The Espionage Toolkit of Earth Alux: A Closer Look at its Advanced Techniques

VirTest allows users to pinpoint codes in their tools that cause file-based detections from security software and modify the pinpointed codes to bypass file-based detections.

Target industries

Earth Alux has predominantly targeted a diverse array of sectors, namely government, technology, logistics, manufacturing, telecommunications, IT services, and retail, reflecting its strategic focus on high-value and sensitive information across different industries.

The group’s activities have primarily been observed in the APAC region, specifically affecting countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Taiwan. In mid-2024, Earth Alux extended its operations to Latin America, with notable incidents reported in Brazil.

Conclusion and security recommendations

Earth Alux represents a sophisticated and evolving cyberespionage threat, leveraging a diverse toolkit and advanced techniques to infiltrate and compromise a range of sectors, particularly in the APAC region and Latin America.

Its reliance on the VARGEIT backdoor, along with the use of COBEACON and various loading methods, highlights a strategic approach to maintaining stealth and persistence within target environments.

The group’s ongoing testing and development of its tools further indicate a commitment to refining its capabilities and evading detection.

Understanding the operational methods associated with Earth Alux is crucial for developing effective defenses and mitigating the risks posed by such advanced cyber threats. To bolster protection against APT attacks, organizations can adopt a proactive security mindset by implementing security best practices such as the following:

• Periodically patch and update systems used, as attackers can take advantage of vulnerabilities to gain initial access.
• Perform vigilant monitoring to observe any unusual activity such as an uncommonly heavy network activity, reduced performance and speed, and so on.
• Leverage solutions that help organizations take a proactive security stance and manage security holistically with comprehensive prevention, detection, and response capabilities.

As organizations continue to face the challenges posed by Earth Alux, it is imperative to enhance their cybersecurity measures, adopt proactive threat detection strategies, and remain vigilant against the evolving tactics of this persistent adversary.

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• The Espionage Toolkit of Earth Alux: A Closer Look at its Advanced Techniques

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Hunting Queries

Trend Vision One Search App

Trend Vision One customers can use the Search App to match or hunt for the malicious indicators mentioned in this blog post with data in their environment.

Earth Alux Malware

malName: (*VARGEIT* OR *RAILLOAD* OR *RAILSETTER*) AND eventName: MALWARE_DETECTION

More hunting queries are available for Trend Vision One customers with Threat Insights Entitlement enabled.

Indicators of Compromise (IoC)

The indicators of compromise for this entry can be found here:

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