Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerabilities targeted to conduct financial fraud
By MYBRANDBOOK
On Tuesday, Sophos researchers revealed a recent incident in which a Microsoft Exchange Server, which had not been patched to protect it against a set of critical vulnerabilities disclosed last year, was targeted to hijack email threads and spread malspam. The incident documented by Sophos also used the combination of Squirrelwaffle, ProxyLogon, and ProxyShell against Microsoft Exchange Servers to conduct financial fraud through email hijacking.
Squirrelwaffle is a malware loader first documented last year in malicious spam campaigns. The loader is often distributed through malicious Microsoft Office documents or DocuSign content tacked on to phishing emails. If an intended victim enables macros in the weaponized documents, Squirrelwaffle then is often used to pull and execute CobaltStrike beacons via a VBS script.
The advanced persistent threat (APT) group Hafnium was actively exploiting the bugs at this time, and other APTs quickly followed suit. While the ProxyLogon/ProxyShell vulnerabilities are now well-known, some servers are still unpatched and open to attacks.
Sophos says that in the recent campaign, the loader was deployed once the Microsoft Exchange Server had been compromised. The server, belonging to an unnamed organization, was used to "mass distribute" Squirrelwaffle to internal and external email addresses by hijacking existing email threads between employees.
The spam campaign was used to spread Squirrelwaffle, but in addition, attackers extracted an email thread and used the internal knowledge within to conduct financial fraud.
Customer data was taken, while a victim organization was also selected. The attackers registered a domain with a name very close to the victim -- a technique known as typo-squatting -- and then created email accounts through this domain to reply to the email thread outside of the server.
"To add further legitimacy to the conversation, the attackers copied additional email addresses to give the impression that they were requesting support from an internal department," Sophos explained. "In fact, the additional addresses were also created by the attacker under the typo-squatted domain."
Over six days, the attackers tried to direct a legitimate financial transaction to a bank account they owned. The payment was on its way to being processed, and it was only due to a bank involved in the transaction realizing the transfer was likely fraudulent that the victim did not fall prey to the attack.
BREAKING NEWS
TECHNO TRENDS
Nazara and ONDC set to transform in-game monetization with ‘
Nazara Technologies has teamed up with the Open Network for Digital Comme...
Jio Platforms and NICSI to offer cloud services to government
In a collaborative initiative, the National Informatics Centre Services In...
BSNL awards ₹5,000 Cr Project to RVNL-Led Consortium
A syndicate led by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (abbreviated as RVNL), along wi...
Pinterest tracks users without consent, alleges complaint
A recent complaint alleges that Pinterest, the popular image-sharing platf...
E-Magazine
TECHNOTAINMENT
Netflix adds 'Moments' feature for saving, sharing scenes from
Netflix has introduced a new “Moments” feature on its mobile app, whic
Jacqueline Fernandez come together with YouTuber Mr. Beast for
Jacqueline Fernandez has partnered with American YouTuber Mr. Beast to b
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Visa elevates Rishi Chhabra as new Country Manager for India
Rishi holds a Master’s in Industrial Engineering from The Ohio State Univ
Genesys welcomes Albert Nel as Senior VP and Regional Sales Le
Genesys continues to deepen its investment in the APAC region. Earlier this
OPEN YOUR EYES
INTERVIEWS
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Carrying a 100 year legacy ahead
A good amount of R&D works and global support services are operated out of
Cisco building a trusted and resilient future for the nation
Security is foundational to everything Cisco does and customers insist on e
HOT PICK
SonicWall Launches TZ80: A Powerful Solution for Remote Office
SonicWall announced today the launch of the TZ80, a groundbreaking securit
Gigabyte X3D Turbo: A Gaming Revolution
GIGABYTE X3D Turbo Mode is a cutting-edge feature that unifies cores distr
MAKE IN INDIA BRANDS
ZOHO CORPORATION PVT. LTD.
EXIDE INDUSTRIES LTD.
TALLY SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.
TP-LINK INDIA PVT. LTD.
EMINENT CIO'S OF INDIA
ICONS OF INDIA
ICONS OF INDIA : RAJESH NAMBIAR
Rajesh leads the company’s India associates and enhances relationshi...
Icons Of India : NATARAJAN CHANDRASEKARAN
Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chandra) is the Chairman of Tata Sons, the h...
Icons Of India : ASHISH KUMAR CHAUHAN
Ashish kumar Chauhan, an Indian business executive and administrator, ...
PARTNER SPEAKERS
PSU
BEL - Bharat Electronics Limited
BEL is an Indian Government-owned aerospace and defence electronics co...
NSE - National Stock Exchange
NSE is the leading stock exchange in India....
IREDA - Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited
IREDA is a specialized financial institution in India that facilitates...
VIDEOS
Top 25 Brands
Global Indian industry
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - Aneel Bhusri, CEO, Workday
Aneel Bhusri, Co-Founder and Executive Chair at Workday, has been a le...
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - Thomas Kurian, CEO- Google Cloud
Thomas Kurian, the CEO of Google Cloud, has been instrumental in expan...
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - JAYASHREE ULLAL, President and CEO - Arista Network
Jayshree V. Ullal is a British-American billionaire businesswoman, ser...
STARNITE AWARDS 2024
ITFORUM 2024
CMO of the Year
WOMEN LEADERSHIP
IMAGE GALLERY
TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY
MORE VIDEOS
ADVERTISEMENTS
TECHNOLOGY DISRUPTION
UNICORNS REVOLUTIONISING
