Mustang Panda Hits India and S. Korea with Updated LOTUSLITE Backdoor

Acronis reveals Mustang Panda is using an updated version of LOTUSLITE backdoor to target Indian banks and Korean diplomats. Learn how this DLL sideloading attack works...

Mustang Panda’s New LOTUSLITE Variant Targets India Banks, South Korea Policy Circles

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new variant of a known malware called LOTUSLITE that's distributed via a theme related to India's banking sector. "The backdoor communicates with a dynamic DNS-based command-and-control server over HTTPS and supports remote shell access, file operations...

China-Linked TA416 Targets European Governments with PlugX and OAuth-Based Phishing

A China-aligned threat actor has set its sights on European government and diplomatic organizations since mid-2025, following a two-year period of minimal targeting in the region. The campaign has been attributed to TA416 , a cluster of activity that overlaps with DarkPeony, RedDelta, Red Lich,...

Three China-Linked Clusters Target Southeast Asian Government in 2025 Cyber Campaign

Three threat activity clusters aligned with China have targeted a government organization in Southeast Asia as part of what has been described as a "complex and well-resourced operation." The campaigns have led to the deployment of various malware families, including HIUPAN aka USBFect, MISTCLOAK...

Chinese Mustang Panda Used Fake Diplomatic Briefings to Spy on Officials

A new spy campaign by Mustang Panda uses fake US diplomatic briefings to target government officials. Discover how this silent surveillance operation works...

Mustang Panda Deploys Updated COOLCLIENT Backdoor in Government Cyber Attacks

Threat actors with ties to China have been observed using an updated version of a backdoor called COOLCLIENT in cyber espionage attacks in 2025 to facilitate comprehensive data theft from infected endpoints. The activity has been attributed to Mustang Panda aka Earth Preta, Fireant, HoneyMyte,...

LOTUSLITE Backdoor Targets U.S. Policy Entities Using Venezuela-Themed Spear Phishing

Security experts have disclosed details of a new campaign that has targeted U.S. government and policy entities using politically themed lures to deliver a backdoor known as LOTUSLITE. The targeted malware campaign leverages decoys related to the recent geopolitical developments between the U.S...

HoneyMyte (aka Mustang Panda) Deploys ToneShell Backdoor in New Attacks

HoneyMyte Mustang Panda is back with a new ToneShell backdoor. Read how this stealthy attack blinds Microsoft Defender to target government entities in Asia...

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,...

Trend Vision One™ Stacks Up Against Scattered Spider and Mustang Panda in 2025 MITRE ATT&CK® Evaluations

Enterprise 2025 introduces the first full cloud adversary emulation and expanded multi-platform testing, focusing on two advanced threat areas: Scattered Spider’s cloud-centric attacks and Mustang Panda’s long-term espionage operations...

Mustang Panda Deploys SnakeDisk USB Worm to Deliver Yokai Backdoor on Thailand IPs

The China-aligned threat actor known as Mustang Panda has been observed using an updated version of a backdoor called TONESHELL and a previously undocumented USB worm called SnakeDisk. "The worm only executes on devices with Thailand-based IP addresses and drops the Yokai backdoor," IBM X-Force...

UNC6384 Deploys PlugX via Captive Portal Hijacks and Valid Certificates Targeting Diplomats

A China-nexus threat actor known as UNC6384 has been attributed to a set of attacks targeting diplomats in Southeast Asia and other entities across the globe to advance Beijing's strategic interests. "This multi-stage attack chain leverages advanced social engineering including valid code signing...

PUBLOAD and Pubshell Malware Used in Mustang Panda's Tibet-Specific Attack

A China-linked threat actor known as Mustang Panda has been attributed to a new cyber espionage campaign directed against the Tibetan community. The spear-phishing attacks leveraged topics related to Tibet, such as the 9th World Parliamentarians' Convention on Tibet WPCT, China's education policy...

Mustang Panda Targets Myanmar With StarProxy, EDR Bypass, and TONESHELL Updates

The China-linked threat actor known as Mustang Panda has been attributed to a cyber attack targeting an unspecified organization in Myanmar with previously unreported tooling, highlighting continued effort by the threat actors to increase the sophistication and effectiveness of their malware. Thi...

Chinese Hackers Exploit MAVInject.exe to Evade Detection in Targeted Cyber Attacks

The Chinese state-sponsored threat actor known as Mustang Panda has been observed employing a novel technique to evade detection and maintain control over infected systems. This involves the use of a legitimate Microsoft Windows utility called Microsoft Application Virtualization Injector...

FBI Deletes PlugX Malware from 4,250 Hacked Computers in Multi-Month Operation

The U.S. Department of Justice DoJ on Tuesday disclosed that a court-authorized operation allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI to delete PlugX malware from over 4,250 infected computers as part of a "multi-month law enforcement operation." PlugX, also known as Korplug, is a remote acce...

China-Linked CeranaKeeper Targeting Southeast Asia with Data Exfiltration

A previously undocumented threat actor called CeranaKeeper has been linked to a string of data exfiltration attacks targeting Southeast Asia. Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET, which observed campaigns targeting governmental institutions in Thailand starting in 2023, attributed the activity cluster ...

Mustang Panda Deploys Advanced Malware to Spy on Asia-Pacific Governments

The threat actor tracked as Mustang Panda has refined its malware arsenal to include new tools in order to facilitate data exfiltration and the deployment of next-stage payloads, according to new findings from Trend Micro. The cybersecurity firm, which is monitoring the activity cluster under the...

Chinese Hackers Exploit Visual Studio Code in Southeast Asian Cyberattacks

The China-linked advanced persistent threat APT group known as Mustang Panda has been observed weaponizing Visual Studio Code software as part of espionage operations targeting government entities in Southeast Asia. "This threat actor used Visual Studio Code's embedded reverse shell feature to ga...

Researchers Warn of Chinese-Aligned Hackers Targeting South China Sea Countries

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a previously undocumented threat group called Unfading Sea Haze that's believed to have been active since 2018. The intrusion singled out high-level organizations in South China Sea countries, particularly military and government targets,...