Iran-Linked Hackers Exploiting Microsoft Outlook Bug: US

Washington: Within two weeks it covertly launched a cyber attack against Iranian intelligence group’s computer systems that control rocket and missile launches, the US Cyber Command on Wednesday issued an unprecedented warning, saying it has discovered the “active malicious use” of a Microsoft Outlook vulnerability linked to Iran. The vulnerability is a security bug that Microsoft patched in Outlook in 2017 but several unpatched computers are still at risk. In a tweet, US Cyber Command said: “USCYBERCOM has discovered active malicious use of “CVE-2017-11774” and recommends immediate #patching.”

According to a ZDNet report, the bug “CVE-2017-11774” discovered first by SensePost researchers had been “weaponized by an Iranian state-sponsored hacking group known as APT33 (or Elfin), primarily known for developing the Shamoon disk-wiping malware” — another hacking tool developed by the APT33 group. The Outlook bug allows a threat actor to escape from the Outlook sandbox and run malicious code on the underlying operating system. Cyber security firm FireEye has also reported extensively on Iran-linked APT33. (IANS)

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