Ukraine’s “IT Army” Struck with Info-stealing Malware

Pro-Ukrainian actors should be cautious of downloading DDoS tools to attack Russia, according to security experts, because they could be booby-trapped with data-stealing malware. 

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, called for a volunteer “IT army” of hackers to DDoS Russian targets in late February. Cisco Talos, on the other hand, claims that opportunistic cyber-criminals are attempting to take advantage of the subsequent outpouring of support for the Eastern European country. It specifically detected Telegram posts offering DDoS tools that were actually malware-loaded. An organisation calling itself “disBalancer” offers one such tool, named “Liberator,”. Although authentic, has been spoofed by others, according to Cisco. 

It explained, “The file offered on the Telegram page ended up being malware, specifically an infostealer designed to compromise unwitting users. The malware, in this case, dumps a variety of credentials and a large amount of cryptocurrency-related information, including wallets and metamask information, which is commonly associated with non-fungible tokens (NFTs).” 

Since none of the malicious spoofs is digitally signed, there is no way to distinguish them apart from the real DDoS tool, according to the vendor. Because the perpetrators of this harmful behaviour have been disseminating infostealers since November, Cisco concluded that it is not the work of fresh people, but rather those aiming to profit from the Ukraine conflict. 

Ukraine’s “IT Army” Struck with Info-stealing Malware