A Linux variant of a backdoor known as SideWalk was used to target a Hong Kong university in February 2021, underscoring the cross-platform abilities of the implant.
Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET, which detected the malware in the university’s network, attributed the backdoor to a nation-state actor dubbed SparklingGoblin. The unnamed university is said to have been already targeted by the group in May 2020 during the student protests.
“The group continuously targeted this organization over a long period of time, successfully compromising multiple key servers, including a print server, an email server, and a server used to manage student schedules and course registrations,” ESET said in a report shared with The Hacker News.
SparklingGoblin is the name given to a Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) group with connections to the Winnti umbrella (aka APT41, Barium, Earth Baku, or Wicked Panda). It’s primarily known for its attacks targeting various entities in East and Southeast Asia at least since 2019, with a specific focus on the academic sector.
In August 2021, ESET unearthed a new piece of custom Windows malware codenamed SideWalk (aka ScrambleCross) that was exclusively leveraged by the actor to strike an unnamed computer retail company based in the U.S.
images from Hacker News
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