Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Ask Fitis, the Bear: Real Crooks Sign Their Malware

Summary: Krebs on Security traces the hacker 'Megatraffer' to Konstantin Evgenievich Fetisov of Moscow, a veteran Russian cybercriminal who has sold stolen and ill-gotten code-signing certificates since 2015 on forums including Exploit, charging $700 for unique certs and $1,900 for extended validation certs. Leaked Conti ransomware chat logs show Megatraffer working with the gang to code-sign its malware between July and October 2020, and Intel 471 places the actor on more than a half-dozen crime forums from September 2009 to the present.

Bottom line: Code-signing certificates are the trust signal antivirus products and browsers lean on, and one actor has supplied them to malware operators and a major ransomware gang for years at $700 to $1,900 a piece - so a valid signature is not evidence of a trustworthy publisher.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Data Breaches
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