Newly Updated Grandoreiro Banking Trojan Distributed Via Phishing Campaigns
Researchers at IBM X-Force are tracking several large phishing campaigns spreading an updated version of the Grandoreiro banking trojan.
The criminal malware operation was disrupted by law enforcement in January 2024 but resurfaced in March with an expanded set of targets. The new version of the malware is targeting more than 1,500 banks in over sixty countries.
“Although campaigns have traditionally been limited to Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, X-Force observed recent campaigns impersonating Mexico’s Tax Administration Service (SAT), Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), Mexico’s Secretary of Administration and Finance, the Revenue Service of Argentina, and notably the South African Revenue Service (SARS),” the researchers write.
“The reworked malware and new targeting may indicate a change in strategy since the latest law enforcement action against Grandoreiro, likely prompting the operators to start expanding the deployment of Grandoreiro in global phishing campaigns, beginning with South Africa.”
The phishing emails impersonate various government agencies in the targeted countries, informing users that they need to open an urgent document. The documents are designed to trick users into installing the malware.
“In each campaign, the recipients are instructed to click on a link to view an invoice or fee, account statement, make a payment, etc. depending on the impersonated entity,” the researchers write.
“If the user who clicks on the links is within a specific country (depending on the campaign, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Costa Rica, Peru, or Argentina), they are redirected to an image of a PDF icon, and a ZIP file is downloaded in the background. The ZIP files contain a large executable disguised with a PDF icon, found to have been created the day prior to, or the day of the email being sent.”
KnowBe4 empowers your workforce to make smarter security decisions every day. Over 65,000 organizations worldwide trust the KnowBe4 platform to strengthen their security culture and reduce human risk.
IBM X-Force has the story.
Free Phishing Security Test
Would your users fall for convincing phishing attacks? Take the first step now and find out before bad actors do. Plus, see how you stack up against your peers with phishing Industry Benchmarks. The Phish-prone percentage is usually higher than you expect and is great ammo to get budget.
Here’s how it works:
- Immediately start your test for up to 100 users (no need to talk to anyone)
- Select from 20+ languages and customize the phishing test template based on your environment
- Choose the landing page your users see after they click
- Show users which red flags they missed, or a 404 page
- Get a PDF emailed to you in 24 hours with your Phish-prone % and charts to share with management
- See how your organization compares to others in your industry
PS: Don’t like to click on redirected buttons? Cut & Paste this link in your browser: https://info.knowbe4.com/phishing-security-test-partner?partnerid=001a000001lWEoJAAW