What Talos Incident Response learned from a recent Qakbot attack hijacking old email threads

By Nate Pors and Terryn Valikodath. Executive summary In a recent malspam campaign delivering the Qakbot banking trojan, Cisco Talos Incident Response CTIR observed the adversary using aggregated, old email threads from multiple organizations that we assess were likely harvested during the 2021...

Microsoft Resumes Blocking Office VBA Macros by Default After 'Temporary Pause'

Microsoft has officially resumed blocking Visual Basic for Applications VBA macros by default across Office apps, weeks after temporarily announcing plans to roll back the change. "Based on our review of customer feedback, we've made updates to both our end user and our IT admin documentation to...

Researchers Uncover New Attempts by Qakbot Malware to Evade Detection

The operators behind the Qakbot malware are transforming their delivery vectors in an attempt to sidestep detection. "Most recently, threat actors have transformed their techniques to evade detection by using ZIP file extensions, enticing file names with common formats, and Excel XLM 4.0 to trick...

Black Basta Ransomware Operators Expand Their Attack Arsenal With QakBot Trojan and PrintNightmare Exploit

We look into a recent attack orchestrated by the Black Basta ransomware ransomware group that used the banking trojan QakBot as a means of entry and movement and took advantage of the PrintNightmare vulnerability to perform privileged file operations...

Researchers Expose Inner Workings of Billion-Dollar Wizard Spider Cybercrime Gang

The inner workings of a cybercriminal group known as the Wizard Spider have been exposed, shedding light on its organizational structure and motivations. "Most of Wizard Spider's efforts go into hacking European and U.S. businesses, with a special cracking tool used by some of their attackers to...

Qakbot Botnet Sprouts Fangs, Injects Malware into Email Threads

The Qakbot botnet is getting more dangerous, sinking its fangs into email threads and injecting malicious modules to pump up the core botnet’s powers. On Thursday, Sophos published a deep dive into the botnet, describing how researchers have recently seen it spreading through email thread hijacki...

Researchers Decrypted Qakbot Banking Trojan's Encrypted Registry Keys

Cybersecurity researchers have decoded the mechanism by which the versatile Qakbot banking trojan handles the insertion of encrypted configuration data into the Windows Registry. Qakbot, also known as QBot, QuackBot and Pinkslipbot, has been observed in the wild since 2007. Although mainly...

Staging a Quack: Reverse Analyzing a Fileless QAKBOT Stager

We analyzed a fileless QAKBOT stager possibly connected to the recently reported Squirrelwaffle campaign...

Microsoft Details Building Blocks of Widely Active Qakbot Banking Trojan

Infection chains associated with the multi-purpose Qakbot malware have been broken down into "distinct building blocks," an effort that Microsoft said will help to proactively detect and block the threat in an effective manner. The Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team dubbed Qakbot a...

A closer look at Qakbot’s latest building blocks (and how to knock them down)

Multiple Qakbot campaigns that are active at any given time prove that the decade-old malware continues to be many attackers’ tool of choice, a customizable chameleon that adapts to suit the needs of the multiple threat actor groups that utilize it. Since emerging in 2007 as a banking Trojan,...

A closer look at Qakbot’s latest building blocks (and how to knock them down)

Multiple Qakbot campaigns that are active at any given time prove that the decade-old malware continues to be many attackers’ tool of choice, a customizable chameleon that adapts to suit the needs of the multiple threat actor groups that utilize it. Since emerging in 2007 as a banking Trojan,...

This Week in Security News - November 19, 2021

This week, learn about how the QAKBOT Loader malware has evolved its techniques and strategies over time. Also, read about the most recent initiative by the legislation to further cybersecurity protection...

QAKBOT Loader Returns With New Techniques and Tools

QAKBOT operators resumed email spam operations towards the end of September after an almost three-month hiatus. QAKBOT detection has become a precursor to many critical and widespread ransomware attacks. Our report shares some insight into the new techniques and tools this threat is using...

QAKBOT Loader Returns With New Techniques and Tools

QAKBOT operators resumed email spam operations towards the end of September after an almost three-month hiatus. QAKBOT detection has become a precursor to many critical and widespread ransomware attacks. Our report shares some insight into the new techniques and tools this threat is using...

Hackers Using Squirrelwaffle Loader to Deploy Qakbot and Cobalt Strike

A new spam email campaign has emerged as a conduit for a previously undocumented malware loader that enables the attackers to gain an initial foothold into enterprise networks and drop malicious payloads on compromised systems. "These infections are also used to facilitate the delivery of...

SQUIRRELWAFFLE Leverages malspam to deliver Qakbot, Cobalt Strike

By Edmund Brumaghin, Mariano Graziano and Nick Mavis. Executive summary Recently, a new threat, referred to as "SQUIRRELWAFFLE" is being spread more widely via spam campaigns, infecting systems with a new malware loader. This is a malware family that's been spread with increasing regularity and...

SquirrelWaffle Loader Malspams, Packs Qakbot, Cobalt Strike

SquirrelWaffle, a new malware loader, is mal-spamming malicious Microsoft Office documents to deliver Qakbot malware and the penetration-testing tool Cobalt Strike – two of the most common threats regularly observed targeting organizations around the world. Cisco Talos researchers said on Tuesday...

QakBot technical analysis

Main description QakBot, also known as QBot, QuackBot and Pinkslipbot, is a banking Trojan that has existed for over a decade. It was found in the wild in 2007 and since then it has been continually maintained and developed. In recent years, QakBot has become one of the leading banking Trojans...

Emotet Takedown Disrupts Vast Criminal Infrastructure; NetWalker Site Offline

UPDATE The virulent malware known as Emotet – one of the most prolific malware strains globally – has been dealt a blow thanks to a takedown by an international law-enforcement consortium. Meanwhile, the NetWalker ransomware has also been subjected to partial disruption, according to the U.S...

Threat profile: Egregor ransomware is making a name for itself

What is Egregor? Egregor ransomware is a relatively new ransomware first spotted in September 2020 that seems intent on making its way to the top right now. Egregor is considered a variant of Ransom.Sekhmet based on similarities in obfuscation, API-calls, and the ransom note. As weve reported in...