Analysis Summary

Patchwork is an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group that has been active since at least 2014. The group primarily targets government, defense, and diplomatic organizations and academic institutions in South and Southeast Asia, including Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, the group has also targeted organizations in other regions, including Europe and North America.

The group is believed to be of Indian origin and has been linked to several cyber espionage campaigns. Patchwork has used various tactics, techniques, and procedures TTPs in its attacks. Once inside the networks, the group attempts to maintain persistence by regularly establishing new accounts, installing backdoors and other malicious tools, and performing malicious activities. Additionally, Patchwork has been known to employ social engineering techniques to track down and exfiltrate data from compromised systems. The group has also been known to use various evasion techniques to avoid detection by security solutions. In some cases, the group has remained undetected for extended periods.

An interesting development in Patchwork's timeline is its engagement in spearphishing operations targeting U.S. think tank groups during March and April of 2018. This campaign showcases Patchwork's interest in manipulating information on policy and international affairs. The group's strategy involves crafting tailored emails with malicious attachments or links, capitalizing on unsuspecting victims' curiosity or trust.

Patchwork is a sophisticated and persistent threat actor that poses a significant risk to targeted organizations. Organizations need robust security measures to protect against these types of attacks, including regular software updates and employee awareness training.

Impact

• Information Theft
• Unauthorized Remote Access

Indicators of Compromise

Domain Name

• adskochbus.org

MD5

• 076ab63979336e827abc96fcd4fbf534

• e066b5a875d08507832fc7ed29a7aa30

SHA-256

• 01b7a6cccfa1d596e75e997fe2bd2063af3c264f169df60a0c8723818f22b39f

• 582f4c583086a67f8942777b7a65a054b020a6732abd954a92ff525d9d0a3dba

SHA1

• eb028d9ed1e08b58bf7c6bf0ebcc9f79e8ff5d2f

• d6947184d13ba073b2f0850f47c8444c2d78a668

Remediation

• Block all threat indicators at your respective controls.
• Search for indicators of compromise (IOCs) in your environment utilizing your respective security controls.
• Do not download documents attached in emails from unknown sources and strictly refrain from enabling macros when the source isn’t reliable.
• Enable antivirus and anti-malware software and update signature definitions promptly. Using multi-layered protection is necessary to secure vulnerable assets.
• Along with network and system hardening, code hardening should be implemented within the organization so that their websites and software are secure. Use testing tools to detect any vulnerabilities in the deployed codes.