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| Financial Gain, Disruption |
| Phishing, Social Engineering, Exploitation of Vulnerabilities |
Overview
Head Mare is an emerging and relatively obscure hacking group that has recently garnered attention for its high-profile cyberattacks against major Russian entities. Since its debut on X in December 2023, the group has swiftly gained notoriety for its aggressive ransomware campaigns and its ability to exploit weaknesses in critical infrastructure. Head Mare’s tactics and techniques reflect a sophisticated understanding of cyber operations, combining traditional ransomware strategies with innovative approaches to evade detection and maximize disruption. Their activities have impacted a range of sectors, including internet service providers, government agencies, and major corporations, underscoring their capacity for causing significant operational and financial damage.
The group’s most recent attack on CDEK, one of Russia’s largest delivery companies, highlights Head Mare’s strategic focus and operational capabilities. By encrypting CDEK’s servers and destroying backup copies of critical systems, Head Mare demonstrated not only technical prowess but also a calculated approach to imposing operational paralysis on high-value targets. The attack has led to widespread service disruptions and customer complaints, further emphasizing the group’s intent to inflict maximum disruption and financial harm. As Head Mare continues to execute attacks and claim responsibility for various cyber incidents, their evolving tactics and growing prominence signal a potential shift in the landscape of cyber threats.
Common targets
Russian entities
Attack Vectors
Phishing, Social Engineering, Exploitation of Vulnerabilities
How they operate
The group’s attack strategy begins with initial access, often through phishing or exploiting vulnerabilities in public-facing applications. Head Mare utilizes phishing tactics to deliver malicious payloads, tricking users into executing ransomware or other malicious software. In some cases, the group leverages known vulnerabilities in publicly accessible applications to gain unauthorized access. Once inside a target network, Head Mare employs execution techniques such as command-line interfaces or scripting languages to deploy their ransomware and carry out further malicious actions.
To maintain persistence within the compromised systems,
Head Mare uses techniques like modifying registry keys or startup folders, ensuring that their ransomware runs each time the system starts. They also create scheduled tasks to automate their presence, making it more difficult for victims to remove the malware. Privilege escalation is a critical step in their operations, with the group exploiting system vulnerabilities to gain higher levels of access and control.
Head Mare’s evasion techniques are notably sophisticated. They use obfuscation methods to hide their ransomware payloads from security software, often encrypting or disguising their malicious files. Masquerading tactics further aid in evading detection by presenting ransomware executables as legitimate software. To collect and exfiltrate valuable data, the group stages collected information for later encryption or theft, using command and control channels to facilitate data transfer and maintain control over compromised systems.
The impact of Head Mare’s operations is severe, as evidenced by their recent ransomware attacks. By encrypting files and demanding ransoms, the group causes significant operational disruption and financial damage to its victims. Their command and control methods involve using standard application protocols to communicate with their servers, ensuring that they can effectively manage and orchestrate their attacks.
MITRE Tactics and Techniques
1. Initial Access (TA0001):
Phishing (T1566): Sending phishing emails or messages to trick users into downloading and executing malicious payloads.
Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190): Exploiting vulnerabilities in publicly accessible applications to gain access.
2. Execution (TA0002):
Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059): Using command-line interfaces or scripting languages to execute malicious commands and scripts.
User Execution (T1203): Relying on users to execute trojanized software or malicious attachments that deploy the ransomware.
3. Persistence (TA0003):
Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder (T1547): Modifying registry keys or startup folders to ensure the ransomware executes on system startup.
Scheduled Task/Job (T1053): Creating scheduled tasks to maintain persistence on the infected system.
4. Privilege Escalation (TA0004):
Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068): Exploiting vulnerabilities to gain higher privileges on the compromised system.
5. Defense Evasion (TA0005):
Obfuscated Files or Information (T1027): Hiding or encrypting ransomware payloads to avoid detection by security software.
Masquerading (T1036): Disguising ransomware executables as legitimate software to evade detection.
6. Credential Access (TA0006):
Credential Dumping (T1003): Extracting credentials from the system to facilitate further access and movement within the network.
7. Discovery (TA0007):
Network Service Scanning (T1046): Scanning the network to identify other vulnerable systems or services that can be exploited.
8. Lateral Movement (TA0008):
Remote Desktop Protocol (T1076): Using remote desktop services to move laterally within the network and access additional systems.
9. Collection (TA0009):
Data Staged (T1074): Staging collected data for exfiltration or encryption.
10. Exfiltration (TA0010):
Exfiltration Over Command and Control Channel (T1041): Using command and control channels to exfiltrate data from compromised systems.
11. Command and Control (TA0011):
Application Layer Protocol (T1071): Using standard application protocols (e.g., HTTP, HTTPS) for communication with command and control servers.
12. Impact (TA0007):
Data Encryption for Impact (T1486): Encrypting files on the victim’s system to render them inaccessible and demand a ransom.
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