Internet Explorer was to blame for spate of recent cyberattacks

By Mayank Sharma
published

South Korean researchers unravel the work of North Korean threat actors utilising out-of-date Internet Explorer browser

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(Image credit: Pixabay)

In a major revelation, security researchers have discovered that a yet-unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft’s venerable Internet Explorer (IE) web browser was responsible for the spate of attacks against security researchers (opens in new tab) reported last month.

Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) last month disclosed that a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group employed various means, including creating elaborate fake personas to engage with the researchers, in their bid to break into their workstations (opens in new tab).

Now, according to reports, South Korean security firm ENKI has identified a previously undisclosed zero-day vulnerability in IE, which they claim has been exploited in these recent attacks.

Caught in the act

As part of the attack, the threat actors, masquerading as researchers, sent malicious Visual Studio Projects and links to websites that hosted exploit kits to install backdoors on the researcher's computers.

In a Korean language blog published yesterday, ENKI said (opens in new tab) that their researchers were also targeted by the group on the pretext of discussing a macOS exploit. While the attack failed, it gave the researchers a chance to analyze the files shared by the attackers in their bid to gain access to their computers. 

Their analysis led ENKI to believe that the attackers are piggybacking on an exploit for an IE zero-day vulnerability to deliver the malicious payload. ENKi then created a proof-of-concept for the exploit which has also reportedly been reproduced by other security researchers based on the details shared by ENKI.

According to the report, ENKI is in touch with Microsoft who’ve requested further details from the Korean company.

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Via: BleepingComputer (opens in new tab)

Mayank Sharma
Mayank Sharma

With almost two decades of writing and reporting on Linux, Mayank Sharma would like everyone to think he’s TechRadar Pro’s expert on the topic. Of course, he’s just as interested in other computing topics, particularly cybersecurity, cloud, containers, and coding.

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