The injection of the Cryptbot bytes into memory occurs through the process hollowing method, while the malware's operational features overlap with previous research findings. Moreover, Cryptobot checks for the presence of "%APPDATA%\Ramson," and executes its self-deletion routine if the folder exists to prevent re-infection. KMSPico is commonly distributed through pirated software and cracks sites that wrap the tool in installers containing adware and malware.Īs you can see below, there are numerous sites created to distribute KMSPico, all claiming to be the official site. "In fact, we even experienced one ill-fated incident response engagement where our IR partner could not remediate one environment due to the organization not having a single valid Windows license in the environment." Tainted product activators "We've observed several IT departments using KMSPico instead of legitimate Microsoft licenses to activate systems," explained Red Canary intelligence analyst Tony Lambert. KMSPico is a popular Microsoft Windows and Office product activator that emulates a Windows Key Management Services (KMS) server to activate licenses fraudulently.Īccording to Red Canary, many IT departments using KMSPico instead of legitimate Microsoft software licenses are much bigger than one would expect. This activity has been spotted by researchers at Red Canary, who warn that pirating software to save on licensing costs isn't worth the risk. In that case, as in the CCleaner attack, victims installed seemingly legitimate software from a small but trusted company, only to find that it had been silently corrupted, deeply infecting their IT systems.Threat actors are distributing altered KMSpico installers to infect Windows devices with malware that steals cryptocurrency wallets. Two months earlier, hackers hijacked the update mechanism of the Ukrainian accounting software MeDoc to deliver a destructive piece of software known as NotPetya, causing massive damage to companies in Ukraine as well as in Europe and the United States. But it already represents another serious example in the string of software supply-chain attacks that have recently rocked the internet. The exact dimensions of the CCleaner attack will likely continue to be redrawn, as analysis continues. "If you didn’t restore your system from backup, you’re at high risk of not having cleaned this up," Williams says. Instead, the researchers recommend that anyone affected fully restore their machines from backup versions prior to the installation of Avast's tainted security program. On Wednesday, researchers at Cisco's Talos security division revealed that they've now analyzed the hackers' "command-and-control" server to which those malicious versions of CCleaner connected.įor any company that may have had computers running the corrupted version of CCleaner on their network, Cisco warns that its findings mean merely deleting that application is no guarantee the CCleaner backdoor wasn't used to plant a secondary piece of malware on their network, one with its own, still-active command and control server. It wound up installed on more than 700,000 computers. Researchers now believe that the hackers behind it were bent not only on mass infections, but on targeted espionage that tried to gain access to the networks of at least 18 tech firms.Įarlier this week, security firms Morphisec and Cisco revealed that CCleaner, a piece of security software distributed by Czech company Avast, had been hijacked by hackers and loaded with a backdoor that evaded the company's security checks. But now it's becoming clear exactly how bad the results of the recent CCleaner malware outbreak may be. Hundreds of thousands of computers getting penetrated by a corrupted version of an ultra-common piece of security software was never going to end well. Update: On September 25, Avast confirmed that of the 18 companies targeted, a total of 40 computers were successfully infected with a secondary malware installation at the following companies: Samsung, Sony, Asus, Intel, VMWare, O2, Singtel, Gauselmann, Dyn, Chunghwa and Fujitsu.
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