Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Cybercrime

New Backdoors Used by Hamas-Linked Hackers Abuse Facebook, Dropbox

Two new backdoors have been attributed to the Molerats advanced persistent threat (APT) group, which is believed to be associated with the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.

Two new backdoors have been attributed to the Molerats advanced persistent threat (APT) group, which is believed to be associated with the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.

Likely active since at least 2012 and also referred to as Gaza Hackers Team, Gaza Cybergang, DustySky, Extreme Jackal, and Moonlight, the group mainly hit targets in the Middle East (including Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iraq), but also launched attacks on entities in Europe and the United States.

In early 2020, security researchers at Cybereason’s Nocturnus group published information on two new malware families used by the APT, namely Spark and Pierogi. Roughly a month later, Palo Alto Networks revealed that the group had expanded its target list to include insurance and retail industries, in addition to the previously targeted government and telecommunications verticals.

Now, Cybereason reveals that Molerats has expanded its toolset with the addition of two backdoors named SharpStage and DropBook, along with a downloader called MoleNet. All three malware families allow attackers to run arbitrary code and collect data from the infected machines and have been used in an espionage campaign actively targeting Arab-speaking individuals in the Middle East.

What makes the backdoors stand out is the use of legitimate online services for nefarious purposes. For example, both use a Dropbox client for data exfiltration and for storing espionage tools, while DropBook is controlled through fake Facebook accounts. Google Drive is also abused for payload storage.

The security researchers also identified new activity targeting Turkish-speaking entities with the Spark backdoor, as well as a separate campaign in which a new Pierogi variant is used against targets also infected with DropBook, SharpStage, and Spark. The overlap suggests a close connection between Molerats and APT-C-23 (Arid Viper), both considered sub-groups of Gaza Cybergang.

“The newly discovered backdoors were delivered together with the previously reported Spark backdoor, which along with other similarities to previous campaigns, further strengthens the attribution to Molerats,” Cybereason notes.

The malware families were used to target political figures and government officials in the Palestinian Territories, Egypt, Turkey, and UAE, among other Middle East regions. Phishing lures used in these attacks include Hamas elections, Israeli-Saudi relations, Palestinian politicians, and other political events.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Observed samples of SharpStage, a .NET backdoor, show compilation timestamps between October 4 and November 29, 2020. The malware can capture screenshots, download and execute files, execute arbitrary commands, and unarchive data fetched from the C&C.

Built by the developer behind JhoneRAT, DropBook is a Python-based backdoor capable of performing reconnaissance, executing shell commands, and downloading and executing additional malware. The threat only executes if WinRAR and an Arabic keyboard are present on the infected system.

The malware can fetch and run a broad range of payloads, including an updated version of itself, the MoleNet downloader, Quasar RAT, SharpStage, and ProcessExplorer (legitimate tool used for reconnaissance and credential dump).

Previously undocumented, the MoleNet downloader appears to have been in use since 2019, while its infrastructure might have been active since 2017. The heavily obfuscated .NET malware can perform WMI commands for reconnaissance, check the system for debuggers, restart the system, send OS info to the C&C, download additional payloads, and achieve persistence.

“The discovery of the new cyber espionage tools along with the connection to previously identified tools used by the group suggest that Molerats is increasing their espionage activity in the region in light of the current political climate and recent events in the Middle East,” Cybereason concludes.

Related: Hamas-Linked Hackers Add Insurance and Retail to Target List

Related: New Backdoor Attacks Leverage Political Turmoil in Middle East

Written By

Ionut Arghire is an international correspondent for SecurityWeek.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Understand how to go beyond effectively communicating new security strategies and recommendations.

Register

Join us for an in depth exploration of the critical nature of software and vendor supply chain security issues with a focus on understanding how attacks against identity infrastructure come with major cascading effects.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Cybercrime

The changing nature of what we still generally call ransomware will continue through 2023, driven by three primary conditions.

Cybercrime

As it evolves, web3 will contain and increase all the security issues of web2 – and perhaps add a few more.

Cybercrime

A recently disclosed vBulletin vulnerability, which had a zero-day status for roughly two days last week, was exploited in a hacker attack targeting the...

Cybercrime

Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group informed some customers last week that their online accounts had been breached by hackers.

Cyberwarfare

WASHINGTON - Cyberattacks are the most serious threat facing the United States, even more so than terrorism, according to American defense experts. Almost half...

Cybercrime

Zendesk is informing customers about a data breach that started with an SMS phishing campaign targeting the company’s employees.

Cyberwarfare

Russian espionage group Nomadic Octopus infiltrated a Tajikistani telecoms provider to spy on 18 entities, including government officials and public service infrastructures.

Artificial Intelligence

The release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 has demonstrated the potential of AI for both good and bad.