Researchers at Securonix have detected a cyberattack campaign that is focused on cyber espionage. The campaign highlights the sophisticated nature of cyber threats agains the US, specifically defense contractors, and across the globe. The campaign has been dubbed STEEP#MAVERICK by Securonix researchers and has already hit multiple weapons contractors in Europe over the past several months. This includes a potential attack on a supplier to the US F-35 Lighting II fighter aircraft program, the security researchers say.

Securonix stated that what makes the campaign of note is that the attacker is paying very close attention to operations security to ensure that the malware is very difficult to detect. In addition, the malware is hard to remove and presents a challenge in the analyzation process. The malware is based on PowerShell and boasts an advanced range of tactics, counter-forensics, and methodology. In addition, Securonix wrote in its report that the malware contains multiple layers of obfuscation to hide its code.

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