Rewterz Threat Alert – Chinese APT “Operation LagTime IT” Targets Government Information Technology Agencies in Eastern Asia

Severity

High

Analysis Summary

A targeted APT campaign that utilized malicious RTF documents to deliver custom malware to unsuspecting victims. They dubbed this campaign “Operation LagTime IT” based on entities that were targeted and the distinctive domains registered to C&C IP infrastructure.

Initially identified email campaigns with malicious RTF document attachments targeting East Asian government agencies in March 2019. These campaigns originated from adversary-operated free email sender accounts at yahoo[.]co[.].jp and yahoo[.]com. Sender addresses often imitated common names found in the languages of targeted entities. Spear phishing emails included malicious .doc attachments that were actually RTF files saved with .doc file extensions.

The lures used in the subjects, attachment names, and attachment content in several cases utilized information technology themes specific to Asia such as governmental or public training documents relating to IT. On one specific occasion an email utilized the subject “ITU Asia-Pacific Online CoE Training Course on ‘Conformity & Interoperability in 5G’ for the Asia-Pacific Region, 15-26 April 2019” and the attachment name “190315_annex 1 online_course_agenda_coei_c&i.doc”. The conference referenced in the lure was an actual event likely selected due to its relevance to potential victims. This is significant as countries in the APAC region continue to adopt Chinese 5G technology in government as well as heavy equipment industries.

Impact

Exposure of sensitive information

Indicators of Compromise

Malware Hash (MD5/SHA1/SH256)

• 1bc93ef96134be9a5a7b5f5b747be796a9ff95bdc835d72541673565d1c165b8
• 1d492e549d2cbd296bc8e1368c8625df0c82c467c1b4addea7191e4a80bf074e
• 304115cef6cc7b81f4409178cd0bcea2b22fd68ca18dfd5432c623cbbb507154
• 3dbff4e82dd8ddf71f9228f68df702b8f4add47237f2aee76bd5537489ed2fa9
• 4c22eb33aa1d10511eaf8d13098e2687e44eaebc5af8112473e28acedac34bea
• 81898df69e28a084ea37b77b568ccde34afdf96122ab784f8a361f055281ed0f
• 93ac0ff3f01f8b8dfad069944d917e4b0798d42bc9ff97028e5a4ea8bda54dbc
• 93f56ec68e072ccba8102c71d005604763d064021795c7c8bb1cade05ddb6ff6
• 9a477b455a20a26875e5ff804151f9f6524131c32edf04366cfbaf9d41c83f2a
• ae3e335cc39c07bda70e26e89003e0d1b8eea2deda2b62a006517c959fc0a27a
• b541e0e29c34800a067b060d9ee18d8d35c75f056f4246b1ce9561a5441d5a0f
• b7cfea87d7de935e1f20e3c09ba4bd1154580682e75330876f21f241b33946f2
• cbf607725d128d93fed3b58cde78e1feb7db028a1ed1aa5c924e44faa1015913
• d0ccb9a277b986f7127199f122023c79a7e0253378a4a78806fbf55a87633532
• e9fa0a6223b0e4e60654dc629cd46174b064d5a0968732e6f05bc212a2cdf3f4
• eb0191d1b8e311d2716795e9fa7c0300c5199ebf3d8debff77993f23397d2fb5

Remediation

• Block all threat indicators at your respective controls.
• Always be suspicious about emails sent by unknown senders.
• Never click on the link/attachments sent by unknown senders.