Abside Networks debuts new private LTE user device powered by Sequans’ Cassiopeia LTE-advanced chip platform

Sequans Communications announced that Abside Networks has introduced its second end user device based on Sequans’ Cassiopeia LTE-advanced technology.  The Ravelin Gen3 uE is a Class 1 FR1 uE designed to operate in specialized, non-3GPP frequency LTE networks and Sequans modified its Cassiopeia technology to allow operation on non-standard frequencies. 

The rugged design of the Ravelin Gen3 uE combined with the customizations of Sequans have resulted in a high-performance solution that is now available to Abside’s private LTE customers. The Ravelin Gen3 uE is a highly integrated, multi-band product designed to replace the non-homogenous technologies currently used in defense, PMR, and private network ecosystems.

The Abside Networks’ Ravelin Gen3 uE is the second device to come to mass market via the Abside/Sequans collaboration. The Ravelin Gen3 a high power (+1Watt / +30 dBm) ruggedized IP54, extended temperature (70℃) uE operating across multiple non-3GPP bands in either FDD or TDD modes and supporting LTE standard bandwidths of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz. Ravelin Gen3 is also designed to counter interferences from challenging radio environments. 

In addition, Ravelin Gen3 is fully interoperable with Bastion, the Abside eNodeB infrastructure that also supports non-3GPP LTE frequency ranges of 1780 to 1850 MHz, 2200 to 2300 MHz, and 4400 to 5000 MHz for a combination of more than 760 MHz of total addressable spectrum across 16 LTE bands. 

The Ravelin Gen3 peak data rates are DL 150 Mbps with 2X2 MIMO, and UL 50 Mbps with 1X2 MIMO. The Ravelin Gen3 is 73mm x 34mm x 148mm and ~750 gr.

The Ravelin-G is based on Sequans’ Cassiopeia LTE Cat 6 Platform, a member of Sequans’ StreamrichLTE product family for high performance devices. The work with Abside is one of the development Sequans has undertaken as part of its Custom Technology Solutions initiative where Sequans experts have addressed some difficult communications challenges. 

In addition to private network LTE, Sequans has adapted its technology for projects in aviation, transportation, satellite, and government.

Trend Micro reveals that over a dozen obfuscated APT33 botnets have been used for extreme narrow targeting

The threat group regularly referred to as APT33 is known to target the oil and aviation industries aggressively, Trend Micro revealed. This threat group has been reported on consistently for years, but recent findings show that the group has been using about a dozen live Command and Control (C&C) servers for extremely narrow targeting. 

APT33 is a suspected Iranian threat group that has carried out operations since at least 2013. The group has targeted organizations across multiple industries in the United States, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea, with a particular interest in the aviation and energy sectors.

The group puts up multiple layers of obfuscation to run these C&C servers in extremely targeted malware campaigns against organizations in the Middle East, the U.S., and Asia.

“We believe these botnets, each comprising a small group of up to a dozen infected computers, are used to gain persistence within the networks of select targets,” Trend Micro wrote in a post this week. 

The malware is rather basic, and has limited capabilities that include downloading and running additional malware. Among active infections in 2019 are two separate locations of a private American company that offers services related to national security, victims connecting from a university and a college in the U.S., a victim most likely related to the U.S. military, and several victims in the Middle East and Asia.

APT33 has also been executing more aggressive attacks over the past few years. For example, for at least two years the group used the private website of a high-ranking European politician (a member of the country’s defense committee) to send spear phishing emails to companies that are part of the supply chain of oil products. Targets included a water facility that is used by the U.S. army for the potable water supply of one of its military bases.

These attacks have likely resulted in concrete infections in the oil industry. For example, in the fall of 2018, Trend Micro observed communications between a U.K.-based oil company with computer servers in the U.K. and India and an APT33 C&C server. 

Another European oil company suffered from an APT33 related malware infection on one of their servers in India for at least three weeks in November and December last year. There were several other companies in oil supply chains that had been compromised in the fall of 2018 as well. These compromises indicate a big risk to companies in the oil industry, as APT33 is known to use destructive malware.