Cyber Security Threat Summary:
The Kimusky hacking group, known by aliases such as Thalium and Velvet Chollima, has been using a new version of its reconnaissance malware called ReconShark to conduct a cyberespionage campaign on a global scale. According to Sentinel Labs, the group has broadened its target range to include government organizations, research centers, universities, and think tanks in the US, Europe, and Asia. South Korean and German authorities warned in March 2023 that Kimusky had distributed malicious Chrome extensions and Android spyware as a remote access trojan to target Gmail accounts. Kaspersky previously reported in August 2022 that the group had targeted politicians, diplomats, university professors, and journalists in South Korea using a multi-stage target validation scheme to ensure the successful infection of only valid targets.

“ReconShark is considered by Sentinel Labs analysts an evolution of Kimsuky's 'BabyShark' malware, which was also seen deployed by APT43, an overlapping North Korean cyberespionage group targeting U.S. organizations. ReconShark abuses WMI to collect information about the infected system, like the running processes, battery data, etc. It also checks if security software runs on the machine, with Sentinel Labs mentioning specific checks for Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, Trend Micro, and Norton Security products. The exfiltration of the reconnaissance data is direct, with the malware sending everything to the C2 server via HTTP POST requests without storing anything locally. "The ability of ReconShark to exfiltrate valuable information, such as deployed detection mechanisms and hardware information, indicates that ReconShark is part of a Kimsuky-orchestrated reconnaissance operation that enables subsequent precision attacks, possibly involving malware specifically tailored to evade defenses and exploit platform weaknesses," warned SentinelOne. Another capability of ReconShark is to fetch additional payloads from the C2, which can give Kimsuky a better foothold on the infected system. "In addition to exfiltrating information, ReconShark deploys further payloads in a multi-stage manner that are implemented as scripts (VBS, HTA, and Windows Batch), macro-enabled Microsoft Office templates, or Windows DLL files," reads the Sentinel Labs report. "ReconShark decides what payloads to deploy depending on what detection mechanism processes run on infected machines." The payload deployment stage involves editing Windows shortcut files (LNK) associated with popular applications like Chrome, Outlook, Firefox, or Edge to execute the malware when the user launches one of those apps. An alternative method is to replace the default Microsoft Office template, Normal.dotm, with a malicious version hosted on the C2 server to load malicious code whenever the user launches Microsoft Word”.

Security Officer Comments:
Kimusky employs highly tailored spear-phishing emails to disseminate its ReconShark malware to targets, a technique used in previous campaigns. These emails contain a link to a password-protected document hosted on Microsoft OneDrive, which lowers the likelihood of detection by email security tools. When the target opens the document and enables macros, as instructed, the embedded ReconShark malware is triggered. Since Microsoft disabled macros by default on downloaded Office documents, most threat actors have shifted to new file types like ISO, and more recently, OneNote. Tom Hegel, Senior Threat Researcher at SentinelLabs, believes that the attackers may be searching for easy targets with outdated Office versions or users who enable macros. Despite Kimsuky's evolution of the BabyShark malware family, its spear-phishing tactics are not very innovative.

Suggested Corrections:


IOCs: https://www.sentinelone.com/labs/kimsuky-evolves-reconnaissance-capabilities-in-new-global-campaign/

General Suggested Corrections:

Users should always be cautious of individuals or organizations that ask for personal information. Most companies will not ask for sensitive data from its customers. If in doubt, users should verify with the company itself to avoid any potential issues.

Users should always take a close look at the sender’s display name when checking the legitimacy of an email. Most companies use a single domain for their URLs and emails, so a message that originates from a different domain is a red flag.

As a general rule, users should not click links or download files even if they come from seemingly “trustworthy” sources.

Check for mismatched URLs. While an embedded URL might seem perfectly valid, hovering above it might show a different web address. In fact, users should avoid clicking links in emails unless they are certain that it is a legitimate link.

Users should always be on the lookout for any grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Legitimate companies will often employ proofreaders and editors who ensure that the materials they send out are error-free.

Users should not be frightened or intimidated by messages that have an alarmist tone. They should double check with the company if they are uncertain about the status of their accounts.

Phishing emails are designed to be sent to a large number of people, so they need to be as impersonal as possible. Users should check whether the message contains a generic subject and greeting, as this can be a sign of a phishing attempt.

Although not every end user has access to advanced anti-phishing software, they can still use the built-in protection of their email clients to filter messages. One example is setting the email client to block all images unless approved.

Legitimate companies will never send confirmation emails unless there are specific reasons for doing so. In fact, most companies will avoid sending unsolicited messages unless it’s for company updates, newsletters, or advertising purposes.

Users should always take the context of an email or message into account. For example, most online accounts do away with viewable member numbers, so users should be wary if they receive emails containing a “member number” for services that generally don’t use them.

It is important to take note of unusual information in the text of the message. Any mentions of operating systems and software that are not typically used by consumers can often be indicators of a phishing attempt.

If it seems suspicious, it probably is. Users should always err on the side of caution when it comes to sending out personally identifiable information through messages and emails.

Link:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com