Web Server Exploits and Mimikatz Used in Attacks Targeting Asian Critical Infrastructure

High-value organizations located in South, Southeast, and East Asia have been targeted by a Chinese threat actor as part of a years-long campaign. The activity, which has targeted aviation, energy, government, law enforcement, pharmaceutical, technology, and telecommunications sectors, has been...

China-Linked Hackers Exploit VMware ESXi Zero-Days to Escape Virtual Machines

Chinese-speaking threat actors are suspected to have leveraged a compromised SonicWall VPN appliance as an initial access vector to deploy a VMware ESXi exploit that may have been developed as far back as February 2024. Cybersecurity firm Huntress, which observed the activity in December 2025 and...

DarkSpectre Browser Extension Campaigns Exposed After Impacting 8.8 Million Users Worldwide

The threat actor behind two malicious browser extension campaigns, ShadyPanda and GhostPoster, has been attributed to a third attack campaign codenamed DarkSpectre that has impacted 2.2 million users of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox. The activity is assessed to be the work of...

Fake Discount Sites Exploit Black Friday to Hijack Shopper Information

A new phishing campaign is targeting e-commerce shoppers in Europe and the United States with bogus pages that mimic legitimate brands with the goal of stealing their personal information ahead of the Black Friday shopping season. "The campaign leveraged the heightened online shopping activity in...

New Android Banking Malware 'ToxicPanda' Targets Users with Fraudulent Money Transfers

Over 1,500 Android devices have been infected by a new strain of Android banking malware called ToxicPanda that allows threat actors to conduct fraudulent banking transactions. "ToxicPanda's main goal is to initiate money transfers from compromised devices via account takeover ATO using a...

THN Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools, and Practices (Oct 28 - Nov 03)

This week was a total digital dumpster fire! Hackers were like, "Let's cause some chaos!" and went after everything from our browsers to those fancy cameras that zoom and spin. You know, the ones they use in spy movies? 🕵️‍♀️ We're talking password-stealing bots, sneaky extensions that spy on you,...

Microsoft Warns of Chinese Botnet Exploiting Router Flaws for Credential Theft

Microsoft has revealed that a Chinese threat actor it tracks as Storm-0940 is leveraging a botnet called Quad7 to orchestrate highly evasive password spray attacks. The tech giant has given the botnet the name CovertNetwork-1658, stating the password spray operations are used to steal credentials...

UNC5174 Functions as an Initial Access Broker, Exploiting Vulnerabilities

Summary: UNC5174, a threat actor believed to be associated with China, has been identified exploiting various vulnerabilities and deploying custom tools such as SNOWLIGHT, GOHEAVY, and GOREVERSE for post-exploitation activities. These tools enable UNC5174 to carry out sophisticated cyber...

Carderbee Attacks: Hong Kong Organizations Targeted via Malicious Software Updates

A previously undocumented threat cluster has been linked to a software supply chain attack targeting organizations primarily located in Hong Kong and other regions in Asia. The Symantec Threat Hunter Team, part of Broadcom, is tracking the activity under its insect-themed moniker Carderbee. The...

Compromised Microsoft Key: More Impactful Than We Thought

Our investigation of the security incident disclosed by Microsoft and CISA and attributed to Chinese threat actor Storm-0558, found that this incident seems to have a broader scope than originally assumed. Organizations using Microsoft and Azure services should take steps to assess potential impa...

Sharp Panda Using New Soul Framework Version to Target Southeast Asian Governments

High-profile government entities in Southeast Asia are the target of a cyber espionage campaign undertaken by a Chinese threat actor known as Sharp Panda since late last year. The intrusions are characterized by the use of a new version of the Soul modular framework, marking a departure from the...

Iranian Government Entities Under Attack by New Wave of BackdoorDiplomacy Attacks

The threat actor known as BackdoorDiplomacy has been linked to a new wave of attacks targeting Iranian government entities between July and late December 2022. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42, which is tracking the activity under its constellation-themed moniker Playful Taurus , said it observed the...

Microsoft Exchange Server Vulnerabilities CVE-2022-41040 and CVE-2022-41082

On September 29, Microsoft security researchers announced two new zero-day vulnerabilities, CVE-2022-41040 and CVE-2022-41082 affecting Microsoft Exchange Server. The vulnerabilities allow remote code execution RCE when used in tandem. It is important to note that both require authenticated acces...

Vulnerabilities & Threats that Matter 27 June – 03 July 2022

Published Vulnerabilities Interesting Vulnerabilities Active Threat Groups Targeted Countries Targeted Industries ATT&CK TTPs 436 2 2 55 15 30 For a detailed threat digest, download the pdf file here Summary The last week of June 2022 witnessed the discovery of 436 vulnerabilities out of which 2...

Hackers Exploited 0-Day Vulnerability in Zimbra Email Platform to Spy on Users

A threat actor, likely Chinese in origin, is actively attempting to exploit a zero-day vulnerability in the Zimbra open-source email platform as part of spear-phishing campaigns that commenced in December 2021. The espionage operation — codenamed "EmailThief" — was detailed by cybersecurity compa...

Chinese Hackers Escalate Attacks Against India and Hong Kong Amid Tensions

An emerging threat actor out of China has been traced to a new hacking campaign aimed at government agencies in India and residents of Hong Kong intending to steal sensitive information, cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes revealed in the latest report shared with The Hacker News. The attacks were...