{ "id": "f0ee6857-05c5-4cab-8a74-4a17afdeb6d6", "created_at": "2026-04-06T00:12:39.080708Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:32:05.002917Z", "deleted_at": null, "sha1_hash": "e6003db362c1b47dbd510da97fbf981d20afb0c1", "title": "Arid Viper - Israel entities targeted by malware packaged with sex video", "llm_title": "", "authors": "", "file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_size": 224897, "plain_text": "Arid Viper - Israel entities targeted by malware packaged with sex\r\nvideo\r\nBy Pierluigi Paganini\r\nPublished: 2015-02-19 · Archived: 2026-04-05 14:02:59 UTC\r\n Pierluigi Paganini February 19, 2015\r\nhttp://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/33785/cyber-crime/arid-viper-israel-sex-video.html\r\nPage 1 of 4\n\nAttackers behind the Arid Viper and the Yanbian Gang exploited sex  content for\r\ntheir campaigns against victims in Israel and Kuwait, and South Korea.\r\nSecurity experts at Trend Micro have uncovered a cyber espionage campaign, dubbed Operation Arid Viper, that\r\ntargeted Israeli institutions. The Operation Arid Viper is run by Arab-speaking hackers that sought to extract\r\nsensitive documents by sending phishing emails. The phishing campaigns targeted government office,\r\ninfrastructure providers, a military organization and academic institutions in Israel and Kuwait\r\nThe particularity of the Operation Arid Viper is represented by the tactic adopted by the attackers to lure victims.\r\nThe malicious emails sent by hackers include a malware packaged with a short pornographic video.\r\n“This month, actors of Operation Arid Viper and members of the Yanbian Gang jumped on the sexually explicit\r\ncontent bandwagon, using them in separate attacks that target respective victims in Israel and Kuwait, and South\r\nKorea. Operation Arid Viper attacked five Israeli-based organizations in the government, transport,\r\ninfrastructure, military, and academic industries, and one organization in Kuwait using spear-phishing emails that\r\ndropped a pornographic video on a victim’s computer.” reported Trend Micro in a blog post.\r\nThe attackers exploit the fact that targeted individuals who might be receiving pornographic video at work and so\r\nwould hesitate to report the incident, this circumstance allow the malware to remain undetected.\r\n“These victims’ failure to act on the threat could have then allowed the main malware to remain undiscovered.”\r\nstates Trend Micro. “It targeted professionals who might be receiving very inappropriate content at work and so\r\nwould hesitate to report the incident.“\r\nThe malware used by Arid Viper once infected the victims’ PC searched for Microsoft Office files and text files. It\r\nreported the located files to the command and control server, which then decided which files to exfiltrate from the\r\nmachine.\r\nUnfortunately, researchers at Trend Micro reported that the command and control servers used by Arid Viper were\r\n“closely locked down, providing a very little hint that could aid our investigation.”\r\nThe researchers have found a few similarities between the Arid Viper campaign and the Advtravel, including the\r\ncontrol infrastructure and the attack kill chain.\r\nThe infection Chains for both Operation Arid Viper and Advtravel started with spear-phishing emails that came\r\nwith a .RAR file attachment that automatically extracts an .SCR file that drops two files when executed.\r\nThe Advtravel campaign infected more than 500 systems, the majority of them located in Egypt. The\r\nhackers  were focused on grabbing screen images from victims’ computers, in an attempt to identify victims.\r\nAnyway, the experts at Trend Micro consider the operators behind the Advtravel campaign much less skilled than\r\nArid Viper.\r\n“This could be a sign that they are looking for incriminating or compromising images for blackmail purposes,”\r\nTrend Micro reports. “As such, the attackers may be less-skilled hackers who are not after financial gain nor\r\nhacking for espionage purposes.”\r\nhttp://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/33785/cyber-crime/arid-viper-israel-sex-video.html\r\nPage 2 of 4\n\n“The first file is a pornographic video clip, which serves as a social engineering bait while the second file is the\r\nactual malware connecting to the C\u0026C servers. Once the second-stage malware is in the system, it sets itself to\r\nautorun each time the systems reboot, even posing as an Internet communication software. “\r\nThe researchers are spending a great effort in the investigation of the Arid Viper gang, in particular on the way\r\nthey organized the command and control infrastructure, they suspect a link with possible threat actors to the Gaza\r\nStrip. They suggest the existence of a supra-organization behind both campaigns despite they presented different\r\ncomplexity of TTPs.\r\n“Although the malware involved in operation Advtravel is different from that of Operation Arid Viper, both\r\noperations still have a few similarities, such as sharing the same server and having the domains used in Advtravel\r\nregistered with the same emails as the Operation Arid Viper. Notably, the same server and site registration details\r\nsuggest the existence of a supra-organization, a forum or an influential sponsor could be providing various\r\nhacking groups with the means to pursue their ends.”\r\nLet me suggest you to read the report from Trend Micro titled “OPERATION ARID VIPER – Bypassing the Iron\r\nDome”\r\n[adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″]\r\nPierluigi Paganini\r\n(Security Affairs –  Arid Viper, Advtravel )\r\nhttp://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/33785/cyber-crime/arid-viper-israel-sex-video.html\r\nPage 3 of 4\n\n[adrotate banner=”5″]\r\n[adrotate banner=”13″]\r\nSource: http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/33785/cyber-crime/arid-viper-israel-sex-video.html\r\nhttp://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/33785/cyber-crime/arid-viper-israel-sex-video.html\r\nPage 4 of 4", "extraction_quality": 1, "language": "EN", "sources": [ "MISPGALAXY", "Malpedia" ], "references": [ "http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/33785/cyber-crime/arid-viper-israel-sex-video.html" ], "report_names": [ "arid-viper-israel-sex-video.html" ], "threat_actors": [ { "id": "4c5a35bf-f483-463e-aea0-89a795698cff", "created_at": "2023-01-06T13:46:39.198624Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.243996Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Yanbian Gang", "aliases": [], "source_name": "MISPGALAXY:Yanbian Gang", "tools": [], "source_id": "MISPGALAXY", "reports": null }, { "id": "9ff60d4d-153b-4ed5-a2f7-18a21d2fa05d", "created_at": "2022-10-25T16:07:23.539852Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:04.647734Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Desert Falcons", "aliases": [ "APT-C-23", "ATK 66", "Arid Viper", "Niobium", "Operation Arid Viper", "Operation Bearded Barbie", "Operation Rebound", "Pinstripe Lightning", "Renegade Jackal", "TAG-63", "TAG-CT1", "Two-tailed Scorpion" ], "source_name": "ETDA:Desert Falcons", "tools": [ "AridSpy", "Barb(ie) Downloader", "BarbWire", "Desert Scorpion", "FrozenCell", "GlanceLove", "GnatSpy", "KasperAgent", "Micropsia", "PyMICROPSIA", "SpyC23", "Viper RAT", "ViperRAT", "VolatileVenom", "WinkChat", "android.micropsia" ], "source_id": "ETDA", "reports": null }, { "id": "b1979c55-037a-415f-b0a3-cab7933f5cd4", "created_at": "2024-04-24T02:00:49.561432Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:05.416794Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "APT-C-23", "aliases": [ "APT-C-23", "Arid Viper", "Desert Falcon", "TAG-63", "Grey Karkadann", "Big Bang APT", "Two-tailed Scorpion" ], "source_name": "MITRE:APT-C-23", "tools": [ "Micropsia" ], "source_id": "MITRE", "reports": null }, { "id": "929d794b-0e1d-4d10-93a6-29408a527cc2", "created_at": "2023-01-06T13:46:38.70844Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.075002Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "AridViper", "aliases": [ "Desert Falcon", "Arid Viper", "APT-C-23", "Bearded Barbie", "Two-tailed Scorpion" ], "source_name": "MISPGALAXY:AridViper", "tools": [], "source_id": "MISPGALAXY", "reports": null }, { "id": "8f350ed9-134e-4160-b63d-701f562ba64a", "created_at": "2022-10-25T16:07:24.589322Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:05.045635Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Yanbian Gang", "aliases": [], "source_name": "ETDA:Yanbian Gang", "tools": [], "source_id": "ETDA", "reports": null }, { "id": "e5cad6bf-fa91-4128-ba0d-2bf3ff3c6c6b", "created_at": "2025-08-07T02:03:24.53077Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.680525Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "ALUMINUM SARATOGA", "aliases": [ "APT-C-23", "Arid Viper", "Desert Falcon", "Extreme Jackal ", "Gaza Cybergang", "Molerats ", "Operation DustySky ", "TA402" ], "source_name": "Secureworks:ALUMINUM SARATOGA", "tools": [ "BlackShades", "BrittleBush", "DarkComet", "LastConn", "Micropsia", "NimbleMamba", "PoisonIvy", "QuasarRAT", "XtremeRat" ], "source_id": "Secureworks", "reports": null }, { "id": "35b3e533-7483-4f07-894e-2bb3ac855207", "created_at": "2025-08-07T02:03:24.540035Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.69627Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "ALUMINUM SHADYSIDE", "aliases": [ "APT-C-23 ", "Arid Viper ", "Desert Falcon " ], "source_name": "Secureworks:ALUMINUM SHADYSIDE", "tools": [ "Micropsia", "SpyC23" ], "source_id": "Secureworks", "reports": null } ], "ts_created_at": 1775434359, "ts_updated_at": 1775791925, "ts_creation_date": 0, "ts_modification_date": 0, "files": { "pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/e6003db362c1b47dbd510da97fbf981d20afb0c1.pdf", "text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/e6003db362c1b47dbd510da97fbf981d20afb0c1.txt", "img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/e6003db362c1b47dbd510da97fbf981d20afb0c1.jpg" } }