Threat Group Cards: A Threat Actor Encyclopedia

Other threat group: Zombie Spider

Names	Zombie Spider (CrowdStrike)
Country	Russia
Motivation	Financial gain
First seen	2010
Description	(CrowdStrike) The primary threat actor, who was tracked by CrowdStrike as Zombie Spider, rose to prominence in the criminal underground under the moniker Peter Severa. The individual behind this handle is Peter Yuryevich LEVASHOV who was arrested in Spain when the final version of Kelihos was taken over in April 2017, and who recently pleaded guilty to operating the botnet for criminal purposes. For several years, pump-and-dump stock scams, dating ruses, credential phishing, money mule recruitment and rogue online pharmacy advertisements were the most common spam themes. In 2017, however, Kelihos was frequently used to spread other malware such as LuminosityLink, Zyklon HTTP, Neutrino, Nymaim, Gozi/ISFB, Panda Zeus, Kronos, and TrickBot. It was also observed spreading ransomware families including Shade, Cerber, and FileCrypt2. Kelihos has been observed to distribute TrickBot (Wizard Spider, Gold Blackburn) and Zeus Panda (Bamboo Spider, TA544).
Observed	Countries: Worldwide.
Tools used	Kelihos.
Operations performed	Feb 2017	Kelihos Spreads via USB Drives <https://www.securityweek.com/kelihos-spreads-usb-drives>
Counter operations	Mar 2012	On Wednesday, March 21, 2012, security experts from Dell SecureWorks, CrowdStrike, Kaspersky, and the Honeynet Project initiated efforts to detect and disrupt the operations of a botnet known as Waledac/Kelihos (also known as Hlux). <https://www.secureworks.com/research/waledac-kelihos-botnet-takeover>
	Apr 2017	Justice Department Announces Actions to Dismantle Kelihos Botnet <https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-actions-dismantle-kelihos-botnet-0>
	Jun 2021	Russian National Convicted of Charges Relating to Kelihos Botnet <https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-convicted-charges-relating-kelihos-botnet> <https://therecord.media/kelihos-botnet-creator-sentenced-to-time-served/>
Information	<https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/inside-the-takedown-of-zombie-spider-and-the-kelihos-botnet/> <https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/farewell-to-kelihos-and-zombie-spider/> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelihos_botnet>

Last change to this card: 09 August 2021

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