Iran-linked threat actor UNC1549 has been identified as the perpetrator of a series of cyber attacks targeting aerospace, aviation, and defense industries across the Middle East, including Israel and the U.A.E. Mandiant’s analysis suggests that other potential targets of these espionage activities may include Turkey, India, and Albania. UNC1549’s operations have been ongoing since at least June 2022, utilizing tactics such as spear-phishing emails with job-related lures and fake websites to deliver custom backdoors like MINIBIKE and MINIBUS.
These attacks involve the use of Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure for command-and-control operations, indicating a sophisticated level of orchestration by the threat actor. The spear-phishing emails, often containing links to fake websites with Israel-Hamas related content or false job offers, serve as vehicles for deploying malicious payloads onto targeted systems. Additionally, UNC1549 employs bogus login pages mimicking major companies to harvest credentials, further enhancing their access to sensitive information within targeted networks.
Upon gaining access through the deployed backdoors, UNC1549 engages in intelligence collection activities, gathering data relevant to strategic Iranian interests. Mandiant warns that the tailored job-themed lures combined with the use of cloud infrastructure for command-and-control make it challenging for network defenders to prevent, detect, and mitigate these attacks effectively. Furthermore, the report highlights the potential for the collected intelligence to be leveraged for both espionage and kinetic operations, indicating the severity and strategic implications of UNC1549’s activities in the region.
