Nivdort Trojan

A Trojan, detected as TrojanSpy: Win32/Nivdort.BU, has been reported to use carefully crafted social engineering techniques to lure users into downloading the payload, which then steals the users’ credentials and acts as a dropper for other malwares.

Threat ID:: CC-1932
Category:: Trojan
Threat Severity:: Medium
Threat Vector:
Published:: 11 January 2018 12:00 AM

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Summary

Affected platforms

The following platforms are known to be affected:

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows - All Versions

Threat details

Nivdort AKA “BAYROB”, also detected as: Trojan-FHSS!7F4EA7834FBC (McAfee) and Troj/Nivdor-E (Sophos), is initially delivered in the form of a malicious.zip attachment in an email appearing to be from WhatsApp, Facebook or Amazon. It is primarily a password stealing malware, however it has also been known to steal personal details related to online shopping, banking and other social networking websites.

Nivdort acts in three cycles – Upon execution, the malware de-obfuscates the packed content, encrypted strings, Windows registry and API. In the second cycle, the malware copies itself with the name as decrypted in the first cycle, and then creates a service entry. It then goes on to create an auto start registry entry named similar to ‘C:\fjepsyrdasl\lczpilclxcd.exe’. This is to make sure its copy will be executed upon rebooting. During this process, the malware also disables the infected user’s firewall notifications from the Windows Security Centre.

Finally, the malware collects information such as the computer name, IP address, software and hardware configurations. It can also exfiltrate a user’s login credentials and credit card data by recording the keystrokes. When the malware has gathered this information, it connects to compromised domains such as the ones outlined below.

Once connected to the C2 (Command and Control) domain(s), it also has the ability to receive further instructions from the attacker to carry out other malicious activities on the infected machine.

Remediation steps

Type	Step
	The first line of defence against new variants of ransomware is user awareness and safe working practices. To avoid becoming infected with Ransomware, ensure that: A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure, they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails All operating systems, antivirus and other security products are kept up to date All day to day computer activities such as checking email and browsing the web are performed using non- administrative accounts and that permissions are always assigned on the basis of least privilege Your organisation adopts a holistic all round approach to Cyber Security as advocated by the “10 Steps To Cyber Security” Identifying the source of infection: Identifying the infected machine and unplugging / disconnecting or quarantining it from the network is essential to damage limitation. Users should immediately report infections to their IT support provider, disconnect their network cable, and power the computer down. File auditing should be enabled and file server logs should be monitored to detect signs of unauthorised encryption and allow the source of encryption to be identified (i.e. the infected pc). To limit the damage of ransomware and enable recovery: All critical data must be backed up, and these backups must be sufficiently protected/kept out of reach of ransomware. Multiple backups should be created including at least one off-network backup (e.g. to tape). Recovery: Many of the ransomware variants use common, industry standard encryption algorithms, which makes decryption without the key impossible. The only guaranteed way to recover from a ransomware infection is to restore all affected files from their most recent backup.

Type

Step

The first line of defence against new variants of ransomware is user awareness and safe working practices.

To avoid becoming infected with Ransomware, ensure that:

A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure, they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails
All operating systems, antivirus and other security products are kept up to date
All day to day computer activities such as checking email and browsing the web are performed using non- administrative accounts and that permissions are always assigned on the basis of least privilege
Your organisation adopts a holistic all round approach to Cyber Security as advocated by the “10 Steps To Cyber Security”

*Identifying the source of infection: *

Identifying the infected machine and unplugging / disconnecting or quarantining it from the network is essential to damage limitation.
Users should immediately report infections to their IT support provider, disconnect their network cable, and power the computer down.
File auditing should be enabled and file server logs should be monitored to detect signs of unauthorised encryption and allow the source of encryption to be identified (i.e. the infected pc).

To limit the damage of ransomware and enable recovery:

All critical data must be backed up, and these backups must be sufficiently protected/kept out of reach of ransomware.
Multiple backups should be created including at least one off-network backup (e.g. to tape).

Recovery: Many of the ransomware variants use common, industry standard encryption algorithms, which makes decryption without the key impossible. The only guaranteed way to recover from a ransomware infection is to restore all affected files from their most recent backup.

Last edited: 17 February 2020 12:50 pm