October 26, 2023 at 10:06AM
Scattered Spider, a prolific threat actor, is impersonating new employees in targeted firms to infiltrate organizations worldwide. Microsoft describes the group, also known as Octo Tempest, as a dangerous financial criminal group that utilizes SMS phishing, SIM swapping, and help desk fraud to carry out their attacks. Their tactics include social engineering, purchasing credentials, and calling individuals directly. Initially targeting mobile telecommunication providers, they have expanded their focus to include various sectors and have become an affiliate of the BlackCat ransomware gang. Their objectives range from cryptocurrency theft to data exfiltration for extortion and ransomware deployment. Microsoft warns that they resort to fear-mongering tactics and physical threats to coerce victims into sharing credentials. Octo Tempest has extensive technical expertise, employing a wide range of tools and tactics, including compromising VMware ESXi infrastructure.
Key Takeaways from Meeting Notes:
1. Scattered Spider, a prolific threat actor, is impersonating newly hired employees to infiltrate organizations worldwide.
2. Microsoft describes Scattered Spider as one of the most dangerous financial criminal groups, citing their operational fluidity and use of SMS phishing, SIM swapping, and help desk fraud in their attacks.
3. Octo Tempest is a financially motivated collective of threat actors known for launching wide-ranging campaigns using AiTM techniques, social engineering, and SIM swapping.
4. Octo Tempest targets support and help desk personnel through social engineering attacks to gain initial access to privileged accounts.
5. They also purchase employee credentials and session tokens on the criminal underground market or use direct communication to install malicious tools or extract authentication information.
6. Initial attacks by Octo Tempest focused on mobile telecommunications and BPO organizations, but they have since diversified to target various sectors, including email and tech service providers, hospitality, retail, MSPs, manufacturing, technology, and finance.
7. Octo Tempest has become an affiliate for the BlackCat ransomware gang to extort victims.
8. The group’s goals vary between cryptocurrency theft and data exfiltration for extortion and ransomware deployment.
9. Octo Tempest has resorted to fear-mongering tactics, such as threatening specific individuals through phone calls and texts using personal information.
10. Once they establish a foothold, Octo Tempest carries out reconnaissance and privilege escalation within the compromised environment.
11. They compromise security personnel accounts to impair security products and tamper with security staff mailbox rules.
12. Octo Tempest demonstrates extensive technical expertise and the ability to navigate complex hybrid environments.
13. One unique technique they use is compromising VMware ESXi infrastructure and launching Python scripts against virtual machines.
Please note that this summary is based on the provided meeting notes and may not capture every detail or context.