#2. Cyber-mercenaries: a new emerging trend

On the face of it, Icefog seems to be a targeted attack like any other.  It’s a cyber-espionage campaign, active since 2011 and the attackers use spear-phishing e-mails – containing either attachments or links to malicious web sites – to distribute the malware to their victims. 

Icefog is part of an emerging trend that we’re seeing – attacks by small groups of cyber-mercenaries who conduct small hit-and-run attacks.  Second, the attackers specifically targeted the supply chain – their would-be victims include government institutions, military contractors, maritime and ship-building groups, telecommunications operators, satellite operators, industrial and high technology companies and mass media.  Third, their campaigns rely on custom-made cyber-espionage tools for Windows and Mac OSX and they directly control the compromised computers. The Chinese group ‘Hidden Lynx’, whose activities were reported by researchers at Symantec, fall into the same category – ‘guns-for-hire’ performing attacks to order using cutting-edge custom tools.  This group was responsible for attacks on Bit9 earlier this year.

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