The TA-ShadowCricket group, formerly known as Shadow Force, has been active in the Asia-Pacific region since 2012, targeting Windows servers and MS-SQL servers. They operate an IRC server with over 2,000 affected IPs in 72 countries. The group uses various malware and tools, including Upm, SqlShell, Maggie, and Wgdrop. Their activities involve three stages: initial access and reconnaissance, backdoor deployment, and additional malicious behaviors. The group has connections to China and has been quietly stealing information for over 13 years without demanding ransom or releasing stolen data. Their persistent activity suggests preparation for potential large-scale attacks in the future.
A recent incident response case in Brazil revealed a Perl-based crypto mining botnet called Outlaw, also known as Dota, targeting Linux environments. The threat actor exploits weak SSH credentials, downloads malicious scripts, and deploys an XMRig miner for Monero cryptocurrency. The botnet includes an IRC-based client that acts as a backdoor, allowing for various malicious activities. Victims have been identified mainly in the United States, with additional targets in Germany, Italy, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Canada, and Brazil. The article provides detailed analysis of the malware's components, persistence mechanisms, and evasion techniques. Recommendations for system administrators include hardening SSH configurations and implementing additional security measures to mitigate the risk of compromise.
