The UK and international allies have issued a joint advisory on Tuesday, May 9th, revealing technical details about Snake malware, a sophisticated espionage tool used by Russian cyber actors against their targets.

The advisory, which has been published by the National Cyber Security Centre – a part of GCHQ – and agencies from the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, is designed to help organisations understand how Snake operates and provides suggested mitigations to help defend against the threat.

Paul Chichester, NCSC Director of Operations, said: “The advisory lifts the lid on a highly sophisticated espionage tool used by Russian cyber actors, helping to expose the tactics and techniques being used against specific targets around the world.

“We strongly encourage organisations to read the technical information about Snake malware and implement the mitigations to help detect and defend against this advanced threat.”

Snake malware and its variants have been a core component in Russian espionage operations carried out by Centre 16 of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) for nearly two decades.

The implant has been used to collect sensitive information from specific targets, such as government networks, research facilities and journalists, with Snake infrastructure identified in more than 50 countries across the world.

The NCSC has issued the advisory with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Cyber National Mission Force, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre.

The advisory can be read on CISA’s website.

(Source: NCSC)