Threat Actor SideCopy

By Ashwin Venugopal -

 





About

SideCopy APT, active since at least 2019, is a Pakistani threat actor group, targeting many South Asian countries especially India and Afghanistan. Reportedly, it has similarities with Transparent Tribe, APT36, and may be a subdivision of this actor. They generally use archive files as lures, that contains some embedded files like, Lnk, Microsoft Publisher or Trojanized Applications. The lures are of two types:
  • Targeted lures- They are specially designed and crafted to target specific victims, such as, government or military officials. 

  • Generic lures- As the name suggests, they are generic like those used in spam campaign to collect emails and credentials that can help the actor performing their targeted attack. These are the ones named as " romantic lures" in a Facebook report. 

Attack Method

SideCopy uses spear-phishing email as its main attack tactic. They lure their victims to click on a link containing an attached malicious file. This way they can start corrupting the system and collect desired information.

They disguise the downloader as a short file, and send it to the victims via phishing emails. When the victims decompress and execute the bait file, the program downloads the data file from the remote server to the local machine, decrypt, and execute it, ultimately loading the remote control software AckRAT. 

Prevention

In order to overcome such attacks a highly advanced cybersecurity program must be utilized. It should also contain some of the most advanced security solutions, email as well as web content filtering, antiviruses, and threat hunting measures. Application of Zero Trust Model, Multifactor Authentication, in-depth defense, etc., are a must to prevent and mitigate the potential damage done by SideCopy.

























































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deployment (Part 3)

By Ashwin Venugopal -
Image
  To read part 1, please click  here To read part 2, please click  here Microsoft Monitoring Agent (MMA) MMA is used across multiple Microsoft solutions and has undergone a few name changes as its features and functionality have evolved. If it is being considered to be used, then following areas should be covered during a Microsoft Sentinel deployment project: Consider the timelines and the strategy for a migration to AMA (Azure Monitor Agent) before the MMA end-of-life.  Consider the central deployment and management methodology for MMA. Determine which endpoints are in scope for deployment as these affect the log ingestion volume significantly.  Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) Organizations with MMA as the main Microsoft Sentinel agent should start planning the migration to AMA as soon as possible to avoid a rushed migration. One of the main advantages of AMA is the ability to control the log collection policy centrally and apply different policies against different groups of computers, re
Read more

Project Resourcing (Part 2)

By Ashwin Venugopal -
Image
  To read part 1, please click  here Engineering - SIEM The SIEM engineers configures Microsoft Sentinel, including Log Analytics, Logic Apps, workbooks, and playbooks. They are also responsible for the following high-level tasks: Initial configuration of Azure tenant, including provisioning required resources, assigning access roles, and configuring workspace parameters like log retention, resource tagging, and blueprints.  Deployment and configuration of syslog/CEF log collection agents in appropriate locations to collect logs from on-premises devices. Generally, it will be joint effort of both system engineer and SIEM engineer, involving configuration and potential troubleshooting.  Working with system owners to enable log forwarding and configuring any required parsing of log data in Log Analytics.  Working with security operations to create and deploy KQL analytic rules to offer detections for SOC/Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSRIT) use. Tuning of alert rule parameter
Read more

Design Planning (Part 3)

By Ashwin Venugopal -
Image
  To read part 1, please click  here To read part 2, please click  here Complex Organizational Structures SIEM can be an expensive security control, hence, it is common multiple businesses to contribute to the overall expense. Various organizational units may require a level of access to specific dashboards or sets of data. Microsoft Sentinel offers the ability to assign table-level permissions and limit the level of access to the minimum required to perform requisite job functions.  Role-based Access Control (RBAC) Requirements Microsoft Sentinel offers an extensive list of Azure built-in roles that can be used to provide granular access according to the job requirements and permitted level of access. Some of them are various Microsoft Sentinel dedicated roles: Microsoft Sentinel Contributor- Can perform all engineering-related configuration, such as creating alert rules, configuring data connectors, and additional similar tasks.  Microsoft Sentinel Reader- Can query the log data stor
Read more