Rewterz Threat Alert – SideWinder APT Group – Active IOCs

 March 17, 2023

Severity

High

Analysis Summary

The SideWinder APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) Group is a sophisticated cyber espionage group that has been active since at least 2012. The group is believed to be based in India and has targeted government agencies, military organizations, and financial institutions in South Asia and the Middle East.

The SideWinder APT group is known for using a range of sophisticated tactics and techniques to carry out its attacks. These include social engineering, spear-phishing, and the use of zero-day exploits to infiltrate target networks. Once inside a target network, the group uses custom malware and backdoors to gain persistent access and steal sensitive data.

Some of the most notable attacks attributed to the SideWinder APT group include the compromise of the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2013, the targeting of the Pakistani Air Force in 2015, and the compromise of a Ukrainian military website in 2018.

Given the group’s long history of successful attacks and the sophistication of its tactics, it is essential for organizations to remain vigilant and take proactive measures to protect their networks against SideWinder APT group attacks. This includes implementing robust cybersecurity measures, conducting regular security assessments, and providing ongoing training to employees to help them identify and prevent social engineering and phishing attacks.

Impact

• Information Theft and Espionage

Indicators of Compromise

MD5

• 5efddbdcf40ba01f1571140bad72dccb
• b7e63b7247be18cdfb36c1f3200c1dba

SHA-256

• a45258389a3c0d4615f3414472c390a0aabe77315663398ebdea270b59b82a5c
• 8af93bed967925b3e5a70d0ad90eae1f13bc6e362ae3dac705e984f8697aaaad

SHA-1

• 59f1d4657244353a156ef8899b817404fd7fedad
• 53a1b84d67b8be077f6d1dd244159262f7d1a0f9

URL

• https://cstc-spares-vip-163.dowmload.net/14668/1/1228/2/0/0/0/m/files-403a1120/file.rtf

Remediation

• Block all threat indicators at your respective controls.
• Search for Indicators of compromise (IOCs) in your environment utilizing your respective security controls
• Maintain cyber hygiene by updating your anti-virus software and implementing a patch management lifecycle.
• Maintain Offline Backups – In a ransomware attack, the adversary will often delete or encrypt backups if they have access to them. That’s why it’s important to keep offline (preferably off-site), encrypted backups of data and test them regularly.
• Emails from unknown senders should always be treated with caution.
• Never trust or open ” links and attachments received from unknown sources/senders.