising campaigns. When a visitor goes to a website that...

Magnitude Exploit Kit Redirection

Magnitude exploit kit is a web exploit kit that operates by delivering malicious payload to the victim's computer. Remote attackers can infect users with Magnitude exploit kit by enticing them to visit a malicious web page. Successful infection will allow the attacker to perform Remote Code...

CVE-2016-1019: A New Flash Exploit Included in Magnitude Exploit Kit

On April 2, security researcher @Kafeine at Proofpoint discovered a change to the Magnitude Exploit Kit. Thanks to their collaboration, we analyzed the sample and discovered that Magnitude EK was exploiting a previously unknown vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player CVE-2016-1019. The in-the-wild...

Magnitude Exploit Kit Adobe Flash Zero Day 0Day

The urgency to patch Adobe Flash Player installations ramped up over the weekend when exploits for a recently patched zero-day vulnerability were found in the Magnitude Exploit Kit. French researcher Kafeine said on Sunday that a sample he encountered was dropping two instances of Cryptowall...

Malvertising Leads to Magnitude Exploit Kit, Ransomware Infection

Criminals are injecting malicious redirect code into advertisements in order to route user traffic toward sites hosting the Magnitude exploit kit, which, in turn, infects those users with strains of file-encrypting ransomware. Magnitude predominately relies on drive-by-download attacks in which i...

Magnitude Exploit Kit Landing Page

Magnitude exploit kit is a web exploit kit that operates by delivering malicious payload to the victim's computer. Remote attackers can infect users with Magnitude exploit kit by enticing them to visit a malicious web page. Successful infection will allow the attacker to perform Remote Code...

Malicious Google DoubleClick Advertisements Distributed Malware to Millions of Computers

Cyber criminals have exploited the power of two online advertising networks, Google's DoubleClick and popular Zedo advertising agency, to deliver malicious advertisements to millions of internet users that could install malware on a user's computer. A recent report published by the researcher of...

Blackhole Exploit Kit Successor Years Away

It should shock no one that a viable successor to the Blackhole exploit kit has yet to emerge in the criminal underground. It’s been less than three months since the arrest of its alleged creator Paunch sent cybercriminals reliant on the toolkit scrambling for a replacement. And like any profitab...

Yahoo Ad Network abused to redirect users to malicious websites serving Magnitude Exploit Kit

Internet advertisement networks provide hackers with an effective venue for targeting wide range computers through malicious advertisements. Previously it was reported by some security researchers that Yahoo's online advertising Network is one of the top ad networks were being abused to spread...