Info security body finds no evidence of infection at Swiss banks as a result of “Sharpshooter” campaign

Maria Nikolova

Switzerland’s Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance is in touch with a number of banks but no evidence of infection has been found.

Switzerland’s Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI) has earlier today posted its 29th semi-annual report which addresses the most important cyberincidents of the first half of 2019 both in Switzerland and abroad.

MELANI noted the Lazarus attacks targeting Swiss banks. In March 2019, security software company McAfee published a follow-up to its December 2018 report on the Sharpshooter campaign. Last year, the campaign targeted 87 companies from all over the world, but mainly in the US. The companies concerned were from the defence, energy, nuclear and financial sectors.

In its second report, McAfee confirmed their initial suspicion that the Lazarus group was behind the attacks. The group is well known for having attacked systems at various banks and is considered by many experts to be connected to the North Korean regime.

In its first report on the matter, McAfee described attempted attacks against Swiss financial institutions.

Today, MELANI said it is in contact with a number of banks, as mentioned in the preceding semi-annual report.

“Then as now, no evidence of infection has been found at the potential target companies in Switzerland”, says MELANI.

Let’s recall that, in December 2018, security firm McAfee released a report on a newly discovered APT campaign against defence, energy, nuclear, and financial companies. The campaign called “Sharpshooter” began on October 25, 2018 with the sending of infected documents to individuals from 87 organisations around the world, mainly in the USA. According to the report, Swiss companies in the financial sector were also hit by the campaign.

Social engineering was used to get the recipients to open the infected documents. The letter was disguised as a letter of application and contained a link to a document on Dropbox which allegedly contained the application dossier. This method is particularly insidious because HR departments often receive unsolicited applications and usually open such documents.

The infection occurred via a macro contained in the Word document. Such macros are now blocked in many companies, or are activated only after confirmation of a corresponding warning message. If the macro is executed despite all warnings, the malware will smuggle Sharpshooter into the working memory of Word. The malware then installs a modular backdoor called “Rising Sun”. The functions of this component include collecting and sending information about documents, user names, network configuration, and system settings. The malware can also reload other functions.

The malware communicates via a command and control server controlled by the attackers.

In analysing the campaign, McAfee found evidence of connections to the “Lazarus” group: “Rising Sun” contains code and configuration data from the “Duuzer” family. Duuzer was also used in the hacker attack on Sony, which is associated with the Lazarus group.

Read this next

Digital Assets

BlockDAG’s Presale Achieves $9.9M: Aiming For A 5000-Fold ROI As Cardano’s Price Rises And Fantom Launches Sonic

Explore Cardano’s surge, Sonic’s efficiency, and why BlockDAG’s growth makes it the top crypto choice. A deep dive into the future of blockchain investments.

Digital Assets

US, UK probe $20 billion Tether transfers tied to Russian exchange.

U.S. and UK authorities are investigating the movement of $20 billion in the USD-pegged stablecoin tether (USDT) through Moscow-based exchange Garantex.

Digital Assets

BlockDAG Presale Raises $9.9M as Batch 5 Nears Sell-Out Amid Bonk’s Fluctuating Trading Volume & Spell’s Bullish Price

Explore BONK’s trading volume, SPELL’s market shifts, and why BlockDAG’s 10,000 ROI makes it an ideal crypto for savvy investors in 2024.

Digital Assets

Bybit expands into Europe amid regulatory scrutiny

Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit is expanding its operations in Europe after encountering regulatory challenges in Hong Kong.

Digital Assets

Cathie Wood’s sponsored Bitcoin ETF sees historic $200 million inflows

The ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), co-sponsored by Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, registered historic inflows exceeding $200 million on Wednesday, signaling a robust appetite among investors for Bitcoin-centric investments.

Digital Assets

Sam Bankman-Fried might see his 25-year sentence halved

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison by a Manhattan court on Thursday. This comes after he was convicted of defrauding customers and investors, with Judge Lewis Kaplan highlighting the potential future risks posed by Bankman-Fried.

Technical Analysis

EURJPY Technical Analysis Report 28 March, 2024

EURJPY currency pair under the bearish pressure after the pair reversed down from the major resistance level 164.25, which also stopped the sharp weekly uptrend at the end of last year,

Digital Assets

BlockDAG’s Presale Hits $9.9M, MultiversX & MINA Price Predictions Show Green

Read about BlockDAG’s promising $10 prediction and insights on MultiversX Price Prediction as MINA’s potential unfolds.

Digital Assets

Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

<