A Bard’s Story – how faux AI bots attempt to set up malware

My first “huh?” second was that the shortened URL didn’t embrace any Google reference however reasonably a hyperlink to rebrand.ly – a service with no apparent ties to Google and with workplaces in Dublin, Eire. It appeared odd for an web large to be utilizing the providers of one other supplier and my suspicion was triggered. I then re-read the textual content of the commercial and though I’m not a local English speaker, I discovered it onerous to consider that nobody appeared to have proofread that reasonably complicated content material. 

I then proceeded to examine the feedback part beneath the advert in pursuit of hints in the direction of doable fraud, however to my (little) shock, all of them appeared to like “the app”. Referring to only “the app” appeared reasonably normal, whereas others praised the “AI”, by no means mentioning Google in any respect. Some had been giving “a 5 Star score” (sic) – in a remark part?! By some means, miraculously, it appeared like everybody within the feedback had downloaded and examined the app on the identical time, solely to be writing their feedback at precisely the identical second – which in my case was “6 hours in the past” – solely including as much as my suspicions. 

I selected to fireside up my protected atmosphere to research slightly additional. First, I checked the rebrandly-Hyperlink at VirusTotal, which was flagged as malicious by 3/90 distributors. It is a first indicator, however no proof in any respect, as this may occasionally even be a false optimistic. 

So I went for it and opened the hyperlink in an nameless browser window – which turned out to be an ideal concept for the reason that hyperlink led to an precise Google web site – hxxps://websites.google.com/view/12345328?fbclid=IwAR2V87sG77nklWVC1tLS-R-fjrL_nNNDhjtDorxKHkN56g8oNVV09Edjgwo  

Had I been accessing the location whereas logged-in to my browser, particularly with my Google account in Chrome, the criminals would have doubtlessly gained far more details about me than I’d needed! 

Whereas the location is hosted at Google’s cloud infrastructure, the content material is, after all, not associated nor offered by Google themselves. It additionally provides away just a few extra hints that one thing shady is about to occur, right here. First, let’s have a look at the web page title on the browser tab: “Trang chủ” (Vietnamese for “dwelling web page”). Moreover, it appears apparent, as soon as once more, that the textual content on the location hasn’t been created by a local or a proficient English speaker. This means that the attackers behind this marketing campaign are based mostly in Vietnam, however after all, on no account that is adequate proof.

The “Obtain” button then results in hxxps://drive.google.com/u/0/uc?id=1sn-Lzt-2vJ_i-6I9lkbGgr_-IN2TVcA-&export=obtain – a private Google Drive house, making an attempt to create the phantasm the marketing campaign was an official providing by Google, although it merely was an affordable imply of distribution for the attackers. 

The file downloaded is a RAR archive – GoogleAIUpdata.rar. Scanning it or importing it to VirusTotal doesn’t result in something helpful as it’s “protected” with a password. One may surprise why if it was a real obtain from Google, you say? Nicely, this password “safety” acts solely as a simple manner for the attackers to get previous malware scanners – nothing else. If you happen to open the archive (with out unpacking it!) with the password “789” as offered on the obtain web page, you’ll see that the archive comprises an installer within the MSI (Microsoft Software program Installer) format – Google Bard AI setup.msi. Fortunately, unarchiving instruments like 7-zip present the choice to create SHA-256 (and different) file hashes, which then may be looked for on VirusTotal, once more, with out the necessity to unpack a doubtlessly dangerous file. 

Wanting up the file supplies the final proof that it is a malicious marketing campaign. 26/59 distributors flag the file as malicious, with ESET gifting away slightly extra data within the detection title. JS/ExtenBro.Agent.EK is a JavaScript agent which can attempt to alter your (browser) settings, stopping entry to sure safety vendor websites to eliminate it after an an infection, however largely it serves as Adware, displaying annoying and undesirable adverts on principally any web site you attempt to entry and promising the attackers cash with every advert displayed on a sufferer’s machine. 

On the time of writing the marketing campaign was nonetheless seen in several variations, however I reported it and can most definitely not be the one one doing so. Sadly, plainly this could be a much bigger marketing campaign as I’ve now encountered different examples as “meta AI” or different faux “Google AI” adverts. In spite of everything, this marketing campaign may be thought-about a determined try to make a “fast buck” out of the present and ongoing AI hype, spreading ever so annoying Adware to make much more cash. On no account this has been a complicated marketing campaign by any means. However the unhappy actuality is that folks will fall for such scams within the hopes of getting their palms on the newest applied sciences. One other unhappy reality is that we won’t depend on tech giants equivalent to Fb and Google to supply 100% clear and secure environments.  

I hope this weblog put up helps slightly in recognizing the percentages and hints and how you can examine a possible rip-off or malware assault with out the necessity for costly instruments, proper from dwelling.