McAfee Research Gives Rare Look Inside Command and Control of Nation-State Cyber Espionage Campaign

▤ Summary

McAfee Advanced Threat Research conducted a detailed analysis of code and data from a command-and-control server responsible for the management of the operations, tools and tradecraft behind this global cyber espionage campaign. The analysis led to identification of multiple previously unknown command-and-control centers, and suggest that Sharpshooter began as early as September 2017, targeted a broader set of organizations, in more industries and countries and is currently ongoing. “McAfee Advanced Threat Research analysis of the command-and-control server’s code and data provides greater insight into how the perpetrators behind Sharpshooter developed and configured control infrastructure; how they distributed the malware; and how they stealthily tested campaigns prior to launch,” said Raj Samani, McAfee Fellow and chief scientist. In December 2018, McAfee Advanced Threat Research first uncovered Operation Sharpshooter, a global cyber espionage campaign targeting more than 80 organizations across critical industries including the telecommunications, energy, government and defense sectors. This led McAfee Advanced Threat Research analysts to suspect that the actors behind Sharpshooter may have tested their implants and other techniques in this area of the world prior to launching their broader campaign of attacks.

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