FireEye uncovered APTs exploiting interest on Malaysian Flight MH370

Security experts at FireEye uncovered a cyber espionage campaign based on multiple MH370 themed spear phishing emails.

Security researchers at FireEye have revealed a link between a recent spear phishing campaign on Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 and the attacks conducted by some advanced persistent threat (APT) attackers. The mysterious skyjacking of the Boeing 777-200 aircraft of Malaysian Airlines, flight MH370, is considered one of the events that most of all has attracted the media attention, for this reason, hackers have exploited the story for illicit activities. It’s a common practice in the criminal ecosystem to take advantage of such kind of events, more in general of any public news with high interest. This time the scammers are exploiting the tragedy of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 to deceive unaware Internet users. Security experts have already discovered a series of malware-based attacks spread via Facebook which exploiting a social engineering tactic based on the flight MH370 case. In that case, a message was circulating on Facebook inviting users to click on a video which claims that missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has been found in the Bermuda Triangle with its passengers still alive, in reality, victims were redirected to a malicious website used by criminals to serve the malicious code. This week the experts at FireEye discovered that a group of Chinese-based hackers called “admin@338” had sent multiple MH370-themed spear phishing emails, the attackers targeted government officials in Asia-Pacific, it is likely for cyber espionage purpose.