We’ve long known developers of cyberattacks to be crafty and focus a lot of energy on obfuscation, but a new attack can shift gears midstream, delivering just the right malware.
If you travel enough by plane, eventually you have a really good idea of what can go wrong while enroute and plan accordingly to pack the right things you may need (e.g., battery pack, charging cable, pillow, headphones, etc.). It’s just human nature – you know the outcome you want, are aware of the variables, and take actions proactively to ensure as positive an outcome as possible.
A new attack identified by security analysts at HP Wolf Security, denoted in their Q3 Threat Insight Report highlights a very sophisticated attack that feels a bit like these attackers have been through this before and have taken precaution to be able to change the focus of an attack based on what they encounter in a victim organization.
According to the report, the attack starts with a simple malicious Word doc, but quickly turns into a complex mix of PowerShell scripts designed to facilitate the downloading of components from different remote web servers used throughout the campaign, allowing attackers to change out payloads easily mid-campaign or even mid-attack.
This modular approach empowers initial access brokers to use the same attack strategy, but install a RAT for one client, ransomware for another, and Cobalt Strike Beacon for yet another. This is dangerous territory, when threat actors have “options”. It’s all the more reason we need to make sure that their initial attack – a Word doc sent as an attachment – is never opened; something taught to users through continual Security Awareness Training.
Here's how it works:
