Susceptible webmail servers appear to be part of the final modus operandi the Russian hackers use for espionage campaigns. Beforehand in June 2023, one other Russian state-sponsored cyber espionage group BlueDelta (aka FancyBear, APT28) was concentrating on weak Roundcube installations throughout Ukraine and had additionally exploited CVE202323397, a important zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook in 2022, in response to Insikt Group.
Different well-known Russian menace actor teams, corresponding to Sandworm and BlueBravo APT29, Midnight Blizzard, have additionally focused electronic mail options in varied campaigns previously, Insikt Group added.
CVE-2023-5631 impacts Roundcube variations earlier than 1.4.15, 1.5.x earlier than 1.5.5, and 1.6.x earlier than 1.6.4. “To mitigate the chance posed by TAG-70’s marketing campaign, organizations ought to be sure that their Roundcube installations are patched and up-to-date, whereas actively trying to find indicators of compromise (IoCs) of their environments,” the report added.
Marketing campaign with geo-political motives
The analysis notes that electronic mail servers signify a big danger within the context of the continued Russia-Ukraine battle, exposing delicate info concerning Ukraine’s warfare effort and planning. Thirty-one p.c of Wintern Vivern victims have been from Ukraine, in response to Insikt Group findings.
“Moreover, Insikt Group detected TAG70 concentrating on Iran’s embassies in Russia and the Netherlands, which is notable given Iran’s help of Russia’s warfare effort in Ukraine,” the report added. “Equally, espionage in opposition to Georgian authorities entities displays pursuits in monitoring Georgia’s aspirations for European Union (EU) and NATO accession.”
In March 2023, the menace group was reported to have focused elected officers in america and their staffers. Across the identical time, SentinelLabs revealed the group’s different espionage campaigns with international targets.
