Cyber-Espionage Group That Targeted Palestinian Law Enforcement Last Year Returns With New Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Catalin Cimpanu, writing for BleepingComputer: A cyber-espionage group that has targeted Palestinian law enforcement last year is now back in action targeting Palestinian government officials. These recent attacks started in March 2018, according to evidence surfaced by Israel-based cyber-security firm Check Point. The new attacks seem to fit the same modus operandi of a group detailed in two reports from Cisco Talos and Palo Alto Networks last year.

Those reports detailed a spear-phishing campaign aimed at Palestinian law enforcement. The malicious emails tried to infect victims with the Micropsia infostealer, a Delphi-based malware that contained many strings referencing characters from the Big Bang Theory and Game Of Thrones TV shows. Now, the same group appears to be back, and the only thing they've changed is the malware, which is now coded in C++. The TV shows references are still there, this time with mentions to the Big Bang Theory, but also a Turkish TV series named "Resurrection: Ertugrul."

Comments

Not subtle enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like the Israelis are false flagging again.

Re:Not subtle enough

[Nidi62]

I'll support the side that doesn't give 400 million annually to the families of suicide bombers.

So instead you choose to support the side that shoots at protesters with live ammunition, shoots kids throwing rocks at armored vehicles (or not doing anything at all), tears down buildings and whole communities for not having the proper permits (which it always refuses to give), controls water and electricity access, destroys the whole house if a family member commits a "terrorist" act, sentences soldiers who get caught on camera killing wounded and defenseless Palestinians to 9 months in jail, and runs a complete economic blockade.

Re: Not subtle enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't you think the oxymoron "Religion of Peace" has given the world enough reasons to be disgusted with it?

Reasons like 9/11, London's 7/7, Manchester, London and Westminster bridge car ramming, Bastille Day truck jihad in Nice France, Paris' Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan massacres, Boston Marathon bombing, Pulse nightclub in Orlando massacre, San Bernardino shooting, 1972 Olympics attack, Pan Am 103 bombing, assassination 50 years ago of US Senator Robert F Kennedy, Manhattan bike path attack, Moscow subway attack, Beslan elementary school massacre, thwarted sneaker and underwear bombing of passenger planes, Sadaams use of poison gas (his "non-existant" WMD) on Halabja Iraq, Mumbai India massacre, Nairobi mall massacre, Bali beach attack, DC Beltway snipers, Fort Hood attack, thwarted Garland Texas Art attack, Ottawa attack, Copenhagen attack, Sydney attack, Syrian civil war where 500,000 have died, the 8 year Iran/Fascist Iran war where 1,000,000 died, Brussels airport bombing, beheading of Lee Rigby and journalist Daniel Pearl, murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, death threats on writer Salman Rushdie and Danish cartoonists, executions of gays in Fascist Iran and Hamasstan, stoning girls to death over "family honour" slights, Rotherham rape gangs, destruction of antiquities in Palmyra, destruction of two 1,500 year old Buddas in Bamiyan, ....

Not extensive at all. Probably "strings". Standard

[raymorris]

Simply running "strings" on the executable would probably be sufficient, as it would include names of C++ libraries.

It would also either require or include the C++ standard library.

So what does "Palestinian Law Enforcement" do??

[SuperKendall]

I'm curious what on earth a "Palestinian Law Enforcement" group does, do they make sure the fire bombs terrorists sail on kites over to Israel have the correct amount of fire starting material or what?

Or maybe they go around to homes making sure the kids are all watching the appropriate amount of cartoons showing jewish people are working with the devil so they are groomed to carry out suicide attacks...

Because it sure doesn't seem like there is any law in Palestine.

Re:So what does "Palestinian Law Enforcement" do??

[Anonymous Coward]

The obvious answer is to remove the the will and ability of the side that constantly tries to kill the other side constantly. I bet Israel wouldn't give a damn about "Palestinians" if there were not daily bombings, stabbings and rocket launches.

It's not discrimination when the destruction of one side is built into the bad side's charter. Go wiki Hamas charter. Go look at Israel's constitution.

Re:C++???

[Gravis Zero]

How exactly would they be able to tell it was coded in C++?

a) strings (especially compiler string)
b) vtables (they can be generated slightly differently between compilers/languages)
c) linked to C++ libraries
d) every compiler generates code in a slightly different way, so they could probably tell you the exact version of the compiler and the arguments used if they had to (and the compiler string was removed).

It's really not very complicated to figure out which language a program is written in.

That, sir, was my point

[SuperKendall]

Or maybe their police do exactly what police do in any other country.

Are you saying the police in ANY other country would sit idly by while masses of "protesters" armed with AK-47's, sent kites loaded with firebombs into the sky with the sole purpose off burning property and hopefully killing a few people?

I doubt that is true, at all, so I'd say my question stands stronger than ever before. They aren't upholding even the most basic of laws (i.e. randomly setting fire to properties) so what DO they do?

Maybe try to get Israel to stop continually annexing land

There are plenty of property disputes in civilized countries not settled by burning the innocent are targeting hospitals with rockets. Which again, these "police" are apparently cool with. Makes me wonder what OTHER "fun" things you could do in Palestine that police in other countries would arrest you for.

Which all leads me to wonder why on earth you support a group of people as inherently despicable as modern day Palestinians.