GINC-APT-0333 · Criminal

Phlox Tempest

Also Choziosi loader, Chrome Loader, ClickPirate, DEV-0796.

Category
Criminal · Financially motivated: ransomware, fraud and theft.
Origin
Israel(high confidence)
Sources
6 sources carry it
Identifier
GINC-APT-0333 · phlox-tempest

What it is

Phlox Tempest is a threat actor responsible for a large-scale click fraud campaign targeting users through YouTube comments and malicious ads. They use ChromeLoader to infect victims' computers with malware, often delivered as ISO image files that victims are tricked into downloading. The attackers aim to profit from clicks generated by malicious browser extensions or node-WebKit installed on the victim's device. Microsoft and other cybersecurity organizations have issued warnings about this ongoing and prevalent campaign.

Names

The names each vendor, agency and source gives it. Naming differs by who tracks the actor, so one group carries many.

Microsoft
DEV-0796
Other names
Choziosi loader, Chrome Loader, ClickPirate

Attribution

Each attribution is a claim: who makes it, and to whom. Western and Eastern sources are kept apart, as they often disagree.

Tools

The tools and malware families the sources tie to it.

  • Chrome Remote Desktop
  • Cyber Eye RAT
  • CyberGate

Sources

  • Malpedia malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de