ESET specialists talk about Sandworm’s new information wiper, relentless campaigns by UnsolicitedBooker, attribution challenges amid tool-sharing, and different key findings from the newest APT Exercise Report
01 Jul 2025
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2 min. learn
Within the newest episode of the ESET Analysis Podcast, ESET Distinguished Researcher Aryeh Goretsky is joined by ESET Safety Consciousness Specialist Rene Holt to dissect the important thing findings from ESET’s APT Exercise Report.
The primary actor that steps into the limelight is UnsolicitedBooker, a China-aligned APT group that has demonstrated a stage of persistence that actually places the “P” in APT. This group focused the identical group thrice over a number of years, trying to deploy its signature backdoor, MarsSnake. This instance highlights the relentless focus of sure teams that may cease at nothing to realize their goals.
The dialog then shifts to the challenges of attribution, significantly with the growing development of tool-sharing, primarily amongst China-aligned actors corresponding to Worok. Their tactic is to muddy the waters through the use of overlapping toolsets sourced from digital quartermasters, intertwining their actions with these of different teams corresponding to LuckyMouse and TA428.
Turning to Russia-aligned actors, the dialogue focuses on teams like Sednit, Gamaredon, and Sandworm. Sednit’s newest exercise revolves round Operation RoundPress, which initially focused the favored webmail service Roundcube however has lately expanded to different platforms corresponding to Horde, MDaemon, and Zimbra. Sednit has been utilizing focused emails, exploiting flaws in these providers, and using cross-site scripting to assault protection corporations situated in Bulgaria and Ukraine.
Gamaredon stays probably the most lively APTs in Ukraine, always tweaking its obfuscation strategies to remain forward of detection. In the meantime, Sandworm has intensified its use of data-wiping malware, deploying a brand new wiper known as ZEROLOT a number of occasions up to now six months. This wiper operates with surgical precision, erasing particular recordsdata and directories with out instantly taking down all the system—an method that ensures the malware can full its damaging mission.
Aryeh and Rene additionally delve into the actions of North Korea-aligned and Iran-aligned teams. In the event you’re taken with extra particulars, make sure to take heed to this episode of the ESET Analysis Podcast or obtain the newest ESET APT Exercise Report.
Mentioned matters:
UnsolicitedBooker (MarsSnake) 1:45
Worok (and its digital quartermasters) 4:50
Sednit (Operation RoundCube) 9:55
Gamaredon 13:55
Sandworm (ZEROLOT wiper) 16:15
DeceptiveDevelopment (WeaselStore, ClickFix) 24:10
MuddyWater vs Lyceum 29:40
