8,000+ Domains of Trusted Brands Hijacked for Massive Spam Operation

More than 8,000 domains and 13,000 subdomains belonging to legitimate brands and institutions have been hijacked as part of a sophisticated distribution architecture for spam proliferation and click monetization. Guardio Labs is tracking the coordinated malicious activity, which has been ongoing since at least September 2022, under the name SubdoMailing. The emails range from "counterfeit

Banking Trojans Target Latin America and Europe Through Google Cloud Run

Cybersecurity researchers are warning about a spike in email phishing campaigns that are weaponizing the Google Cloud Run service to deliver various banking trojans such as Astaroth (aka Guildma), Mekotio, and Ousaban (aka Javali) to targets across Latin America (LATAM) and Europe. "The infection chains associated with these malware families feature the use of malicious

Cybersecurity for Healthcare—Diagnosing the Threat Landscape and Prescribing Solutions for Recovery

On Thanksgiving Day 2023, while many Americans were celebrating, hospitals across the U.S. were doing quite the opposite. Systems were failing. Ambulances were diverted. Care was impaired. Hospitals in three states were hit by a ransomware attack, and in that moment, the real-world repercussions came to light—it wasn’t just computer networks that were brought to a halt, but actual patient

New 'VietCredCare' Stealer Targeting Facebook Advertisers in Vietnam

Facebook advertisers in Vietnam are the target of a previously unknown information stealer dubbed VietCredCare at least since August 2022. The malware is “notable for its ability to automatically filter out Facebook session cookies and credentials stolen from compromised devices, and assess whether these accounts manage business profiles and if they maintain a positive Meta ad credit

Russian Hackers Target Ukraine with Disinformation and Credential-Harvesting Attacks

Cybersecurity researchers have unearthed a new influence operation targeting Ukraine that leverages spam emails to propagate war-related disinformation. The activity has been linked to Russia-aligned threat actors by Slovak cybersecurity company ESET, which also identified a spear-phishing campaign aimed at a Ukrainian defense company in October 2023 and a European Union agency in November 2023

Iran and Hezbollah Hackers Launch Attacks to Influence Israel-Hamas Narrative

Hackers backed by Iran and Hezbollah staged cyber attacks designed to undercut public support for the Israel-Hamas war after October 2023. This includes destructive attacks against key Israeli organizations, hack-and-leak operations targeting entities in Israel and the U.S., phishing campaigns designed to steal intelligence, and information operations to turn public opinion against Israel. Iran

Iranian Hackers Target Middle East Policy Experts with New BASICSTAR Backdoor

The Iranian-origin threat actor known as Charming Kitten has been linked to a new set of attacks aimed at Middle East policy experts with a new backdoor called BASICSTAR by creating a fake webinar portal. Charming Kitten, also called APT35, CharmingCypress, Mint Sandstorm, TA453, and Yellow Garuda, has a history of orchestrating a wide range of social engineering campaigns that cast a

RustDoor macOS Backdoor Targets Cryptocurrency Firms with Fake Job Offers

Multiple companies operating in the cryptocurrency sector are the target of an ongoing malware campaign that involves a newly discovered Apple macOS backdoor codenamed RustDoor. RustDoor was first documented by Bitdefender last week, describing it as a Rust-based malware capable of harvesting and uploading files, as well as gathering information about the infected machines. It's

Chinese Hackers Using Deepfakes in Advanced Mobile Banking Malware Attacks

A Chinese-speaking threat actor codenamed GoldFactory has been attributed to the development of highly sophisticated banking trojans, including a previously undocumented iOS malware called GoldPickaxe that's capable of harvesting identity documents, facial recognition data, and intercepting SMS. "The GoldPickaxe family is available for both iOS and Android platforms,"

Bumblebee Malware Returns with New Tricks, Targeting U.S. Businesses

The infamous malware loader and initial access broker known as Bumblebee has resurfaced after a four-month absence as part of a new phishing campaign observed in February 2024. Enterprise security firm Proofpoint said the activity targets organizations in the U.S. with voicemail-themed lures containing links to OneDrive URLs. "The URLs led to a Word file with names such as "

Glupteba Botnet Evades Detection with Undocumented UEFI Bootkit

The Glupteba botnet has been found to incorporate a previously undocumented Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) bootkit feature, adding another layer of sophistication and stealth to the malware. "This bootkit can intervene and control the [operating system] boot process, enabling Glupteba to hide itself and create a stealthy persistence that can be extremely difficult to

PikaBot Resurfaces with Streamlined Code and Deceptive Tactics

The threat actors behind the PikaBot malware have made significant changes to the malware in what has been described as a case of "devolution." "Although it appears to be in a new development cycle and testing phase, the developers have reduced the complexity of the code by removing advanced obfuscation techniques and changing the network communications," Zscaler ThreatLabz researcher Nikolaos

U.S. DoJ Dismantles Warzone RAT Infrastructure, Arrests Key Operators

The U.S. Justice Department (DoJ) on Friday announced the seizure of online infrastructure that was used to sell a remote access trojan (RAT) called Warzone RAT. The domains – www.warzone[.]ws and three others – were "used to sell computer malware used by cybercriminals to secretly access and steal data from victims' computers," the DoJ said. Alongside the takedown, the

HijackLoader Evolves: Researchers Decode the Latest Evasion Methods

The threat actors behind a loader malware called HijackLoader have added new techniques for defense evasion, as the malware continues to be increasingly used by other threat actors to deliver additional payloads and tooling. "The malware developer used a standard process hollowing technique coupled with an additional trigger that was activated by the parent process writing to a pipe,"

Hackers Exploit Job Boards, Stealing Millions of Resumes and Personal Data

Employment agencies and retail companies chiefly located in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region have been targeted by a previously undocumented threat actor known as ResumeLooters since early 2023 with the goal of stealing sensitive data. Singapore-headquartered Group-IB said the hacking crew's activities are geared towards job search platforms and the theft of resumes, with as many as 65

Patchwork Using Romance Scam Lures to Infect Android Devices with VajraSpy Malware

The threat actor known as Patchwork likely used romance scam lures to trap victims in Pakistan and India, and infect their Android devices with a remote access trojan called VajraSpy. Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET said it uncovered 12 espionage apps, six of which were available for download from the official Google Play Store and were collectively downloaded more than 1,400 times between

Russian APT28 Hackers Targeting High-Value Orgs with NTLM Relay Attacks

Russian state-sponsored actors have staged NT LAN Manager (NTLM) v2 hash relay attacks through various methods from April 2022 to November 2023, targeting high-value targets worldwide. The attacks, attributed to an "aggressive" hacking crew called APT28, have set their eyes on organizations dealing with foreign affairs, energy, defense, and transportation, as well as those involved with

DirtyMoe Malware Infects 2,000+ Ukrainian Computers for DDoS and Cryptojacking

The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has warned that more than 2,000 computers in the country have been infected by a strain of malware called DirtyMoe. The agency attributed the campaign to a threat actor it calls UAC-0027. DirtyMoe, active since at least 2016, is capable of carrying out cryptojacking and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. In March

INTERPOL Arrests 31 in Global Operation, Identifies 1,900+ Ransomware-Linked IPs

An INTERPOL-led collaborative operation targeting phishing, banking malware, and ransomware attacks has led to the identification of 1,300 suspicious IP addresses and URLs. The law enforcement effort, codenamed Synergia, took place between September and November 2023 in an attempt to blunt the "growth, escalation and professionalization of transnational cybercrime." Involving 60 law

Telegram Marketplaces Fuel Phishing Attacks with Easy-to-Use Kits and Malware

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to the "democratization" of the phishing ecosystem owing to the emergence of Telegram as an epicenter for cybercrime, enabling threat actors to mount a mass attack for as little as $230. "This messaging app has transformed into a bustling hub where seasoned cybercriminals and newcomers alike exchange illicit tools and insights creating a dark and

China-Linked Hackers Target Myanmar's Top Ministries with Backdoor Blitz

The China-based threat actor known as Mustang Panda is suspected to have targeted Myanmar's Ministry of Defence and Foreign Affairs as part of twin campaigns designed to deploy backdoors and remote access trojans. The findings come from CSIRT-CTI, which said the activities took place in November 2023 and January 2024 after artifacts in connection with the attacks were uploaded to the

New ZLoader Malware Variant Surfaces with 64-bit Windows Compatibility

Threat hunters have identified a new campaign that delivers the ZLoader malware, resurfacing nearly two years after the botnet's infrastructure was dismantled in April 2022. A new variant of the malware is said to have been in development since September 2023, Zscaler ThreatLabz said in an analysis published this month. "The new version of ZLoader made significant changes to the loader

AllaKore RAT Malware Targeting Mexican Firms with Financial Fraud Tricks

Mexican financial institutions are under the radar of a new spear-phishing campaign that delivers a modified version of an open-source remote access trojan called AllaKore RAT. The BlackBerry Research and Intelligence Team attributed the activity to an unknown Latin America-based financially motivated threat actor. The campaign has been active since at least 2021. "Lures use Mexican Social

LODEINFO Fileless Malware Evolves with Anti-Analysis and Remote Code Tricks

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered an updated version of a backdoor called LODEINFO that's distributed via spear-phishing attacks. The findings come from Japanese company ITOCHU Cyber & Intelligence, which said the malware "has been updated with new features, as well as changes to the anti-analysis (analysis avoidance) techniques." LODEINFO (versions 0.6.6 and 0.6.7

Invoice Phishing Alert: TA866 Deploys WasabiSeed & Screenshotter Malware

The threat actor tracked as TA866 has resurfaced after a nine-month hiatus with a new large-volume phishing campaign to deliver known malware families such as WasabiSeed and Screenshotter. The campaign, observed earlier this month and blocked by Proofpoint on January 11, 2024, involved sending thousands of invoice-themed emails targeting North America bearing decoy PDF files. "The PDFs

MFA Spamming and Fatigue: When Security Measures Go Wrong

In today's digital landscape, traditional password-only authentication systems have proven to be vulnerable to a wide range of cyberattacks. To safeguard critical business resources, organizations are increasingly turning to multi-factor authentication (MFA) as a more robust security measure. MFA requires users to provide multiple authentication factors to verify their identity, providing an

Iranian Hackers Masquerade as Journalists to Spy on Israel-Hamas War Experts

High-profile individuals working on Middle Eastern affairs at universities and research organizations in Belgium, France, Gaza, Israel, the U.K., and the U.S. have been targeted by an Iranian cyber espionage group called Mint Sandstorm since November 2023. The threat actor "used bespoke phishing lures in an attempt to socially engineer targets into downloading malicious files," the

Inferno Malware Masqueraded as Coinbase, Drained $87 Million from 137,000 Victims

The operators behind the now-defunct Inferno Drainer created more than 16,000 unique malicious domains over a span of one year between 2022 and 2023. The scheme “leveraged high-quality phishing pages to lure unsuspecting users into connecting their cryptocurrency wallets with the attackers’ infrastructure that spoofed Web3 protocols to trick victims into authorizing transactions,”

There is a Ransomware Armageddon Coming for Us All

Generative AI will enable anyone to launch sophisticated phishing attacks that only Next-generation MFA devices can stop The least surprising headline from 2023 is that ransomware again set new records for a number of incidents and the damage inflicted. We saw new headlines every week, which included a who’s-who of big-name organizations. If MGM, Johnson Controls, Chlorox, Hanes Brands, Caesars

Mandiant's X Account Was Hacked Using Brute-Force Attack

The compromise of Mandiant's X (formerly Twitter) account last week was likely the result of a "brute-force password attack," attributing the hack to a drainer-as-a-service (DaaS) group. "Normally, [two-factor authentication] would have mitigated this, but due to some team transitions and a change in X's 2FA policy, we were not adequately protected," the threat intelligence firm said 

Alert: Water Curupira Hackers Actively Distributing PikaBot Loader Malware

A threat actor called Water Curupira has been observed actively distributing the PikaBot loader malware as part of spam campaigns in 2023. “PikaBot’s operators ran phishing campaigns, targeting victims via its two components — a loader and a core module — which enabled unauthorized remote access and allowed the execution of arbitrary commands through an established connection with

New JinxLoader Targeting Users with Formbook and XLoader Malware

A new Go-based malware loader called JinxLoader is being used by threat actors to deliver next-stage payloads such as Formbook and its successor XLoader. The disclosure comes from cybersecurity firms Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 and Symantec, both of which highlighted multi-step attack sequences that led to the deployment of JinxLoader through phishing attacks. "The

Kimsuky Hackers Deploying AppleSeed, Meterpreter, and TinyNuke in Latest Attacks

Nation-state actors affiliated to North Korea have been observed using spear-phishing attacks to deliver an assortment of backdoors and tools such as AppleSeed, Meterpreter, and TinyNuke to seize control of compromised machines. South Korea-based cybersecurity company AhnLab attributed the activity to an advanced persistent threat group known as Kimsuky. “A notable point about attacks that

British LAPSUS$ Teen Members Sentenced for High-Profile Attacks

Two British teens part of the LAPSUS$ cyber crime and extortion gang have been sentenced for their roles in orchestrating a string of high-profile attacks against a number of companies. Arion Kurtaj, an 18-year-old from Oxford, has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order due to his intent to get back to cybercrime "as soon as possible," BBC reported. Kurtaj, who is autistic, was

Operation RusticWeb: Rust-Based Malware Targets Indian Government Entities

Indian government entities and the defense sector have been targeted by a phishing campaign that's engineered to drop Rust-based malware for intelligence gathering. The activity, first detected in October 2023, has been codenamed Operation RusticWeb by enterprise security firm SEQRITE. "New Rust-based payloads and encrypted PowerShell commands have been utilized to exfiltrate

UAC-0099 Using WinRAR Exploit to Target Ukrainian Firms with LONEPAGE Malware

The threat actor known as UAC-0099 has been linked to continued attacks aimed at Ukraine, some of which leverage a high-severity flaw in the WinRAR software to deliver a malware strain called LONEPAGE. "The threat actor targets Ukrainian employees working for companies outside of Ukraine," cybersecurity firm Deep Instinct said in a Thursday analysis. UAC-0099 was first

Microsoft Warns of New 'FalseFont' Backdoor Targeting the Defense Sector

Organizations in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) sector are in the crosshairs of an Iranian threat actor as part of a campaign designed to deliver a never-before-seen backdoor called FalseFont. The findings come from Microsoft, which is tracking the activity under its weather-themed moniker Peach Sandstorm (formerly Holmium), which is also known as APT33, Elfin, and Refined Kitten. "

Chameleon Android Banking Trojan Variant Bypasses Biometric Authentication

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an updated version of an Android banking malware called Chameleon that has expanded its targeting to include users in the U.K. and Italy. "Representing a restructured and enhanced iteration of its predecessor, this evolved Chameleon variant excels in executing Device Takeover (DTO) using the accessibility service, all while expanding its targeted region,

Hackers Exploiting MS Excel Vulnerability to Spread Agent Tesla Malware

Attackers are weaponizing an old Microsoft Office vulnerability as part of phishing campaigns to distribute a strain of malware called Agent Tesla. The infection chains leverage decoy Excel documents attached in invoice-themed messages to trick potential targets into opening them and activate the exploitation of CVE-2017-11882 (CVSS score: 7.8), a memory corruption vulnerability in Office's

Alert: Chinese-Speaking Hackers Pose as UAE Authority in Latest Smishing Wave

The Chinese-speaking threat actors behind Smishing Triad have been observed masquerading as the United Arab Emirates Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship to send malicious SMS messages with the ultimate goal of gathering sensitive information from residents and foreigners in the country. "These criminals send malicious links to their victims' mobile devices through SMS or

Rhadamanthys Malware: Swiss Army Knife of Information Stealers Emerges

The developers of the information stealer malware known as Rhadamanthys are actively iterating on its features, broadening its information-gathering capabilities and also incorporating a plugin system to make it more customizable. This approach not only transforms it into a threat capable of delivering "specific distributor needs," but also makes it more potent, Check Point said&

QakBot Malware Resurfaces with New Tactics, Targeting the Hospitality Industry

A new wave of phishing messages distributing the QakBot malware has been observed, more than three months after a law enforcement effort saw its infrastructure dismantled by infiltrating its command-and-control (C2) network. Microsoft, which made the discovery, described it as a low-volume campaign that began on December 11, 2023, and targeted the hospitality industry. "Targets

CISA Urges Manufacturers Eliminate Default Passwords to Thwart Cyber Threats

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is urging manufacturers to get rid of default passwords on internet-exposed systems altogether, citing severe risks that could be exploited by malicious actors to gain initial access to, and move laterally within, organizations. In an alert published last week, the agency called out Iranian threat actors affiliated with

MongoDB Suffers Security Breach, Exposing Customer Data

MongoDB on Saturday disclosed it's actively investigating a security incident that has led to unauthorized access to "certain" corporate systems, resulting in the exposure of customer account metadata and contact information. The American database software company said it first detected anomalous activity on December 13, 2023, and that it immediately activated its incident response

Microsoft Warns of Storm-0539: The Rising Threat Behind Holiday Gift Card Frauds

Microsoft is warning of an uptick in malicious activity from an emerging threat cluster it's tracking as Storm-0539 for orchestrating gift card fraud and theft via highly sophisticated email and SMS phishing attacks against retail entities during the holiday shopping season. The goal of the attacks is to propagate booby-trapped links that direct victims to adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM

Crypto Hardware Wallet Ledger's Supply Chain Breach Results in $600,000 Theft

Crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger published a new version of its "@ledgerhq/connect-kit" npm module after unidentified threat actors pushed malicious code that led to the theft of more than $600,000 in virtual assets. The compromise was the result of a former employee falling victim to a phishing attack, the company said in a statement. This allowed the attackers to gain

New Security Vulnerabilities Uncovered in pfSense Firewall Software - Patch Now

Multiple security vulnerabilities have been discovered in the open-source Netgate pfSense firewall solution called pfSense that could be chained by an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on susceptible appliances. The issues relate to two reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) bugs and one command injection flaw, according to new findings from Sonar. "Security inside a local network is often

BazaCall Phishing Scammers Now Leveraging Google Forms for Deception

The threat actors behind the BazaCall call back phishing attacks have been observed leveraging Google Forms to lend the scheme a veneer of credibility. The method is an "attempt to elevate the perceived authenticity of the initial malicious emails," cybersecurity firm Abnormal Security said in a report published today. BazaCall (aka BazarCall), which was first

Microsoft Warns of Hackers Exploiting OAuth for Cryptocurrency Mining and Phishing

Microsoft has warned that adversaries are using OAuth applications as an automation tool to deploy virtual machines (VMs) for cryptocurrency mining and launch phishing attacks. "Threat actors compromise user accounts to create, modify, and grant high privileges to OAuth applications that they can misuse to hide malicious activity," the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team said in an

Make a Fresh Start for 2024: Clean Out Your User Inventory to Reduce SaaS Risk

As work ebbs with the typical end-of-year slowdown, now is a good time to review user roles and privileges and remove anyone who shouldn’t have access as well as trim unnecessary permissions. In addition to saving some unnecessary license fees, a clean user inventory significantly enhances the security of your SaaS applications. From reducing risk to protecting against data leakage, here is how

Konni Group Using Russian-Language Malicious Word Docs in Latest Attacks

A new phishing attack has been observed leveraging a Russian-language Microsoft Word document to deliver malware capable of harvesting sensitive information from compromised Windows hosts. The activity has been attributed to a threat actor called Konni, which is assessed to share overlaps with a North Korean cluster tracked as Kimsuky (aka APT43). "This campaign relies on a remote access trojan

How Multi-Stage Phishing Attacks Exploit QRs, CAPTCHAs, and Steganography

Phishing attacks are steadily becoming more sophisticated, with cybercriminals investing in new ways of deceiving victims into revealing sensitive information or installing malicious software. One of the latest trends in phishing is the use of QR codes, CAPTCHAs, and steganography. See how they are carried out and learn to detect them. Quishing Quishing, a phishing technique resulting from the

Nation State Hackers Exploiting Zero-Day in Roundcube Webmail Software

The threat actor known as Winter Vivern has been observed exploiting a zero-day flaw in Roundcube webmail software on October 11, 2023, to harvest email messages from victims' accounts. "Winter Vivern has stepped up its operations by using a zero-day vulnerability in Roundcube," ESET security researcher Matthieu Faou said in a new report published today. Previously, it was using known

Sophisticated MATA Framework Strikes Eastern European Oil and Gas Companies

An updated version of a sophisticated backdoor framework called MATA has been used in attacks aimed at over a dozen Eastern European companies in the oil and gas sector and defense industry as part of a cyber espionage operation that took place between August 2022 and May 2023. "The actors behind the attack used spear-phishing mails to target several victims, some were infected with Windows

D-Link Confirms Data Breach: Employee Falls Victim to Phishing Attack

Taiwanese networking equipment manufacturer D-Link has confirmed a data breach that led to the exposure of what it said is "low-sensitivity and semi-public information." "The data was confirmed not from the cloud but likely originated from an old D-View 6 system, which reached its end of life as early as 2015," the company said. "The data was used for registration purposes back then. So far, no

Pro-Russian Hackers Exploiting Recent WinRAR Vulnerability in New Campaign

Pro-Russian hacking groups have exploited a recently disclosed security vulnerability in the WinRAR archiving utility as part of a phishing campaign designed to harvest credentials from compromised systems. "The attack involves the use of malicious archive files that exploit the recently discovered vulnerability affecting the WinRAR compression software versions prior to 6.23 and traced as CVE-

Ukrainian Military Targeted in Phishing Campaign Leveraging Drone Manuals

Ukrainian military entities are the target of a phishing campaign that leverages drone manuals as lures to deliver a Go-based open-source post-exploitation toolkit called Merlin. "Since drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been an integral tool used by the Ukrainian military, malware-laced lure files themed as UAVs service manuals have begun to surface," Securonix researchers Den

Retool Falls Victim to SMS-Based Phishing Attack Affecting 27 Cloud Clients

Software development company Retool has disclosed that the accounts of 27 of its cloud customers were compromised following a targeted and SMS-based social engineering attack. The San Francisco-based firm blamed a Google Account cloud synchronization feature recently introduced in April 2023 for making the breach worse, calling it a "dark pattern." "The fact that Google Authenticator syncs to

Cybercriminals Combine Phishing and EV Certificates to Deliver Ransomware Payloads

The threat actors behind RedLine and Vidar information stealers have been observed pivoting to ransomware through phishing campaigns that spread initial payloads signed with Extended Validation (EV) code signing certificates. "This suggests that the threat actors are streamlining operations by making their techniques multipurpose," Trend Micro researchers said in a new analysis published this

Microsoft Warns of New Phishing Campaign Targeting Corporations via Teams Messages

Microsoft is warning of a new phishing campaign undertaken by an initial access broker that involves using Teams messages as lures to infiltrate corporate networks. The tech giant's Threat Intelligence team is tracking the cluster under the name Storm-0324, which is also known by the monikers TA543 and Sagrid. "Beginning in July 2023, Storm-0324 was observed distributing payloads using an