mrmoor/cyber-threat-intelligence · Datasets at Hugging Face

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1,617	Any user who reads this message and understands it is unlikely to agree, but Funtasy does not even wait for their agreement.	[ { "id": 46847, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 77, "end_offset": 84 } ]	[]	[]
1,618	While the terms page is on the screen, in the background the Trojan checks to see if the phone is attached to a network with one of the following mobile network codes (MNC): Each of these networks is Spanish, except for a single Australian network.	[]	[]	[]
1,619	This data, along with an encoded version of the Terms of Service are stored as static strings in the Android package file.	[]	[]	[]
1,620	Constants.java After determining the phone is on one of the correct networks, the malware searches for the phone’s mobile number.	[ { "id": 45079, "label": "FILEPATH", "start_offset": 1, "end_offset": 15 } ]	[]	[]
1,621	It does this in three ways:	[]	[]	[]
1,622	Util.java With the phone’s number captured, Funtasy then registers the mobile account with a premium SMS service by sending an HTTP POST request to the following URL. The request is made without the users knowledge, they have no choice to select a number.	[ { "id": 46848, "label": "FILEPATH", "start_offset": 1, "end_offset": 10 } ]	[]	[]
1,623	Of course, premium SMS services require that the user confirm that they want to sign up by sending incoming SMS message containing a PIN.	[]	[]	[]
1,624	Funtasy intercepts this message, parses out the PIN and sends it back to the registration server, completing the enrollment process.	[]	[]	[]
1,625	IncomingSms.java Of course, once users begin receiving the SMS messages, they are likely to unsubscribe from the service they never really wanted.	[ { "id": 46849, "label": "FILEPATH", "start_offset": 1, "end_offset": 17 } ]	[]	[]
1,626	To prevent this, Funtasy blocks the incoming messages before they are displayed to the user and modifies the time stamp on each message to make them appear to have been received 15 days earlier.	[ { "id": 46850, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 17, "end_offset": 24 } ]	[]	[]
1,627	This moves it to the back of the inbox there the victim is unlikely to ever see it.	[]	[]	[]
1,628	Funtasy does this even when the victim uses alternative SMS managers, like Google Hangouts or GO SMS Pro.	[ { "id": 46851, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 76, "end_offset": 91 }, { "id": 46853, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 1, "end_offset": 8 }, { "id": 46852, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 95, "end_offset": 105 } ]	[]	[]
1,629	After evaluating the remote control app and finding malicious behavior, we decided to evaluate all of the other applications published by “fun app”, and found 12 more which all contains the exact same behavior. Figure 4:	[ { "id": 46854, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 140, "end_offset": 147 } ]	[]	[]
1,630	Additional “fun app” applications, all contain the Funtasy Trojan.	[ { "id": 46855, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 12, "end_offset": 19 }, { "id": 46856, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 51, "end_offset": 58 } ]	[]	[]
1,631	Each of these applications is designed to appear like a legitimate application already in the app store.	[]	[]	[]
1,632	To raise the ranking of these apps, the author appears to have given many of them five-star ratings.	[]	[]	[]
1,633	Unfortunately for them, this gave us additional insight into their operation.	[]	[]	[]
1,634	To rate and comment on applications, users must have a Google account.	[ { "id": 46857, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 56, "end_offset": 62 } ]	[]	[]
1,635	One account using the name “Oscar Sanchez” gave high ratings and positive comments to many of the “fun app” applications.	[ { "id": 45081, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 28, "end_offset": 41 }, { "id": 46858, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 99, "end_offset": 106 } ]	[]	[]
1,636	He also rated apps made by two additional publishers with the names "MilApps101" and "Milapps102."	[ { "id": 46859, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 69, "end_offset": 79 }, { "id": 46860, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 86, "end_offset": 96 } ]	[]	[]
1,637	Between the two of these developers they have produced five applications, and we’ve found that every one of them contains the Funtasy Trojan.	[ { "id": 46861, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 126, "end_offset": 133 } ]	[]	[]
1,638	While the name “Oscar Sanchez” may be a pseudonym	[ { "id": 45082, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 16, "end_offset": 29 } ]	[]	[]
1,639	, Whois data indicates it was also used to register the domain hosting the Funtasy Mobile premium SMS service.	[ { "id": 46862, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 75, "end_offset": 82 } ]	[]	[]
1,640	In total we’ve found 18 different applications in the Google Play store that contain the Funtasy Trojan.	[ { "id": 46863, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 90, "end_offset": 97 }, { "id": 46864, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 55, "end_offset": 66 } ]	[ { "id": 242, "from_id": 46864, "to_id": 46863, "type": "hosts" } ]	[]
1,641	Each of these files also has the same internal class structure, which is represented by the tree structure below.	[]	[]	[]
1,642	Figure 5: Funtasy internal class structure.	[]	[]	[]
1,643	Researchers interested in investigating them further can find more information in the table below.	[]	[]	[]
1,644	Using this Trojan the attacker could be generating up to 30 euros per month for over 67,000 infected mobile phones.	[]	[]	[]
1,645	That adds up to 2 million euros per month, but the actual number is likely much lower.	[]	[]	[]
1,646	Many of the users who downloaded the tool may not be using one of the targeted Spanish or Australian networks.	[]	[]	[]
1,647	Figure 6: List of Android APK files infected with Funtasy Trojan	[ { "id": 45083, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 18, "end_offset": 29 }, { "id": 45084, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 50, "end_offset": 64 } ]	[]	[]
1,648	Users who want to defend against the Funtasy Trojan should not rely on traditional antivirus programs, as they do not currently detect this threat.	[ { "id": 46865, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 37, "end_offset": 44 } ]	[]	[]
1,649	Common sense is the best defense against these types of abusive programs.	[]	[]	[]
1,650	While many users breeze past the list of permissions required when installing new apps, readers of this blog should ask themselves, “Does my electronic bible need to read my SMS messages?” Sign up to receive the latest news, cyber threat intelligence and research from us	[]	[]	[]
1,651	Please enter your email address!	[]	[]	[]
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1,653	On July 22, Palo Alto Networks threat intelligence team, Unit 42, released our first report on the evolution of “Silver Spaniel” 419 scammers.	[ { "id": 45085, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 12, "end_offset": 55 }, { "id": 45086, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 57, "end_offset": 64 }, { "id": 45089, "label": "TIME", "start_offset": 3, "end_offset": 10 }, { "id": 45087, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 113, "end_offset": 127 } ]	[]	[]
1,654	Of particular note is how these actors use a Remote Administration Tool (RAT) named NetWire (part of the NetWiredRC malware family).	[ { "id": 46866, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 85, "end_offset": 92 }, { "id": 46867, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 106, "end_offset": 116 } ]	[ { "id": 243, "from_id": 46866, "to_id": 46867, "type": "variant-of" } ]	[]
1,655	This RAT gives a remote attacker complete control over a Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux system through a simple graphical user interface.	[ { "id": 46870, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 78, "end_offset": 84 }, { "id": 46868, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 57, "end_offset": 64 }, { "id": 46869, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 66, "end_offset": 74 } ]	[]	[]
1,656	To better understand this RAT, our team reverse engineered the communication protocol that NetWire uses.	[ { "id": 45090, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 92, "end_offset": 99 } ]	[]	[]
1,657	Today we have released a tool that decrypts NetWire traffic and outputs any commands issued by the attacker.	[ { "id": 4924, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 44, "end_offset": 51 } ]	[]	[]
1,658	NetWire uses a custom, TCP-based protocol.	[ { "id": 4926, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 1, "end_offset": 8 } ]	[]	[]
1,659	The producer of the NetWire WorldWiredLabs, states that the tool uses 256-bit AES encryption, which we found to be accurate.	[ { "id": 45091, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 20, "end_offset": 42 } ]	[]	[]
1,660	The tool generates two encryption keys using a static password that the attacker chooses when creating the NetWire binary.	[ { "id": 46871, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 107, "end_offset": 114 } ]	[]	[]
1,661	Each packet has the following structure: < 4 Byte Little-Endian length > < 1 Byte Command >	[]	[]	[]
1,662	< Data >	[]	[]	[]
1,663	The shortest possible packet is the “HeartBeat” command, which NetWire generates every 10 seconds.	[ { "id": 46872, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 64, "end_offset": 71 } ]	[]	[]
1,664	The initial packet from the client to the server shows a data and command length of 65 bytes (0x41 listed at the beginning of the packet) with a command byte of 0x03. Within that data is a 32-byte seed value followed by a 16-byte initialization vector (IV) value.	[]	[]	[]
1,665	The client then combines the 32-byte seed value with the static password in a predetermined fashion to form an AES key.	[]	[]	[]
1,666	Upon receiving the initial packet, the server uses the seed value and password to generate the client’s session key.	[]	[]	[]
1,667	It then generates its own 32-byte seed value to create it’s own session key and sends the seed value to the client.	[]	[]	[]
1,668	The client combines this with the password and generates the same key.	[]	[]	[]
1,669	At this point, the key exchange is complete and both client and server hold the same two keys, which they can use to encrypt and decrypt traffic.	[]	[]	[]
1,670	With the two keys in place, the malware uses the AES algorithm to encrypt traffic using Output Feedback (OFB) mode (Picture courtesy of Wikipedia). The output of the block cipher encryption is eXclusive OR’ed (XOR’d) with 16 bytes of ciphertext to decrypt. Each subsequent block of ciphertext will use the previous encrypted data as the IV passed into the block cipher encryption function.	[]	[]	[]
1,671	The malware has a full suite of possible commands, 76 to be exact.	[]	[]	[]
1,672	Upon receipt of a command from the server, a single function is called to decrypt the payload data and execute the received instruction.	[]	[]	[]
1,673	The value in the command byte determines which of the commands is run through a 76 way switch statement.	[]	[]	[]
1,674	A complete list of the possible commands available in NetWire was documented by CIRCL in April. The NetWire decoder uses data from a packet capture file to generate the client and server session keys then decode the remaining encrypted packets.	[ { "id": 45092, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 55, "end_offset": 62 }, { "id": 45093, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 102, "end_offset": 109 } ]	[]	[]
1,675	The user needs to know the IP of the infected client, the port used by malware and the encryption password to properly decode the traffic.	[]	[]	[]
1,676	This password is set to “Password” by default, but can be retrieved from NetWire binaries if the attacker used something more secure.	[ { "id": 4975, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 73, "end_offset": 80 } ]	[]	[]
1,677	The usage for the tool is show below.	[]	[]	[]
1,678	At this time the tool works against the latest version of NetWire, 1.5c.	[ { "id": 4979, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 59, "end_offset": 66 } ]	[]	[]
1,679	We hope this tool will be valuable to incident responders and others who are plagued by NetWire infections.	[ { "id": 4985, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 88, "end_offset": 95 } ]	[]	[]
1,680	Sign up to receive the latest news, cyber threat intelligence and research from us Please enter your email address!	[]	[]	[]
1,681	Please mark, I'm not a robot! By submitting this form, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Statement.	[]	[]	[]
1,682	Unit 42 has recently been investigating a new malware family called Reaver.	[ { "id": 46873, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 0, "end_offset": 7 }, { "id": 46874, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 68, "end_offset": 74 } ]	[]	[]
1,683	While we have identified it as being active since late 2016, Reaver has been used sparingly, with only a small number of unique samples identified.	[ { "id": 45094, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 61, "end_offset": 67 } ]	[]	[]
1,684	Its targets have been movements the Chinese government consider dangerous, also known as the “Five Poisons.”	[ { "id": 46875, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 36, "end_offset": 54 } ]	[]	[]
1,685	We found that the Reaver malware family has shared command-and-control (C2) infrastructure overlap SunOrcal malware, and that these have been used concurrently since late 2016.	[ { "id": 4998, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 18, "end_offset": 24 }, { "id": 5000, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 99, "end_offset": 107 }, { "id": 46876, "label": "TIME", "start_offset": 171, "end_offset": 175 } ]	[]	[]
1,686	While investigating Reaver we recently also discovered a new variant of the SunOrcal malware family.	[ { "id": 45095, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 20, "end_offset": 26 }, { "id": 5004, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 76, "end_offset": 84 } ]	[]	[]
1,687	While the SunOrcal malware family has been confirmed to have been active since 2013, possibly even earlier, this new variant has been observed targeting regions outside of the typical target radius for this threat group, now expanding to include Vietnam and Myanmar.	[ { "id": 5005, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 10, "end_offset": 18 }, { "id": 46877, "label": "TIME", "start_offset": 79, "end_offset": 83 }, { "id": 46878, "label": "location", "start_offset": 246, "end_offset": 253 }, { "id": 46879, "label": "location", "start_offset": 258, "end_offset": 265 } ]	[ { "id": 244, "from_id": 5005, "to_id": 46878, "type": "targets" }, { "id": 246, "from_id": 5005, "to_id": 46879, "type": "targets" } ]	[]
1,688	How it Works	[]	[]	[]
1,689	Emails were sent to targets containing malicious attachments.	[ { "id": 45097, "label": "attack-pattern", "start_offset": 39, "end_offset": 60 } ]	[]	[]
1,690	Targeting a Vietnamese speaking audience, one of the malicious documents mentions Donald Trump and the disputed South China Sea area.	[ { "id": 46880, "label": "location", "start_offset": 112, "end_offset": 132 }, { "id": 46881, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 82, "end_offset": 94 }, { "id": 46882, "label": "attack-pattern", "start_offset": 53, "end_offset": 72 } ]	[]	[]
1,691	This is a classic lure technique – including something the target will find interesting or important causing them to open the file and download the malware on to the victims’ system.	[]	[]	[]
1,692	How to Defend Against it These malware attacks utilize email phishing, and relies on targets opening the malicious email attachment.	[ { "id": 45098, "label": "attack-pattern", "start_offset": 106, "end_offset": 132 }, { "id": 45099, "label": "attack-pattern", "start_offset": 56, "end_offset": 70 }, { "id": 5021, "label": "attack-pattern", "start_offset": 62, "end_offset": 70 } ]	[]	[]
1,693	Security awareness is critical to avoid falling victim to such an attack.	[]	[]	[]
1,694	General email best practices: If you are unsure of the legitimacy of the email, contact the sender directly over the phone or by typing a trusted URL directly in your browser or saved bookmark.	[]	[]	[]
1,695	Additionally, keeping your systems and devices updated with the most current operating system and web browser is a general security best practice, as well as enabling multi-factor authentication to prevent an attacker from abusing credentials should they successfully capture them	[]	[]	[]
1,696	Sign up to receive the latest news, cyber threat intelligence and research from us Please enter your email address!	[]	[]	[]
1,697	Please mark, I'm not a robot! By submitting this form, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Statement.	[]	[]	[]
1,698	For a moment, put yourself in the shoes of a cyber criminal.	[]	[]	[]
1,699	You’ve collected an array of tools (malware), built up your infrastructure (command and control (C2) servers) and you have a process to make money off your hard work.	[]	[]	[]
1,700	You wake up on Monday morning and the domains your carefully built malware uses for command and control are shut down.	[]	[]	[]
1,701	Some security researcher has taken control of them, completely halting your operation.	[]	[]	[]
1,702	This would certainly be good news to anyone reading this blog, but for the criminal it’s a big setback and source of frustration.	[]	[]	[]
1,703	These kinds of takedowns are the impetus for some of the most impressive developments in malware technology over the last decade.	[]	[]	[]
1,704	Once attackers have infected a PC through some exploit or social engineering, one of their major challenges is keeping control of that system.	[]	[]	[]
1,705	Antivirus programs running on the PC are trying eradicate the threat, the command and control domains and IPs are being added to denylist and blocked by networks around the world.	[]	[]	[]
1,706	Many malware authors have taken to building complex mechanisms to ensure that their malware is resistant to these kind of blocks and takedowns.	[]	[]	[]
1,707	Some of the more innovative mechanisms include: These mechanisms are often only used when the primary (and simpler) C2 mechanism has been shut down, but their use makes shutting down a botnet much more challenging.	[]	[]	[]
1,708	Last year we highlighted two malware families on this blog: CryptoWall 2.0 and Dyreza/Dyre.	[ { "id": 46883, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 61, "end_offset": 75 }, { "id": 46884, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 80, "end_offset": 86 }, { "id": 46885, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 87, "end_offset": 91 } ]	[ { "id": 247, "from_id": 46884, "to_id": 46885, "type": "duplicate-of" } ]	[]
1,709	CryptoWall is one of multiple ransomware families that generated income for the attacker by encrypting files on the infected PC with a private key that is in the control of the attacker.	[ { "id": 5075, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 0, "end_offset": 10 } ]	[]	[]
1,710	The attacker then charges a ransom (normally around $500) to give up the key that will unlock the files.	[]	[]	[]
1,711	In October, CryptoWall 2.0 began using the Tor anonymity network to serve web pages to infected users who wanted their encrypted files back.	[ { "id": 5083, "label": "tools", "start_offset": 44, "end_offset": 47 }, { "id": 46886, "label": "TIME", "start_offset": 4, "end_offset": 11 }, { "id": 46887, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 13, "end_offset": 27 } ]	[ { "id": 248, "from_id": 46887, "to_id": 5083, "type": "uses" } ]	[]
1,712	In this case a legitimate service (Tor) was being abused by CryptoWall so it could avoid having its C2 servers shut down.	[ { "id": 5086, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 60, "end_offset": 70 }, { "id": 5085, "label": "tools", "start_offset": 35, "end_offset": 38 } ]	[ { "id": 249, "from_id": 5086, "to_id": 5085, "type": "uses" } ]	[]
1,713	In the past few weeks we've seen another anonymity network, I2P, being abused by both the latest version of CryptoWall (3.0) and the Dyre banking Trojan.	[ { "id": 45100, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 108, "end_offset": 124 }, { "id": 45101, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 133, "end_offset": 152 }, { "id": 45102, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 60, "end_offset": 63 }, { "id": 5088, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 108, "end_offset": 118 } ]	[]	[]
1,714	While I2P is far less popular than Tor, it provides similar functionality to the user.	[ { "id": 5091, "label": "tools", "start_offset": 36, "end_offset": 39 }, { "id": 46888, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 7, "end_offset": 10 } ]	[]	[]
1,715	I2P is an overlay network on top of the Internet that creates encrypted links between nodes that are running the I2P software.	[ { "id": 46889, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 0, "end_offset": 3 }, { "id": 46890, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 113, "end_offset": 116 } ]	[]	[]
1,716	I2P users can access specific I2P services that are only accessible on I2P, or access Internet resources without exposing their IP address. In the case of CryptoWall 3.0, the malware is attempting to access multiple .i2p resources only accessible through I2P, also known as “eepSites.” The CryptoWall 3.0 uses I2P in the same way CryptoWall 2.0 used Tor, to give victims access to a decrypting service to get their files back.	[ { "id": 45105, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 71, "end_offset": 74 }, { "id": 45104, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 30, "end_offset": 33 }, { "id": 45106, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 156, "end_offset": 170 }, { "id": 45107, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 256, "end_offset": 260 }, { "id": 45108, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 292, "end_offset": 306 }, { "id": 45110, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 312, "end_offset": 315 }, { "id": 45111, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 332, "end_offset": 346 }, { "id": 45103, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 0, "end_offset": 3 }, { "id": 5104, "label": "tools", "start_offset": 352, "end_offset": 355 } ]	[ { "id": 250, "from_id": 45111, "to_id": 5104, "type": "uses" }, { "id": 252, "from_id": 45108, "to_id": 45111, "type": "related-to" }, { "id": 253, "from_id": 45106, "to_id": 45107, "type": "uses" }, { "id": 251, "from_id": 45108, "to_id": 45110, "type": "uses" } ]	[]

1,617

Any user who reads this message and understands it is unlikely to agree, but Funtasy does not even wait for their agreement.

[ { "id": 46847, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 77, "end_offset": 84 } ]

[]

1,618

While the terms page is on the screen, in the background the Trojan checks to see if the phone is attached to a network with one of the following mobile network codes (MNC): Each of these networks is Spanish, except for a single Australian network.

[]

1,619

This data, along with an encoded version of the Terms of Service are stored as static strings in the Android package file.

[]

1,620

Constants.java After determining the phone is on one of the correct networks, the malware searches for the phone’s mobile number.

[ { "id": 45079, "label": "FILEPATH", "start_offset": 1, "end_offset": 15 } ]

[]

1,621

It does this in three ways:

[]

1,622

Util.java With the phone’s number captured, Funtasy then registers the mobile account with a premium SMS service by sending an HTTP POST request to the following URL. The request is made without the users knowledge, they have no choice to select a number.

[ { "id": 46848, "label": "FILEPATH", "start_offset": 1, "end_offset": 10 } ]

[]

1,623

Of course, premium SMS services require that the user confirm that they want to sign up by sending incoming SMS message containing a PIN.

[]

1,624

Funtasy intercepts this message, parses out the PIN and sends it back to the registration server, completing the enrollment process.

[]

1,625

IncomingSms.java Of course, once users begin receiving the SMS messages, they are likely to unsubscribe from the service they never really wanted.

[ { "id": 46849, "label": "FILEPATH", "start_offset": 1, "end_offset": 17 } ]

[]

1,626

To prevent this, Funtasy blocks the incoming messages before they are displayed to the user and modifies the time stamp on each message to make them appear to have been received 15 days earlier.

[ { "id": 46850, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 17, "end_offset": 24 } ]

[]

1,627

This moves it to the back of the inbox there the victim is unlikely to ever see it.

[]

1,628

Funtasy does this even when the victim uses alternative SMS managers, like Google Hangouts or GO SMS Pro.

[ { "id": 46851, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 76, "end_offset": 91 }, { "id": 46853, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 1, "end_offset": 8 }, { "id": 46852, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 95, "end_offset": 105 } ]

[]

1,629

After evaluating the remote control app and finding malicious behavior, we decided to evaluate all of the other applications published by “fun app”, and found 12 more which all contains the exact same behavior. Figure 4:

[ { "id": 46854, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 140, "end_offset": 147 } ]

[]

1,630

Additional “fun app” applications, all contain the Funtasy Trojan.

[ { "id": 46855, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 12, "end_offset": 19 }, { "id": 46856, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 51, "end_offset": 58 } ]

[]

1,631

Each of these applications is designed to appear like a legitimate application already in the app store.

[]

1,632

To raise the ranking of these apps, the author appears to have given many of them five-star ratings.

[]

1,633

Unfortunately for them, this gave us additional insight into their operation.

[]

1,634

To rate and comment on applications, users must have a Google account.

[ { "id": 46857, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 56, "end_offset": 62 } ]

[]

1,635

One account using the name “Oscar Sanchez” gave high ratings and positive comments to many of the “fun app” applications.

[ { "id": 45081, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 28, "end_offset": 41 }, { "id": 46858, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 99, "end_offset": 106 } ]

[]

1,636

He also rated apps made by two additional publishers with the names "MilApps101" and "Milapps102."

[ { "id": 46859, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 69, "end_offset": 79 }, { "id": 46860, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 86, "end_offset": 96 } ]

[]

1,637

Between the two of these developers they have produced five applications, and we’ve found that every one of them contains the Funtasy Trojan.

[ { "id": 46861, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 126, "end_offset": 133 } ]

[]

1,638

While the name “Oscar Sanchez” may be a pseudonym

[ { "id": 45082, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 16, "end_offset": 29 } ]

[]

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, Whois data indicates it was also used to register the domain hosting the Funtasy Mobile premium SMS service.

[ { "id": 46862, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 75, "end_offset": 82 } ]

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In total we’ve found 18 different applications in the Google Play store that contain the Funtasy Trojan.

[ { "id": 46863, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 90, "end_offset": 97 }, { "id": 46864, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 55, "end_offset": 66 } ]

[ { "id": 242, "from_id": 46864, "to_id": 46863, "type": "hosts" } ]

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Each of these files also has the same internal class structure, which is represented by the tree structure below.

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Figure 5: Funtasy internal class structure.

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Researchers interested in investigating them further can find more information in the table below.

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Using this Trojan the attacker could be generating up to 30 euros per month for over 67,000 infected mobile phones.

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That adds up to 2 million euros per month, but the actual number is likely much lower.

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Many of the users who downloaded the tool may not be using one of the targeted Spanish or Australian networks.

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Figure 6: List of Android APK files infected with Funtasy Trojan

[ { "id": 45083, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 18, "end_offset": 29 }, { "id": 45084, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 50, "end_offset": 64 } ]

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Users who want to defend against the Funtasy Trojan should not rely on traditional antivirus programs, as they do not currently detect this threat.

[ { "id": 46865, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 37, "end_offset": 44 } ]

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Common sense is the best defense against these types of abusive programs.

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While many users breeze past the list of permissions required when installing new apps, readers of this blog should ask themselves, “Does my electronic bible need to read my SMS messages?” Sign up to receive the latest news, cyber threat intelligence and research from us

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On July 22, Palo Alto Networks threat intelligence team, Unit 42, released our first report on the evolution of “Silver Spaniel” 419 scammers.

[ { "id": 45085, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 12, "end_offset": 55 }, { "id": 45086, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 57, "end_offset": 64 }, { "id": 45089, "label": "TIME", "start_offset": 3, "end_offset": 10 }, { "id": 45087, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 113, "end_offset": 127 } ]

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Of particular note is how these actors use a Remote Administration Tool (RAT) named NetWire (part of the NetWiredRC malware family).

[ { "id": 46866, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 85, "end_offset": 92 }, { "id": 46867, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 106, "end_offset": 116 } ]

[ { "id": 243, "from_id": 46866, "to_id": 46867, "type": "variant-of" } ]

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This RAT gives a remote attacker complete control over a Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux system through a simple graphical user interface.

[ { "id": 46870, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 78, "end_offset": 84 }, { "id": 46868, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 57, "end_offset": 64 }, { "id": 46869, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 66, "end_offset": 74 } ]

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To better understand this RAT, our team reverse engineered the communication protocol that NetWire uses.

[ { "id": 45090, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 92, "end_offset": 99 } ]

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Today we have released a tool that decrypts NetWire traffic and outputs any commands issued by the attacker.

[ { "id": 4924, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 44, "end_offset": 51 } ]

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NetWire uses a custom, TCP-based protocol.

[ { "id": 4926, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 1, "end_offset": 8 } ]

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The producer of the NetWire WorldWiredLabs, states that the tool uses 256-bit AES encryption, which we found to be accurate.

[ { "id": 45091, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 20, "end_offset": 42 } ]

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The tool generates two encryption keys using a static password that the attacker chooses when creating the NetWire binary.

[ { "id": 46871, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 107, "end_offset": 114 } ]

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Each packet has the following structure: < 4 Byte Little-Endian length > < 1 Byte Command >

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< Data >

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The shortest possible packet is the “HeartBeat” command, which NetWire generates every 10 seconds.

[ { "id": 46872, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 64, "end_offset": 71 } ]

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The initial packet from the client to the server shows a data and command length of 65 bytes (0x41 listed at the beginning of the packet) with a command byte of 0x03. Within that data is a 32-byte seed value followed by a 16-byte initialization vector (IV) value.

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The client then combines the 32-byte seed value with the static password in a predetermined fashion to form an AES key.

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Upon receiving the initial packet, the server uses the seed value and password to generate the client’s session key.

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It then generates its own 32-byte seed value to create it’s own session key and sends the seed value to the client.

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The client combines this with the password and generates the same key.

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At this point, the key exchange is complete and both client and server hold the same two keys, which they can use to encrypt and decrypt traffic.

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With the two keys in place, the malware uses the AES algorithm to encrypt traffic using Output Feedback (OFB) mode (Picture courtesy of Wikipedia). The output of the block cipher encryption is eXclusive OR’ed (XOR’d) with 16 bytes of ciphertext to decrypt. Each subsequent block of ciphertext will use the previous encrypted data as the IV passed into the block cipher encryption function.

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The malware has a full suite of possible commands, 76 to be exact.

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Upon receipt of a command from the server, a single function is called to decrypt the payload data and execute the received instruction.

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The value in the command byte determines which of the commands is run through a 76 way switch statement.

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A complete list of the possible commands available in NetWire was documented by CIRCL in April. The NetWire decoder uses data from a packet capture file to generate the client and server session keys then decode the remaining encrypted packets.

[ { "id": 45092, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 55, "end_offset": 62 }, { "id": 45093, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 102, "end_offset": 109 } ]

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The user needs to know the IP of the infected client, the port used by malware and the encryption password to properly decode the traffic.

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This password is set to “Password” by default, but can be retrieved from NetWire binaries if the attacker used something more secure.

[ { "id": 4975, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 73, "end_offset": 80 } ]

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The usage for the tool is show below.

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At this time the tool works against the latest version of NetWire, 1.5c.

[ { "id": 4979, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 59, "end_offset": 66 } ]

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We hope this tool will be valuable to incident responders and others who are plagued by NetWire infections.

[ { "id": 4985, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 88, "end_offset": 95 } ]

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Unit 42 has recently been investigating a new malware family called Reaver.

[ { "id": 46873, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 0, "end_offset": 7 }, { "id": 46874, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 68, "end_offset": 74 } ]

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While we have identified it as being active since late 2016, Reaver has been used sparingly, with only a small number of unique samples identified.

[ { "id": 45094, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 61, "end_offset": 67 } ]

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Its targets have been movements the Chinese government consider dangerous, also known as the “Five Poisons.”

[ { "id": 46875, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 36, "end_offset": 54 } ]

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We found that the Reaver malware family has shared command-and-control (C2) infrastructure overlap SunOrcal malware, and that these have been used concurrently since late 2016.

[ { "id": 4998, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 18, "end_offset": 24 }, { "id": 5000, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 99, "end_offset": 107 }, { "id": 46876, "label": "TIME", "start_offset": 171, "end_offset": 175 } ]

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While investigating Reaver we recently also discovered a new variant of the SunOrcal malware family.

[ { "id": 45095, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 20, "end_offset": 26 }, { "id": 5004, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 76, "end_offset": 84 } ]

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While the SunOrcal malware family has been confirmed to have been active since 2013, possibly even earlier, this new variant has been observed targeting regions outside of the typical target radius for this threat group, now expanding to include Vietnam and Myanmar.

[ { "id": 5005, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 10, "end_offset": 18 }, { "id": 46877, "label": "TIME", "start_offset": 79, "end_offset": 83 }, { "id": 46878, "label": "location", "start_offset": 246, "end_offset": 253 }, { "id": 46879, "label": "location", "start_offset": 258, "end_offset": 265 } ]

[ { "id": 244, "from_id": 5005, "to_id": 46878, "type": "targets" }, { "id": 246, "from_id": 5005, "to_id": 46879, "type": "targets" } ]

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How it Works

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Emails were sent to targets containing malicious attachments.

[ { "id": 45097, "label": "attack-pattern", "start_offset": 39, "end_offset": 60 } ]

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Targeting a Vietnamese speaking audience, one of the malicious documents mentions Donald Trump and the disputed South China Sea area.

[ { "id": 46880, "label": "location", "start_offset": 112, "end_offset": 132 }, { "id": 46881, "label": "identity", "start_offset": 82, "end_offset": 94 }, { "id": 46882, "label": "attack-pattern", "start_offset": 53, "end_offset": 72 } ]

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This is a classic lure technique – including something the target will find interesting or important causing them to open the file and download the malware on to the victims’ system.

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How to Defend Against it These malware attacks utilize email phishing, and relies on targets opening the malicious email attachment.

[ { "id": 45098, "label": "attack-pattern", "start_offset": 106, "end_offset": 132 }, { "id": 45099, "label": "attack-pattern", "start_offset": 56, "end_offset": 70 }, { "id": 5021, "label": "attack-pattern", "start_offset": 62, "end_offset": 70 } ]

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Security awareness is critical to avoid falling victim to such an attack.

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General email best practices: If you are unsure of the legitimacy of the email, contact the sender directly over the phone or by typing a trusted URL directly in your browser or saved bookmark.

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Additionally, keeping your systems and devices updated with the most current operating system and web browser is a general security best practice, as well as enabling multi-factor authentication to prevent an attacker from abusing credentials should they successfully capture them

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For a moment, put yourself in the shoes of a cyber criminal.

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You’ve collected an array of tools (malware), built up your infrastructure (command and control (C2) servers) and you have a process to make money off your hard work.

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You wake up on Monday morning and the domains your carefully built malware uses for command and control are shut down.

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Some security researcher has taken control of them, completely halting your operation.

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This would certainly be good news to anyone reading this blog, but for the criminal it’s a big setback and source of frustration.

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These kinds of takedowns are the impetus for some of the most impressive developments in malware technology over the last decade.

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Once attackers have infected a PC through some exploit or social engineering, one of their major challenges is keeping control of that system.

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Antivirus programs running on the PC are trying eradicate the threat, the command and control domains and IPs are being added to denylist and blocked by networks around the world.

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Many malware authors have taken to building complex mechanisms to ensure that their malware is resistant to these kind of blocks and takedowns.

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Some of the more innovative mechanisms include: These mechanisms are often only used when the primary (and simpler) C2 mechanism has been shut down, but their use makes shutting down a botnet much more challenging.

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Last year we highlighted two malware families on this blog: CryptoWall 2.0 and Dyreza/Dyre.

[ { "id": 46883, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 61, "end_offset": 75 }, { "id": 46884, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 80, "end_offset": 86 }, { "id": 46885, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 87, "end_offset": 91 } ]

[ { "id": 247, "from_id": 46884, "to_id": 46885, "type": "duplicate-of" } ]

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CryptoWall is one of multiple ransomware families that generated income for the attacker by encrypting files on the infected PC with a private key that is in the control of the attacker.

[ { "id": 5075, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 0, "end_offset": 10 } ]

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The attacker then charges a ransom (normally around $500) to give up the key that will unlock the files.

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In October, CryptoWall 2.0 began using the Tor anonymity network to serve web pages to infected users who wanted their encrypted files back.

[ { "id": 5083, "label": "tools", "start_offset": 44, "end_offset": 47 }, { "id": 46886, "label": "TIME", "start_offset": 4, "end_offset": 11 }, { "id": 46887, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 13, "end_offset": 27 } ]

[ { "id": 248, "from_id": 46887, "to_id": 5083, "type": "uses" } ]

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In this case a legitimate service (Tor) was being abused by CryptoWall so it could avoid having its C2 servers shut down.

[ { "id": 5086, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 60, "end_offset": 70 }, { "id": 5085, "label": "tools", "start_offset": 35, "end_offset": 38 } ]

[ { "id": 249, "from_id": 5086, "to_id": 5085, "type": "uses" } ]

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In the past few weeks we've seen another anonymity network, I2P, being abused by both the latest version of CryptoWall (3.0) and the Dyre banking Trojan.

[ { "id": 45100, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 108, "end_offset": 124 }, { "id": 45101, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 133, "end_offset": 152 }, { "id": 45102, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 60, "end_offset": 63 }, { "id": 5088, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 108, "end_offset": 118 } ]

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While I2P is far less popular than Tor, it provides similar functionality to the user.

[ { "id": 5091, "label": "tools", "start_offset": 36, "end_offset": 39 }, { "id": 46888, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 7, "end_offset": 10 } ]

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I2P is an overlay network on top of the Internet that creates encrypted links between nodes that are running the I2P software.

[ { "id": 46889, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 0, "end_offset": 3 }, { "id": 46890, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 113, "end_offset": 116 } ]

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I2P users can access specific I2P services that are only accessible on I2P, or access Internet resources without exposing their IP address. In the case of CryptoWall 3.0, the malware is attempting to access multiple .i2p resources only accessible through I2P, also known as “eepSites.” The CryptoWall 3.0 uses I2P in the same way CryptoWall 2.0 used Tor, to give victims access to a decrypting service to get their files back.

[ { "id": 45105, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 71, "end_offset": 74 }, { "id": 45104, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 30, "end_offset": 33 }, { "id": 45106, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 156, "end_offset": 170 }, { "id": 45107, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 256, "end_offset": 260 }, { "id": 45108, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 292, "end_offset": 306 }, { "id": 45110, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 312, "end_offset": 315 }, { "id": 45111, "label": "malware", "start_offset": 332, "end_offset": 346 }, { "id": 45103, "label": "SOFTWARE", "start_offset": 0, "end_offset": 3 }, { "id": 5104, "label": "tools", "start_offset": 352, "end_offset": 355 } ]

[ { "id": 250, "from_id": 45111, "to_id": 5104, "type": "uses" }, { "id": 252, "from_id": 45108, "to_id": 45111, "type": "related-to" }, { "id": 253, "from_id": 45106, "to_id": 45107, "type": "uses" }, { "id": 251, "from_id": 45108, "to_id": 45110, "type": "uses" } ]

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