This week, Infoblox Inc. announced the release of its threat report blog on a remote access Trojan (RAT) toolkit with DNS command and control, which is being used for remote access and data theft. Infoblox provides a cloud-enabled networking and security platform capable of improving performance and protection.
In the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia, an anomalous DNS signature had been observed in enterprise networks that were created through the use of the toolkit. Across a wide range of sectors such as technology, healthcare, energy, financial services, and others, these trends were seen. The communications with the Russian controller can be traced to some of these communications.
A malware program is a software application that infiltrates your computer with the intent of committing malicious acts. Viruses, worms, ransomware, spyware, Trojan horses, Trojan horses, spyware, and keylogging programs, all of which can be classified as malware. There are alarming challenges network and security professionals face daily in the face of malware that is becoming more sophisticated and capable of circumventing traditional defenses.
By leveraging DNS infrastructure and threat intelligence, Infoblox's Malware Containment and Control solution can help organizations reduce malware risk by employing the most effective mitigation methods. Additionally, it enables leading security technologies to use contextual threat data, indicators of compromise, and other context-sensitive information to automate and accelerate the threat response process.
Informationblox's Threat Intelligence Group discovered a new toolkit known as "Decoy Dog" that was branded as an attack toolkit. To disrupt this activity, the company collaborates with other security vendors, customers, and government agencies to work together.
Furthermore, it identifies the attack vector and even secures networks across the globe. A crucial insight is that DNS anomalies that are measured over time proved to be important in detecting and analyzing the RAT, but also enabling the C2 communications to be tracked together despite appearing to be independent on the surface.
Analyzing threats, identifying them, and mitigating them:
During the first and second quarters of 2023, Infoblox discovered activity in multiple enterprise networks caused by the remote access Trojan (RAT) Puppy being active in multiple enterprise networks. C2 communication has not been found since April 2022, indicating that this was a one-way communication.
An indicator of the presence of a RAT can be uncovered by investigating its DNS footprint.
It does, however, show some strong outlier behavior when analyzed using a global cloud-based DNS protection system such as Infoblox's BloxOne® Threat Defense, when compared to traditional DNS protection systems. The integration of heterogeneous domains within Infoblox was also made possible by this technology.
Communication between two C2 systems takes place over DNS and is supported by an open-source RAT known as Puppy. The project is an open-source project but it has always been associated with actors that are acting on behalf of nations despite its open nature.
The risks associated with a vulnerable DNS can be mitigated by organizations with a protective DNS. There is no need to worry about these suspicious domains because BloxOne Threat Defense protects customers against them.
In the detection of the RAT, anomalous DNS traffic has been detected on limited networks and devices on the network, like firewalls, but not on devices used by users, like laptops and mobile devices.
Malware uses DNS to connect to its command and control (C&C) servers to communicate with them. As a result of its ability to contain and control malware, DNS is ideally suited for the task. Infoblox, for example, should focus on DNS as the point of attack from where malware can be injected to contain and control malware.
It is imperative to highlight that malware prevention solutions are becoming more and more adept at sharing threat data with the broader security ecosystem. This is thanks to APIs, Syslog, and SNMP communication protocols.
