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Roughly nine years ago, KrebsOnSecurity profiled a Pakistan-based cybercrime group called “The Manipulaters,” a sprawling web hosting network of phishing and spam delivery platforms. In January 2024, The Manipulaters pleaded with this author to unpublish previous stories about their work, claiming the group had turned over a new leaf and gone legitimate. But new research suggests that while they have improved the quality of their products and services, these nitwits still fail spectacularly at hiding their illegal activities.
In May 2015, KrebsOnSecurity published a brief writeup about the brazen Manipulaters team, noting that they openly operated hundreds of web sites selling tools designed to trick people into giving up usernames and passwords, or deploying malicious software on their PCs.
Manipulaters advertisement for “Office 365 Private Page with Antibot” phishing kit sold on the domain heartsender,com. “Antibot” refers to functionality that attempts to evade automated detection techniques, keeping a phish deployed as long as possible. Image: DomainTools.
The core brand of The Manipulaters has long been a shared cybercriminal identity named “Saim Raza,” who for the past decade has peddled a popular spamming and phishing service variously called “Fudtools,” “Fudpage,” “Fudsender,” “FudCo,” etc. The term “FUD” in those names stands for “Fully Un-Detectable,” and it refers to cybercrime resources that will evade detection by security tools like antivirus software or anti-spam appliances.
A September 2021 story here checked in on The Manipulaters, and found that Saim Raza and company were prospering under their FudCo brands, which they secretly managed from a front company called We Code Solutions.
That piece worked backwards from all of the known Saim Raza email addresses to identify Facebook profiles for multiple We Code Solutions employees, many of whom could be seen celebrating company anniversaries gathered around a giant cake with the words “FudCo” painted in icing.
Since that story ran, KrebsOnSecurity has heard from this Saim Raza identity on two occasions. The first was in the weeks following the Sept. 2021 piece, when one of Saim Raza’s known email addresses — bluebtcus@gmail.com — pleaded to have the story taken down.
“Hello, we already leave that fud etc before year,” the Saim Raza identity wrote. “Why you post us? Why you destroy our lifes? We never harm anyone. Please remove it.”
Not wishing to be manipulated by a phishing gang, KrebsOnSecurity ignored those entreaties. But on Jan. 14, 2024, KrebsOnSecurity heard from the same bluebtcus@gmail.com address, apropos of nothing.
“Please remove this article,” Sam Raza wrote, linking to the 2021 profile. “Please already my police register case on me. I already leave everything.”
Asked to elaborate on the police investigation, Saim Raza said they were freshly released from jail.
“I was there many days,” the reply explained. “Now back after bail. Now I want to start my new work.”
Exactly what that “new work” might entail, Saim Raza wouldn’t say. But a new report from researchers at DomainTools.com finds that several computers associated with The Manipulaters have been massively hacked by malicious data- and password-snarfing malware for quite some time.
DomainTools says the malware infections on Manipulaters PCs exposed “vast swaths of account-related data along with an outline of the group’s membership, operations, and position in the broader underground economy.”
“Curiously, the large subset of identified Manipulaters customers appear to be compromised by the same stealer malware,” DomainTools wrote. “All observed customer malware infections began after the initial compromise of Manipulaters PCs, which raises a number of questions regarding the origin of those infections.”
A number of questions, indeed. The core Manipulaters product these days is a spam delivery service called HeartSender, whose homepage openly advertises phishing kits targeting users of various Internet companies, including Microsoft 365, Yahoo, AOL, Intuit, iCloud and ID.me, to name a few.
A screenshot of the homepage of HeartSender 4 displays an IP address tied to fudtoolshop@gmail.com. Image: DomainTools.
HeartSender customers can interact with the subscription service via the website, but the product appears to be far more effective and user-friendly if one downloads HeartSender as a Windows executable program. Whether that HeartSender program was somehow compromised and used to infect the service’s customers is unknown.
However, DomainTools also found the hosted version of HeartSender service leaks an extraordinary amount of user information that probably is not intended to be publicly accessible. Apparently, the HeartSender web interface has several webpages that are accessible to unauthenticated users, exposing customer credentials along with support requests to HeartSender developers.
“Ironically, the Manipulaters may create more short-term risk to their own customers than law enforcement,” DomainTools wrote. “The data table “User Feedbacks” (sic) exposes what appear to be customer authentication tokens, user identifiers, and even a customer support request that exposes root-level SMTP credentials–all visible by an unauthenticated user on a Manipulaters-controlled domain. Given the risk for abuse, this domain will not be published.”
This is hardly the first time The Manipulaters have shot themselves in the foot. In 2019, The Manipulaters failed to renew their core domain name — manipulaters[.]com — the same one tied to so many of the company’s past and current business operations. That domain was quickly scooped up by Scylla Intel, a cyber intelligence firm that focuses on connecting cybercriminals to their real-life identities.
Currently, The Manipulaters seem focused on building out and supporting HeartSender, which specializes in spam and email-to-SMS spamming services.
“The Manipulaters’ newfound interest in email-to-SMS spam could be in response to the massive increase in smishing activity impersonating the USPS,” DomainTools wrote. “Proofs posted on HeartSender’s Telegram channel contain numerous references to postal service impersonation, including proving delivery of USPS-themed phishing lures and the sale of a USPS phishing kit.”
Reached via email, the Saim Raza identity declined to respond to questions about the DomainTools findings.
“First [of] all we never work on virus or compromised computer etc,” Raza replied. “If you want to write like that fake go ahead. Second I leave country already. If someone bind anything with exe file and spread on internet its not my fault.”
Asked why they left Pakistan, Saim Raza said the authorities there just wanted to shake them down.
“After your article our police put FIR on my [identity],” Saim Raza explained. “FIR” in this case stands for “First Information Report,” which is the initial complaint in the criminal justice system of Pakistan.
“They only get money from me nothing else,” Saim Raza continued. “Now some officers ask for money again again. Brother, there is no good law in Pakistan just they need money.”
Saim Raza has a history of being slippery with the truth, so who knows whether The Manipulaters and/or its leaders have in fact fled Pakistan (it may be more of an extended vacation abroad). With any luck, these guys will soon venture into a more Western-friendly, “good law” nation and receive a warm welcome by the local authorities.
During the reconnaissance phase, an attacker searches for any information about his target to create a profile that will later help him to identify possible ways to get in an organization.
CloudPulse is a powerful tool that simplifies and enhances the analysis of SSL certificate data. It leverages the extensive repository of SSL certificates obtained from the AWS EC2 machines available at Trickest Cloud. With CloudPulse , security researchers can efficiently explore SSL certificate details, uncover potential vulnerabilities, and gather valuable insights for a variety of security-related tasks.
Simplifies security assessments with a user-friendly interface. It allows you to effortlessly find company's asset's on aws cloud:
1- Download CloudPulse :
FreshRSS 
git clone https://github.com/yousseflahouifi/CloudPulse
cd CloudPulse/
2- Run docker compose :
docker-compose up -d
3- Run script.py script
docker-compose exec web python script.py
4 - Now go to http://:8000/search and enjoy the search engine
1- download CloudPulse :
git clone https://github.com/yousseflahouifi/CloudPulse
cd CloudPulse/
2- Setup virtual environment :
python3 -m venv myenv
source myenv/bin/activate
3- Install requirements.txt file :
pip install -r requirements.txt
4- run an instance of elasticsearch using docker :
docker run -d --name elasticsearch -p 9200:9200 -e "discovery.type=single-node" elasticsearch:6.6.1
5- update script.py and settings file to the host 'localhost':
#script.py
es = Elasticsearch([{'host': 'localhost', 'port': 9200}])
#se/settings.py
ELASTICSEARCH_DSL = {
'default': {
'hosts': 'localhost:9200'
},
}
6- Run script.py to index data in elasticsearch:
python script.py
7- Run the app:
python manage.py runserver 0:8000
Included in the CloudPulse repository is a sample data.csv file containing close to 4,000 records, which provides a glimpse of the tool's capabilities. For the full dataset, visit the Trickest Cloud repository clone the data and update data.csv file (it contains close to 9 millions data)
as an example searching for .mil data gives:
searching for tesla as en example gives :
CloudPulse heavily depends on the data.csv file, which is a sample dataset extracted from the larger collection maintained by Trickest. While the sample dataset provides valuable insights, the tool's full potential is realized when used in conjunction with the complete dataset, which is accessible in the Trickest repository here.
Users are encouraged to refer to the Trickest dataset for a more comprehensive and up-to-date analysis.
Fast and lightweight, UDPX is a single-packet UDP scanner written in Go that supports the discovery of over 45 services with the ability to add custom ones. It is easy to use and portable, and can be run on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. Unlike internet-wide scanners like zgrab2 and zmap, UDPX is designed for portability and ease of use.
Scanning UDP ports is very different than scanning TCP - you may, or may not get any result back from probing an UDP port as UDP is a connectionless protocol. UDPX implements a single-packet based approach. A protocol-specific packet is sent to the defined service (port) and waits for a response. The limit is set to 500 ms by default and can be changed by -w flag. If the service sends a packet back within this time, it is certain that it is indeed listening on that port and is reported as open.
A typical technique is to send 0 byte UDP packets to each port on the target machine. If we receive an "ICMP Port Unreachable" message, then the port is closed. If an UDP response is received to the probe (unusual), the port is open. If we get no response at all, the state is open or filtered, meaning that the port is either open or packet filters are blocking the communication. This method is not implemented as there is no added value (UDPX tests only for specific protocols).
Concurrency: By default, concurrency is set to 32 connections only (so you don't crash anything). If you have a lot of hosts to scan, you can set it to 128 or 256 connections. Based on your hardware, connection stability, and ulimit (on *nix), you can run 512 or more concurrent connections, but this is not recommended.
To scan a single IP:
udpx -t 1.1.1.1
To scan a CIDR with maximum of 128 connections and timeout of 1000 ms:
udpx -t 1.2.3.4/24 -c 128 -w 1000
To scan targets from file with maximum of 128 connections for only specific service:
udpx -tf targets.txt -c 128 -s ipmi
Target can be:
IPv6 is supported.
If you want to store the results, use flag -o [filename]. Output is in JSONL format, as can be seen bellow:
{"address":"45.33.32.156","hostname":"scanme.nmap.org","port":123,"service":"ntp","response_data":"JAME6QAAAEoAAA56LU9vp+d2ZPwOYIyDxU8jS3GxUvM="}
__ ______ ____ _ __
/ / / / __ \/ __ \ |/ /
/ / / / / / / /_/ / /
/ /_/ / /_/ / ____/ |
\____/_____/_/ /_/|_|
v1.0.2-beta, by @nullt3r
Usage of ./udpx-linux-amd64:
-c int
Maximum number of concurrent connections (default 32)
-nr
Do not randomize addresses
-o string
Output file to write results
-s string
Scan only for a specific service, one of: ard, bacnet, bacnet_rpm, chargen, citrix, coap, db, db, digi1, digi2, digi3, dns, ipmi, ldap, mdns, memcache, mssql, nat_port_mapping, natpmp, netbios, netis, ntp, ntp_monlist, openvpn, pca_nq, pca_st, pcanywhere, portmap, qotd, rdp, ripv, sentinel, sip, snmp1, snmp2, snmp3, ssdp, tftp, ubiquiti, ubiquiti_discovery_v1, ubiquiti_discovery_v2, upnp, valve, wdbrpc, wsd, wsd_malformed, xdmcp, kerberos, ike
-sp
Show received packets (only first 32 bytes)
-t string
IP/CIDR to scan
-tf string
File containing IPs/CIDRs to scan
-w int
Maximum time to wait for a response (socket timeout) in ms (default 500)
You can grab prebuilt binaries in the release section. If you want to build UDPX from source, follow these steps:
From git:
git clone https://github.com/nullt3r/udpx
cd udpx
go build ./cmd/udpx
You can find the binary in the current directory.
Or via go:
go install -v github.com/nullt3r/udpx/cmd/udpx@latest
After that, you can find the binary in $HOME/go/bin/udpx. If you want, move binary to /usr/local/bin/ so you can call it directly.
The UDPX supports more then 45 services. The most interesting are:
The complete list of supported services:
Please send a feature request with protocol name and port and I will make it happen. Or add it on your own, the file pkg/probes/probes.go contains all available payloads. Specify the protocol name, port and packet data (hex-encoded).
{
Name: "ike",
Payloads: []string{"5b5e64c03e99b51100000000000000000110020000000000000001500000013400000001000000010000012801010008030000240101"},
Port: []int{500, 4500},
},I am not responsible for any damages. You are responsible for your own actions. Scanning or attacking targets without prior mutual consent can be illegal.
UDPX is distributed under MIT License.
The protocol aims to develop a application layer abstraction for the Hyper Service Transfer Protocol.
HSTP is a recursion as nature of HSTP. This protocol implements itself as a interface. On every internet connected device, there is a HSTP instance. That's why the adoption is not needed. HSTP already running top of the internet. We have just now achieved to explain the protocol over protocols on heterogeneous networks. That's why do not compare with web2, web3 or vice versa.
HSTP is a application representation interface for heterogeneous networks.
HSTP interface enforces to implement a set of methods to be able to communicate with other nodes in the network. Thus serves, clients, and other nodes can communicate with each other with trust based, end to end encrypted way. By the time the node resolution is based on fastest path resolution algorithm I wrote.
Story time!
A small overview
Think about, we're in the situation of one mother and one father lives a happy life. They had a baby! Suddenly, the mother needed to drink pills regularly to cure a disase. The pill is a poison for the baby. The baby is crying and the mother calls father because he is the only trusted person to help the baby. But the father sometime can not stay at home, he needs to do something to feed the baby. Father heard one milkman has fresh and high quality milks for low price. Father decides to try to talk the milkman, milkman deliver the milk to the father, father carry the milk to the mother. Mother give the milk to the baby. Baby is happy now and the baby sleeps, mother see the baby is happy.
The family never buy the milk from outside, this is the first time they buy milk for the baby: (Mom do not know the number of milkman, milkman do not know the home address)
As steps:
0) - Baby wants to drink milk.
1) - Baby cries to the mom.
3) - Mom see the baby is crying.
4) - Mom checks the fridge. Mom sees the milk is empty. (Mother is only trusting the Father)
5) - Mom calls the father.
6) - Father calls the milkman.
7) - Milkman delivers the milk to father.
8) - Father delivers the milk to mom.
9) - Mom gives the milk to the baby.
10) - Baby drinks the milk.
11) - Baby is happy.
12) - Baby sleeps.
13) - Mother see the baby is happy and sleeps.
14) - In order to be able to contact the milkman again, the mother asks the father to tell her that she wants the milkman to save the address of the house and the mobile phone of the mother.
15) - Mother calls the father.
16) - Father calls the milkman.
17) - Milkman saves the address of the house and the mobile phone of the mother.
Oops, tomorrow baby wakes up and cries again,
0) - Baby wants to drink milk.
1) - Baby cries to the mom.
2) - Mom see the baby is crying.
3) - Mom checks the fridge. Mom sees the milk is empty. (Mother is trusting the Father had right decision in the first place by giving the address to the milkman, and the milkman had right decision in the first place by saving the address of the house and the mobile phone of the mother.)
4) - Mother calls the milkman (Mother is trusting the Father's decision only)
5) - Milkman delivers the milk to mom.
6) - Mom gives the milk to the baby.
7) - Baby drinks the milk.
8) - Baby is happy.
9) - Baby sleeps.
10) - Mother see the baby is happy and sleeps.
11) - Mother is happy and the mother trust the milkman now.
this document you're reading is a manifest for the internet people to connecting the other people by trusting the service serve the client and the trust only can be maintainable by providing good services. trust is the key, but not enough for survive. the service has to be reliable, consistent, cheap. unless the people will decide to not ask from you again.
So, it's easy right? It's so simple to understand, who are those people in the story?
also,
Baby is in trusted hands. Nothing to worry about. They love you, you will understand when you grow up and have a child.
// Technical step explanation soon, but not that hard as you see.
HSTP is a interface, which is a set of methods that must be implemented by the application layer. The interface is used to communicate with other nodes in the network. The interface is designed to be used in a heterogeneous network.
HSTP shall be implemented on any layer of network connected devices/environment.
HSTP node could be a TCP server, HTTP server, static file or contract in any chain. One HSTP node is able to call any other HSTP node. Thus the nodes can call each other freely, they can check their system status, and they can communicate with each other.
HSTP is already implemented on language level, by people for people. English is mostly adopted language around the Earth. JavaScript could be known also mostly adopted language for browser environments. Solidity is for EVM-based chains, hyperbees for TCP based networks, etc.
HSTP interface shall be applied between any HSTP connected devices/networks.
Infinitive scaling options: Any TCP connected device can talk with any other TCP connected device over HSTP. That means any web browser is serve of another HSTP node, and any web browser can call any other web browser.
Uniform application representation interface: HSTP is a uniform interface, which is a set of methods that must be implemented by the application layer.
Heterogeneous networks: Any participant of network is allowing to share the resources with other participants of the network. The resources can be CPU, memory, storage, network, etc.
Conjucation of web versions Since the blockchain technologies calling as web3, people started discussing about the differanciates between the web's. Comparing is a behaviour for incremental numeric system education's mindset. Which one is better: none of them. We have to build systems could talk in one uniform protocol, underneath services could be anything. HSTP is aiming for that.
Registry interface Registry interface designed for using on TCP layer, to be able to register top level tld nodes in the network. The first implementation of HSTP TCP relay will resolve hstp/
The registry has two parts of the interface:
Registry implementation needs two HSTP node,
Router interface
For demonstration purposes, we will use the following solidity example:
// SPDX-License-Identifier: GNU-3.0-or-later
pragma solidity ^0.8.0;
import "./HSTP.sol";
import "./ERC165.sol";
enum Operation {
Query,
Mutation
}
struct Response {
uint256 status;
string body;
}
struct Registry {
HSTP resolver;
}
// HSTP/Router.sol
abstract contract Router is ERC165 {
event Log(address indexed sender, Operation operation, bytes payload);
event Register(address indexed sender, Registry registry);
mapping(string => Registry) public routes;
function reply(string memory name, Operation _operation, bytes memory payload) public virtual payable returns(Response memory response) {
emit Log(msg.sender, _operation, payload);
// Traverse upwards and downwards of the tree.
// Tries to find the closest path for given operation.
// If the route is registered on HSTP node, reply from children node.
// If the node do not have the route on this node, ask for parent.
if (routes[name]) {
if (_operation == Operation.Query) {
return this.query(payload);
} else if (_operation == Operation.Mutation) {
return this.mutation(payload);
}
}
return super.reply(name, _operation, payload);
}
function query(string memory name, bytes memory payload) public view returns (Response memory) {
return routes[name].resolver.query(payload);
}
function mutation(string memory name, bytes memory payload) public payable returns (Response memory) {
return routes[name].resolver.mutation(payload);
}
function register(string memory name, HSTP node) public {
Registry memory registry = Registry({
resolver: node
});
emit Register(msg.sender, registry);
routes[name] = registry;
}
function supportsInterface(bytes4 interfaceId) public view virtual override returns (bool) {
return interfaceId == type(HSTP).interfaceId;
}
}
HSTP interface
// SPDX-License-Identifier: GNU-3.0-or-later
pragma solidity ^0.8.0;
import "./Router.sol";
// Stateless Hyper Service Transfer Protocol for on-chain services.
// Will implement: EIP-4337 when it's on final stage.
// https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/blob/master/EIPS/eip-4337.md
abstract contract HSTP is Router {
constructor(string memory name) {
register(name, this);
}
function query(bytes memory payload)
public
view
virtual
returns (Response memory);
function mutation(bytes memory payload)
public
payable
virtual
returns (Response memory);
}Example HSTP Node
HSTP node has access to call parent router by super.reply(name, operation, payload) method. HSTP node can also call children nodes by calling this.query(payload) or this.mutation(payload) methods.
A HSTP node can be a smart contract, or a web browser, or a TCP connected device.
Node has full capability of adding more HSTP nodes to the network or itself as sub services.
HSTP HSTP
/ \ / \
HSTP HSTP HSTP
/ \
HSTP HSTP
/ /
HSTP HSTP
// SPDX-License-Identifier: UNLICENSED
pragma solidity ^0.8.0;
import "hstp/HSTP.sol";
// Stateless Hyper Service Transfer Protocol for on-chain services.
contract Todo is HSTP("Todo") {
struct ITodo {
string todo;
}
function addTodo(ITodo memory request) public payable returns(Response memory response) {
response.body = request.todo;
return response;
}
// Override for HSTP.
function query(bytes memory payload)
public
view
virtual
override
returns (Response memory) {}
function mutation(bytes memory payload)
public
payable
virtual
override
returns (Response memory) {
(ITodo memory request) = abi.decode(payload, (ITodo));
return this.addTodo(request);
}
}</ code>Ethereum proposal is draft now, but the protocol has referance implementation Todo.sol.
You can test the HSTP and try on remix now.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: UNLICENSED
pragma solidity ^0.8.0;
import "hstp/HSTP.sol";
// Stateless Hyper Service Transfer Protocol for on-chain services.
contract Todo is HSTP("Todo") {
struct TodoRequest {
string todo;
}
function addTodo(TodoRequest memory request) public payable returns(Response memory response) {
response.body = request.todo;
return response;
}
// Override for HSTP.
function query(bytes memory payload)
public
view
virtual
override
returns (Response memory) {}
function mutation(bytes memory payload)
public
payable
virtual
override
returns (Response memory) {
(TodoRequest memory todoRequest) = abi.decode(payload, (TodoRequest));
return this.addTodo(tod oRequest);
}
}GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE V3
