BATLOADER Malware Makes use of Google Adverts to Ship Vidar Stealer and Ursnif Payloads

Mar 11, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Risk Intelligence

The malware downloader generally known as BATLOADER has been noticed abusing Google Adverts to ship secondary payloads like Vidar Stealer and Ursnif.

Based on cybersecurity firm eSentire, malicious advertisements are used to spoof a variety of reliable apps and providers corresponding to Adobe, OpenAPI’s ChatGPT, Spotify, Tableau, and Zoom.

BATLOADER, because the identify suggests, is a loader that is accountable for distributing next-stage malware corresponding to info stealers, banking malware, Cobalt Strike, and even ransomware.

One of many key traits of the BATLOADER operations is the usage of software program impersonation ways for malware supply.

That is achieved by establishing lookalike web sites that host Home windows installer information masquerading as reliable apps to set off the an infection sequence when a consumer looking for the software program clicks a rogue advert on the Google search outcomes web page.

These MSI installer information, when launched, execute Python scripts that comprise the BATLOADER payload to retrieve the next-stage malware from a distant server.

This modus operandi marks a slight shift from the earlier assault chains noticed in December 2022, when the MSI installer packages had been used to run PowerShell scripts to obtain the stealer malware.

Different BATLOADER samples analyzed by eSentire have additionally revealed added capabilities that permit the malware to determine entrenched entry to enterprise networks.

“BATLOADER continues to see modifications and enchancment because it first emerged in 2022,” eSentire stated.

“BATLOADER targets numerous fashionable purposes for impersonation. That is no accident, as these purposes are generally present in enterprise networks and thus, they’d yield extra priceless footholds for monetization by way of fraud or hands-on-keyboard intrusions.”