The Russia-linked threat actor known as COLDRIVER, operating under the alias Star Blizzard, continues to escalate its cyber operations with a focus on credential theft and improving evasion tactics. Tracked by the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team, COLDRIVER has been actively targeting entities of strategic importance to Russia, including those involved in international affairs, defense, and logistics support to Ukraine. The threat actor has a history dating back to at least 2017 and is known for setting up domains that mimic the login pages of targeted organizations. In its recent activities, COLDRIVER has adopted several evasive techniques, such as the use of server-side scripts to thwart automated scanning of its infrastructure. The group has shifted away from hCaptcha, employing server-side JavaScript code to check for browser plugins and automation tools, allowing it to redirect the browsing session to an Evilginx server.
Additionally, COLDRIVER has employed email marketing services like HubSpot and MailerLite to initiate campaigns, serving as the starting point for a redirection chain leading to the credential harvesting page hosted on the Evilginx server. The threat actor has further utilized a domain name service (DNS) provider to obscure the IP addresses of its actor-controlled infrastructure. COLDRIVER has been sending password-protected PDF lures to evade email security measures and has hosted files on Proton Drive. Notably, the group has upgraded its domain generation algorithm (DGA) to include a more randomized list of words when naming domains, indicating its efforts to stay ahead of detection mechanisms.
Despite these changes, COLDRIVER’s primary focus remains on email credential theft, primarily targeting cloud-based email providers hosting both organizational and personal email accounts. The Microsoft Threat Intelligence team’s observations provide insights into the evolving tactics and techniques employed by this threat actor, emphasizing the importance of vigilance and enhanced cybersecurity measures to counter such advanced adversaries.
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