They are not anymore just after your information. Kaspersky Lab this week unveils that cyber-spying teams are now assaulting monetary organizations in Asia Pacific. From stealing, spying, and leaking military, state, and trade secrets, researchers of cyber security at Kaspersky Lab found that cybercriminals working in the area now plan for economic gain as they attack banks in countries of APAC. The worldwide cyber security firm claimed that active APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) groups have productively breached monetary organizations in South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, China (Hong Kong), and Vietnam.
“In 2017, we have observed the tectonic change in behavior of APT actors. These teams who are originally data-hungry are now going further than customary cyber espionage. They added stealing of money on their assault menu since they hunt for defenseless banks in the APAC (Asia Pacific) area that they can contaminate mostly via the lifting epidemic,” claims Head of Research Center at Russia for Kaspersky Lab’s GReAT (Global Research and Analysis Team), Yury Namestnikov, to the media in an interview. In 2017, Kaspersky Lab has been capable of monitoring active APT actors in the area, namely the infamous Cobaltgoblinother groups and Lazarus groups that use Carbanak-style assaults.
Lazarus is the cyber group thought to be behind huge breaches comparing the hack of Sony Pictures in 2014 and the multi-million cyber theft last year next to the Central Bank of Bangladesh. They are recognized for hacking C&C servers of governments and banks as launchpads for their nasty movements. In 2014, Carbanak made headlines for the USD 1 Billion bank robberies in Ukraine, Russia, China, and Germany named as “The Great Bank Robbery.” The group infected Word documents or violated networks of their victims via spear phishing emails using recognized vulnerabilities. With covert and remote access to the network, they achieved control of the ATMs or websites of the banks and gathered a noteworthy amount of cash.
The level of complexity in terms of the skilled manpower and tools of the hackers behind these gangs recommend that some of them are actors sponsored by state, as per sources familiar with the issue.