PBA ReporterThe Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has alerted Nigerians over the existence of an Iranian hacking group called ‘Lyceum’ that orchestrates cyber spying in the African telecoms space.
In a statement on Monday, Ikechukwu Adinde, NCC’s director of public affairs, said the hacking group infiltrates the network of telecoms companies and internet service providers (ISPs).
The statement read: “In keeping with its commitment to continuously keep stakeholders in the country’s telecoms sector informed, educated and protected, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) wishes to, once again, notify the public of the existence of another hacking group orchestrating cyberespionage in the African telecoms space.
“An Iranian hacking group known as Lyceum (also known as Hexane, Siamesekitten, or Spirlin) has been reported to be targeting telecoms, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Africa with upgraded malware in a recent politically motivated attacks oriented in cyberespionage.
“Information about this cyber attack is contained in the latest advisory issued by the Nigerian Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT). The ngCERT rated the probability and damage level of the new malware as high.
According to the advisory, the hacking group is known to be focused on infiltrating the networks of telecoms companies and ISPs. Between July and October, 2021, Lyceum was implicated in attacks against ISPs and telecoms organisations in Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia.
The advanced persistent threat (APT) group has been linked to campaigns that hit Middle Eastern oil and gas companies in the past. Now, the group appears to have expanded its focus to the technology sector. In addition, the APT is responsible for a campaign against an unnamed African government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
By the attackers’ mode of operation, Lyceum’s initial onslaught vectors include credential stuffing and brute-force attacks. So, once a victim’s system is compromised, the attackers conduct surveillance on specific targets. In that mode, Lyceum will attempt to deploy two different kinds of malware: Shark and Milan (known together as James).
Both malware are backdoors. Shark, a 32-bit executable written in C# and .NET, generates a configuration file for domain name system (DNS) tunneling or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) C2 communications; whereas Milan – a 32-bit Remote Access Trojan (RAT) retrieves data.
Both are able to communicate with the group’s command-and-control (C2) servers. The APT maintains a C2 server network that connects to the group’s backdoors, consisting of over 20 domains, including six that were previously not associated with the threat actors.
According to reports, individual accounts at companies of interest are usually targeted, and then once these accounts are breached, they are used as a springboard to launch spear-phishing attacks against high-profile executives in an organization.
“The report suggests that not only do these attackers seek out data on subscribers and connected third-party companies, but once compromised, threat actors or their sponsors can also use these industries to surveil individuals of interest.”
To guard against this threat, Adinde advised telecommunication companies and ISPs to adopt multiple layers of security and constant network monitoring to protect against potential attacks.
According to him, “The NCC, as the operator of the telecom sector’s cyber threat response centre (CSIRT), reiterated its commitment active surveillance and monitoring of cyber activities in the sector and will always keep stakeholders in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector updated on potential threats within the cyber space.
“This is to ensure that the networks that deliver essential services are safe and that telecom consumers are protected from being victims of cyber attacks.”
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