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Scrape Timestamp (UTC): 2024-09-25 07:08:36.523

Source: https://thehackernews.com/2024/09/transportation-companies-hit-by.html

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Transportation Companies Hit by Cyberattacks Using Lumma Stealer and NetSupport Malware. Transportation and logistics companies in North America are the target of a new phishing campaign that delivers a variety of information stealers and remote access trojans (RATs). The activity cluster, per Proofpoint, makes use of compromised legitimate email accounts belonging to transportation and shipping companies so as to inject malicious content into existing email conversations. As many as 15 breached email accounts have been identified as used as part of the campaign. It's currently not clear how these accounts are infiltrated in the first place or who is behind the attacks. "Activity which occurred from May to July 2024 predominately delivered Lumma Stealer, StealC, or NetSupport," the enterprise security firm said in an analysis published Tuesday. "In August 2024, the threat actor changed tactics by employing new infrastructure and a new delivery technique, as well as adding payloads to deliver DanaBot and Arechclient2." The attack chains involve sending messages bearing internet shortcut (.URL) attachments or Google Drive URLs leading to a .URL file that when launched, uses Server Message Block (SMB) to fetch the next-stage payload containing the malware from a remote share. Some variants of the campaign observed in August 2024 have also latched onto a recently popular technique called ClickFix to trick victims into downloading the DanaBot malware under the pretext of addressing an issue with displaying document content in the web browser. Specifically, this involves urging users to copy and paste a Base64-encoded PowerShell script into the terminal, thereby triggering the infection process. "These campaigns have impersonated Samsara, AMB Logistic, and Astra TMS – software that would only be used in transport and fleet operations management," Proofpoint said. "The specific targeting and compromises of organizations within transportation and logistics, as well as the use of lures that impersonate software specifically designed for freight operations and fleet management, indicates that the actor likely conducts research into the targeted company's operations before sending campaigns." The disclosure comes amid the emergence of various stealer malware strains such as Angry Stealer, BLX Stealer (aka XLABB Stealer), Emansrepo Stealer, Gomorrah Stealer, Luxy, Poseidon, PowerShell Keylogger, QWERTY Stealer, Taliban Stealer, X-FILES Stealer, and a CryptBot-related variant dubbed Yet Another Silly Stealer (YASS). It also follows the emergence of a new version of the RomCom RAT, a successor to PEAPOD (aka RomCom 4.0) codenamed SnipBot that's distributed via bogus links embedded within phishing emails. Some aspects of the campaign were previously highlighted by the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) in July 2024. "SnipBot gives the attacker the ability to execute commands and download additional modules onto a victim's system," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researchers Yaron Samuel and Dominik Reichel said. "The initial payload is always either an executable downloader masked as a PDF file or an actual PDF file sent to the victim in an email that leads to an executable." While systems infected with RomCom have also witnessed ransomware deployments in the past, the cybersecurity company pointed out the absence of this behavior, raising the possibility that the threat behind the malware, Tropical Scorpius (aka Void Rabisu), has shifted from pure financial gain to espionage.

Daily Brief Summary

CYBERCRIME // North American Transport Firms Targeted by Phishing and Malware

North American transportation and logistics companies are being targeted by a sophisticated phishing campaign that employs information stealers and remote access trojans.

Attackers use compromised email accounts from legitimate transportation businesses to send malware-infected messages, blending seamlessly into ongoing email threads.

The campaign, active from May to July 2024, primarily distributed Lumma Stealer, StealC, and NetSupport malware. In August 2024, tactics shifted to include DanaBot and Arechclient2 using new techniques and infrastructure.

Cybercriminals employ lures impersonating known transportation and logistics management software to increase the likelihood of the targeted companies engaging with the malicious content.

Attack vectors include sending .URL files through email or Google Drive links, which lead to malware downloads using the SMB protocol or through crafted scripts pasted by the user into the terminal.

The attacks are highly targeted, with threat actors conducting pre-attack research on potential victims to customize phishing lures effectively.

The disclosure of these attacks follows the identification of multiple new strains of stealer malware and updates to existing malware like the RomCom RAT, indicating a broad and active threat landscape specifically targeting industry-specific operations.