New 'Madi' cyber-espionage campaign targets Iran AND Israel

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[h=2]New 'Madi' cyber-espionage campaign targets Iran AND Israel[/h]

Attackers 'fluent in Persian', say security sinkholers

By John Leyden

Security researchers have discovered a new cyber-espionage campaign targeting victims in the Middle East.

Kaspersky Lab and Seculert identified more than 800 victims located in Iran, Israel, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the course of monitoring control servers associated with cyber/espionage operation over the last eight months.

"Statistics from the sinkhole revealed that the victims were primarily business people working on Iranian and Israeli critical infrastructure projects, Israeli financial institutions, Middle Eastern engineering students, and various government agencies communicating in the Middle East," according to Seculert.

The Madi malware associated with the electronic spying operation is far less sophisticated than the Flame, Duqu and Stuxnet worms associated with previously discovered spying operation in the Middle East, many of which have become associated with operations against Iran's controversial nuclear program. Leaked briefings from the Obama administration suggest both Flame and Stuxnet were joint US/Israeli operations

Madi is a Trojan that allows remote attackers to swipe sensitive files from infected Windows computers, monitor email and instant messages exchanges, record audio, log keystrokes, and take screenshots of victims' activities. in all these respects the malware is similar in capabilities to banking Trojans. Common applications and websites that were spied on include accounts on Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, ICQ, Skype, Google+, and Facebook. Surveillance also tapped integrated ERP/CRM systems, business contracts, and financial management systems.

Kaspersky Lab and Seculert worked together to sinkhole the Madi Command & Control (C&C) servers and thus monitor the spying operation, which they characterise as "amateurish and rudimentary" in execution.

"While the malware and infrastructure is very basic compared to other similar projects, the Madi attackers have been able to conduct a sustained surveillance operation against high-profile victims," said Nicolas Brulez, a senior malware researcher at Kaspersky Lab. "Perhaps the amateurish and rudimentary approach helped the operation fly under the radar and evade detection."

Aviv Raff, Chief Technology Officer, Seculert, added:

"Interestingly, our joint analysis uncovered a lot of Persian strings littered throughout the malware and the C&C tools, which is unusual to see in malicious code. The attackers were no doubt fluent in this language."

More on the Madi campaign can be found in a post on Seculert's blog (here) and from Kaspersky Lab here. ®

Sursa: New 'Madi' cyber-espionage campaign targets Iran AND Israel • The Register

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Kaspersky: The Madi Campaign - Part I - Securelist

Seculert: Seculert Blog: Mahdi - The Cyberwar Savior?

rezumatul (devirusare.com)

Kaspersky Lab anunta rezultatele unei investigatii realizate impreuna cu Seculert, o companie specializata in identificarea amenintarilor informatice avansate, cu privire la „Madi”, o campanie activa de spionaj cibernetic, care tinteste victime din Orientul Mijlociu. Descoperita initial de Seculert, Madi este o operatiune de infiltrare in retelele de computere, folosind un troian raspandit cu ajutorul tehnicilor de inginerie sociala catre anumite tinte, alese special.

Kaspersky Lab si Seculert au colaborat pentru a realiza procesul de sinkhole (redirectionarea traficului catre serverul de C&C, pentru ca atacatorii sa nu mai poata controla calculatoarele infectate) a serverelor de Comanda & Control (C&C) a Madi, identificand – in ultimele opt luni – peste 800 de victime, localizate in Iran, Israel si anumite tari din intreaga lume. Statisticile dezvaluie faptul ca victimele sunt, in principal, oameni de afaceri implicati in proiecte de infrastructura critica din Iran si Israel, institutii financiare israeliene, studenti in inginerie din Orientul Mijlociu, precum si multiple agentii guvernamentale, care comunica in aceasta zona.

Procesul de analiza a malware-ului a scos la lumina o cantitate neobisnuita de documente si imagini de natura politica si religioasa, care erau copiate in computer si afisate in momentul infectiei.

„Cu toate ca malware-ul si infrastructura campaniei nu sunt la fel de complexe ca alte proiecte similare, atacatorii din spatele Madi au reusit sa conduca o operatiune de supraveghere a victimelor high-profile”, spune Nicolas Brulez, Senior Malware Researcher la Kaspersky Lab. „Probabil ca amatorismul si abordarea rudimentara a Madi i-au ajutat sa evite detectia in toata aceasta perioada, respectiv sa li se acorde atentia unei amenintari avansate”, completeaza Brulez.

„In urma analizei comune, am descoperit ca multe linii de cod din malware si instrumentele C&C erau scrise in persana, lucru interesant si neobisnuit pentru un cod malitios. Fara indoiala, atacatorii vorbesc fluent aceasta limba”, spune Aviv Raff, Chief Technology Officer la Seculert.

Troianul Madi permite infractorilor cibernetici sa fure informatii confidentiale de pe computerele cu sisteme de operare Microsoft Windows, sa monitorizeze comunicarea prin email si programele de mesagerie instant, sa inregistreze audio si intrarile din tastatura, precum si sa realizeze capturi de ecran. Analiza confirma faptul ca mai multi gigabytes de informatie au ajuns pe serverele infractorilor.

Printre aplicatiile si paginile web spionate se numara conturile de Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, ICQ, Skype, Google+ si Facebook ale victimelor. Supravegherea era condusa si prin intermediul sistemelor ERP/CRM integrate, a contractelor de business si sistemelor de administrare financiara.