clydeiii/cybersecurity · Datasets at Hugging Face

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3.4 Backdoor Communication Protocol 0x00: Establishing Communication
3.5 Backdoor Communication Protocol 0x01: Execution of Client-Server Commands
3.6 Backdoor Command Reference
3.7 Backdoor Command Table
3.9 Backdoor Commands In Action
Summary
Safe Computing Habits
Appendix A - Other variant method of installation
Appendix B - Initial Handshake
Appendix C - Customize Character Decoding
Appendix D - Real-time Graphical Control
Appendix E - Domain Name List
Reference
CA ISBU-ISI WHITE PAPER: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF HYDRAQ
Introduction
In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate
infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.
... we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail
accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
This statement was taken from a Google blog post entitled "A new approach to China"[1], in which
Google declared its decision to stop censoring its search results in China.
Internet freedom vs cyber crime is a deep issue that crosses all boundaries; and the same brought
global debate about internet censorship and human rights [2].
This incident prompted authorities and world leaders to discuss and work on matters of cyber
crime; taking into consideration that cyber threats may affect national security [3].
The report
Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network
[4] as published last
year, highlights cyberwarfare as a major global concern.
Evidently, an increasing wealth of online information and resources will attract attackers. For highprofile threats such as Hydraq, it is important to understand the underlying attack technique and its
technical details.
This paper seeks to explore and discover the level of skill the attackers employed to successfully
deploy this highly sophisticated attack.
CA ISBU-ISI WHITE PAPER: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF HYDRAQ
Anatomy of an Attack
[Attacker]
Reconnaissance
Deploying attacks
Internet activity
IE 0-day Exploit Attack (CVE-2010-049)
[Target User]
Remote Shellcode APIs
shell32.SHGetSpecialFolderPathA
urlmon.URLDownloadToFileA
...kernel32.CreateFileA
...kernel32.GetFileSize
// decrypt downloaded file
...kernel32.CreateFileA
...kernel32.SetFilePointer
...kernel32.ReadFile
...kernel32.WriteFile
...kernel32.CloseHandle
...kernel32.CloseHandle
...kernel32.DeleteFileA
...kernel32.MultiByteToWideChar
// Execute Win32/Hydraq dropper
kernel32.CreateProcessInternalW
[Attacker]
Win32/Hydraq allows remote attacker gain control.
[Target User]
covert communication channel
transmission of sensitive information
CA ISBU-ISI WHITE PAPER: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF HYDRAQ
1. How Hackers Gain Access
1.1 Reconnaissance
Profiling the target is a basic principle of hacking. This refers to a reconnaissance phase where
the attacker evaluates and determine ways to launch a successful attack.
Reconnaissance with Whois, DNS and IP/Network could provide preliminary information about
the target organization
s infrastructure. In addition, a combination of social engineering and
physical (on-site) reconnaissance is also considered as a valuable source of information.
To learn more about the target, attackers performs passive and active scanning to understand
the target network topology, platforms, ports and services, vulnerabilities and security defenses.
The profiling also extends to people that have knowledge and access to the target organization
including employees, contractors, and visitors. Cyber reconnaissance is very useful in this case,
gathering detailed information through social networking sites and tracing digital footprints
through search engine results. Attackers could compromise the
circle of trust
of the target, including friends, family members and even internet browsing habits can be analyzed to successfully gain access.
1.2 0Day Hack Attack
Hydraq exploits the zero-day (0day) vulnerability in Internet Explorer, which is referred to as
CVE-2010-0249 [5] and MS10-002 [6].
In reconnaissance stage, Hydraq masterminds have been able to devise a plan for successful
hacking attack. Evidently, the authors found an opportunity to target Internet Explorer and evade
security detection through an unknown vulnerability.
Sophisticated social engineering tricks can then be deployed to entice target users to visit a
compromised web site.
1.3 MS10-002 (CVE-2010-049) Analysis
It is a common characteristic for attackers to obfuscate malicious JavaScript to conceal the
code
s real intentions and also avoid detection by security scanners [Listing 01].
CA ISBU-ISI WHITE PAPER: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF HYDRAQ
OBFUSCATED
DeOBFUSCATED
< Shellcode >
< Exploit Code >
[Listing 01 - Hydraq JavaScript (JS/Hydraq) distributed for targeted attack]
In general use, obfuscation is designed for code protection regardless of whether the intentions
are good or bad.
Hydraq

3.4 Backdoor Communication Protocol 0x00: Establishing Communication

3.5 Backdoor Communication Protocol 0x01: Execution of Client-Server Commands

3.6 Backdoor Command Reference

3.7 Backdoor Command Table

3.9 Backdoor Commands In Action

Summary

Safe Computing Habits

Appendix A - Other variant method of installation

Appendix B - Initial Handshake

Appendix C - Customize Character Decoding

Appendix D - Real-time Graphical Control

Appendix E - Domain Name List

Reference

CA ISBU-ISI WHITE PAPER: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF HYDRAQ

Introduction

In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate

infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.

... we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail

accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

This statement was taken from a Google blog post entitled "A new approach to China"[1], in which

Google declared its decision to stop censoring its search results in China.

Internet freedom vs cyber crime is a deep issue that crosses all boundaries; and the same brought

global debate about internet censorship and human rights [2].

This incident prompted authorities and world leaders to discuss and work on matters of cyber

crime; taking into consideration that cyber threats may affect national security [3].

The report

Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network

[4] as published last

year, highlights cyberwarfare as a major global concern.

Evidently, an increasing wealth of online information and resources will attract attackers. For highprofile threats such as Hydraq, it is important to understand the underlying attack technique and its

technical details.

This paper seeks to explore and discover the level of skill the attackers employed to successfully

deploy this highly sophisticated attack.

CA ISBU-ISI WHITE PAPER: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF HYDRAQ

Anatomy of an Attack

[Attacker]

Reconnaissance

Deploying attacks

Internet activity

IE 0-day Exploit Attack (CVE-2010-049)

[Target User]

Remote Shellcode APIs

shell32.SHGetSpecialFolderPathA

urlmon.URLDownloadToFileA

...kernel32.CreateFileA

...kernel32.GetFileSize

// decrypt downloaded file

...kernel32.CreateFileA

...kernel32.SetFilePointer

...kernel32.ReadFile

...kernel32.WriteFile

...kernel32.CloseHandle

...kernel32.DeleteFileA

...kernel32.MultiByteToWideChar

// Execute Win32/Hydraq dropper

kernel32.CreateProcessInternalW

[Attacker]

Win32/Hydraq allows remote attacker gain control.

[Target User]

covert communication channel

transmission of sensitive information

CA ISBU-ISI WHITE PAPER: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF HYDRAQ

1. How Hackers Gain Access

1.1 Reconnaissance

Profiling the target is a basic principle of hacking. This refers to a reconnaissance phase where

the attacker evaluates and determine ways to launch a successful attack.

Reconnaissance with Whois, DNS and IP/Network could provide preliminary information about

the target organization

s infrastructure. In addition, a combination of social engineering and

physical (on-site) reconnaissance is also considered as a valuable source of information.

To learn more about the target, attackers performs passive and active scanning to understand

the target network topology, platforms, ports and services, vulnerabilities and security defenses.

The profiling also extends to people that have knowledge and access to the target organization

including employees, contractors, and visitors. Cyber reconnaissance is very useful in this case,

gathering detailed information through social networking sites and tracing digital footprints

through search engine results. Attackers could compromise the

circle of trust

of the target, including friends, family members and even internet browsing habits can be analyzed to successfully gain access.

1.2 0Day Hack Attack

Hydraq exploits the zero-day (0day) vulnerability in Internet Explorer, which is referred to as

CVE-2010-0249 [5] and MS10-002 [6].

In reconnaissance stage, Hydraq masterminds have been able to devise a plan for successful

hacking attack. Evidently, the authors found an opportunity to target Internet Explorer and evade

security detection through an unknown vulnerability.

Sophisticated social engineering tricks can then be deployed to entice target users to visit a

compromised web site.

1.3 MS10-002 (CVE-2010-049) Analysis

It is a common characteristic for attackers to obfuscate malicious JavaScript to conceal the

code

s real intentions and also avoid detection by security scanners [Listing 01].

CA ISBU-ISI WHITE PAPER: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF HYDRAQ

OBFUSCATED

DeOBFUSCATED

< Shellcode >

< Exploit Code >

[Listing 01 - Hydraq JavaScript (JS/Hydraq) distributed for targeted attack]

In general use, obfuscation is designed for code protection regardless of whether the intentions

are good or bad.

Hydraq