The Weird, Twisting Tale of How China Spied on Alysa Liu and Her Dad

Years before the figure skater became an Olympic superstar, a Chinese operative tried to stalk her father and monitored other US residents deemed dissidents against China. And that’s just the beginning...

Iran-Linked DCHSpy Android Malware Masquerades as VPN Apps to Spy on Dissidents

Cybersecurity researchers have unearthed new Android spyware artifacts that are likely affiliated with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security MOIS and have been distributed to targets by masquerading as VPN apps and Starlink, a satellite internet connection service offered by SpaceX...

Russians Love YouTube. That’s a Problem for the Kremlin

YouTube remains the only major US-based social media platform available in Russia. It’s become "indispensable" to everyday people, making a ban tricky. Journalists and dissidents are taking advantage...

Charming Kitten Targets Iranian Dissidents with Advanced Cyber Attacks

Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution BfV has warned of cyber attacks targeting Iranian persons and organizations in the country since the end of 2022. "The cyber attacks were mainly directed against dissident organizations and individuals – such as lawyers, journalists,...

Ex-Twitter employee Gets 3.5 Years Jail for Spying on Behalf of Saudi Arabia

A former Twitter employee who was found guilty of spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia by sharing data pertaining to specific individuals has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. Ahmad Abouammo, 45, was convicted earlier this August on various criminal counts, including money launderin...

New spear phishing campaign targets Russian dissidents

This blog post was authored by Hossein Jazi. -- Updated to clarify the two different campaigns Cobalt Strike and Rat Several threat actors have taken advantage of the war in Ukraine to launch a number of cyber attacks. The Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence team is actively monitoring these threats...

Tetris: Chinese Espionage Tool

Im starting to see writings about a Chinese espionage tool that exploits website vulnerabilities to try and identify Chinese dissidents...

Detailed: Here's How Iran Spies on Dissidents with the Help of Hackers

Twin cyber operations conducted by state-sponsored Iranian threat actors demonstrate their continued focus on compiling detailed dossiers on Iranian citizens that could threaten the stability of the Islamic Republic, including dissidents, opposition forces, and ISIS supporters, and Kurdish native...

Android Malware Bypasses 2FA And Targets Telegram, Gmail Passwords

Researchers have uncovered a threat group launching surveillance campaigns that target victims’ personal device data, browser credentials and Telegram messaging application files. One notable tool in the group’s arsenal is an Android malware that collects all two-factor authentication 2FA securit...

Researchers Uncover 6-Year Cyber Espionage Campaign Targeting Iranian Dissidents

Capping off a busy week of charges and sanctions against Iranian hackers, a new research offers insight into what's a six-year-long ongoing surveillance campaign targeting Iranian expats and dissidents with an intention to pilfer sensitive information. The threat actor, suspected to be of Iranian...

Researchers Uncover 6-Year Cyber Espionage Campaign Targeting Iranian Dissidents

Capping off a busy week of charges and sanctions against Iranian hackers, a new research offers insight into what's a six-year-long ongoing surveillance campaign targeting Iranian expats and dissidents with an intention to pilfer sensitive information. The threat actor, suspected to be of Iranian...

U.S. Treasury Sanctions Hacking Group Backed by Iranian Intelligence

The U.S. government on Thursday imposed sweeping sanctions against an Iranian threat actor backed by the country's Ministry of Intelligence and Security MOIS for carrying out malware campaigns targeting Iranian dissidents, journalists, and international companies in the telecom and travel sectors...

China-based APT Debuts Sepulcher Malware in Spear-Phishing Attacks

A China-based APT has been sending organizations spear-phishing emails that distribute a never-before-seen intelligence-collecting RAT dubbed Sepulcher. Researchers discovered the new malware being distributed over the past six months through two separate campaigns. The first, in March, targeted...

Facebook's NSO Group Lawsuit Over WhatsApp Spying Set to Proceed

Facebook’s lawsuit against NSO Group over alleged spying on WhatsApp users will be allowed to go forward. WhatsApp-owner Facebook is alleging that NSO Group exploited a vulnerability in WhatsApp to deploy its spyware against human rights activists, journalists and political dissidents. A federal...

Ex-Twitter Employees Spied on Saudi Dissidents: DoJ

The Department of Justice DoJ has charged two former Twitter employees of working with the government of Saudi Arabia to snoop on political dissidents’ accounts. The 27-page complaint alleges that two former Twitter employees, Ali Alzabarah, 35, and Ahmad Abouammo, 41, accessed Twitter account da...

Blackshades RAT Takedown Leads to 90 Arrests

More than 90 arrests have been made in connection with development and sales of a remote access Trojan used worldwide to steal data and spy on victims, including Syrian dissidents. The FBI and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office yesterday announced the takedown of the Blackshades operation...

Facebook domain hacked by Syrian Electronic Army

On the 10th Anniversary of Social networking website Facebook, the hacker group 'Syrian Electronic Army' claimed that they managed to hack into the administrator account of the Facebook's Domain Registrar - MarkMonitor. The hacking group changed the Facebook Domain's contact information to a Syri...

Facebook temporarily blocked access from TOR, but not Intentionally

Tor has become a tool of free expression in parts of the world where citizens can not speak freely against their government. On Tuesday, a number of users have noticed that Facebook is blocking connections from the Tor network. Tor is a free tool that keeps Web browsing sessions private and...

Internet Explorer 8 Exploit Found in Watering Hole Campaign Targeting Chinese Dissidents

On March 16th, we discovered a premeditated waterhole campaign that hosts exploits and malware on websites frequented by a specific target group. In this case the target includes Chinese dissidents. For the attacker, this approach is highly attractive since it is very difficult to discover the...

Syria suffers nationwide communications outage

The Syrian situation is getting worse day by day, the regime is attacking dissident mercilessly meanwhile the world wide community is standing by and watch helplessly stopped by prohibition of military intervention imposed by Russia and China, historical allies of Damascus. Syria regime is fierce...