SMART AND SAFE DIGITAL

CYBER
SECURITY
REPORT
JUNE 2019

darkmatter.ae

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DarkMatter Cyber Security Report

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 DarkMatter Cyber Security Report

Table of
Executive Summary 4
Critical Infrastructure 6

Contents
Intrusion Sets 10
UAE Internet Footprint 20
Incident Types 22
Security Weaknesses 26
Recommendations 30
Summary 32
About DarkMatter Group 34
References 36

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In our first semi-annual report for 2019, DarkMatter documents a growing incidence of cyberattacks
across the UAE and the wider Middle East. As cybercriminals keep abreast of emerging developments in
technology, they are striking in ever more sophisticated ways and aiming their weapons where they are
likely to cause the most damage.

THIS REPORT HIGHLIGHTS THE THREATS AND TRENDS DARKMATTER HAS

OBSERVED BETWEEN OCTOBER 2018 AND MARCH 2019 REGIONALLY AND
IN THE WIDER THREAT LANDSCAPE. THE GOAL OF THIS DOCUMENT IS TO
PROVIDE CLIENTS AND STAKEHOLDERS WITH A SNAPSHOT OF THE STATE OF
CYBERSECURITY AND OF THE HEADLINE INCIDENTS AFFECTING THE UAE.

Breaches in the Middle East are both widespread information to facilitate follow-on attacks.
and frequently undetected. They also increasingly Sabotage is another significant motivation, as
appear to be state-sponsored. seen with the Shamoon wiper malware (also
known as Disttrack) or in website defacements,
This report also provides a particular focus and it will remain a constant threat.
on the UAE’s critical infrastructure sectors
identified as the following: Oil and Gas, Financial, Public-facing assets and infrastructures comprise
Transportation, and Electricity and Water. the general attack surface in the UAE, partly
a consequence of the country’s high internet
A hit on any of these critical infrastructure penetration rate. However, as outlined in our
activities could disrupt the industry and harm the previous report, most of the UAE’s publicly
economy. Oil and Gas in particular, a pillar of the accessible hosts are located outside the nation’s
UAE’s economy that is of strategic importance to borders, limiting the ability to safeguard these
the world, faces the greatest risks from globally assets.
reaching actors called Advanced Persistent
Threats (APTs). General reporting remains high Adequate safeguards are yet to be enforced
worldwide when it comes to long-established consistently across the UAE, DarkMatter’s
threat actors targeting oil and gas, such as those examination reveals. Unprepared organizations
believed to be linked to Iran. The same actors also remain largely exposed due to negligent and
aim at other sectors such as transport. disordered systems. Weak passwords, outdated
and unsupported software, insecure protocols,
Two chief motivations stand out in DarkMatter’s and open, unrestricted networks are among the
review of threat actors operating in the most frequent vulnerabilities.
region. Espionage is now the most prominent
menace for regional organizations, accounting This DarkMatter report contains actionable
for the majority of the assessed campaigns. insights for UAE enterprises, with recommended
Such campaigns commonly seek illicit access general policy outlines and a set of technical best
to credentials and personally identifiable practices.

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EMIRATES
UNITED
ARAB

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CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE: HITTING
WHERE IT HURTS
In 2017, a Triton malware strike against Saudi
oil giant Petro Rabigh came close to triggering
high-pressure explosions of toxic hydrogen
sulfide gases along the Red Sea coast.1 Had
the attack succeeded, it could have taken a
considerable toll on business and human life.
Other examples of destructive attacks, such
as Shamoon in Saudi Arabia and Black Energy
in Ukraine, left their targets with deleted files,
delayed operations and proprietary losses.2

These are some ways critical infrastructure

can be targeted to devastating effect. The
term defines an asset or system that is
essential to the functioning of a society and to
its health and safety. As explained by the EU,3
the damage or disruption of such resources,
whether intentional or not, poses a significant
danger to the security of a nation and its
citizens.

In the age of hyper-connected digital

economies, technology is no longer merely an
extension of critical infrastructure services
but plays an enabling role at the core of each
Oil and Gas
service.4 Security must consequently be
ringfenced around these touchpoints. However,
Half of all cyberattacks in the Middle East target
cyberattacks on critical infrastructure are
the oil and gas sector, according to a joint Siemens
now more sophisticated and occur more
and Ponemon Institute report. Cybersecurity
frequently, exposing worldwide governments
breaches remain widespread and frequently
and businesses to new risks.
undetected, and an estimated 75% of regional
In the UAE, the Telecommunications oil and gas companies have had their security in
Regulatory Authority (TRA) has established their operational technology (OT) environment
the National Cyber Security Strategy (NCSS) compromised.6 Moreover, energy supply chains
with the aim of securing national information can extend the surface of attack, as we saw with
and communications across the country. The the Shamoon 3 campaign, detailed herein, which
NCSS identifies four essential infrastructure crippled an Aramco supplier using destructive
sectors, namely oil and gas, electricity and malware.
water, finance and transportation.5

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The energy industry is the mainstay of Gulf economies, and the GCC boasts $835bn in active oil
and gas construction projects. In the UAE alone, sectoral contracts were worth an estimated
$29.6bn between Q4 2018 and Q1 2019.7 This commercial and strategic magnitude makes the
industry an attractive target for geopolitical or economic rivals.

Finance
The storage and movement of money has The extent of the sector sees the UAE ranked
become more vulnerable as the financial sixth on Kaspersky’s list of most targeted
sector adopts electronic channels and countries by banking malware attacks in Q3
relies increasingly on technology. Forbes 2018.10 As financial activity increases, a further
estimates that cybercriminals target increase in malware attacks is to be expected.
financial firms 300 times more frequently
than other industries.8 Looked at another
way, 19% of total incidents globally last
year were aimed at banking and insurance,
IBM reports, citing the quick monetization
of customer data as incentives.9

The GCC is among the world’s fastest

growing markets with a mature and
profitable banking sector. As the UAE has
established itself as the region’s financial
hub, the nation’s banks have also grown.

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Transportation
Transportation comprises complex
networks, high volumes of real-time data
and large numbers of embedded devices.
Technology underpins the value chain from
satellite communications to the delivery
of a parcel, and minimal damage to one
segment can adversely affect multiple
businesses and civilians.

IBM identified transportation services,

including air, bus, rail and water, as the
second most targeted sector globally
in 2018, with 13% of all recorded
cyberattacks.11 The industry’s continuous
reliance on information technology presents
a wide attack surface for malicious
entities, proving an attractive target for
cybercriminals such as DarkHydrus, OilRig,
and APT39.

In the UAE, transport remains a significant

business activity. Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai
consider the sector as a development pillar
of their vision strategies for the decade to
2030,12 and greater prominence raises the
likelihood of adverse actions in the future.

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Water and Electricity

Utilities such as water and electricity present a greater potential for damage, with widespread
prime target for cybercriminals, with their role outage and cascading effects rippling across
as the backbone of every nation’s infrastructure. the economy, since every enterprise relies on
Both are essential to economic and national energy for its daily functions.
security and to the daily functioning of a wide
range of other industries. Government departments in the UAE’s utilities
sector have made significant efforts to bolster
When compared with other industries, an defenses around water and energy facilities.13
attack on the utilities sector has significantly

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INTRUSION SETS
An intrusion set is a group of antagonistic threat actor’s intent. Such information is often
actions and resources with common properties used in follow-on operations such as crafting
that is thought to be orchestrated by a single spear phishing attacks or compromising target
organization. Below, DarkMatter describes the systems in order to acquire further data.
threat actors and campaigns targeting critical
infrastructure observed since the last DarkMatter Cyberespionage differs from sabotage, another
Cyber Security Report in November 2018. common kind of cyberattack, in that threat actors
seek to undermine an organization by corrupting
The most common motivation is cyberespionage, its assets or conducting denial of service attacks.
where the objective is to obtain confidential or DarkMatter details one campaign, Shamoon
sensitive information towards a broader goal. 3, where sabotage appeared to be the primary
Credential and personally identifiable information motivation. The figure below provides a timeline
theft are included in this understanding of a of activities.

DNSpionage DarkHydrus
The DarkHydrus
OilRig The DNSpionage
campaign hit at Shamoon 3 campaign focuses
OilRig targeted a least 28 organi- on government and
Shamoon 3 is the
telecommunica- zations primarily education entities. It
only sabotage-mo-
tions vertical with in the UAE and is seen as the most
tivated attack
an increased effort Lebanon through consistent among
among this set and
of automation fake jobs on this intrusion set
has a focus on the
and lethality of malware-hosting with two successful
oil and gas sector.
payload. websites. attacks in the past
six months.

2018 2019

Note: Indicated dates are when cyber activities were reported.

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Bitter Chafer
Molerats MuddyWater
Bitter is a threat Chafer is believed
Molerats is actor seen to be a state-spon- MuddyWater is
believed to be a recently targeting sored group for a copycat threat
group run by a an employee cyberespionage actor known to
militant organiza- of an electrical purposes. APT39 be publicly relying
tion with a partic- provider in Saudi historically targeted on available tools
ular focus against Arabia. This has the oil and gas and script. It
Middle Eastern been the first sector, and the recently attacked
governments and incident where the travel and telecom- a telecom provider
Arabic speaking actor targeted the munications sector in Iraq.
users. Middle East region. in its latest attack.

2019

DarkMatter’s analysis of the actors and mented intrusion sets appear to be motivated
campaigns covered in this report establishes primarily by cyberespionage actions, such as
that spear phishing is the principal means of stealing remote access credentials and personal
gaining access to targets. This could be because information. Finally, all the identified intrusion
cybercriminals have become better at creating sets in the following section have hit critical
authentic-looking emails, or because more infrastructure in the UAE and regionally.
personal information is now available on social
media, helping aggressors create personalized and Eight actors and campaigns are covered in this
believable messages. Moreover, 75% of docu- report.

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A. MuddyWater A copycat actor relying on known and publicly

available code that has been operational since
2017, MuddyWater recently attacked Korek Tele-
com, an Iraq-based telecom provider that services
at least 18 provinces. According to 360Lab
researchers,14 the attack on the Iraqi organization
used Powerstats, a PowerShell backdoor, and was
delivered via a spear phishing email that induced
users to open Microsoft Word documents.

MuddyWater mainly targets victims in the Middle

East using Living off the Land (LotL) techniques.15
Its previous targets include several government
agencies, communications firms, and oil and gas
companies in the Middle East between 2017 and
2018.16

THREAT ACTOR THREAT VECTOR TARGET COUNTRIES

UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman,

Lebanon, Pakistan, India, Iraq,
MuddyWater, Static Kitten Spear phishing Georgia, Turkey, Tajikistan,
Israel, USA

TARGET INDUSTRIES MOTIVATION MALICIOUS TOOLS

Oil and Gas, Government, Tele- Cyberespionage Powerstats

communications

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B. Chafer Chafer is a cyberespionage threat actor believed

to be sponsored by the Iranian government.
Previously mentioned in DarkMatter’s November
2018 Cyber Security Report, the group has his-
torically targeted critical infrastructure sectors.
It began cyberespionage activities as early
as 2014 but was only exposed by Symantec in
December 2015.17 Recent victims have been travel
and telecommunications companies in Turkey, as
well as diplomatic missions within Iran, where
it has sought to harvest personal data about
individuals of interest. The latest attack used a
Python-based payload, which Palo Alto Unit 42
calls MechaFlounder.18 Created by Chafer itself,
the MechaFlounder Trojan supports file upload,
download and command execution functionality
to help the threat actor meet its objectives.
Chafer also uses the Living off the Land (LotL)
tactic to evade endpoint protection platforms
with highly sophisticated attacks. The recent
development shows a greater interest in stealing
personal data, in contrast with other Iranian
groups that traditionally target government and
commercial information.

THREAT ACTOR THREAT VECTOR TARGET COUNTRIES

Chafer, APT39 Spear phishing UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey,

India, Iran, Scotland, Italy, UK

TARGET INDUSTRIES MOTIVATION MALICIOUS TOOLS

Oil and Gas, Transportation, Remexi, POWBAT, Mimikatz,

Government, Telecommunica- Cyberespionage SEAWEED, xCmdSvc,
tions CACHEMONEY, webshells

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C. Bitter Bitter is a threat actor seen recently targeting

an employee of an electricity provider in Saudi
Arabia. Its activities were first observed in 2015,
and it has previously attacked Pakistan and China
by delivering a variant of the ArtraDownloader
malware via spear phishing mails. Bitter’s victims
are critical infrastructure utilities, such as the
Saudi electricity provider and a Pakistani hydrau-
lics company.

A shift in geographic direction, coupled with

Bitter’s focus industries, amplifies the possibility
that the UAE will be among its next targets.

THREAT ACTOR THREAT VECTOR TARGET COUNTRIES

Bitter Spear phishing Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China

TARGET INDUSTRIES MOTIVATION MALICIOUS TOOLS

Government, Electricity and

Water (Electricity and Hydrau- Cyberespionage ArtraDownloader
lics)

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D. Molerats Molerats’ most recent activity was a phishing

attack aimed at Arabic-speaking users, a tactic it
has used since it was identified in 2012. The group
first grabbed media attention that year after it
attacked the Israeli government, temporarily
cutting off internet access for its entire police
force. After broadening its reach to Palestinian or-
ganizations and British and US targets, Molerats
took aim at governments, oil and gas companies,
media organizations, activists, diplomats and
politicians in countries such as Egypt, the UAE,
Yemen, Jordan, Libya, Iran, and Israel.19

Given its focus on the Middle East and its history

of attacking the UAE, it is probable that this
politically motivated group will resume targeting
entities within the country and the region.

THREAT ACTOR THREAT VECTOR TARGET COUNTRIES

Molerats, Gaza Cybergang, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,

Gaza Hackers Team, Moonlight, Spear phishing Jordan, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Israel,
Extreme Jackal USA, UK

TARGET INDUSTRIES MOTIVATION MALICIOUS TOOLS

Oil and Gas, Government (Diplo- Cyberespionage Xtreme RAT, njRAT

mats), Media

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E. DarkHydrus DarkHydrus’ latest attack came to light on 9

January 2019 when 360TIC researchers 20 secured
several malicious Microsoft Excel documents
containing politically charged content in Arabic.
The campaign was aimed at the government, the
transport industry and educational institutions
in the Middle East, using lure documents
containing malicious code to extract information
from its targets. The group continues to deliver
politically motivated content while developing
new techniques to enrich its expanding playbook.
The delivery documents revealed how the group
is abusing open-source penetration-testing
techniques while its payloads use the RogueRobin
Trojan, developing different variants that employ
the Google Drive cloud service as a C2 channel.

THREAT ACTOR THREAT VECTOR TARGET COUNTRIES

DarkHydrus, LazyMeerkat, Spear phishing UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey

RogueRobin

TARGET INDUSTRIES MOTIVATION MALICIOUS TOOLS

Transportation (Aviation), Cyberespionage RogueRobin, Phishery

Government, Education

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F. Shamoon 3 A modification of the data-wiping malware

Shamoon, also known as Disttrack or Shamoon
3, hit Italian oil services firm Saipem in December
2018.21 Saipem’s facilities in three locations were
affected: in the Middle East, Aberdeen in the UK,
and in Italy. Saudi Arabia’s Aramco is Saipem’s
largest customer. Symantec reported that two
other organizations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE,
both in oil and gas, were attacked in the same
week.22 The affected companies in the UAE were
not identified.

Shamoon, a cybersabotage threat campaign

that has suspected links with Iran because of its
choice of targets, has targeted regional and in-
ternational victims since 2012. Shamoon malware
can overwrite the Master Boot Record (MBR) and
damage system files and partitions with randomly
generated data. Consistent with its predecessors,
Shamoon 3’s destructive payload was a wiper.
The newest iteration is considered deadlier than
before, since it renders files unrecoverable by first
wiping them with Filerase malware. These actions
indicate Shamoon’s motivations go beyond
financial gains towards supporting nation-state
interests.

THREAT ACTOR THREAT VECTOR TARGET COUNTRIES

Shamoon 3 Spear phishing UAE, Saudi Arabia, India,

Scotland, Italy

TARGET INDUSTRIES MOTIVATION MALICIOUS TOOLS

Oil and Gas, Transportation, Sabotage Disttrack, Filerase

Government

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G. OilRig OilRig targeted a telecommunications player in

early November 2018.23 DarkMatter believes these
attacks are highly likely to continue as OilRig
builds capabilities and confidence in its methods,
including increased levels of automation and
deadlier payloads. OilRig attacks mainly use spear
phishing emails as an initial infection vector. The
group then deploys custom-developed backdoors
such as Helminth 24 to control the compromised
system, exfiltrate files and download other
samples onto target machines. The initial part of
Oilrig’s attack process does not differ from other
threat actors, such as DarkHydrus, in terms of
establishing the foundation of attacks. Once in
place, OilRig uses its new administrative rights to
expand its privileges on the compromised system.

Other OilRig Tactics, Techniques and Procedures

(TTPs) include account manipulation, brute force,
and access to credentials in order to scrub sensi-
tive accounts and information.

THREAT ACTOR THREAT VECTOR TARGET COUNTRIES

UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,

OilRig, APT34, Helix Kitten, Spear phishing Kuwait, Turkey, Lebanon,
Helminth, Clayslide, IRN2
Israel, USA

TARGET INDUSTRIES MOTIVATION MALICIOUS TOOLS

Transportation (Aviation),
Financial, Government, Energy, Cyberespionage Bondupdater
Chemical, Telecommunications

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H. DNSpionage The DNSpionage campaign hit at least 28 organi-

zations in various MENA countries, primarily the
UAE and Lebanon, by luring victims to respond to
a fake job campaign.25 Fake job vacancies pur-
portedly from the likes of Wipro and Suncor were
posted on malware-hosting websites to attract
intended victims. A DNS-hijacking technique then
redirected all the target organization’s traffic to
attacker-controlled infrastructure.

DNSpionage’s previous attacks on the UAE elevate

the likelihood of a recurrence as attackers contin-
ue to support intelligence collection operations
against their targets and organizations related to
those targets.

THREAT ACTOR THREAT VECTOR TARGET COUNTRIES

UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,

DNSpionage, Cold River Spear phishing Kuwait, Lebanon, Turkey,
Israel, Iran, USA

TARGET INDUSTRIES MOTIVATION MALICIOUS TOOLS

Transportation (Aviation),
Financial (Banks), Government, Cyberespionage DNSpionage
Energy, Telecommunications

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UAE INTERNET FOOTPRINT

DarkMatter outlines the general attack surface of the UAE in order to assess the likelihood of global
threat actors targeting the region. The adoption rate of internet-connected devices as well as the
depth of public-facing infrastructure outlines the scope of the attack surface, revealing possible
targets as well as potential vulnerabilities that are ripe for exploitation.

The UAE’s digital ecosystem offers an expanded attack surface for cybercrime. The UAE has the
second-highest smartphone adoption rate globally at 85% after Singapore,26 and the nation is one of
the world’s most interconnected countries.27 The importance of the UAE provides an attractive mark for
cyberattacks. With a GDP of $382 billion, the Middle East’s third-largest economy is one of the region’s
most-targeted countries. Symantec’s 28 2019 Internet Security Threat Report ranks the UAE 10th in the
rate of malicious emails (third in the Middle East) and ninth in the number of targeted attacks by known
threat actors.

DarkMatter examined public-facing infrastructure as a whole, since it is accessed by all organizations

and individuals. Our analysis also encompasses public-facing assets belonging to organizations within
the main critical infrastructure sectors. Significant concerns became apparent. A large number of
public-facing assets exhibit several critical or high vulnerabilities, and the majority of hosts under the
AE top-level domain lie beyond the nation’s political borders. Digital assets belonging to UAE-based
organizations in general are particularly exposed, with about 75% of hosts belonging to all
observed UAE organizations located outside the UAE.

On the other hand, public-facing assets from organizations within the critical infrastructure sectors are
more localized. Only 8.6% of these assets were hosted outside, and they displayed far fewer vulnerabil-
ities proportionally.

Known Vulnerabilities Foreign Hosting

There were 64,530 vulnerabilities rated ‘high’ or DarkMatter observed that 102,750 of the 137,000+
‘critical’ (a score of 7 or above on the Common websites under the .AE top-level domain are
Vulnerability Scoring System) from the 647,891 hosted outside territorial borders. The use of
observed public-facing hosts located in the UAE. A international webhosting services indicates
total of 1,949 of these were rated as ‘critical’, with that the majority of UAE organizations do not
nearly 49% of vulnerabilities arising from manage- have complete sovereignty of their systems and
ment issues of permissions and access control. information, which places sensitive data and
Public-facing assets in the critical infrastructure operations at risk.
sector had a better security posture, with less
than 1% reporting vulnerabilities rated as ‘high’ or Public hosts belonging to critical infrastruc-
‘critical’. ture-based organizations were more localized
with just 8.6% situated outside the UAE.
Public-facing systems in the electricity and water
industry had the most international hosts at
12.6%, followed by finance at 10.2%, oil and gas at
9.1%, and transportation at 1.9%.

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Percentage of Critical
Infrastructure Hosts
outside UAE

12.6% 10.2%
Water & Electricity Finance

9.1% 1.9%
Oil & Gas Transportation

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INCIDENT TYPES
Unauthorized Access From November 2018 to March 2019, Security
Operations Centers (SOCs) run by DarkMatter,

and Misconfigurations investigated numerous incidents across multi-

ple industries, including in critical infrastruc-

at Fault ture. Approximately 1% of incidents rose to the

level of ‘critical’ and 23% were rated as ‘high’
according to aeCert’s scale – meaning great
harm could be done to an organization. These
incidents were classified under the categories
of ‘Malicious Code’ and ‘Unauthorized Access’.

The vast majority of DarkMatter’s investi-

gations focused around unauthorized access
(37.8%) and misconfiguration (46.3%). Those
patterns of activity highlight devices with
improper or insecure configurations.

Breakdown of Incidents 3.13% 0.42%

Investigated by SOC by Type and
Severity

5.04% 37.80%
Critical High

Medium Low

Malicious Code Unauthorized Access

46.30% 0.63% 10.24%

Misconfiguration Phishing Scan/Probes

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Darkmatter Observed Attack

DarkMatter’s Security Operations Centers were alerted to an attack against an individual at an organi-
zation in a critical infrastructure sector. DarkMatter’s initial observations showed a carefully crafted
email containing a OneDrive hyperlink. Delivery was instantly blocked and the email did not reach the
intended party.

After further analysis, DarkMatter discerned that the email was crafted to appear to come from a
legitimate and likely sender using “typosquatting”, when a domain is structured to look like a known
legitimate site. A OneDrive hyperlink within the email pointed to a compressed executable identified as
NanoCore RAT, a popular remote access Trojan available on the open market since 2015. The malware’s
C2 was tied to an external Dynamic DNS domain.

A couple of indicators highlighted that the strike was aimed specifically at individuals within the
critical infrastructure sector. The typosquatting domain was named to resemble a business that
would be in correspondence with the individual’s organization. Additional analysis suggests the domain
was created specifically for this attack.

The attackers were halted from successfully implementing the first stage of their attack as DarkMatter
was able to analyze and leverage the resulting indicators for further monitoring. Nevertheless, the
nature of the incident reflects a common pattern we have observed with threat actors aiming at critical
infrastructure in the UAE: Attacks are highly customized when targeting individuals within the
critical infrastructure sectors.

Detection and mitigation of an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) from a malicious

SUMMARY email crafted to target an individual within an organization belonging to a critical
infrastructure sector

THREAT ACTOR Shares some infrastructure and tools with known state-sponsored actors

Payload delivery is through social engineering, targeting email as channel

THREAT VECTOR
utilizing spear phishing. Typosquatting is leveraged to further appear legitimate

. OneDrive hyperlink pointing to a compressed executable

. Executable installs NanoCore RAT

FUNCTIONALITY
. Command and Control activity points to Dynamic DNS domain

. Domain was crafted spacifically for attack

INDICATOR OF
Network level IOC - Domain C&C
COMPROMISE

RESPONSE
DarkMatter analysis provided additional indicators to further detect any additional
targeting

Advise client on the nature of the targeted attack. User awareness training on
RECOVERY spotting similar spear phishing attempts

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T
AF
DR

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Multiple
Vulnerabilities
Discovered in ABB
Products
Security researchers from xen1thLabs, a DarkMat-
ter company that conducts vulnerability research,
discovered a number of vulnerabilities in February
this year. These were identified in the Human Ma-
chine Interface (HMI) solution “Panel Builder 600”
from ABB and its related components. ABB works
closely with utilities, industry, transportation
and critical infrastructure customers around the
world. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(SCADA) systems are crucial for critical (indus-
trial) organizations since they help to maintain
efficiency and process data by communicating
real-time system issues.

The discovered vulnerabilities could create secu-

rity risks within the Industrial Control Systems
(ICS) environment. A malicious attacker could
abuse these vulnerabilities to compromise the
software in order to execute attacker-controlled
code on affected devices and computers. Even af-
ter a device has been restarted, the attacker still
has control and will always have a way to regain
access to the compromised environment. Exam-
ples of such attacks could be to inject a backdoor
into all new and existing HMI projects, deliver a
worm that will infect other SCADA systems on
the same network, or cause significant damage to
critical infrastructure.

Several of these issues exist within the authen-

tication functionality, which allows exploitation
without authentication. Furthermore, the
transport protocols by browsers, used are stan-
dard protocols supported by browsers, making
them ideal for spear phishing and watering hole
attacks.

xen1thLabs performed coordinated disclosure

with the vendor resulting in ABB patching nine
security flaws in multiple affected SCADA and ICS
products.

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SECURITY WEAKNESSES
DarkMatter’s Cyber Network Defense team identified several vulnerabilities and configuration flaws
during its technical assessments. Although the organizations involved in these assessments are not
tied to the critical infrastructure sector, they offer an update to our November 2018 Cyber Security
Report and highlight the security posture at UAE-based enterprises in general.

Outdated 91% of our assessments found organizations

Software with outdated software. Target organizations and

their assets remain exposed as cybercriminals
continue to find and exploit loopholes. Among
operating systems and network services, we
discovered numerous examples of critical assets
missing essential security patches, including
high-level risk vulnerabilities in outdated soft-
ware and services such as Windows OS, Linux, and
popular web servers such as IIS and Apache.

Credential 91% of DarkMatter’s reviews discovered

Problems systems that are vulnerable to remote access due

to easily exploitable weak or default passwords.
52% of issues were due to the sustained use of
default administrative credentials. Credentials
include passwords, usernames, e-mail addresses,
and system certificates. Passwords in particular
could be easily guessed or acquired through a sim-
ple dictionary attack, and in situations involving
those with admin rights, attackers gained access
to system functionalities. The risks are notably
higher at public-facing assets as cybercriminals
often employed automated processes and
targeted accounts indiscriminately with default or
predictable credentials.

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Insecure 87% of our assessments revealed organi-

Protocols zations continue to use insecure protocols such

as telnet, FTP, HTTP, and SMTP. In such cases,
data was transferred over internal and external
networks with clear-text packets.

Unsupported 83% of our appraisals showed the continued

Software use of unsupported software such as operating

systems, web servers, and other network ser-
vices. In contrast with outdated software, which
requires critical security patches, unsupported
software is no longer serviced by vendors. There-
fore, protections for critical vulnerabilities that
could be exploited by malicious actors are unlikely
to be unavailable.

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Poor 74% of enterprises used critical network

Configuration services with security issues arising from poor

configuration, such as the failure to follow best
practices with system permissions, allowing
remote or anonymous logins, and disabling
important security safeguards. DarkMatter
observed configuration issues across a range of
systems, including Microsoft Windows servers,
Microsoft Active Directory, Linux servers and
other network devices.

Inadequate 61% of organizations failed to implement

Network proper network segregation. In a few cases,

DarkMatter discovered wireless guest networks
Segregation with connectivity to business-critical internal
networks. Appropriate segregation prevents
users and devices from accessing services beyond
their needs. This is important because even if a
user’s credentials are compromised, attack fallout
is limited to specific network areas.

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Outdated Software: DarkMatter leverages the Common Vulnerability and Exposure

(CVE) standardization to describe publicly known vulnerabilities.
Most Frequent Every known vulnerability has a CVE identification number and is
Vulnerabilities and categorized under a general type. All organizations assessed had
systems with vulnerabilities identified by a CVE. Of the 20 most
Exposures (CVE) Types
common CVEs discovered by DarkMatter’s Cyber Network Defense
team, Information Disclosure / Leak was the most common type.
Such vulnerabilities allow an attacker to obtain sensitive informa-
tion that could be used in launching further attacks. Nearly half
(45%) of the 20 most common CVEs affecting the organizations
would have an impact severity of ‘high’ or ‘critical’.

45% 20%

Information Leak Data Handling

/ Disclosure

15% 5% 5%

Input Validation Buffer Errors Double Free

5% 5%

Improper Access Other

Control

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RECOMMENDATIONS
BASED ON OUR KEY FINDINGS OVER THE REVIEW PERIOD, DARKMATTER
RECOMMENDS THE FOLLOWING BEST PRACTICES:

Organizational

Awareness Training Multi-factor Authentication

Ensure security awareness programs are imple- Stolen credentials are a key target for threat ac-
mented across the organization. The human factor tors, so it is essential to implement multi-factor
remains the most targeted vulnerability by threat authentication. This simple security mechanism
actors. can help mitigate credential theft.

Configuration Management Password Hygiene

Misconfigurations are most likely to occur during Change default passwords as soon as a new sys-
security change processes. A configuration tem or software is added to the network. Where
management procedure helps prevent such possible, account lockout mechanisms should be
incidents. Standard configurations must accord enabled to mitigate authentication attacks. At a
with industry best practices and be continuously minimum, ensure that all passwords deployed are
monitored for changes to quickly identify a mis- different, secure and follow a complex password
configuration weakness that could be exploited policy defined by the organization. Such a policy
by threat actors. must cover the following points:

• Do not use passwords found in dictionaries.

• Passwords should be memorable.

• Use passphrases instead of passwords.

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Mobile Device Management

Implement a mobile device management solution

for corporate devices, with effective security
policies and the ability to quarantine devices.

Technical

Network Device

Implement a sender policy framework to help An automated enterprise software patch

avoid the use of spoofed internal domains. Threat management solution is integral to a compre-
actors adopt such methods in spear phishing hensive security program. It is important that all
attacks to deceive the target into believing a applications including the underlying operating
malicious email originates from an internal source. system and its components are up to date. New
vulnerabilities and exploits are released frequent-
Disable unnecessary network protocols. When ly and when they are not patched, an organization
required by the business, they should be replaced is exposed to unnecessary risk.
with secure protocols such as Secure Shell (SSH),
HTTPS and SNMPv3. Upgrade all outdated software to the latest
version.
Employ network segmentation so that actual
zoning isolation is effective. Segregate the Deploy endpoint protection platform solutions
network according to the principle of least that can monitor and flag suspicious real-time
privilege. Configure the network so users, servers, events, such as the use of PowerShell. Additional
and other devices may only access the minimum endpoint protection solutions that leverage
services required to perform their tasks. whitelisting, where only explicitly allowed
executables can be run by the user, would provide
further protection. Any endpoint security solution
should also include traditional malware detection
methods.

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SUMMARY
DarkMatter’s semi-annual report 2019 reviews the threat landscape against which the typical connect-
ed organization in the Middle East operates.

Cyberespionage has emerged as the principal security threat for the critical infrastructure sector, while
sabotage remains a clear and ever-present danger. Attackers commonly use spear phishing to obtain
credentials and now employ creative, customized and multi-layered approaches to deceive their targets
into sharing access data. Additionally, public-facing web assets are being placed at considerable risk
due to their exposure as a result of international hosting.

UAE ORGANIZATIONS ARE EXPOSED WITH WEAK CREDENTIALS, UNSUPPORTED

SOFTWARE AND UNSEGREGATED NETWORKS, AMONG OTHER HAZARDS.
DARKMATTER’S REVIEW OF SECURITY WEAKNESSES, TRENDS IN CAMPAIGNS
AND THE SECURITY POSTURE OF ITS CLIENT BASE, REVEALS THAT VIRTUALLY
ALL INDUSTRY SECTORS REMAIN VULNERABLE TO THESE OMNIPRESENT
THREATS.

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DarkMatter’s analysis over the review period

indicates that the UAE’s critical infrastructure
will remain frequently targeted by threat actors
operating on a global scale.

DarkMatter’s Threat Intelligence capability

provides timely and actionable intelligence so
that clients are better armed against today’s
attacks and can anticipate emerging threats and
effectively manage their security posture.

DarkMatter’s integrated and efficient solutions

support enterprises through reliable and
cost-effective threat information that protects
the brand, data and information, and information
systems. By collaborating with the highly spe-
cialized analysts in our Threat Intelligence Center
(TIC), Security Operations Center (SOC), Cyber
Network Defense Team (CND), Test and Validation
Labs (xen1thLabs), and Cyber Intelligence Systems
(CIS), DarkMatter clients benefit from insightful
information about the UAE threat landscape.
DarkMatter uses competencies across informa-
tion security, cyber and threat intelligence and
incident response to collect, analyze, disseminate
and formulate multimodal strategies that can be
leveraged to protect the enterprise from criminal
activities and events.

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DarkMatter Cyber Security Report

ABOUT DARKMATTER
GROUP

The DarkMatter Group exists to enable businesses and governments to become smart, safe, and cyber
resilient.

As an end-to-end provider of smart and safe digital transformation, we are uniquely positioned to provide
organizations with the strategy, technology, and operating model to achieve business continuity amidst
adverse and constantly evolving cyber threats. Our strength lies in the diversity of our practices:

Provides an ‘always on’ cyber security Supports business and governments in digitally
transformation for businesses and governments so and smartly transforming their ways-of-working
that they can safely perform their mission in the to achieve unprecedented levels of operational
face of accelerating cyber risks. efficiency and effectiveness.

Offers ultra-secure unified communications Enables businesses and governments in advancing

solutions that allow businesses and governments the digital and cyber security dexterity of their
to protect their business operations and data, human capital.
giving them control and peace of mind.

Tailors technologies to help governments

strengthen their defense and security to mitigate
risks.

34 DARKMATTER
 DarkMatter Cyber Security Report

Conducts vulnerability research, including the Provides PKI and identity services, utilized
testing and validation activities it covers across to secure web sites, web services and TLS
software, hardware and telecommunication. communications.
xen1thLabs houses a team of world-class experts
dedicated to providing high impact capabilities in
cyber security, uncovering new vulnerabilities that
combat tomorrow’s threats today.

Provides educational consultancy services and

talent acceleration to strengthen the UAE’s future
generations of human capital.

DarkMatter Group provides bespoke solutions for a selection of vital sectors including defense and
intelligence, civil government, financial services, transportation, energy, and telecommunications.

CONTACT:

Level 15, Aldar HQ, PO Box 27655

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
+971 2 417 1417
contactus@darkmatter.ae
darkmatter.ae

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20. https://ti.360.net/blog/articles/latest-tar-
get-attack-of-darkhydruns-group-against-
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threat-report

Copyright © 2019 DARKMATTER, L.L.C

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