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Financial organizations have always been a juicy target for nation-backed adversaries since they are constantly seeking additional profit streams. Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) targeting the financial sector can have devastating consequences, as they aim to compromise financial institutions, steal sensitive data, and disrupt financial systems. APTs run sustained and methodical campaigns that can span months or even years. They employ advanced tactics to avoid detection, using techniques such as zero-day exploits, and encryption to cloak their activities.
It’s important to note that the threat landscape is constantly evolving, and new APT groups may emerge while existing ones adapt their tactics. Financial institutions need to maintain robust cybersecurity measures, including threat detection, employee training, and incident response plans, to defend against these APTs effectively. Additionally, sharing threat intelligence within the financial sector and with law enforcement agencies can help in the early detection and mitigation of APT attacks.
Backed by collective cybersecurity expertise, SOC Prime Platform offers advanced threat detection & hunting tools helping to proactively defend against APT attacks against financial institutions.
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APTs in this sector are typically sophisticated and well-funded, making them particularly dangerous. These cyber espionage groups include nation-states, state-sponsored groups, and advanced cybercriminal organizations. Let’s delve deeper into some of the most dangerous APTs targeting the finance industry and explore the list of relevant detection content that addresses adversary techniques used by the corresponding threat actors.
FIN7 (Carbanak Group)
FIN7, also known as Carbanak, among other names, is described as one of the most successful criminal hacking groups in the world. The hacker group is said to have stolen over 900 million dollars from the banks as well as from over a thousand private customers.
FIN7 typically initiated its cyber attacks by delivering a “phishing” email to a company employee. Each email included an attached file, often an innocuous-appearing Microsoft Word document, with embedded malware. The text within the email simulated a legitimate business-related message in order to lead the recipient employee to open the attachment and activate the malware that would infect the computer.
The criminals were able to manipulate their access to the respective banking networks to steal money in a variety of ways. In some instances, ATMs were instructed to dispense cash without having to locally interact with the terminal. Money mules would collect the money and transfer it over the SWIFT network to the criminals’ accounts.
Detect TTPs by FIN7 aka Carbanak Group
APT19 aka Deep Panda
APT19, also known as Deep Panda, is a state-sponsored threat group believed to be based in China. This hacking group has been active since at least 2011 and is infamous for its targeted attacks on various sectors, with a strong focus on the financial industry. In 2017, a phishing campaign was used to target seven law and investment firms. This campaign was associated with APT19, which used three different techniques to attempt to compromise targets:
- In early May, the phishing lures leveraged RTF attachments that exploited the Microsoft Windows vulnerability described as CVE-2017-0199.
- Toward the end of May, this hacking group switched to using macro-enabled Microsoft Excel (XLSM) documents.
- In the most recent versions, APT19 added an application whitelisting bypass to the XLSM documents. At least one observed phishing lure delivered a Cobalt Strike payload.
The primary objectives of Deep Panda include data theft and gaining a competitive advantage through economic espionage.
Detect TTPs by APT19 aka Deep Panda
Lazarus Group
The Lazarus Group is a team of hackers believed to be linked to North Korea that has been attributed to the Reconnaissance General Bureau. Here’s how they’ve been working against banks. The malware used by Lazarus Group correlates to other reported campaigns, including Operation Flame, Operation 1Mission, Operation Troy, DarkSeoul, and Ten Days of Rain.
The Lazarus Group is considered dangerous for the banking industry for several reasons:
- They employ sophisticated methods and tools to infiltrate banking systems, often remaining undetected for extended periods.
- Unlike other cyber-espionage groups that might be more focused on gathering intelligence, the Lazarus Group has a strong financial motivation. They have been linked to several high-profile bank heists, attempting to transfer large sums of money, showcasing their global reach and understanding of different banking systems.
- Once they infiltrate a system, they often remain inside for a long time, studying the environment, understanding the workflows, and planning their heist meticulously.
- Their operations have resulted in the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars from banks. Such losses can be devastating, especially for smaller financial institutions.
Detect TTPs by the Lazarus Group
Cobalt Group
Among the many threats faced by financial organizations, one group stands out for its sophistication and persistence: the Cobalt Advanced Persistent Threat (APT). This well-organized and persistent group has been active for over a decade, continually evolving its tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
Cobalt APT primarily targets financial institutions, posing a significant risk to banks, insurance companies, and investment firms worldwide. The group has conducted intrusions to steal money by targeting ATM systems, card processing, payment systems, and SWIFT systems.
Cobalt Group has mainly targeted banks in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. One of the alleged leaders was arrested in Spain in early 2018, but the group still appears to be active. Cobalt has been known to target organizations in order to use their access to then compromise additional victims.
What makes Cobalt APT so dangerous is its ability to execute highly coordinated and multi-stage attacks. They employ a variety of attack vectors, including spear-phishing campaigns, zero-day exploits, and malware-laden documents. Once inside a targeted organization, they conduct extensive reconnaissance, move laterally, and escalate privileges to gain access to valuable financial data and systems.
Cozy Bear
Cozy Bear, also known as APT29, is a cyber-espionage group believed to be associated with one or more intelligence agencies of russia. Cozy Bear can be recognized for its stealthy operations, focusing on infiltrating systems and stealing sensitive information rather than causing immediate damage.
Cozy Bear is dangerous for the banking industry because they have significant resources and motivations that might differ from other cybercriminal groups. While their primary focus might be espionage, the tools and access they gain can be used for financial theft or to disrupt banking operations. Since they don’t limit their operations to specific regions or sectors, their capability to target entities worldwide means banks everywhere need to be vigilant. APT29’s operations are often complex, making it challenging to definitively attribute attacks to them.
Given these factors, Cozy Bear poses a significant threat to the banking industry. Their combination of state backing and adaptability makes them a formidable adversary in the cyber realm. Banks and financial institutions need to be aware of the potential risks posed by groups like Cozy Bear and take appropriate cybersecurity measures.
Detect TTPs by APT29 aka Cozy Bear
Fancy Bear
APT28 (also known as Fancy Bear) is a russia-backed hacking group with a long history of launching sophisticated and highly effective cyberattacks against financial organizations. Fancy Bear is not limited to one region or sector, they have targeted organizations based in Europe, U.S. government institutions, and an alarming number of Ukrainian entities.
This cyber-espionage group has been linked to several high-profile cyberattacks, including the alleged 2016 U.S. presidential election hack and the 2017 NotPetya malware attack and hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in the United States in 2016.
APT28 crafts highly convincing phishing emails to trick employees into clicking malicious links or downloading malware-laden attachments. Once inside the network, they can move laterally and escalate privileges.
The group is also known for exploiting software vulnerabilities that are not yet known to the public or the software vendor. This allows APT28 to gain unauthorized access to targeted systems. Their aim is to steal sensitive financial data, including customer information, transaction records, and intellectual property. Being persistent and patient, they can remain hidden in a compromised network for extended periods, continuously exfiltrating data and expanding their access.
Detect TTPs by APT28 aka Fancy Bear
To have the entire collection of Sigma rules to detect malicious activity associated with prominent APT actors targeting the financial industry, hit the Explore Detections button below. The detection content pack includes over 1600+ Sigma rules compatible with 28 SIEM, EDR, XDR, and Data Lake technologies.
In view that new malicious techniques pop up daily requiring to be addressed with curated detection content items, the extensive number of rules might be challenging to process manually. To streamline threat hunting procedures, track possible attacks in real time, and identify organizations’ cyber defense gaps tailored to their industry and threat profile, security professionals might opt for using SOC Prime’s Attack Detective. Try Attack Detective now to dynamically secure the ever-expanding attack surface, timely identify blind spots in your log source coverage, and smartly address them to ensure comprehensive protection of your critical data assets and gain confidence in your cybersecurity posture.
Moreover, cybersecurity solutions offered by SOC Prime Platform can play a pivotal role in safeguarding the finance sector in 2023. Get started with Threat Detection Marketplace to access the world’s largest detection rule feed on the latest TTPs used by adversaries, including APTs that pose the most daunting challenge to the financial sector, to eliminate the financial toll of data breaches. Rely on Uncoder AI to elevate your cyber defense capabilities at scale while avoiding vendor lock-in with streamlined Sigma rule coding and bi-directional query translation to 64 SIEM, EDR, XDR, and Data Lake query language formats.
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