MuddyWater, an Iranian threat actor, continues its cyber campaign with the adoption of a new command-and-control (C2) tool called DarkBeatC2. Despite occasional tool changes, MuddyWater’s tactics remain consistent, emphasizing persistence and spear-phishing attacks since at least 2017. DarkBeatC2’s utilization in recent assaults underscores MuddyWater’s evolving strategies, employing methods like PowerShell code and DLL side-loading to establish C2 connections.
Linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), MuddyWater’s activities have also shown ties to other Iranian threat clusters, including Storm-1084, implicated in destructive wiper attacks against Israeli entities. Spear-phishing emails, often containing links or attachments hosted on services like Egnyte, serve as the entry point for deploying DarkBeatC2, with compromised educational institutions like Kinneret.ac.il implicated in recent supply chain attacks.
The interconnected nature of these attacks suggests potential collaboration between Iran’s MOIS and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to target Israeli organizations. DarkBeatC2, alongside other C2 frameworks used by MuddyWater, highlights the group’s reliance on PowerShell and persistent efforts to infiltrate and control compromised systems. As cybersecurity experts uncover and analyze these tactics, vigilance and proactive defense measures are critical in mitigating the impact of MuddyWater’s ongoing cyber campaigns.
