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Oct 11, 2023

Data Thieves Test-Drive Unique Certificate Abuse Tactic

Posted by in categories: cryptocurrencies, cybercrime/malcode

https://informatech.co/3RVp6BM by Elizabeth Montalbano.


Attackers are employing a new type of certificate abuse in an attempt to spread info-stealing malware, with the aim of collecting credentials and other sensitive data. In some instances, the goal is to steal cryptocurrency from Windows systems.

The campaign uses search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning to deliver search results featuring malicious pages promoting illegal software cracks and downloads. In the background, the pages deliver remote access Trojans (RATs) known as LummaC2, and RecordBreaker (aka Raccoon Stealer V2) researchers from South Korea-based AhnLab revealed in a blog post on Oct. 10.

Notably, the malware uses abnormal certificates featuring Subject Name and Issuer Name fields that have unusually long strings, which means they require specific tools or infrastructure to inspect the certificates and are not visible in Windows systems. Specifically, the signature strings include Arabic, Japanese, and other non-English languages, along with special characters and punctuation marks, diverging from the typical English character string structures, the researchers noted.

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