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LightBasin

Cyber espionage group

LightBasin, also called UNC1945 by Mandiant, is a suspected Chinese cyber espionage group that has been described as an advanced persistent threat that has been attributed to multiple cyberattacks on telecommunications companies.^[1]^[2]^[3] As an advanced persistent threat, they seek to gain unauthorized access to a computer network and remain undetected for an extended period. They have been attributed to attacks targeting Linux and Solaris systems.^[1]^[2]^[3]

History

The LightBasin cyber espionage group has operated since 2016.^[1]^[2] CrowdStrike say that they are based in China, though their exact location isn't known.^[1] They have targeted 13 telecoms operators.^[2]

Targets

CrowdStrike says that the group is unusual in targeting protocols and technology of telecoms operators.^[1] According to CrowdStrike's investigation of one such breach, LightBasin leveraged external Domain Name System (eDNS) servers — which are part of the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network and play a role in roaming between different mobile operators — to connect directly to and from other compromised telecommunication companies’ GPRS networks via Secure Shell and through previously established implants. Many of their tools are written for them rather than being off the shelf.^[1]

After compromising a system, then installed a backdoor, known as SLAPSTICK, for the Solaris Pluggable authentication module.^[2] They utilize TinyShell, which is a Python command shell used to control and execute commands through HTTP requests to a web shell,^[4] to communicate with attackers' ip addresses. The scripts are tunneled through an SGSN emulator, which CrowdStrike says is to maintain OPSEC.^[3] Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) is a main component of the GPRS network, which handles all packet switched data within the network, e.g. the mobility management and authentication of the users.^[5] Utilizing this form of tunneling makes it less likely to be restricted or inspected by network security solutions.^[1]^[3]

CrowdStrike recommends that firewalls dealing with GPRS traffic be configured to limit access to DNS or GPRS tunneling protocol traffic.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Nichols, Shaun (2021-10-20). "'LightBasin' hackers spent 5 years hiding on telco networks". TechTarget. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Ilascu, Ionut (2021-10-19). "LightBasin hacking group breaches 13 global telecoms in two years". Bleeping Computer. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "LightBasin: A Roaming Threat to Telecommunications Companies". CrowdStrike. 19 October 2021.
^ "Day 27: Tiny SHell (SSH-like backdoor with full-pty terminal)". Medium. 26 January 2019.
^ "SGSN". Telecom ABC.

External links

Crowdstrike blog entry on LightBasin
Beyond Trust blog entry on LightBasin

Hacking in the 2020s

← 2010s

Timeline

2030s →

Major incidents

2020	BlueLeaks Twitter account hijacking European Medicines Agency data breach Nintendo data leak United States federal government data breach EasyJet data breach Vastaamo data breach
2021	Microsoft Exchange Server breach Ivanti Pulse Connect Secure data breach Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack Health Service Executive ransomware attack Waikato District Health Board ransomware attack JBS S.A. ransomware attack Kaseya VSA ransomware attack Transnet ransomware attack Epik data breach FBI email hack National Rifle Association ransomware attack Banco de Oro hack
2022	Ukraine cyberattacks Red Cross data breach Anonymous and the Russian invasion of Ukraine Viasat hack DDoS attacks on Romania Costa Rican ransomware attack LastPass vault theft Shanghai police database leak Grand Theft Auto VI content leak
2023	Munster Technological University ransomware attack Evide data breach MOVEit data breach Insomniac Games data breach Polish railway cyberattack British Library cyberattack
2024	XZ Utils backdoor