Pawn Storm, identified as APT28, has maintained its status as a formidable advanced persistent threat, targeting high-value entities worldwide since at least 2004. Despite relying on seemingly outdated methods like decade-old phishing campaigns, the group continues to compromise thousands of email accounts. Trend Micro researchers Feike Hacquebord and Fernando Merces have published an advisory highlighting the group’s recent engagement in Net-NTLMv2 hash relay attacks, focusing on government, defense, and military networks globally.
Between April 2022 and November 2023, Pawn Storm intensified its efforts, particularly in launching NTLMv2 hash relay attacks, with government departments related to foreign affairs, energy, defense, and transportation being primary targets. The group’s activities spanned across continents, demonstrating a global reach and persistence in infiltrating various sectors. To facilitate lateral movement within victim networks, Pawn Storm modified folder permissions in compromised mailboxes, showcasing its adaptability and determination.
Despite efforts to enhance operational security over the years, Pawn Storm has remained agile, gradually evolving its tactics to evade detection. The group has increasingly utilized anonymization layers such as VPN services, Tor, compromised EdgeOS routers, and URL shorteners to obfuscate its activities. Furthermore, exploiting critical vulnerabilities like CVE-2023-23397 allowed Pawn Storm to conduct hash relay attacks on Outlook users, demonstrating their ability to capitalize on software vulnerabilities for malicious purposes.
In light of Pawn Storm’s persistent and adaptive tactics, network defenders are urged to remain vigilant and leverage indicators of compromise provided in the Trend Micro advisory to bolster their security measures. The group’s aggressive and sophisticated methods, coupled with their extensive two-decade history, underscore the ongoing challenge posed by advanced persistent threats in the cybersecurity landscape. It emphasizes the critical importance of proactive defense strategies and ongoing collaboration among security professionals to mitigate the risks posed by groups like Pawn Storm.
