Court Sanctions Disruption of Hackers Who Abuse Cobalt Strike, Microsoft Software
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Under a court order obtained from the Eastern District of New York, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU), cybersecurity software company Fortra and Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Health-ISAC) are taking technical and legal action to disrupt cracked, legacy copies of Cobalt Strike and abused Microsoft software that predominately Russian-speaking hackers have used to distribute malware.
The court order allows Microsoft, whose software was also targeted in the attacks, to cut off communication between the hackers and the bootleg version of Cobalt Strike they had used to gain a foothold into victim networks.
Fortra sells Cobalt Strike, software that organizations use to test their cyber defenses, but cybercriminal and state-backed hackers have often hijacked and used it in their own hacking operations. Illegal copies of Cobalt Strike are “cracked” and have been used to launch destructive attacks, such as those against the Government of Cost…
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