Cloudflare has raised alarms about an advanced threat actor known as SloppyLemming, which is linked to India and actively targeting South and East Asian entities for espionage and credential harvesting. According to Cloudflare’s analysis, SloppyLemming has been operational since at least July 2021, utilizing multiple cloud service providers, including Cloudflare Workers, as part of a sophisticated attack infrastructure. The group’s activities, particularly from late 2022 to the present, focus on government, law enforcement, energy, education, telecommunications, and technology sectors in countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, and Indonesia.
The tactics employed by SloppyLemming revolve around spear-phishing attacks designed to create a sense of urgency among recipients. Victims receive emails that prompt them to click on malicious links, which direct them to credential harvesting pages. Once victims enter their information, the attackers gain unauthorized access to sensitive email accounts. A custom-built tool named CloudPhish is employed to manage the credential logging and exfiltration processes, showcasing the group’s technical capabilities and intent to compromise valuable information.
Moreover, SloppyLemming’s methods also include leveraging malware delivery techniques that mirror the tactics of other known threat actors, such as SideCopy. This includes the use of booby-trapped RAR archives that exploit vulnerabilities in software like WinRAR to achieve remote code execution. The group has also been known to redirect targets to fake websites, such as those impersonating the Punjab Information Technology Board in Pakistan, to facilitate the download of malicious executables that further the attackers’ objectives.
Cloudflare’s analysis indicates that SloppyLemming has shown a particular interest in infiltrating law enforcement agencies, including police departments in Pakistan, and has attempted to breach systems related to the country’s nuclear power facility. The group’s credential harvesting activities extend to Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi military and governmental organizations, as well as entities in the academic and energy sectors in China. As the cyber threat landscape continues to evolve, organizations within these regions are strongly advised to enhance their cybersecurity measures to protect against such sophisticated and targeted attacks.
