GhostEmperor, a new Chinese-speaking threat actor targets Southeast Asia

Kaspersky experts spotted a previously undocumented Chinese-speaking threat actor, tracked as GhostEmperor, that is targeting Microsoft Exchange flaws in attacks on high-profile victims.

Kaspersky spotted a new Chinese-speaking threat actor, tracked as GhostEmperor, that is targeting Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities in attacks aimed at high-profile victims.

The long-running operation carried out by the group mostly targeted entities in Southeast Asia, including several government entities and telecom companies.

GhostEmperor used a loading scheme that relies on a component of the Cheat Engine open-source project, which allows it to bypass the Windows Driver Signature Enforcement mechanism.

“The group stands out because it uses a formerly unknown Windows kernel-mode rootkit. Rootkits provide remote control access over the servers they target. Acting covertly, rootkits are notorious for hiding from investigators and security solutions. To bypass the Windows Driver Signature Enforcement mechanism, GhostEmperor uses a loading scheme involving a component of an open-source project named “Cheat Engine.”” reads the announcement published by Kaspersky “This advanced toolset is unique and Kaspersky researchers see no similarity to already known threat actors. Kaspersky experts have surmised that the toolset has been in use since at least July 2020.”

The cluster discovered by the experts also employed a sophisticated multi-stage malware framework aimed at providing remote control over the attacked servers.

Multiple threat actors targeted Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities this year, however, GhostEmperor operation has no overlap with other ones.

“GhostEmperor is a clear example of how cybercriminals look for new techniques to use and new vulnerabilities to exploit. Using a previously unknown, sophisticated rootkit, they brought new problems to the already well-established trend of attacks against Microsoft Exchange servers,” concludes Kaspersky.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, GhostEmperor)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.