Xtreme RAT malware targets US, UK, other governments

By Lucian Constantin, IDG News Service              Nov 25, 2012 11:34 AM

The hacker group that recently infected Israeli police computers with the Xtreme RAT malware has also targeted government institutions from the U.S., U.K., and other countries, according to researchers from antivirus vendor Trend Micro.

The attackers sent rogue messages with a .RAR attachment to email addresses within the targeted government agencies. The archive contained a malicious executable masquerading as a Word document that, when run, installed the Xtreme RAT malware and opened a decoy document with a news report about a Palestinian missile attack.

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After analyzing malware samples used in the Israeli police attack, security researchers from Norway-based antivirus vendor Norman uncovered a series of older attacks from earlier this year and late 2011 that targeted organizations in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Their findings painted the picture of a year-long cyberespionage operation performed by the same group of attackers in the region.
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Georgian police chiefs cuffed in cyber spy plot

By Phil Muncaster

Several senior police officials and the former deputy interior minister of Georgia have been arrested on suspicion of spying on former opposition leaders and attempting to influence the result of October’s parliamentary elections.
The arrests come after new prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s coalition swept to power at the election, ending the nine-year rule of the government of president Mikheil Saakashvili, who remains in his post until October 2013.

 

The 11 interior ministry officials and former deputy interior minister and current vice mayor of Tbilisi, Shota Khizanishvili, are accused of hacking their opponents’ PCs to illegally obtain personal information. Phone taps of calls between leaders of Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition are also alleged, AFP reported.

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