Pakistan-based threat actors attacking IITs, Indian Army: Modus operandi, motive, and other details

Aim of these attacks? The threat group targets to deceive unsuspecting victims into divulging sensitive information through this sophisticated tactic.

According to the researchers, the group is using a malicious file titled “Revision of Officers posting policy” to lure the Indian Army into compromising their systems. The file is disguised as a legitimate document, but it contains embedded malware designed to exploit vulnerabilities.

The cybersecurity researchers also observed an alarming increase in the targeting of the education sector. According to it, Transparent Tribe has been targeting India’s prestigious educational institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and business schools since May 2022. These attacks intensified in the first quarter of 2023, reaching their peak in February, the team notes.

“The subdivision of the Transparent Tribe, known as SideCopy, has also been identified targeting an Indian defence Organisation. Their modus operandi involves testing a domain hosting malicious file, potentially to serve as a phishing page,” said the researchers.

The security team notes that the group dubbed as APT36 has cleverly utilised malicious PPAM files masquerading as “Officers posting policy revised final”. For those unaware, a PPAM file is an add-in file used by Microsoft PowerPoint. “These files exploit macro-enabled PowerPoint add-ons (PPAM) to conceal archive files as OLE objects, effectively camouflaging the presence of malware,” said the report.

In its report, Seqrite is recommending some preventive measures such as exercising caution while downloading files and opening email attachments from unsolicited or untrusted sources.

“Regularly update security software, operating systems, and applications to protect against known vulnerabilities. It is also important to implement robust email filtering and web security solutions to detect and block malicious content,” the team advised.

Updated: 26 Jun 2023, 11:46 AM IST