FortiGuard Threat and Incident Notifications
Boots on the ground insight into real-world cyber campaigns
Contactez-nousNews on Trending Threats and Incidents
While high-profile cyber campaigns periodically capture global attention and news cycles, there is a steady stream of trending threats and incidents that impact individual organizations on a daily basis.
These are situations routinely encountered by our FortiGuard Responder Services team that enables organizations to conduct 24x7 continuous cyber threat monitoring, analysis, and alert triage, as well as incident response and forensic investigation. Here we provide insight into recent threat actor tactics and corresponding techniques from our seasoned experts as well as through the lens of our powerful FortiEDR endpoint detection and response investigation tool.
There are two types of resources:
FortiGuard Responder Knowledge Base (KB) Articles
Quick analysis on trending threats and or zero day campaigns. KB articles contain:
- Threat description
- Insight into tactics and techniques, as identified by FortiEDR
- Specific threat hunting queries to use to search your environment
- Mapping to MITRE ATT&CK TTPs
FortiGuard Responder Incident Analysis (IA)
Deeper analysis on incidents observed in live production environments. The IA contains:
- Affected platforms, threat type, impacted users, impact, severity
- Threat overview with Cyber Kill Chain analysis
- In-depth analysis of threat tactics and techniques
- Specific threat-hunting queries
- Mitre ATT&CK TTPs observed along with available mitigations and Fortinet Security Fabric controls
Latest FortiGuard Responder Notifications
AvosLocker Ransomware
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Ransomware
AvosLocker is a new ransomware and extortion gang appearing on the ransomware scene in late 2021. AvosLocker has been known to target organizations responsible for managing critical infrastructure. This article demonstrates how FortiEDR can detect and mitigate the execution of AvosLocker ransomware out of the box.
BlackCat (ALPHV) Ransomware
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Ransomware
BlackCat (aka ALPHV, AlphaVM) is a newly established RaaS (Ransomware as a Service) with payloads written in Rust. Due to the use of Rust, BlackCat ransomware is cross-platform and achieves faster encryption speed than some other Ransomware. This article will analyze FortiEDR detections and mitigation coverage for this ransomware variant and its post-execution behavior.
HermeticWiper (KillDisk)
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Wiper
On 23 Feb 2022 numerous organizations within Ukraine were targeted with attacks employing ‘KillDisk’ or ‘HermeticWiper’ malware. Once executed this malware corrupts the master boot record (MBR) of the target endpoint rendering it unusable. This article highlights how FortiEDR detects and blocks behaviour wiper activity performed by this malware.
Spook Ransomware
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Ransomware
Spook ransomware is the Prometheus ransomware variant currently employed by the Spook ransomware group. The group began operating in late Sep 2021 and has performed a number of large scale compromises across the globe. In this article, we will take a look into the ransomware’s behaviour and see how FortiEDR protects against it.
TTP Analysis: MSBuild Proxy Execution
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Defense Evasion Technique
The FortiGuard Responder team has observed attempts to employ a proxy execution technique that uses the Microsoft MSBuild to deploy Cobalt Strike beacons throughout customer environments. This article will demonstrate how FortiEDR protects against the use of this proxy execution technique and will analyze a sample observed in the wild.
Analyzing MirrorBlast Proxy Execution Techniques
Affected Platforms: Machines running Windows operating system
Threat Type: Data Exfiltration
Impacted Users: Windows Users
Impact: Credential dumping, data exfiltration
Severity: Critical
MirrorBlast is a malware loader family typically deployed through phishing campaigns. MirrorBlast employs a number of unique proxy execution techniques that take advantage of both the KiXtart and Rebol scripting languages. This article includes technical analysis and IOCs related to samples collected from a spike in C2 traffic in early 2022.
CetaRAT Remote Access Tool
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Remote Access Tool
CetaRAT is a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that has seen a recent spike in activity targeting Indian government agencies. Recently observed CetaRAT activity indicates it has been used to exfiltrate sensitive information from infected systems. This article will demonstrate how FortiEDR detects and blocks this malware.
Analyzing Qakbot Banking trojan Activity
Affected Platforms: Machines running Windows operating system
Threat Type: Data Exfiltration
Impacted Users: Windows Users
Impact: Credential dumping, data exfiltration, pathway to ransomware
Severity: Critical
Qakbot, also known as Qbot, PinkslipBot, or QuackBot, has been active for more than a decade. Its modular approach in employing defensive evasion techniques makes it very resilient to detection from traditional security products. A mixture of different code injections techniques adds to the complexity of its analysis. This article includes technical analysis and IOCs related to a recent sample.
Mitigating Log4shell Post Exploitation Activity KB
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Remote Code Execution
A critical remote code execution vulnerability in Apache Log4j is actively being exploited in the wild. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation and sanitization, which allows any user input that gets logged to lead to remote code execution.
Netlogon Vulnerability (ZeroLogon) - CVE-2020-1472
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Local Privilege Escalation
ZeroLogon is the name given to CVE-2020-1472, a critical elevation of privilege vulnerability in Microsoft's Netlogon Remote Protocol (MS-NRPC). Zerologon is actively being exploited in the wild for credential access and remote code execution on Windows Domain controllers and has become a key part of many adversarys intrusions.
Windows Installer Vulnerability - CVE-2021-41379
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Local Privilege Escalation
A vulnerability in Windows Installer that allows for Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) on vulnerable endpoints allowing an adversary the ability to execute code as SYSTEM. Microsoft's initial attempts at patching the vulnerability were ineffective and POC code is readily available that is still effective on fully patched systems.
New ProxyShell Post Exploitation Activity
Affected Platforms: Windows Endpoints, Vulnerable Microsoft Exchange Servers
Threat Type: Cryptomining
Impacted Users: Windows users
Impact: Cryptocurrency mining by taking advantage of the compromised system resources
Severity: Medium
The ProxyShell vulnerabilities (CVE-2021-34473, CVE-2021-34523, CVE-2021-31207) have been aggressively targeted across the globe since late August 2021 with vulnerable servers often being compromised by multiple actors simultaneously. This article takes a deep dive into some unique TTPs employed by one of these actors as part of an investigated incident
Mitigating Unknown .NET Malware KB
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Cryptojacking
The use of .NET malware by adversaries continues to grow and with it the need to be able to detect, analyse and mitigate behaviour associated with such threats. This article examines a new set of .NET malware variants observed by the FortiGuard Responder team in the wild used for lateral movement and persistence as a precursor to deployment of cryptoming software.
Hive Ransomware
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Ransomware
A new threat group named Hive that deploys a ransomware variant of the same name have begun to ramp-up operations around the globe. Notable recent intrusions in North America have propelled this group into the sights of the cybersecurity community.
MSHTML Vulnerability – CVE-2021-40444
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Remote Code Execution
Microsoft has released a patch, mitigations, and workarounds to address a remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2021-40444) in MSHTML that affects Microsoft Windows. Exploitation of this vulnerability allows a remote attacker to take control of an affected system by using specially-crafted Microsoft Office documents. This vulnerability has been detected in exploits in the wild.
LockBit Ransomware
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Ransomware
LockBit 2.0 is a new LockBit variant that operates as Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS). This LockBit variant has an enhanced propagation component, which has never been seen in this ransomware before, and will automatically distribute itself throughout a domain.
Conti Ransomware (3rd Version)
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Ransomware
Conti ransomware has been around since May 2020 and continues to affect a large number of companies. The FBI has linked the Conti ransomware attacks to a Russian persistent threat actor known as Wizard Spider. Conti distributes itself using BazarLoader and employs a multithreading approach to encrypt all of the files quickly. Conti is available in three different versions.
HiveNightMare (aka SeriousSam) Vulnerability KB
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Privilege Escalation
HiveNightmare aka #SeriousSAM is a vulnerability (CVE-2021-36934) in Windows 10 and above (including Windows 11) that can be easily exploited by local non-admin users to gain admin privileges.
GuardMiner Cryptocurrency Miner Operation Disclosed
Affected Platforms: Systems running Windows operating system
Threat Type: Baking Trojan, information stealer
Impacted Parties: Windows users
Threat Type: Baking Trojan, information stealer
Impact: Credential theft, data exfiltration
Severity Level: Critical
The FortiGuard Responder team analyzed patterns in post exploitation activity associated with MS SQL compromises within FortiEDR platforms. The campaign the MDR team observed is related to the GuardMiner.
PrintNightmare Vulnerability CVE-2021-34527 KB
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Privilege Escalation
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued an alert following the disclosure of a proof of concept (PoC) exploit for a zero-day vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler service. This critical vulnerability has been dubbed PrintNightmare and is assigned CVE-2021-34527.
Juicy Potato Hacking Tool Discovered on Compromised Web Servers
Affected Platforms: Systems running Windows operating system
Threat Type: Local privilege escalation
Impacted Parties: Windows users
Impact: Allows an attacker to gain system-level privileges to run any arbitrary commands
Severity Level: Critical
JuicyPotato (also known as SharpPotato and SweetPotato) is a weaponized version of RottenPotatoNG, a Windows privilege-escalation hacking tool.
Kaseya VSA Attack
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Supply chain attack with escalated privileges
CISA released guidance earlier this weekend which identifies a suspected supply-chain attack on the Kaseya VSA application. Kaseya VSA is a commercial tool used for remote management and administration of a network.
New Post-infection Activity of Lemon Duck Botnet Discovered
Affected Platforms: Systems running Windows operating system
Threat Type: Cryptocurrency mining botnet
Impacted Parties: Windows and Linux users
Impact: Data exfiltration to attacker-operated command and control servers, cryptocurrency mining by taking advantage of the compromised system resources
Severity Level: Critical
Lemon Duck is a modular crypto-mining botnet with worm-like spreading capability. This botnet has been active since December 2018, targeting victims across the globe, including North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
IcedID (a.k.a BokBot) Infections On The Rise
Affected Platforms: Systems running Windows operating system
Threat Type: Baking Trojan, information stealer
Impacted Parties: Windows users
Impact: Credential theft, data exfiltration
Severity Level: Critical
IcedID (also known as BokBot) is a banking Trojan that gets distributed through phishing email campaigns. This banking Trojan targets victims to steal financial information, including payment card details, login credentials, and banking information.
Revil Ransomware (aka Sobinokibi)
Product Detecting and Blocking: FortiEDR v4.x, 5.x
Threat Type: Ransomware
The Revil Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) operation, also known as Sodinokibi surfaced shortly before GandCrab’s authors supposedly retired and quickly became one of the biggest ransomware threats.
