Notorious Remote Access Tool 'Poison Ivy' Makes A Resurgence

FireEye, a global network security company, announced the release of its report titled, 'Poison Ivy: Assessing Damage and Extracting Intelligence'. The research highlights the resurgence of Poison Ivy, a malware Remote Access Tool (RAT) that has remained popular and effective eight years after its original release-attacking dozens of Fortune 1000 firms. In conjunction with the research, FireEye is also releasing Calamine, a set of free tools to help organisations detect possible Poison Ivy infections."Remote access tools may be the hacker's equivalent of training wheels," said Darien Kindlund, Manager of Threat Intelligence at FireEye. "But dismissing this common breed of malware could be a costly mistake. Despite their reputation as a software toy for novice attackers - RATs remain a linchpin of many sophisticated cyber attacks and are used by numerous threat actors. Today, we see hundreds of attacks using Poison Ivy targeting very high profile enterprises."Poison Ivy has been used in several high-profile malware campaigns, most famously, the 2011 compromise of RSA SecurID data. In the same year, Poison Ivy powered a coordinated attack dubbed "Nitro" against chemical makers, government offices, defense firms, and human rights groups.The FireEye report identifies several ongoing threat actors currently using Poison Ivy, including:

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