Both firms published blogs in early 2022 regarding the resurgence of . Unit 42 : Look for their research on Emotet's evolution .
Around April 2022, security researchers tracked a significant spike in malicious emails using password-protected .7z archives. : Often delivered the Emotet Trojan. APRIL_10-04-2022.7z
: The password was usually provided in the email body, making the user feel "secure" while actually helping the malware bypass the gateway. Both firms published blogs in early 2022 regarding
The SANS "Handler's Diary" provided real-time analysis in April 2022. They detailed how attackers switched to .7z files to bypass email filters that were previously blocking .zip files. 2. Brad Duncan's Malware-Traffic-Analysis This is the "gold standard" for this specific file. : PCAP files and malware samples. Link : Malware-Traffic-Analysis.net : Often delivered the Emotet Trojan
: They explain why the hackers used the .7z format (it has a higher compression ratio and was less scrutinized by legacy scanners). 💡 Why this file is "Interesting"
The most detailed technical breakdown of this specific file naming convention and campaign can be found on these cybersecurity blogs: 1. SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC)