PEBBLEDASH

PEBBLEDASH is the name of a piece of malware used by North Korean cybercriminals that are backed by the country's government. The hackers behind PEBBLEDASH are associated with other high-profile threats that have caused trouble worldwide, and, unfortunately, the hackers' threatening campaigns continue to be very active in 2020. The PEBBLEDASH implant is meant to work as a backdoor that can gain long-term persistence on the compromised network, therefore, allowing the attackers to perform a wide range of unsafe activities regularly.

Although some of PEBBLEDASH's features can be used to plant additional malware or collect files. It also seems to have some destructive properties – one of its commands is meant to 'securely delete' files therefore making it difficult to recover them via data restoration tools. On top of all this, PEBBLEDASH is able to:

• Gather system information about the hardware and software.
• Run remote commands without showing a visible Command Prompt window. The output of the commands is stored in a hidden file that is then transferred to the attacker's server.
• Upload and run files to the compromised system.
• List partitions, directories and files.
• Manipulate files.
• Self-destruct.

PEBBLEDASH also has support for some other minor activities that are likely to be used rarely. The best way to protect networks from state-of-the-art malware implants like this one is to invest in reputable firewall and anti-virus solutions. In addition to this, users interacting with the potential targeted systems should be aware of the best cybersecurity practices.