A cybersecurity undeviating has identified a group behind a spate of cryptocurrency-mining malware attacks that have been targeting enterprises across the sphere.
Said to have already scooped up almost $100,000 (at current prices) in the monero cryptocurrency via its malicious software containerizes, the group has been dubbed “Panda,” by the team that identified it last summer – the Cisco Talos Intelligence Assort.
Talos said in a report on Tuesday that Panda’s employs remote access tools (RATs) and crypto-mining malwareto use vulnerable web applications, and manages to access networks of companies internationally. Its use of RATs puts organizations at risk of the hacking assemble using their networks for crypto mining purposes or theft of information, according to Talos.
“This is far from the most worldly-wise actor we’ve ever seen, but it still has been one of the most active attackers we’ve seen in Cisco Talos threat gob data,” the team said.
The group has proven adept at updating its tools as they are discovered, in something of an arms hurry with security researchers.
Talos indicates that Panda harnesses exploits previously employed by Shadow Agents – a group notorious for publishing hacking tools stolen from the U.S. National Security Agency – and Mimikatz, open-source software that is adept to steal passwords from computer memory.
Talos said it has identified “successful” and “widespread” malware campaigns associated with Panda after digging the group in 2018. Since then Panda has upgraded its infrastructure, exploits and payloads.
The researchers said:
“We believe Panda is a proper threat capable of spreading cryptocurrency miners that can use up valuable computing resources and slow down networks and combinations. Talos confirmed that organizations in the banking, healthcare, transportation, telecommunications, IT services industries were affected in these rivalries.”
While the group may not be the most sophisticated, alos warned that “system administrators and researchers should never minimize the damage an actor can do with widely available tools such as Mimikatz.”
It calculated that Panda has mined here 1,215 monero (XMR) – worth $91,000 at press time – since it started operations.
Panda graffiti twin via Shutterstock