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Threat Actor

Amavaldo

amavaldo · latin_america_brazilian_organized_cybercrime · active since 2019-08

Amavaldo (canonical ESET naming per August 2019 "From Carnaval to Cinco de Mayo, The journey of Amavaldo" disclosure, FIRST entry in canonical ESET Dirty Dozen Latin American banking trojan series, with subsequent Casbaneiro número dois per ESET October 2019) is a Brazilian-origin banking trojan that was active through November 2020 when it became dormant per ESET December 2021 Dirty Dozen retrospective ("Besides Amavaldo, which became dormant around November 2020, all the other families remain active to this day", operationally significant only ESET Dirty Dozen family that went dormant during series)

Brazilian-origin organized cybercrime attribution via ESET canonical August 2019 first documentation + ESET October 3, 2019 Casbaneiro analysis cluster-defining Amavaldo- related-family identification ("Casbaneiro is closely related to Amavaldo. Both pieces of malware use the same, uncommon cryptographic algorithm in the injector component, they have used a very similar PowerShell script in one of their campaigns and they have been seen distributing a very similar email tool") + ESET January 2021 Vadokrist analysis Amavaldo-family-connection ("Vadokrist shares several important features with families we have described earlier in the series, namely Amavaldo, Casbaneiro, Grandoreiro and Mekotio") + ESET Dirty Dozen canonical December 15, 2021 retrospective with Amavaldo dormancy disclosure + Threatpost canonical October 2020 industry coverage.

standalone malware platform cluster paralleling ousaban + numando + vadokrist in v0.1.142 LATAM banking trojan operators cell expansion (extending v0.1.139 javali + melcoz + mispadu + casbaneiro)

operational target profile Brazil + Mexico primary targets per ESET 2019-2020 tracking + Spanish/Portuguese- speaking countries focus.

operational attack architecture: (1) fake banking pop-up overlay credential capture typical LATAM banking trojan tradecraft + backdoor functionality + screenshots + mouse/keyboard simulation + keystroke capture.

(2) cluster-defining Casbaneiro-related-family signature (same uncommon cryptographic algorithm in injector + similar PowerShell script + similar email tool, curated inversely with v0.1.139 casbaneiro.yaml cluster-cell coherence)

(3) Delphi programming language origin signature typical LATAM banking trojan codebase.

(4) spam distribution typical LATAM banking trojan distribution.

(5) cluster-defining Vadokrist-family-ancestor signature per ESET January 2021 ("Vadokrist shares several important features with families we have described earlier in the series, namely Amavaldo, Casbaneiro, Grandoreiro and Mekotio"), operationally established as ancestral influence on subsequent Vadokrist family.

(6) cluster- defining dormancy since November 2020 per ESET December 2021 retrospective, distinctive operational signature distinguishing Amavaldo from active Mispadu + Casbaneiro + Ousaban + Numando + Vadokrist + Guildma + Grandoreiro + Mekotio that remained active through 2021+ period.

cluster fills the ESET- Dirty-Dozen-FIRST-entry + Casbaneiro-inverse-related- family + Vadokrist-ancestor + dormancy-since-November- 2020 position in Latin American banking trojan operators cell.

canonical illustration of ESET Dirty Dozen series FIRST entry + Casbaneiro-related-family cryptographic lineage + Brazilian-origin LATAM banking trojan dormancy precedent cited in essentially all subsequent Latin American banking trojan industry analyses through 2019-2026 period.

latin_america_brazilian_organized_cybercrime confidence: high 7 aliases
Sigma rules200 YARA rules0 Live IOCs0 CVEs exploited0

Profile

Amavaldo (canonical ESET naming per August 2019 "From Carnaval to Cinco de Mayo, The journey of Amavaldo" disclosure, FIRST entry in canonical ESET Dirty Dozen Latin American banking trojan series) is a Brazilian-origin banking trojan that was active through November 2020 when it became dormant per ESET December 2021 retrospective. Brazilian-origin organized cybercrime attribution via ESET canonical August 2019 first documentation + ESET October 2019 Casbaneiro-related-family identification + ESET January 2021 Vadokrist family- connection + ESET Dirty Dozen canonical December 2021 retrospective. Standalone malware platform cluster paralleling ousaban + numando + vadokrist in v0.1.142 LATAM banking trojan operators cell expansion (extending v0.1.139 javali + melcoz + mispadu + casbaneiro).

Operational target profile
  • Brazil + Mexico primary targets per ESET 2019- 2020 tracking.
  • Banking + financial institutions primary target category.
  • Spanish + Portuguese-speaking countries focus Operational attack architecture: (1) Fake banking pop-up overlay credential capture (signature): typical LATAM banking trojan tradecraft (2) Casbaneiro-related-family signature (cluster- defining): per ESET, "same, uncommon cryptographic algorithm in the injector component" + "very similar PowerShell script" + "very similar email tool" (3) Delphi programming language origin (signature) (4) Spam distribution typical LATAM (signature) (5) Vadokrist-family-ancestor signature (cluster- defining): per ESET, Vadokrist shares features with Amavaldo + Casbaneiro + Grandoreiro + Mekotio (6) Dormancy since November 2020 (cluster-defining): per ESET December 2021 retrospective, only ESET Dirty Dozen family that went dormant during series The cluster fills the ESET-Dirty-Dozen-FIRST-entry + Casbaneiro-inverse-related-family + Vadokrist- ancestor + dormancy-since-November-2020 position in the Latin American banking trojan operators cell.

Aliases

7
amavaldoamavaldo_banking_trojanamavaldo_malwareamavaldo eset dirty dozen firstamavaldo brazil mexico banking trojanamavaldo casbaneiro related family esetamavaldo dormant november 2020

Notable Campaigns

7
pre-2019Amavaldo Origin, Pre-August 2019 Brazil + Mexico Targeting
2021Vadokrist Family-Connection (January 2021)
2020-2026Amavaldo Dormancy Signature (November 2020, Present)
2019-2026Continued Industry Reference Status (2019-2026)
2019-2020Amavaldo Active Period (2019-November 2020)
2019ESET Canonical First Disclosure (August 2019)
2019Casbaneiro-Related-Family Signature (October 3, 2019)

Attribution & Reporting

Attributed by
ESET WeLiveSecurity (canonical August 2019 first documentation, "From Carnaval to Cinco de Mayo, The journey of Amavaldo" FIRST in Dirty Dozen series)ESET WeLiveSecurity (canonical October 2019 Casbaneiro analysis with Amavaldo-related-family identification)ESET WeLiveSecurity (canonical January 2021 Vadokrist analysis with Amavaldo-family-connection)ESET WeLiveSecurity (canonical December 15, 2021 Dirty Dozen retrospective with Amavaldo dormancy disclosure)Threatpost (canonical October 2020 LatAm Banking Trojans industry coverage)ESET Research Team (canonical Latin American banking trojan white paper documenting family similarities)Malpedia Software Profile (Amavaldo)
Key reporting
reportESET WeLiveSecurity: From Carnaval to Cinco de Mayo, The journey of Amavaldo (August 2019), canonical FIRST in Dirty Dozen series
reportESET WeLiveSecurity: Casbaneiro, Dangerous cooking with a secret ingredient (October 3, 2019), canonical Amavaldo-related-family identification
reportESET WeLiveSecurity: Vadokrist, A wolf in sheep's clothing (January 21, 2021), canonical Amavaldo-family-connection
reportESET WeLiveSecurity: The Dirty Dozen of Latin America, From Amavaldo to Zumanek (December 15, 2021), canonical retrospective with Amavaldo dormancy
reportThreatpost: LatAm Banking Trojans Collaborate in Never-Before-Seen Effort (October 2020)
reportESET Research Team: canonical Latin American banking trojan white paper documenting family similarities
reportMalpedia Software Profile: Amavaldo

Operational

State sponsor

Brazilian-origin organized cybercrime, ESET Dirty Dozen FIRST canonical member, active until November 2020 now dormant. Operationally separate from state- sponsored APT activity. Attribution chain: (1) ESET canonical August 2019 first documentation: ESET WeLiveSecurity published "From Carnaval to Cinco de Mayo, The journey of Amavaldo" as FIRST entry in canonical ESET Dirty Dozen Latin American banking trojan series.

Operationally significant, Amavaldo started the series, with Casbaneiro número dois ("number two") in series per ESET October 2019 disclosure. (2) ESET canonical Casbaneiro-related-family identification October 2019: per ESET Casbaneiro analysis: "Casbaneiro is closely related to Amavaldo. Both pieces of malware use the same, uncommon cryptographic algorithm in the injector component, they have used a very similar PowerShell script in one of their campaigns and they have been seen distributing a very similar email tool." Operationally significant operator-relation signature curated inversely with v0.1.139 casbaneiro.yaml.

(3) ESET canonical Vadokrist family-connection January 2021: per ESET Vadokrist analysis: "Vadokrist shares several important features with families we have described earlier in the series, namely Amavaldo, Casbaneiro, Grandoreiro and Mekotio." Operationally established Amavaldo as ancestral influence on subsequent Vadokrist family. (4) ESET Dirty Dozen canonical December 15, 2021 retrospective: per ESET WeLiveSecurity "The Dirty Dozen of Latin America: From Amavaldo to Zumanek", Amavaldo identified as dormant: "Besides Amavaldo, which became dormant around November 2020, all the other families remain active to this day." Operationally significant, Amavaldo only ESET Dirty Dozen family that went dormant during series.

(5) Threatpost canonical October 2020 industry coverage: per Threatpost: "Multiple, distinct malware families have plagued Latin American banking customers for years
  • the variants include Amavaldo, Casbaneiro, Grandoreiro, Guildma, Krachulka, Lokorrito, Mekotio, Mispadu, Numando, Vadokrist and Zumanek, according to ESET." Operational mission objective: Banking credential theft via fake pop-up overlay tradecraft + backdoor functionality. Typical LATAM banking trojan operational pattern with shared uncommon cryptographic algorithm to Casbaneiro establishing operator-relation lineage.
Operational target profile
  • Brazil + Mexico primary targets per ESET 2019-2020 tracking.
  • Banking + financial institutions per ESET.
  • Spanish + Portuguese-speaking countries focus per ESET (typical LATAM banking trojan) The cluster fills the ESET-Dirty-Dozen-FIRST-entry + Casbaneiro-inverse-related-family position in the Latin American banking trojan operators cell.
Motivations
banking_credential_theft_brazil_mexico_targeting, eset_dirty_dozen_first_canonical_entry_status, casbaneiro_related_family_cryptographic_lineage_inverse_relation, vadokrist_family_ancestral_influence, dormant_since_november_2020_per_eset_retrospective
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Detection Blind Spots

60 techniques
Across this actor’s 60 mapped techniques, the share covered by each detection layer. Low bars are where you’d be blind if this actor targeted you.
Behavioral / log (Sigma)59/60 · 98%
Analytics (MITRE CAR)26/60 · 43%
Runtime / container (Falco)7/60 · 11%
File / malware (YARA)0/60 · 0%
Network (Suricata/Snort)16/60 · 26%
Vuln scan (Nuclei)0/60 · 0%

Atomic Test Plan

30 techniques
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