Hackers Snuck Malware into an Image From the Webb Space Telescope

This is why we ca n’t have dainty things : certificate analytics firm Securonix has unveil that hackers have nefariously hide malware code in a copy of an persona from theWebb Space Telescopeas part of a broader hack run .

The Webb Space Telescope is extend view of our universe like never before , but hackers are attempting to practice range of a function from the scope for more sinister purposes . Securonix recentlypublished a blogthat blows the lid off of a political hack involving a phishing email , a phony Microsoft Office adherence , andSMACS 0723 , the first full - color double from the Webb Space Telescope that was unveil to begin with this summer . The attack campaign , style GO#WEBBFUSCATOR , is a super complex , multi - stage malware attack mean to infiltrate your computer .

The campaign is written in Go — also referred to as Golang — and Securonix argues thata rise inGo - based malware attacks could be due to how hard it is to invert engineer the language and/or how flexible the language can be at operating across dissimilar platforms like Windows , Mac , and Linux .

A copy of SMACS 0723 sent via phishing email contains some Base64 code written by hackers.

A copy of SMACS 0723 sent via phishing email contains some Base64 code written by hackers.Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

“ To the best of our knowledge , this military campaign has been direct a range of victims in dissimilar countries , ” sound out Oleg Kolesnikov . Kolesnikov is Securonix ’s frailty president of Threat Research . “ There have been multiple layers of obfuscation/[antivirus ] evasion and a number of different payloads involved in the onslaught . We do not know yet what the end - destination objective of the attack is . ”

The attack is a multi - stage safari that begin with a phishing e-mail containing an unsuspecting attachment modelled to attend like it ’s come from Microsoft Office . When download , a malicious file will begin download . If the drug user has the right macro instruction install , the file will then carry through the download of an image file cabinet , which appear as the SMACS 0723 image from the Webb Space Telescope but contain a Base64 code . Securonix then witness that the malware would execute encrypted DNS queries to plug into with C2 host and run arbitrary enumeration commands , whichBleeping Computersays is a standard first reconnaissance whole step for cyberpunk to poke and prod at a target computer .

The skilful news is that the originalSMACS 0723image come out to be good and is still gorgeous to look at — just be leery of any unknown Microsoft Office attachment post to your email .

Xbox8tbstorage