The SonicWall Capture Labs Threat Research Team observed reports of a new variant family of ECHELON [ECHELON.A] actively spreading in the wild.

The Malware gathers confidential information from the computer such as login details, passwords and sends it to its own C&C Server.

Contents of the ECHELON Malware

Infection Cycle:

The Malware adds the following file to the system:

• Malware.exe
  • %Userprofile/Application Data\Quasar\Client.exe

The Malware adds the following keys to the Windows registry to ensure persistence upon reboot:

• HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Quasar Client Startup
  • %Userprofile/Application Data\Quasar\Client.exe

Once the computer is compromised, the Malware copies its own executable into %Userprofile% folder and runs the following commands:

A user’s data can be very valuable for an attacker, thereby more data translates to more profit. The main goal of this malware is to get as much user data as possible.

The malware performs key logging and steals clipboard data from target and saves in following file with its own encryption, here is an example:

Here is an example of encrypted file:

Here is an example of memory snapshot:

Command and Control (C&C) Traffic

ECHELON.A performs C&C communication over port 4782. The malware sends a victim’s system information to its own C&C server via following format, here are some examples:

SonicWall Capture Labs provides protection against this threat via the following signature:

• GAV: ECHELON.A (Trojan)