{ "id": "a90c9929-dc28-4046-b9ac-d3ca017ed70e", "created_at": "2026-04-06T00:09:38.681176Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:26:37.614686Z", "deleted_at": null, "sha1_hash": "271a76d26d66f389683e70e9f218a1bd2d714ac5", "title": "The Significance of the \"Nitro\" Attacks", "llm_title": "", "authors": "", "file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_size": 67172, "plain_text": "The Significance of the \"Nitro\" Attacks\r\nBy By: Trend Micro Oct 31, 2011 Read time: 3 min (735 words)\r\nPublished: 2011-10-31 · Archived: 2026-04-05 18:26:40 UTC\r\nA recent report by Symantec documented a campaign of targeted malware attacks that began as early as April\r\n2011 and continued up to October 2011. During this time, the attackers managed to compromise at least 100\r\ncomputers around the world. This report illustrates some of the key findings in our latest white paper, Trends in\r\nTargeted Attacksopen on a new tab.\r\nTargeted Campaigns\r\nTargeted malware attacks are rarely isolated events. It is more useful to think of them as campaigns – a series of\r\nfailed and successful attempts to compromise targets over a period of time. An attacker's prior knowledge of the\r\nvictim, possibly from a previously successful attack, affects the level of specificity associated with a single attack\r\nin a malware campaign. In this case, the attackers used messages with an IT security theme that appeared rather\r\ngeneric but were customized for various targets. The download link in the email messages was made to appear as\r\nif it were pointing to the target’s own website. Often, this less-specific level of targeting focuses on communities\r\nof interest and is aimed at acquiring information to be used in a future, more precise attack.\r\nintel\r\nMoreover, there is generally a diversity of targets. In this case, the Nitro attackers targeted a concentration of\r\nchemical companies but also targeted human rights NGOs, motor companies and defense contractors.\r\nHuman Interaction\r\nThe backdoor used in the Nitro campaign is known as Poison Ivy. It is a freely available Trojan that provides an\r\nattacker with full, \"real-time\" access to a compromised computer. One often overlooked component of targeted\r\nmalware attacks is the reliance on real time human interaction. This distinguishes them from automated botnets.\r\nWhen the Poison Ivy backdoor connects to the attackers command and control infrastructure there is a human at\r\nthe other end that can begin exploring the compromised computer and the network to which it belongs. This\r\nattacker can steal information, install additional malware and compromise other machines on the same network.\r\nMost importantly, the human on the other end of the Poison Ivy Trojan can react to defensive measures taken by\r\nthe victim.\r\nSegmented Infrastructure\r\nAttackers need to deploy command and control (C\u0026C) infrastructure in order to maintain connectivity to the\r\ncomputers they compromise. The attackers sometimes maintain distinct sets of C\u0026C infrastructure making it\r\ndifficult to uncover the full extent of their operations. Using the initial malware samples, domains and IP\r\naddresses provided by Symantec, we were able to map out three distinct sets of command and control\r\ninfrastructure. The first set of command and control infrastructure contains three domains provided by dynamic\r\nhttps://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/the-significance-of-the-nitro-attacks/\r\nPage 1 of 3\n\nDNS services. Attackers often use dynamic DNS services in conjunction with RATs, such as Poison Ivy. These\r\nservices make it easy for the attackers to update their C\u0026C domains to new IP addresses thus maintaining\r\nconsistent connectivity with the compromised computers.\r\nintel\r\nThe second set of C\u0026C infrastructure centers around three domains which all resolved to the same IP address. The\r\nC\u0026C domain, domain.rm6.org was also used in an attack. on the UK government in August 2011.\r\nintel\r\nThe third set centers on the domain antivirus-groups.com and the IP address 204.74.215.58 which Symantec has\r\nassociated with a specific actor which they've codenamed \"Covert Grove\".\r\nintel\r\nThis segmented infrastructure allows the same set of attackers to target different potential victims without having\r\nall the attacks linked together. Without additional information, it can be difficult to link together the full scope of\r\ntargeted malware campaigns. This illustrates how important threat intelligence is to defensive strategies. Here are\r\nsome examples of MD5s connecting to the Nitro infrastructure:\r\n37f70717f549f1938e5785527e56978d\r\n5d075e9536c5494745135c1176981c96\r\n64a4ad90a55e7b6c30c46135435f50a2\r\n6e99585c3fbd4f3a55bd8f604cb35f38\r\n70fcb3446fce23b18d9a12b2ed911e52\r\n76000c77ea9a214f5b2ae8cc387809db\r\n87aeec7f7c4ec1b6dc5e6c39b28d8273\r\n8d36fd85d9c7d1f4bb170a28cc23498a\r\na98d2c90b9494fc885c7cd35d43666ea\r\nc128c40bd8acb282288e8138352ce4e1\r\n841ec2dec944964fc54786a1167713ff\r\n22f77c113cc6d43d8c12ed3c9fb39825\r\n6f6d6a848f87fbf26f71549d73da61f4\r\nb2b9702164512a92733939343275245b\r\n2173b43a66070aadf052ab66dd6933ce\r\nf18c7639dbb8644c4bca179243ee2a99\r\n9ff1e8e227e1be3dbfc55f17d2e97df8\r\n31346e5b39ddb095d76071ac86da4c2e\r\n20baa1cbacdab191c717f4ef5626de93\r\nffa73b9f9e650f50b8568a647a9a35cf\r\n070d1e5c9299afa47df25e63572a3ae8\r\nd558e1069a0f3f61fedcf58a0c1995fe\r\n27103c6c9a80b6cf23789e2f51a846eb\r\n2ffe59a6a047b2333a1f3eb58753f3bc\r\nhttps://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/the-significance-of-the-nitro-attacks/\r\nPage 2 of 3\n\n0f54a9757f1a2fef2b04b776714a7546\r\nc2864aff6360feb36f2ff6a6c634ddb4\r\ncca3af36dff79b27de093a71396afb8d\r\n4a35488762f70170dc0d3f46f94a7bcb\r\n3037049411db0453c91e60393a248be2\r\ndd5715cb3b0cdddbe131f03cc08f0f57\r\n4fd6453a606e17e5efb166ad80eba5e0\r\n091457444b7e7899c242c5125ddc0571\r\n6e99585c3fbd4f3a55bd8f604cb35f38\r\n07e266f7fb3c36a1f3a5c5d2d229a478\r\n17e7022496d8092d3ca76ae9524a7260\r\n2f37912e7cb6e5c478e6dc3d0e381a24\r\n5d075e9536c5494745135c1176981c96\r\n76000c77ea9a214f5b2ae8cc387809db\r\na98d2c90b9494fc885c7cd35d43666ea\r\nc128c40bd8acb282288e8138352ce4e1\r\ncab66da82594ff5266ac8dd89e3d1539\r\n70fcb3446fce23b18d9a12b2ed911e52\r\nc53c93a445d751387eb167e5a2b901da\r\ndd5715cb3b0cdddbe131f03cc08f0f57\r\n0f54a9757f1a2fef2b04b776714a7546\r\n37f70717f549f1938e5785527e56978d\r\n31346e5b39ddb095d76071ac86da4c2e\r\n330ddac1f605ff8abf60880c584ed797\r\n457a2a8d0784e9fc8e49f6ef60f7f29e\r\n87aeec7f7c4ec1b6dc5e6c39b28d8273\r\n8d36fd85d9c7d1f4bb170a28cc23498a\r\nde7e293aa9c4d849dc080f3e87573b24\r\n64a4ad90a55e7b6c30c46135435f50a2\r\nDefensive strategies can be dramatically improved by understanding how targeted attacks work as well as trends\r\nin the tools, tactics and procedures of the perpetrators. Since such attacks focus on the acquisition of sensitive\r\ndata, strategies that focus on protecting the data itself, wherever it resides, are extremely important components of\r\ndefense. By effectively using threat intelligence derived from external and internal sources combined with\r\ncontext-aware data protection and security tools that empower and inform human analysts, organizations are better\r\npositioned to detect and mitigate targeted attacks.\r\nSource: https://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/the-significance-of-the-nitro-attacks/\r\nhttps://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/the-significance-of-the-nitro-attacks/\r\nPage 3 of 3", "extraction_quality": 1, "language": "EN", "sources": [ "MISPGALAXY", "ETDA", "Malpedia" ], "references": [ "https://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/the-significance-of-the-nitro-attacks/" ], "report_names": [ "the-significance-of-the-nitro-attacks" ], "threat_actors": [ { "id": "9041c438-4bc0-4863-b89c-a32bba33903c", "created_at": "2023-01-06T13:46:38.232751Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:02.888195Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Nitro", "aliases": [ "Covert Grove" ], "source_name": "MISPGALAXY:Nitro", "tools": [], "source_id": "MISPGALAXY", "reports": null }, { "id": "a2b44a04-a080-4465-973d-976ce53777de", "created_at": "2022-10-25T16:07:23.911791Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:04.786538Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Nitro", "aliases": [ "Covert Grove", "Nitro" ], "source_name": "ETDA:Nitro", "tools": [ "AngryRebel", "Backdoor.Apocalipto", "Chymine", "Darkmoon", "Farfli", "Gen:Trojan.Heur.PT", "Gh0st RAT", "Ghost RAT", "Moudour", "Mydoor", "PCClient", "PCRat", "Poison Ivy", "SPIVY", "Spindest", "pivy", "poisonivy" ], "source_id": "ETDA", "reports": null } ], "ts_created_at": 1775434178, "ts_updated_at": 1775791597, "ts_creation_date": 0, "ts_modification_date": 0, "files": { "pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/271a76d26d66f389683e70e9f218a1bd2d714ac5.pdf", "text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/271a76d26d66f389683e70e9f218a1bd2d714ac5.txt", "img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/271a76d26d66f389683e70e9f218a1bd2d714ac5.jpg" } }