Chinese Threat Actor Uses Leaked DarkSword Kit to Deploy GHOSTBLADE on iOS

An unknown Chinese-speaking threat actor has been observed running a campaign targeting Apple iOS devices by leveraging a publicly leaked version of the DarkSword exploit kit. Attack surface management platform Censys said it identified the threat actor running more than 100 web properties, most ...

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...

Chinese Hackers Use Anthropic's AI to Launch Automated Cyber Espionage Campaign

State-sponsored threat actors from China used artificial intelligence AI technology developed by Anthropic to orchestrate automated cyber attacks as part of a "highly sophisticated espionage campaign" in mid-September 2025. "The attackers used AI's 'agentic' capabilities to an unprecedented degre...

Chinese Threat Actors Exploit ToolShell SharePoint Flaw Weeks After Microsoft's July Patch

Threat actors with ties to China exploited the ToolShell security vulnerability in Microsoft SharePoint to breach a telecommunications company in the Middle East after it was publicly disclosed and patched in July 2025. Also targeted were government departments in an African country, as well as...

Chinese APT Phantom Taurus Targeted MS Exchange Servers Over 3 Years

Cybersecurity researchers at Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 say Chinese APT Phantom Taurus breached Microsoft Exchange servers for years using a backdoor to spy on diplomats and defense data...

OneClik: A ClickOnce-Based APT Campaign Targeting Energy, Oil and Gas Infrastructure

OneClik: A ClickOnce-Based APT Campaign Targeting Energy, Oil and Gas Infrastructure By Nico Paulo Yturriaga and Pham Duy Phuc · June 24, 2025 The Trellix Advanced Research Center has uncovered a sophisticated APT malware campaign that we’ve dubbed OneClik. It specifically targets the energy, oil...

CISA: No Wider Federal Impact from Treasury Cyber Attack, Investigation Ongoing

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA on Monday said there are no indications that the cyber attack targeting the Treasury Department impacted other federal agencies. The agency said it's working closely with the Treasury Department and BeyondTrust to get a better...

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...

SonicWall Urges Users to Patch Critical Firewall Flaw Amid Possible Exploitation

SonicWall has revealed that a recently patched critical security flaw impacting SonicOS may have come under active exploitation, making it essential that users apply the patches as soon as possible. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-40766, carries a CVSS score of 9.3 out of a maximum of 10...

APT41 likely compromised Taiwanese government-affiliated research institute with ShadowPad and Cobalt Strike

Cisco Talos discovered a malicious campaign that compromised a Taiwanese government-affiliated research institute that started as early as July 2023, delivering the ShadowPad malware, Cobalt Strike and other customized tools for post-compromise activities. The activity conducted on the victim...

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...

Earth Krahang APT Campaign Targeting Global Governments

Summary: Earth Krahang, an APT campaign since 2022, targets global government entities, employing spear phishing and server exploitation tactics. Operating independently but with potential links to Chinese threat actors, it utilizes malware like Cobalt Strike and XDealer for espionage, urging...

Attacks, Vulnerabilities and Actors 19 to 25 February 2024

For a detailed threat digest, download the pdf file here Summary HiveForce Labs recently made several significant discoveries in the realm of cybersecurity threats. In the past week alone, a total of fifteen attacks were executed, five vulnerabilities were uncovered, and five active adversaries...

Chinese Hackers Exploited New Zero-Day in Barracuda's ESG Appliances

Barracuda has revealed that Chinese threat actors exploited a new zero-day in its Email Security Gateway ESG appliances to deploy backdoors on a "limited number" of devices. Tracked as CVE-2023-7102, the issue relates to a case of arbitrary code execution that resides within a third-party and...

Chinese Hackers Using SugarGh0st RAT to Target South Korea and Uzbekistan

A suspected Chinese-speaking threat actor has been attributed to a malicious campaign that targets the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and South Korean users with a remote access trojan called SugarGh0st RAT. The activity, which commenced no later than August 2023, leverages two different...