National Security Agency, NCSC Publish Advisory on Russian Government-Associated Threat

October 30, 2019

The US’s National Security Agency (NSA) and UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory detailing the activities of the Russian government-associated advanced persistent threat (APT) Turla group, also known as Uroburos, Waterbug, or VENOMOUS BEAR.

According to the New Jersey Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC), the advisory provides an update to previous NCSC reports of the group’s use of Iranian APT tools, such as Neuron and Nautilus, in their cyber operations against military establishments, government departments, universities, and scientific organizations, mainly in the Middle East.

Since November 2017, the NCSC has identified a new version of the Neuron malware. The new version has been modified to evade previous detection methods, says the NCSC. "Neuron operates on Microsoft Windows platforms, primarily targeting mail servers and web servers. The NCSC has observed this tool being used by the Turla group to maintain persistent network access and to conduct network operations. The compile times contained within these new binaries show that the actor implemented the required modifications to Neuron approximately five days after public releases by the NCSC and other vendors."

With the advent of Internet of Things (IoT) technology and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the cyber security practices are increasingly getting integrated with the physical security practices.

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