MuddyWater Uses DLL Side-Loading in Espionage Campaign Targeting 9 Countries

The Iranian hacking group known as MuddyWater has been linked to a new campaign affecting at least nine organizations across nine countries on four continents in the first quarter of 2026. The activity targeted industrial and electronics manufacturing, education and public-sector bodies, financia...

China-Linked Hackers Target Asian Governments, NATO State, Journalists, and Activists

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new China-aligned espionage campaign targeting government and defense sectors across South, East, and Southeast Asia, along with one European government belonging to NATO. Trend Micro has attributed the activity to a threat activity cluster it...

BPFdoor in Telecom Networks: Sleeper Cells in the Backbone

Executive overview The strategic positioning of covert access within the world’s telecommunication networks A months-long investigation by Rapid7 Labs has uncovered evidence of an advanced China-nexus threat actor, Red Menshen, placing some of the stealthiest digital sleeper cells the team has ev...

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...

WIRTE Leverages AshenLoader Sideloading to Install the AshTag Espionage Backdoor

An advanced persistent threat APT known as WIRTE has been attributed to attacks targeting government and diplomatic entities across the Middle East with a previously undocumented malware suite dubbed AshTag since 2020. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 is tracking the activity cluster under the name Ash...

AI as Cyberattacker

From Anthropic: In mid-September 2025, we detected suspicious activity that later investigation determined to be a highly sophisticated espionage campaign. The attackers used AI’s “agentic” capabilities to an unprecedented degree­--using AI not just as an advisor, but to execute the cyberattacks...

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...

Mem3nt0 mori – The Hacking Team is back!

In March 2025, Kaspersky detected a wave of infections that occurred when users clicked on personalized phishing links sent via email. No further action was required to initiate the infection; simply visiting the malicious website using Google Chrome or another Chromium-based web browser was...

Abandoned Sogou Zhuyin Update Server Hijacked, Weaponized in Taiwan Espionage Campaign

An abandoned update server associated with input method editor IME software Sogou Zhuyin was leveraged by threat actors as part of an espionage campaign to deliver several malware families, including C6DOOR and GTELAM, in attacks primarily targeting users across Eastern Asia. "Attackers employed...

FBI Warns FSB-Linked Hackers Exploiting Unpatched Cisco Devices for Cyber Espionage

A Russian state-sponsored cyber espionage group known as Static Tundra has been observed actively exploiting a seven-year-old security flaw in Cisco IOS and Cisco IOS XE software as a means to establish persistent access to target networks. Cisco Talos, which disclosed details of the activity, sa...

CL-STA-0969 Installs Covert Malware in Telecom Networks During 10-Month Espionage Campaign

Telecommunications organizations in Southeast Asia have been targeted by a state-sponsored threat actor known as CL-STA-0969 to facilitate remote control over compromised networks. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 said it observed multiple incidents in the region, including one aimed at critical...

China-Linked Hackers Launch Targeted Espionage Campaign on African IT Infrastructure

The China-linked cyber espionage group tracked as APT41 has been attributed to a new campaign targeting government IT services in the African region. "The attackers used hardcoded names of internal services, IP addresses, and proxy servers embedded within their malware," Kaspersky researchers Den...

Microsoft Patches 67 Vulnerabilities Including WEBDAV Zero-Day Exploited in the Wild

Microsoft has released patches to fix 67 security flaws, including one zero-day bug in Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning WebDAV that it said has come under active exploitation in the wild. Of the 67 vulnerabilities, 11 are rated Critical and 56 are rated Important in severity. This include...

Russian Hackers Using ClickFix Fake CAPTCHA to Deploy New LOSTKEYS Malware

The Russia-linked threat actor known as COLDRIVER has been observed distributing a new malware called LOSTKEYS as part of an espionage-focused campaign using ClickFix-like social engineering lures. "LOSTKEYS is capable of stealing files from a hard-coded list of extensions and directories, along...

SentinelOne Uncovers Chinese Espionage Campaign Targeting Its Infrastructure and Clients

Cybersecurity company SentinelOne has revealed that a China-nexus threat cluster dubbed PurpleHaze conducted reconnaissance attempts against its infrastructure and some of its high-value customers. "We first became aware of this threat cluster during a 2024 intrusion conducted against an...

China-Linked APT Aquatic Panda: 10-Month Campaign, 7 Global Targets, 5 Malware Families

The China-linked advanced persistent threat APT group known as Aquatic Panda has been linked to a "global espionage campaign" that took place in 2022 targeting seven organizations. These entities include governments, Catholic charities, non-governmental organizations NGOs, and think tanks across...

Russia-Linked Hackers Target Kazakhstan in Espionage Campaign with HATVIBE Malware

Russia-linked threat actors have been attributed to an ongoing cyber espionage campaign targeting Kazakhstan as part of the Kremlin's efforts to gather economic and political intelligence in Central Asia. The campaign has been assessed to be the work of an intrusion set dubbed UAC-0063 , which...

RedDelta Deploys PlugX Malware to Target Mongolia and Taiwan in Espionage Campaigns

Mongolia, Taiwan, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia have been targeted by the China-nexus RedDelta threat actor to deliver a customized version of the PlugX backdoor between July 2023 and December 2024. "The group used lure documents themed around the 2024 Taiwanese presidential candidate Terry Gou,...

⚡ THN Weekly Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools and Tips

The online world never takes a break, and this week shows why. From ransomware creators being caught to hackers backed by governments trying new tricks, the message is clear: cybercriminals are always changing how they attack, and we need to keep up. Hackers are using everyday tools in harmful...

Ukrainian Minors Recruited for Cyber Ops and Reconnaissance in Russian Airstrikes

The Security Service of Ukraine SBU or SSU has exposed a novel espionage campaign suspected to be orchestrated by Russia's Federal Security Service FSB that involves recruiting Ukrainian minors for criminal activities under the guise of "quest games." Law enforcement officials said that it detain...