ESET Research discovered another supply-chain attack in Asia, this time on the website of the Vietnam Government Certification Authority (VGCA). The attackers modified two of the software installers available for download on this website by adding a backdoor in order to compromise users of the legitimate application. Supply-chain attacks appear to be a quite common compromise vector for cyberespionage groups. Cybercrime operation SignSight leverages malware known as PhantomNet or Smanager.
“In Vietnam, digital signatures are very common, as digitally signed documents have the same level of enforceability as wet signatures. In addition to issuing certificates, the VGCA develops and distributes a digital signature toolkit. It is used by the Vietnamese government, and probably by private companies, to sign digital documents. The compromise of a certification authority website is a good opportunity for APT groups, since visitors are likely to have a high level of trust in a state organization responsible for digital signatures,” explains Matthieu Faou, one of ESET’s researchers investigating the SignSight operation.
The PhantomNet backdoor is quite simple and is able to collect victim information (computer name, hostname, username, OS version, user privileges [admin or not], and the public IP address) as well as install, remove and update malicious plugins. These additional and more complex plugins are probably only deployed on a few selected machines. By also installing the legitimate program, the attackers make sure that this compromise won’t be easily noticed by end users.
ESET researchers uncovered this new supply-chain attack in early December 2020 and notified the compromised organization and the VNCERT. We believe that the website ceased delivering compromised software installers at the end of August 2020. The Vietnam Government Certification Authority confirmed that they were aware of the attack before our notification and that they notified the users who downloaded the trojanized software.
ESET has seen victims in the Philippines in addition to Vietnam.
For more technical details about operation SignSight, read the blog post “Operation SignSight: Supply- chain attack against a certification authority in Southeast Asia” on WeLiveSecurity. Make sure to follow ESET Research on Twitter for the latest news from ESET Research.
Sharp Electronics Of Canada Announces Eight New Letter-Sized A4 Printers And MFPs
Posted in Commentary with tags Sharp on December 17, 2020 by itnerdSharp Electronics of Canada has announced eight new models in its lineup of letter-sized A4 printers for office and home use. The range features compact designs that fit easily into any space, and out-of-the-box copy, print, scan and fax capabilities. These new models are designed with high-performance features typically found on larger machines, delivering the productivity, performance and reliability needed for busy work environments.
This new expansion of our A4 lineup is complementary to our solid, award winning A3 products and other document solutions we support and provides our channel partners and customers with a one-Sharp solution across their businesses and their home offices; our way of supporting the change in work from home trend.The new models include three monochrome multifunction printers (MFPs): MXB557F, MXB427W and MXB467F; three colour MFPs: MXC357F, MXC407F and MXC507F; and two monochrome Single Function Printers (SFPs): MXB427PW and MXB467P. With speeds ranging from 35-60 pages per minute, these products can integrate seamlessly into any existing office or home environment.
Users will benefit from a compact design with robust technology and advanced workflow features for virtually any sized office. These new products include easy connectivity to your popular public cloud services such as Box, Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox. Mobile printing is supported for Chromebooks and for iOS devices via AirPrint. Users can use MS Office Direct to print from USB drives, or send scanned files directly to USB. All of these can be easily navigated by a robust, intuitive and easy to use touch panel display.
Businesses are assessing their needs as they plan returns to their office spaces, but are also considering how to ensure employees have all they need for their offices at home. The new monochrome and colour MPFs from Sharp fit into any space or workflow, supporting our goal to provide Canadian companies with the tools right for them so employees can be productive no matter where they’re working.
All models will be available through authorized Sharp dealers in February 2021.
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