ISLAMABd – ‘Operation DualPak’, Espionage campaign launched againstPakistan Military and top government officials to steal secret data fromsmartphones.
Fake smartphone apps loaded with malware are targeting Pakistan’s militaryand government, according to a report by Canadian tech company BlackBerry.
The report identifies new espionage campaigns attempting to steal sensitivedata from mobile devices of government and military officials. “ThePakistani government is the target of a newly identified and ongoingespionage campaign BlackBerry researchers have dubbed OPERATION DUALPAK,which is employing newly identified malware BlackBerry researchers havedubbed PWNDROID2,” the report stated.
“BlackBerry researchers determined the campaign to be the work of a likelystate-sponsored APT group known as BITTER. The malware was propagated viafake apps and elaborate phishing schemes that mimic real entities includingPornhub Premium and the Ansar Foundation,” the report reads.
“The Pakistani military, other government agencies and their officials werealso the subject of a concurrent espionage campaign employing both mobileand desktop components BlackBerry researchers have dubbed OPERATIONDUALPAK2 which utilizes newly identified Windows malware family BlackBerryresearchers have dubbed PWNWIN2. BlackBerry researchers determined thiseffort to be the work of another state-sponsored APT group known asCONFUCIUS,” it said.
BlackBerry says it doesn’t know who is responsible for the campaigns butsays it likely involves state-sponsored hacking groups. The report says oneof the fake apps promised news about Kashmir, after India imposed asecurity lockdown in August on the India-occupied Kashmir, detainingthousands and cutting off telecommunications for days.
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“Nearly all the governments with a developed cyber capability have aninterest in, and ability to spy on the Pakistani government and itsinfluential military. Even APT groups with unattributed state backing havehad a go at it,” stated the report.
The apps often utilized Google’s Android operating system and weredistributed through email or on social media messaging services such asWhatsApp. BlackBerry, says the campaigns reflect a global trend of hackerstargeting mobile devices because people use them for work and in theirpersonal lives.
BlackBerry’s report also outlines ongoing smartphone malware campaigns inother parts of the world in which hackers appear to be acting in theinterests of the Chinese, Iranian, Vietnamese and North Korean governments.
Check out the complete report here.link
