Italian Businesses Hit by Weaponized USBs Spreading Cryptojacking Malware
Jan 31, 2024
Cryptocurrency / Cybersecurity
A financially motivated threat actor known as UNC4990 is leveraging weaponized USB devices as an initial infection vector to target organizations in Italy. Google-owned Mandiant said the attacks single out multiple industries, including health, transportation, construction, and logistics. "UNC4990 operations generally involve widespread USB infection followed by the deployment of the EMPTYSPACE downloader," the company said in a Tuesday report. "During these operations, the cluster relies on third-party websites such as GitHub, Vimeo, and Ars Technica to host encoded additional stages, which it downloads and decodes via PowerShell early in the execution chain." UNC4990, active since late 2020, is assessed to be operating out of Italy based on the extensive use of Italian infrastructure for command-and-control (C2) purposes. It's currently not known if UNC4990 functions only as an initial access facilitator for other actors. The end goal of the threat ...
