10-Year-Old ‘RUBYCARP’ Romanian Hacker Group Surfaces with Botnet

10-Year-Old 'RUBYCARP' Romanian Hacker Group Surfaces with Botnet

April 9, 2024 at 10:45AM

RUBYCARP, a suspected Romanian threat group, has been running a botnet for over 10 years, using it for crypto mining, DDoS, and phishing. The group utilizes various public exploits and brute-force attacks, communicates through IRC networks, and employs a malware called ShellBot. Their activities include exploiting security flaws, creating a large botnet, and engaging in cybercrime.

Certainly! Here are the key takeaways from the meeting notes:

– A threat group known as RUBYCARP, suspected to be of Romanian origin, has been observed maintaining a long-running botnet for carrying out crypto mining, DDoS, and phishing attacks.
– The group has been active for at least 10 years and employs the botnet for financial gain, primarily using public exploits and brute-force attacks to deploy the botnet.
– RUBYCARP may have crossover with another threat cluster tracked by Alphatechs under the moniker Outlaw, which has a history of conducting crypto mining and brute-force attacks and has pivoted to phishing and spear-phishing campaigns.
– RUBYCARP’s tradecraft includes the use of malware called ShellBot and exploiting security flaws in the Laravel Framework. They have also been observed compromising WordPress sites using commonly used usernames and passwords.
– The botnet is estimated to comprise over 600 hosts and heavily relies on IRC for general communications and coordinating crypto mining campaigns. The members of the group communicate via an Undernet IRC channel called #cristi and use a mass scanner tool to find new potential hosts.
– RUBYCARP is involved in diverse illicit income streams such as crypto mining and phishing operations, including stealing credit card numbers, which could be monetized through the cyber crime underground. Additionally, they are also involved in the development and sale of cyber weapons.

Let me know if you need any further information or if there’s anything else I can assist you with!

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