TreasureHunt
Posted: April 8, 2016
Threat Metric
The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:
Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.
Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.
Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.
Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.
% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.
| Threat Level: | 9/10 |
|---|---|
| Infected PCs: | 143 |
| First Seen: | April 8, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Last Seen: | June 6, 2020 |
| OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
TreasureHunt or TreasureHunter is a spyware program that targets Point-of-Sale devices for the purpose of collecting credit card data. Although internal data points to TreasureHunt's creation in 2014, this threat only has been active in the wild since the past year, with new variants occurring up to 2016. Organizations using EMV 'smart' payment options should be unaffected by TreasureHunt's campaign, but systems using other standards should continue relying on the previously-recommended anti-malware protocols for blocking or deleting TreasureHunt.
When Your Business is the 'X' on the Treasure Map
TreasureHunt is a new, specialized family of threatening software that has its original compilation roots stretching back two years previously. Malware experts see this threat only in deployment within its focused campaign, with current information on its administration pointing towards an affiliate of the BearsInc group. This organization is particularly well-known in the carding community, which specializes in targeting and collecting data used by credit cards and stored on corresponding PoS machines.
Although it has a meaningful coding pedigree, TreasureHunt doesn't try to 'reinvent the wheel,' and, instead, relies on previously-known techniques for collecting card information. After its installation, TreasureHunt scans the system for appropriate memory processes while ignoring any default Windows components. Suitable processes are analyzed further, with any credit card data transferred over to a Command & Control server through basic HTTP POST commands. The same techniques also are viable against debit cards.
TreasureHunt's operations date from 2015 to the current year, and may be part of an overall 'ramp up' process on the part of PoS malware authors. Businesses migrating to chip card-based EMV standards aren't vulnerable to the above payload, which is a classical example of archetypal PoS Trojan behavior. However, the potentially extreme costs of that security migration have caused many businesses to delay their system upgrades, giving TreasureHunt lucrative targets.
Helping Hunt Down a PoS Trojan
TreasureHunt doesn't use the e-mail tactics common to previous spyware campaigns. Evidence to date indicates that con artists may be taking advantage of weak account passwords to install TreasureHunt, or using passwords previously collected through other methods. Malware researchers see no other threats in direct association with TreasureHunt attacks, so far, leading to its campaign being hyper-specialized against Point-of-Sale systems.
TreasureHunt's last known version is 0.1.1, making further development and deployment of this threat a fair probability. With even a single upgrade to EMV standards costing hundreds of US dollars, many retailers with limited budgets are likely to continue being potential targets for some time. Using strong account passwords that include mixes of both alphabet and numerical characters and lack easily guessed strings (such as the famous 'password1') can help keep con artists from brute-force hacking your PoS machine's accounts. Avoiding providing information in situations reminiscent of prototypical phishing tactics, like e-mail invoices, also, can keep your passwords out of third parties hands.
Until TreasureHunt's 'Jolly Roger' author can be brought to justice, businesses will have to do their part in exercising PoS vigilance until they can afford to comply with chip card standards.