Moonlight Maze

Moonlight Maze is a notorious malware that emerged in the 1990s, primarily targeting government, military, and defense sector entities. This malicious software was designed to exploit and damage computer systems, often infiltrating them through suspicious downloads, emails, or websites without the user's knowledge. Once inside, it could steal personal information, disrupt operations, or even hold data hostage for ransom. The primary aim of Moonlight Maze was espionage, characterized by a reliably quiet assault on targets that rarely drew attention to itself. The malware has been associated with Turla, a Russian-speaking advanced persistent threat (APT) group, which has been observed using sophisticated tactics and recycled code from older attacks such as Moonlight Maze. Despite occasional high-profile operations like the Agent.BTZ incident in the early 2000s and the Moonlight Maze activity in the '90s, much of Turla's activity goes unnoticed. In a recent case, Turla was noted to be using command-and-control servers from a decade-old malware, Andromeda, to target and spy on Ukrainian systems. The significance of Moonlight Maze in the history of cyber warfare is recognized at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, where joint work on the malware is featured in a permanent exhibit. The complex nature of this malware and its impact on cybersecurity practices continue to be relevant topics of study and discussion in the field. Moonlight Maze serves as a reminder of the continuous threats posed by cyber-espionage activities and the need for robust security measures.