It’s being normal for anyone who follow cyber threat intelligence that the infamous APT Hacking Group targets financial entities such banks and financial institution as their main operational core profit income. Alongside goals like cyber espionage and cyber sabotage, the attacker has been targeting banks and other financial companies around the globe.
What APT stand for?
An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a prolonged and targeted cyberattack in which an intruder gains access to a network and remains undetected for an extended period of time. The intention of an APT attack is usually to monitor network activity and steal data rather than to cause damage to the network or organization.
The trend are shifting starting by last year since this APT actor now are moving into cryptocurrencies user and business, especially targeting the operator of the exchanges. Financial gain remains one of the main goals for APT actor, with its tactics, techniques, and procedures constantly evolving to avoid detection.
According to Kaspersky report, recent campaign to attack cryptocurrency business the APT group said to utilizing a fake company with a backdoored product aimed at cryptocurrency businesses. One of the key findings was the group’s new ability to target macOS. Since then the group has been busy expanding its operations for the platform.
To ensure that the OS platform was not an obstacle to infecting targets, it seems the attackers went the extra mile and developed malware for other platforms, including for macOS. A version for Linux is apparently coming soon, according to the website. It’s probably the first time we see this APT group using malware for macOS. The fact that the APT group has expanded its list of targeted operating systems should be a wake-up call for users of non-Windows platforms
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This is a reminder for Windows and macOS users to be more cautious and not fall victim to this kind of attack campaign. If your business operation involving cryptocurrency or revolve around fintech startup industry, exercise extra caution when dealing with new third parties or installing software on your systems. It’s best to check new software with an antivirus and use trusted hadware wallet provider like Ledger Nano S or Trezor. In the meantime, stay safe!