Recent Cases of Watering Hole Attacks, Part 1

Description

This analysis focuses on a watering hole attack targeting a Japanese university research laboratory website in 2023. The attack used social engineering to trick users into downloading and executing malware disguised as an Adobe Flash Player update. The malware, identified as a modified Cobalt Strike Beacon, was injected into the Explorer process. The attackers used Cloudflare Workers for their C2 server and employed various techniques to evade detection, including disabling anti-analysis functions and stopping antivirus software. The report also mentions other attacks by the same group, using decoy documents and malware with specific execution options. The article emphasizes the importance of maintaining awareness of diverse attack vectors beyond commonly exploited vulnerabilities in exposed assets.