Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Malware & Threats

Popular Banking Trojans Share Loaders

Several well-known banking Trojans that have been around for several years have shared loaders, Trend Micro security researchers have discovered. 

Several well-known banking Trojans that have been around for several years have shared loaders, Trend Micro security researchers have discovered. 

Analysis shows payload decryption procedures and loaders’ internal data structure is similar for Emotet, Ursnif, Dridex and BitPaymer, the researchers claim. 

Emotet, which was discovered in 2014, has delivered various payloads to its victims, including Gootkit, ZeusPanda, IcedID, TrickBot, and Dridex. 

Previous research has already shown similarities in the obfuscation techniques used by both Emotet and Ursnif/Gozi-ISFB, a banking Trojan considered one of the top global threats and which had its source code leaked several years ago. 

Dridex has been another highly active Trojan targeting both banks and financial institutions, notorious for the various methods and techniques used to steal personal information and credentials. 

Unlike the three, BitPaymer is an encrypting Trojan, or ransomware, mainly used in attacks against medical institutions and relying on remote desktop protocol and email-related techniques for distribution. 

BitPaymer is operated by the same group distributing Dridex and which was also behind the infamous Locky ransomware.

Trend Micro’s analysis revealed that, despite small differences in the arithmetic operations’ instructions of disassembled PE packers, “the four payload decryption procedures were identical in data structures’ overview on the way they decrypted the actual PE payloads.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Additionally, the researchers discovered that the internal data structure of the four malware families was identical. 

“As cybercrime organizational structures in some countries tend to compartmentalize work, we suspect that the four malware families’ gangs might be in contact with the same weapon providers for PE loaders,” Trend Micro says. 

The security researchers also note that the four cybercrime groups may have established some attributional – working or otherwise – relationships and that they might have exchanged resources among them, or continue to do so.

The researchers note that the cybercriminals behind Emotet are those who might have been sharing code to collaborate with trusted, highly-skilled cybercriminal groups. They also believe that the four groups are engaged into an ongoing relationship.

“Alliances like these could lead to more destructive malware deployments in the future. More than ever, it is important for organizations to heighten cybersecurity preventive measures, such as establishing policies and procedures for handling security threats,” Trend Micro says. 

Related: Dridex/Locky Operators Unleash New Malware in Recent Attack

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

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...

Malware & Threats

The NSA and FBI warn that a Chinese state-sponsored APT called BlackTech is hacking into network edge devices and using firmware implants to silently...

Application Security

Virtualization technology giant VMware on Tuesday shipped urgent updates to fix a trio of security problems in multiple software products, including a virtual machine...

Malware & Threats

Unpatched and unprotected VMware ESXi servers worldwide have been targeted in a ransomware attack exploiting a vulnerability patched in 2021.

Cyberwarfare

An engineer recruited by intelligence services reportedly used a water pump to deliver Stuxnet, which reportedly cost $1-2 billion to develop.

Malware & Threats

Apple’s cat-and-mouse struggles with zero-day exploits on its flagship iOS platform is showing no signs of slowing down.

Cybercrime

No one combatting cybercrime knows everything, but everyone in the battle has some intelligence to contribute to the larger knowledge base.