Mercenary hacker group targets companies with 3Ds Max malware

silversurfer

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Aug 17, 2014
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Security firm Bitdefender said it discovered what appears to be a new hacker group that is currently targeting companies across the globe with malware hidden inside malicious 3Ds Max plugins.

3Ds Max is a 3D computer graphics application developed by software giant Autodesk and is an app commonly installed and used by engineering, architecture, gaming, or software companies.

Earlier this month, on August 10, Autodesk published a security alert about a malicious plugin named "PhysXPluginMfx" that abused MAXScript, a scripting utility that ships with the 3Ds Max software.

The security advisory warned users that, if loaded inside 3Ds Max, the PhysXPluginMfx plugin would run malicious MAXScript operations to corrupt 3Ds Max settings, run malicious code, and propagate and infect other MAX files (*.max) on a Windows system, and help the malware spread to other users who received and opened the files.

Bitdefender, which took a closer look at this exploit in a report published today, said the purpose of this plugin was, in reality, to deploy a backdoor trojan that hackers could use to scour infected computers for sensitive files and later steal important documents.
Full report by Bitdefender (PDF): https://www.bitdefender.com/files/N...per-APTHackers-creat4740-en-EN-GenericUse.pdf
 

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