The Librarian Ghouls hacker group has compromised lots of of Russian gadgets and used them to mine crypto in an obvious case of cryptojacking, cybersecurity agency Kaspersky says.
The hacker group, which is also called Uncommon Werewolf, positive factors entry to programs by way of malware-ridden phishing emails disguised as messages from legit organizations that seem like official paperwork or fee orders, Kaspersky stated in a report on Monday.
Hackers scope out system data earlier than mining
After a pc is contaminated with the malware, the hackers set up a distant connection and disable safety programs akin to Home windows Defender.
The contaminated system can also be programmed to activate at 1 am and shut down at 5 am, with the hackers utilizing the timeframe to additional set up unauthorized distant entry and steal login credentials.
“It’s our evaluation that the attackers use this method to cowl their tracks in order that the person stays unaware that their system has been hijacked,” Kaspersky stated.
They then steal login credentials and likewise acquire details about the system’s out there RAM, CPU cores and GPUs to optimally configure the crypto miner earlier than deploying it.
Whereas the miner is working, the hackers keep a connection to the mining pool, sending a request each 60 seconds, in response to Kaspersky.
“We observe that the attackers are repeatedly refining their ways, encompassing not solely knowledge exfiltration but in addition the deployment of distant entry instruments and using phishing websites for e mail account compromise,” the agency stated.
Cryptojacking marketing campaign ongoing since 2024
Thus far, the hacking marketing campaign, which began in December and is ongoing, has affected lots of of Russian customers, significantly industrial enterprises and engineering faculties, with further victims reported in Belarus and Kazakhstan.
The origin of the group hasn’t been established; nevertheless, Kaspersky stated the phishing emails are “composed in Russian and embrace archives with Russian filenames, together with Russian-language decoy paperwork.”
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“This implies that the first targets of this marketing campaign are probably based mostly in Russia or communicate Russian,” Kaspersky stated.
Librarian Ghouls might be hacktivists
Kaspersky speculates that the Librarian Ghouls may be hacktivists, who use hacking as a type of civil disobedience to advertise a political agenda, attributable to using methods generally related to comparable teams, akin to reliance on legit, third-party software program.
“A particular characteristic of this risk is that the attackers favor utilizing legit third-party software program over growing their very own malicious binaries,” Kaspersky stated.
It’s unknown how lengthy the group has been lively, however one other Russian cybersecurity agency, BI. ZONE stated in a Nov. 23 report that Uncommon Werewolf has been round since at the least 2019.
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