A new zero-day vulnerability, CVE-2024-43451, was discovered by ClearSky Cyber Security in June 2024. This vulnerability affects Windows systems and is being actively exploited in attacks against Ukrainian entities. The vulnerability activates URL files containing malicious code through seemingly innocuous actions: The malicious URL files were disguised as academic certificates and were initially observed being […]
Read MoreFata Morgana: Watering hole attack on shipping and logistics websites
ClearSky Cyber Security has detected a watering hole attack on at least eight Israeli websites. The attack is highly likely to be orchestrated by a nation-state actor from Iran, with a low confidence specific attribution to Tortoiseshell (also called TA456 or Imperial Kitten). The Infected sites collect preliminary user information through a script. We have […]
Read MoreLyceum suicide drone
ClearSky discovered a new malware associated with the Iranian SiameseKitten (Lyceum) group withmedium-high confidence.The file is downloaded from a domain registered on June 6th, and it communicates with a previously unknown command and control server whose IP address is adjacent to that of the domain. This indicates an attacker-controlled at least two IP’s on the […]
Read MoreAttributing CryptoCore Attacks Against Crypto Exchanges to LAZARUS (North Korea)
CryptoCore is an attack campaign against crypto-exchange companies that has been ongoing for three years and was discovered by ClearSky researchers. This cybercrime campaign is focused mainly on the theft of cryptocurrency wallets, and we estimate that the attackers have already made off with hundreds of millions of dollars. This campaign was also reported by […]
Read More‘Lebanese Cedar’ APT
In early 2020, suspicious network activities and hacking tools were found in a range of companies. Comprehensive forensic research of the infected systems revealed a strong connection to a threat actor we call ‘Lebanese Cedar’, ‘Lebanese Cedar’ APT has been operating since 2012. These operations were first discovered by Check-Point researchers and Kaspersky labs in 2015. […]
Read MoreOperation ‘Kremlin’
Introduction ClearSky researchers identified a malicious “.docx” file that was uploaded to VirusTotal from Russia in mid-December. The file contains an obfuscated URL to a remote template which contains malicious VBA, eventually leading to the execution of VBS on the infected machine. The attack’s purpose is to stealthily exfiltrate information without running any external executables […]
Read MorePay2Kitten – Fox Kitten 2
During the past four months a wave of cyber-attacks has been targeting Israeli companies. The attacks are conducted by different means and target a range of sectors. We estimate with medium to high confidence that Pay2Key is a new operation conducted by Fox Kitten, an Iranian APT group that began a new wave of attacks […]
Read MoreOperation Quicksand
During September 2020, we identified a new campaign targeting many prominent Israeli organizations. The campaign was attributed to the Iranian threat actor ‘MuddyWater’ (also known as TEMP.Zagros, Static Kitten and Seedworm). MuddyWater was previously exposed as a contractor for the IRGC (Islamic Republic Guard Corps). ClearSky and Profero comprehensively researched this campaign. During the campaign, […]
Read MoreThe Kittens Are Back in Town 3
During 2017-2019, Clearsky had published several reports about the Iranian APT group “Charming Kitten”. One of the group’s most common attack vectors is impersonating journalists, particularly those from the German “Deutsche Welle” broadcasting company and the “Jewish Journal” magazine. Starting July 2020, we have identified a new TTP of the group, impersonating “Deutsche Welle” and […]
Read MoreOperation ‘Dream Job’ Widespread North Korean Espionage Campaign
During June-August of 2020, ClearSky’s analysis team had investigated an offensive campaign attributed with high probability to North Korea, which we call “Dream Job”. This campaign has been active since the beginning of the year and it succeeded, in our assessment, to infect several dozens of companies and organizations in Israel and globally. Its main […]
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