In a recent wave of cyberattacks, threat actors have been leveraging the DarkCloud stealer to infiltrate organizations across various sectors in Spain.
The campaign, which employs billing-themed social engineering tactics, is spoofing a Spanish company specializing in mountain and skiing equipment to trick victims into opening malicious email attachments.
These emails, often titled “Importe: 3.500,00 EUR,” contain a .TAR archive file named “Importe3.50000EUR_Transfer.tar,” which conceals the DarkCloud stealer binary.
The targeted industries include technology, legal, finance, healthcare, energy, food, chemical, government, manufacturing, and packaging.
This wide-ranging attack highlights the growing sophistication of cybercriminals in tailoring their campaigns to specific regional and sectoral contexts.
DarkCloud Stealer: Capabilities and Methods
Active since at least 2022, DarkCloud is a commodity stealer used by multiple threat actors globally.
While it may not be as notorious as other malware families, its recent surge in activity underscores its effectiveness in data exfiltration and credential theft.
The malware boasts an array of features that make it particularly dangerous:
- It captures keystrokes, clipboard content, screenshots, and browser data such as passwords and cookies from popular browsers like Chrome, Opera, Yandex, and 360 Browser.
- It extracts credentials from email clients, VPNs, FTP clients, and cryptocurrency applications.
- Sensitive files such as .txt, .xls/.xlsx spreadsheets, .pdfs, and .rtf documents are also exfiltrated.
- Additionally, the malware hijacks cryptocurrency wallet addresses for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, and other digital assets.
Data stolen by DarkCloud is transmitted through multiple channels including SMTP email servers, Telegram messaging services, and FTP protocols.
To evade detection by security systems, the malware employs advanced techniques such as anti-virtual machine (anti-VM) checks, anti-debugging measures, and fake API calls.
Protective Measures
According to the Report, Broadcom’s Symantec Security Center has implemented robust defenses against this threat.
Organizations using Symantec products benefit from multi-layered protection against DarkCloud stealer attacks:
- Carbon Black-based Protection: VMware Carbon Black products block malicious indicators associated with DarkCloud through existing policies designed to prevent malware execution. These policies include delaying execution for cloud scans to leverage Carbon Black Cloud’s reputation service.
- Email Security: Symantec’s email security solutions provide coverage for detecting malicious emails linked to this campaign. Email Threat Isolation (ETI) technology adds an extra layer of defense by isolating potentially harmful attachments before they reach end-users.
- File-based Detection: The malware is identified under the Trojan.Gen.MBT classification by Symantec’s file-based security systems. Machine learning models further enhance detection capabilities through heuristic analysis under Heur.AdvML.B.
This comprehensive approach ensures that organizations are well-equipped to mitigate risks associated with DarkCloud stealer attacks.
The resurgence of DarkCloud stealer emphasizes the importance of proactive cybersecurity measures across industries.
Its ability to target diverse sectors while employing sophisticated evasion techniques makes it a formidable threat in the evolving cyber landscape.
Organizations must remain vigilant by implementing robust endpoint protection solutions like VMware Carbon Black and adopting advanced email security technologies such as Symantec ETI.
As cybercriminals continue to refine their methods, businesses must invest in cutting-edge tools and employee training to identify phishing attempts and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.
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