Updated on 2022-12-07
Qihoo 360 researchers have a report out on recent operations of the Transparent Tribe APT that has used Android and Windows malware to target “terrorism.” The Qihoo report goes out of its way to praise Pakistan for fighting “terrorism”—which in this case is espionage campaigns targeting the Baloch minority. I guess when your country puts Uyghurs in concentration camps and passes it as “fighting terrorism” and “national security,” you got to praise other countries that do the same to normalize the behavior. Read more: 疑似APT-C-56（透明部落）针对恐怖主义的攻击活动分析
Updated on November 2022: APT36
A new malware campaign by Pakistan-linked Transparent Tribe was found targeting Indian government entities with trojanized strains of a 2FA solution, named Kavach. Read more: APT-36 Uses New TTPs and New Tools to Target Indian Governmental Organizations
Zscaler has a report on APT36, a Pakistan-based threat actor, and its operations targeting the Indian government (obviously). Read more: APT-36 Uses New TTPs and New Tools to Target Indian Governmental Organizations
Updated on July 2022
Transparent Tribe adds new tools to its arsenal as it targets Indian colleges
Cisco Talos discovered an uncommon piece of malware targeting Ukraine aimed at a large software development company whose software is used in various state organizations within Ukraine. Talos believes this campaign is likely sourced by Russian state-sponsored actors or those acting in their interests. As this firm is involved in software development, we cannot ignore the possibility that the perpetrating threat actor’s intent was to gain access to source a supply chain-style attack, though at this time, we do not have any evidence that they were successful. Cisco Talos confirmed that the malware is a slightly modified version of the open-source backdoor named “GoMet.” The malware was first observed on March 28, 2022.
Read more in
- Questions For Confluence Security Advisory 2022-07-20
- Critical Bugs Threaten to Crack Atlassian Confluence Workspaces Wide Open
Transparent Tribe adds new tools to its arsenal as it targets Indian colleges
Cisco Talos has been tracking a new malicious campaign operated by the Transparent Tribe APT group. This campaign involves the targeting of educational institutions and students in the Indian subcontinent, a deviation from the adversary’s typical focus on government entities. The attacks result in the deployment of CrimsonRAT, Transparent Tribe’s malware of choice for establishing long-term access into victim networks. We assess with high confidence that a Pakistani web hosting services provider “Zain Hosting” was used for deploying and operating components of Transparent Tribe’s infrastructure. This is likely one of many third parties Transparent Tribe employs to prepare, stage and/or deploy components of their operation. Transparent Tribe primarily uses three Windows-based malware families to carry out espionage activities against their targets, including CrimsonRAT and ObliqueRAT. Read more: Transparent Tribe begins targeting education sector in latest campaign
Overview: Transparent Tribe
Now, in direct opposition, Cisco Talos also published a report on recent attacks carried out by Transparent Tribe, a Pakistani APT that has been targeting Indian educational institutions, showing that these two countries continue to hack each other with no respite.
