VB2019 paper: A study of Machete cyber espionage operations in Latin America

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 10, 2019

Latin America has long been a hotbed for cybercrime, but the region has also seen the activity of various APT groups. One of these groups makes use of 'Machete', a Python-based toolset.

Machete dates back at least nine years and was first written about by Kaspersky in 2014. In August of this year, ESET published a paper on the group's recent targeting of Venezuelan government institutions.

For VB2019 in London, Veronica Valeros, Maria Rigaki, Kamila Babayeva and Sebastian García, researchers from the Stratosphere Lab at the Czech Technical University in Prague, co-wrote a paper on Machete. The paper contains a very in-depth analysis of the tool, looking at the full timespan during which it was developed.

The researchers noted the ability to exfiltrate data through USB devices, suggesting some of the actors using it may have had physical access to the targeted systems. They also looked at decoy documents used by the actors, which gives some insight into the targets.

Figure 2.jpgMachete operations are structured in five phases: delivery, installation, action on objectives, lateral movement and exfiltration.

Today, we have published the researchers' paper in both HTML and PDF format. We have also uploaded the video of the presentation, delivered by Veronica and Maria in London, to our YouTube channel.

VB2019-conference-paper.jpgA study of Machete cyber espionage operations in Latin America

Read the paper (HTML)

Download the paper (PDF)

 

 

 

twitter.png
fb.png
linkedin.png
hackernews.png
reddit.png

 

Latest posts:

VBSpam tests to be executed under the AMTSO framework

VB is excited to announce that, starting from the Q3 test, all VBSpam tests of email security products will be executed under the AMTSO framework.

In memoriam: Prof. Ross Anderson

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of Professor Ross Anderson a few days ago.

In memoriam: Dr Alan Solomon

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of industry pioneer Dr Alan Solomon earlier this week.

New paper: Nexus Android banking botnet – compromising C&C panels and dissecting mobile AppInjects

In a new paper, researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Bansal provide details of a security vulnerability in the Nexus Android botnet C&C panel that was exploited in order to gather threat intelligence, and present a model of mobile AppInjects.

New paper: Collector-stealer: a Russian origin credential and information extractor

In a new paper, F5 researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Chaturvedi present a 360 analysis of Collector-stealer, a Russian-origin credential and information extractor.

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.