Turla Turns Kazuar Backdoor Into Modular P2P Botnet for Persistent Access

The Russian state-sponsored hacking group known as Turla has transformed its custom backdoor Kazuar into a modular peer-to-peer P2P botnet that's engineered for stealth and persistent access to compromised hosts. Turla, per the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA, is assess...

Kazuar: Anatomy of a nation-state botnet

In this article 1. Delivery 2. Module types 3. Botnet operations 4. Who is Secret Blizzard? 5. Mitigation and protection guidance 6. Microsoft Defender detections Kazuar, a sophisticated malware family attributed to the Russian state actor Secret Blizzard, has been under constant development for...

Kazuar: Anatomy of a nation-state botnet

In this article 1. Delivery 2. Module types 3. Botnet operations 4. Who is Secret Blizzard? 5. Mitigation and protection guidance 6. Microsoft Defender detections Kazuar, a sophisticated malware family attributed to the Russian state actor Secret Blizzard, has been under constant development for...

China-Linked UAT-8302 Targets Governments Using Shared APT Malware Across Regions

A sophisticated China-nexus advanced persistent threat APT group has been attributed to attacks targeting government entities in South America since at least late 2024 and government agencies in southeastern Europe in 2025. The activity is being tracked by Cisco Talos under the moniker UAT-8302 ,...

UAT-8302 and its box full of malware

Cisco Talos is disclosing UAT-8302, a sophisticated, China-nexus advanced persistent threat APT group targeting government entities in South America since at least late 2024 and government agencies in southeastern Europe in 2025. After successful compromises, UAT-8302 deploys multiple custom-made...

Critical cPanel Vulnerability Weaponized to Target Government and MSP Networks

A previously unknown threat actor has been observed targeting government and military entities in Southeast Asia, alongside a smaller cluster of managed service providers MSPs and hosting providers in the Philippines, Laos, Canada, South Africa, and the U.S., by exploiting the recently disclosed...

UAC-0247 Targets Ukrainian Clinics and Government in Data-Theft Malware Campaign

The Computer Emergencies Response Team of Ukraine CERT-UA has disclosed details of a new campaign that has targeted governments and municipal healthcare institutions, mainly clinics and emergency hospitals, to deliver malware capable of stealing sensitive data from Chromium-based web browsers and...

APT41-Linked Silver Dragon Targets Governments Using Cobalt Strike and Google Drive C2

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of an advanced persistent threat APT group dubbed Silver Dragon that has been linked to cyber attacks targeting entities in Europe and Southeast Asia since at least mid-2024. "Silver Dragon gains its initial access by exploiting public-facing...

Microsoft Warns OAuth Redirect Abuse Delivers Malware to Government Targets

Microsoft on Monday warned of phishing campaigns that employ phishing emails and OAuth URL redirection mechanisms to bypass conventional phishing defenses implemented in email and browsers. The activity, the company said, targets government and public-sector organizations with the end goal of...

OAuth redirection abuse enables phishing and malware delivery

Microsoft observed phishing-led exploitation of OAuth’s by-design redirection mechanisms. The activity targets government and public-sector organizations and uses silent OAuth authentication flows and intentionally invalid scopes to redirect victims to attacker-controlled infrastructure without...

HoneyMyte updates CoolClient and deploys multiple stealers in recent campaigns

Over the past few years, we've been observing and monitoring the espionage activities of HoneyMyte aka Mustang Panda or Bronze President within Asia and Europe, with the Southeast Asia region being the most affected. The primary targets of most of the group's campaigns were government entities. A...

Transparent Tribe Launches New RAT Attacks Against Indian Government and Academia

The threat actor known as Transparent Tribe has been attributed to a fresh set of attacks targeting Indian governmental, academic, and strategic entities with a remote access trojan RAT that grants them persistent control over compromised hosts. "The campaign employs deceptive delivery techniques...

Mustang Panda Uses Signed Kernel-Mode Rootkit to Load TONESHELL Backdoor

The Chinese hacking group known as Mustang Panda aka HoneyMyte has leveraged a previously undocumented kernel-mode rootkit driver to deliver a new variant of backdoor dubbed TONESHELL in a cyber attack detected in mid-2025 targeting an unspecified entity in Asia. The findings come from Kaspersky,...

The HoneyMyte APT evolves with a kernel-mode rootkit and a ToneShell backdoor

Overview of the attacks In mid-2025, we identified a malicious driver file on computer systems in Asia. The driver file is signed with an old, stolen, or leaked digital certificate and registers as a mini-filter driver on infected machines. Its end-goal is to inject a backdoor Trojan into the...

China-Aligned Threat Group Uses Windows Group Policy to Deploy Espionage Malware

A previously undocumented China-aligned threat cluster dubbed LongNosedGoblin has been attributed to a series of cyber attacks targeting governmental entities in Southeast Asia and Japan. The end goal of these attacks is cyber espionage, Slovak cybersecurity company ESET said in a report publishe...

China-Linked Ink Dragon Hacks Governments Using ShadowPad and FINALDRAFT Malware

The threat actor known as Jewelbug has been increasingly focusing on government targets in Europe since July 2025, even as it continues to attack entities located in Southeast Asia and South America. Check Point Research is tracking the cluster under the name Ink Dragon. It's also referenced by t...

CISA Reports PRC Hackers Using BRICKSTORM for Long-Term Access in U.S. Systems

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA on Thursday released details of a backdoor named BRICKSTORM that has been put to use by state-sponsored threat actors from the People's Republic of China PRC to maintain long-term persistence on compromised systems. "BRICKSTORM is a...

Tomiris Shifts to Public-Service Implants for Stealthier C2 in Attacks on Government Targets

The threat actor known as Tomiris has been attributed to attacks targeting foreign ministries, intergovernmental organizations, and government entities in Russia with an aim to establish remote access and deploy additional tools. "These attacks highlight a notable shift in Tomiris's tactics, name...

Bitter APT Exploiting Old WinRAR Vulnerability in New Backdoor Attacks

South Asian hacking group Bitter APT-Q-37 is deploying a C backdoor using two new methods: a WinRAR flaw and malicious Office XLAM files, targeting government and military sectors...

Inc Ransomware Group Claims 5.7 TB Theft from Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office

The Inc ransomware gang claims to have stolen 5.7 TB of data from the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office in an August 2025 attack. Find out how the breach unfolded, why government agencies are a top target, and what this means for citizens...