Security researchers at Cisco Talos have identified a new backdoor that Russian cyberespionage group Turla is believed to have been using in attacks since last year.
Likely a second-chance backdoor, the malware is simple but capable of maintaining a prolonged stealthy presence on infected machines. Turla used the backdoor in attacks on targets in the United States, Germany, and Afghanistan, according to data from Cisco Talos.
To hide the malware’s presence on a system, Turla installs it as a service named Windows Time Service. Once up and running, it allows the attackers to exfiltrate files or upload and execute them, thus functioning as a second-stage dropper when needed.
What’s more, the malware was observed contacting its command and control (C&C) server every five seconds, over an encrypted channel, to check for commands.
Based on the received commands, it executes related backdoor functions for authentication, process execution, file download or upload, subprocess creation/killing, password change, and more.
[ READ: Newly Discovered Turla Backdoor Used in Government Attacks ]
According to Cisco Talos, the malware was likely used to target the previous Afghan government, prior to the Taliban takeover of power in the country following the pullout of Western-backed military forces.
“This is a good example of how easy malicious services can be overlooked on today’s systems that are clouded by the myriad of legit services running in the background at all times. It’s often difficult for an administrator to verify that all running services are legitimate,” the researchers added.
Also tracked as Snake, Uroburos, Venomous Bear, and WhiteBear, Turla is a nation-state threat actor active since at least 2004, focused on espionage and best known for the targeting of entities in the United States, Ukraine, and Middle East.
Turla is known to use a large arsenal of malware, and recent reports even linked it to Sunburst backdoor. With numerous Russian adversaries active, however, attribution is sometimes difficult.
Cisco’s security researchers linked the new backdoor to Turla based on the re-use of older infrastructure employed in previous attacks, attributed to their Penguin Turla Infrastructure. The threat actor is known for the reuse of infrastructure.
Related: Newly Discovered Turla Backdoor Used in Government Attacks
Related: Turla Cyber-Spies Target European Government With Multiple Backdoors

More from Ionut Arghire
- Former Ubiquiti Employee Who Posed as Hacker Pleads Guilty
- Atlassian Warns of Critical Jira Service Management Vulnerability
- Exploitation of Oracle E-Business Suite Vulnerability Starts After PoC Publication
- Google Shells Out $600,000 for OSS-Fuzz Project Integrations
- F5 BIG-IP Vulnerability Can Lead to DoS, Code Execution
- Flaw in Cisco Industrial Appliances Allows Malicious Code to Persist Across Reboots
- HeadCrab Botnet Ensnares 1,200 Redis Servers for Cryptomining
- Malicious NPM, PyPI Packages Stealing User Information
Latest News
- Fraudulent “CryptoRom” Apps Slip Through Apple and Google App Store Review Process
- US Downs Chinese Balloon Off Carolina Coast
- Microsoft: Iran Unit Behind Charlie Hebdo Hack-and-Leak Op
- Feds Say Cyberattack Caused Suicide Helpline’s Outage
- Big China Spy Balloon Moving East Over US, Pentagon Says
- Former Ubiquiti Employee Who Posed as Hacker Pleads Guilty
- Cyber Insights 2023: Venture Capital
- Atlassian Warns of Critical Jira Service Management Vulnerability
