Description

The Symantec Threat Hunter Team has uncovered two major cyber intrusions targeting Ukrainian organizations, attributed to Russian-aligned threat actors. Active from late June to August 2025, the campaign focused on data theft and long-term persistence across government and business networks. Rather than using conventional malware, the attackers relied heavily on Living-off-the-Land (LotL) techniques, exploiting legitimate Windows utilities and administrative tools to blend malicious activity into normal operations. Initial access appears to have been gained via webshells on publicly accessible servers, likely exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities. One webshell, Localolive, is associated with a sub-group of the Sandworm (Seashell Blizzard) APT, linked to Russia’s GRU. While Symantec could not independently confirm Sandworm’s involvement, the tactics observed align with prior Russian campaigns. During the June 27 intrusion, attackers used PowerShell to run reconnaissance commands such as whoami, systeminfo, and net group /domain. They also disabled Windows Defender scanning on targeted directories using powershell Add[-]MpPreference [-]ExclusionPath CSIDL[_]PROFILE\downloads, preventing detection of downloaded tools. Scheduled tasks were created to perform memory dumps every 30 minutes via comsvcs.dll. Over several weeks, the attackers expanded to multiple systems, maintaining persistent access across the network. Subsequent operations targeted password managers like KeePass to extract stored credentials, involved dumping Windows registry hives, deploying custom PowerShell backdoors, and using rdrleakdiag to collect full memory dumps. The attackers demonstrated expert knowledge of Windows-native tools, stealing sensitive data while leaving minimal traces. They also employed legitimate network utilities such as RDPclip, OpenSSH, and Winbox to establish redundant access and lateral movement. Modifications to scheduled tasks, registry settings, and firewall rules indicate deliberate efforts to sustain long-term footholds. The observed use of Localolive webshells, PowerShell backdoors, and previously documented tools suggest a continuation of Russian cyber espionage targeting Ukrainian institutions, consistent with prior GRU-linked operations, including power grid attacks and router malware campaigns.