Russian Hackers Use 'WINELOADER' Malware to Target German Political Parties

The WINELOADER backdoor used in recent cyber attacks targeting diplomatic entities with wine-tasting phishing lures has been attributed as the handiwork of a hacking group with links to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), which was responsible for breaching SolarWinds and Microsoft. The findings come from Mandiant, which said Midnight Blizzard (aka APT29, BlueBravo, or

China-Linked Group Breaches Networks via Connectwise, F5 Software Flaws

A China-linked threat cluster leveraged security flaws in Connectwise ScreenConnect and F5 BIG-IP software to deliver custom malware capable of delivering additional backdoors on compromised Linux hosts as part of an "aggressive" campaign. Google-owned Mandiant is tracking the activity under its uncategorized moniker UNC5174 (aka Uteus or Uetus), describing it as a "former

Ivanti Releases Urgent Fix for Critical Sentry RCE Vulnerability

Ivanti has disclosed details of a critical remote code execution flaw impacting Standalone Sentry, urging customers to apply the fixes immediately to stay protected against potential cyber threats. Tracked as CVE-2023-41724, the vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 9.6. "An unauthenticated threat actor can execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of the appliance

Chinese Hackers Exploiting Ivanti VPN Flaws to Deploy New Malware

At least two different suspected China-linked cyber espionage clusters, tracked as UNC5325 and UNC3886, have been attributed to the exploitation of security flaws in Ivanti Connect Secure VPN appliances. UNC5325 abused CVE-2024-21893 to deliver a wide range of new malware called LITTLELAMB.WOOLTEA, PITSTOP, PITDOG, PITJET, and PITHOOK, as well as attempted to maintain

Italian Businesses Hit by Weaponized USBs Spreading Cryptojacking Malware

A financially motivated threat actor known as UNC4990 is leveraging weaponized USB devices as an initial infection vector to target organizations in Italy. Google-owned Mandiant said the attacks single out multiple industries, including health, transportation, construction, and logistics. "UNC4990 operations generally involve widespread USB infection followed by the deployment of the

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 

Russian Hackers Sandworm Cause Power Outage in Ukraine Amidst Missile Strikes

The notorious Russian hackers known as Sandworm targeted an electrical substation in Ukraine last year, causing a brief power outage in October 2022. The findings come from Google's Mandiant, which described the hack as a "multi-event cyber attack" leveraging a novel technique for impacting industrial control systems (ICS). "The actor first used OT-level living-off-the-land (LotL) techniques to

Iran-Linked Imperial Kitten Cyber Group Targeting Middle East's Tech Sectors

A group with links to Iran targeted transportation, logistics, and technology sectors in the Middle East, including Israel, in October 2023 amid a surge in Iranian cyber activity since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war. The attacks have been attributed by CrowdStrike to a threat actor it tracks under the name Imperial Kitten, and which is also known as Crimson Sandstorm (previously Curium),

Cyber Group 'Gold Melody' Selling Compromised Access to Ransomware Attackers

A financially motivated threat actor has been outed as an initial access broker (IAB) that sells access to compromised organizations for other adversaries to conduct follow-on attacks such as ransomware. SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) has dubbed the e-crime group Gold Melody, which is also known by the names Prophet Spider (CrowdStrike) and UNC961 (Mandiant). "This financially motivated

Financially Motivated UNC3944 Threat Actor Shifts Focus to Ransomware Attacks

The financially motivated threat actor known as UNC3944 is pivoting to ransomware deployment as part of an expansion to its monetization strategies, Mandiant has revealed. "UNC3944 has demonstrated a stronger focus on stealing large amounts of sensitive data for extortion purposes and they appear to understand Western business practices, possibly due to the geographical composition of the group,

Hackers Deploy "SUBMARINE" Backdoor in Barracuda Email Security Gateway Attacks

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Friday disclosed details of a "novel persistent backdoor" called SUBMARINE deployed by threat actors in connection with the hack on Barracuda Email Security Gateway (ESG) appliances. "SUBMARINE comprises multiple artifacts — including a SQL trigger, shell scripts, and a loaded library for a Linux daemon — that together enable

Alert! Hackers Exploiting Critical Vulnerability in VMware's Aria Operations Networks

VMware has flagged that a recently patched critical command injection vulnerability in Aria Operations for Networks (formerly vRealize Network Insight) has come under active exploitation in the wild. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2023-20887, could allow a malicious actor with network access to the product to perform a command injection attack, resulting in remote code execution. It impacts VMware

New COSMICENERGY Malware Exploits ICS Protocol to Sabotage Power Grids

A new strain of malicious software that's engineered to penetrate and disrupt critical systems in industrial environments has been unearthed. Google-owned threat intelligence firm Mandiant dubbed the malware COSMICENERGY, adding it was uploaded to the VirusTotal public malware scanning utility in December 2021 by a submitter in Russia. There is no evidence that it has been put to use in the wild

Threat Group UNC3944 Abusing Azure Serial Console for Total VM Takeover

A financially motivated cyber actor has been observed abusing Microsoft Azure Serial Console on virtual machines (VMs) to install third-party remote management tools within compromised environments. Google-owned Mandiant attributed the activity to a threat group it tracks under the name UNC3944, which is also known as Roasted 0ktapus and Scattered Spider. "This method of attack was unique in

Why Honeytokens Are the Future of Intrusion Detection

A few weeks ago, the 32nd edition of RSA, one of the world's largest cybersecurity conferences, wrapped up in San Francisco. Among the highlights, Kevin Mandia, CEO of Mandiant at Google Cloud, presented a retrospective on the state of cybersecurity. During his keynote, Mandia stated: "There are clear steps organizations can take beyond common safeguards and security tools to strengthen their

North Korean Hackers Uncovered as Mastermind in 3CX Supply Chain Attack

Enterprise communications service provider 3CX confirmed that the supply chain attack targeting its desktop application for Windows and macOS was the handiwork of a threat actor with North Korean nexus. The findings are the result of an interim assessment conducted by Google-owned Mandiant, whose services were enlisted after the intrusion came to light late last month. The threat intelligence