Energetic Bear APT Server Attacks

The Russia-based advanced persistent threat group Energetic Bear (also known as Crouching Yeti, Berserk Bear, Dragonfly or Havex) are involved in an ongoing campaign throughout Europe, Turkey and the USA.

Threat ID:: CC-2331
Category:
Threat Severity:: Medium
Threat Vector:
Published:: 2 May 2018 12:00 AM

Report a cyber attack: call 0300 303 5222 or email [email protected]

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Summary

Affected platforms

The following platforms are known to be affected:

Linux

Windows and Linux-based Servers

Threat details

The group have been operating since 2010 and primarily target governmental, engineering and industrial organisations.

Energetic Bear's goal appears to be the collection of Network LAN Manager (NTLM) credentials via SMB; with the first confirmed attacks reported in March 2017, although it is possible the campaign began before this date.

Targeted devices are initially compromised using the Goodor backdoor delivered via spear-phishing emails or watering hole attacks using previously compromised servers. Inveigh spoofed PowerShell scripts are then run to harvest NTLM hashes sent to the compromised device. The group can then crack these hashes to obtain network credentials.

Once Energetic Bear have access to the target network they will enumerate any drives they have write permissions to and place link files (.lnk). Any host that views these links will attempt to load a file from the compromised server, sending their NTLM hash in the process, which is then harvested.

For further information please see the NCSC advisory here.

Remediation advice

To prevent and detect infection, ensure that:

Remediation steps

Type	Step
	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, anti-virus and other security products are kept up-to-date. All day-to-day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts. Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged. Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity. User accounts accessed from affected devices should be reset on a clean computer. Your organisation adopts a holistic all-round approach to Cyber Security as advocated by the 10 Steps to Cyber Security.

Type

Step

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, anti-virus and other security products are kept up-to-date.
All day-to-day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts.
Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged.
Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity.
User accounts accessed from affected devices should be reset on a clean computer.
Your organisation adopts a holistic all-round approach to Cyber Security as advocated by the 10 Steps to Cyber Security.

Last edited: 17 February 2020 12:42 pm