Lazarus and the tale of three RATs

By Jung soo An, Asheer Malhotra and Vitor Ventura. Cisco Talos has been tracking a new campaign operated by the Lazarus APT group, attributed to North Korea by the United States government. This campaign involved the exploitation of vulnerabilities in VMWare Horizon to gain an initial foothold in...

Chinese Hackers Target Government Officials in Europe, South America, and Middle East

A Chinese hacking group has been attributed to a new campaign aimed at infecting government officials in Europe, the Middle East, and South America with a modular malware known as PlugX. Cybersecurity firm Secureworks said it identified the intrusions in June and July 2022, once again demonstrati...

Worok Hackers Target High-Profile Asian Companies and Governments

High-profile companies and local governments located primarily in Asia are the subjects of targeted attacks by a previously undocumented espionage group dubbed Worok that has been active since late 2020. "Worok's toolset includes a C++ loader CLRLoad, a PowerShell backdoor PowHeartBeat, and a C...

APT40 deployed ScanBox malware to target the Australian government

Threat Level Actor Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary APT 40 is a Chinese cyber espionage group, using phishing campaigns to target Australian government institutions and wind turbine operators in the South China Sea by directing selected individuals to a...

Chinese Hackers Used ScanBox Framework in Recent Cyber Espionage Attacks

A months-long cyber espionage campaign undertaken by a Chinese nation-state group targeted several entities with reconnaissance malware so as to glean information about its victims and meet its strategic goals. "The targets of this recent campaign spanned Australia, Malaysia, and Europe, as well ...

Google Uncovers Tool Used by Iranian Hackers to Steal Data from Email Accounts

The Iranian government-backed actor known as Charming Kitten has added a new tool to its malware arsenal that allows it to retrieve user data from Gmail, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Outlook accounts. Dubbed HYPERSCRAPE by Google Threat Analysis Group TAG, the actively in-development malicious software ...

Suspected Iranian Hackers Targeted Several Israeli Organizations for Espionage

A suspected Iranian threat activity cluster has been linked to attacks aimed at Israeli shipping, government, energy, and healthcare organizations as part of an espionage-focused campaign that commenced in late 2020. Cybersecurity firm Mandiant is tracking the group under its uncategorized monike...

Researchers Link Multi-Year Mass Credential Theft Campaign to Chinese Hackers

A Chinese state-sponsored threat activity group named RedAlpha has been attributed to a multi-year mass credential theft campaign aimed at global humanitarian, think tank, and government organizations. "In this activity, RedAlpha very likely sought to gain access to email accounts and other onlin...

Microsoft Warns About Phishing Attacks by Russia-linked Hackers

Microsoft on Monday revealed it took steps to disrupt phishing operations undertaken by a "highly persistent threat actor" whose objectives align closely with Russian state interests. The company is tracking the espionage-oriented activity cluster under its chemical element-themed moniker...

Windows, Linux and macOS Users Targeted by Chinese Iron Tiger APT Group

By Deeba Ahmed Chinese Espionage Group called Iron Tiger aka LuckyMouse is targeting Windows, Linux, and macOS Users with trojanized MiMi… This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Windows, Linux and macOS Users Targeted by Chinese Iron Tiger APT Group...

Disrupting SEABORGIUM’s ongoing phishing operations

The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center MSTIC has observed and taken actions to disrupt campaigns launched by SEABORGIUM, an actor Microsoft has tracked since 2017. SEABORGIUM is a threat actor that originates from Russia, with objectives and victimology that align closely with Russian state...

Experts Uncover Details on Maui Ransomware Attack by North Korean Hackers

The first ever incident possibly involving the ransomware family known as Maui occurred on April 15, 2021, aimed at an unnamed Japanese housing company. The disclosure from Kaspersky arrives a month after U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies issued an advisory about the use of the...

Virtual Currency Platform ‘Tornado Cash’ Accused of Aiding APTs

The U.S. government has slapped sanctions on virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash for laundering more than $7 billion in crypto cash derived from cybercriminal activity. At least $455 million of that was moved for state-sponsored Lazarus Group in part to help fund North Korea’s missile program,...

Nation-State Hackers Targeted Facebook in Cyber Espionage Attacks – Meta

By Deeba Ahmed Meta says the company sabotaged two cyber espionage campaigns against Facebook which originated from South Asia. Meta, Facebook’s… This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Nation-State Hackers Targeted Facebook in Cyber Espionage Attacks - Meta...

Chinese Hackers Targeted Dozens of Industrial Enterprises and Public Institutions

Over a dozen military-industrial complex enterprises and public institutions in Afghanistan and Europe have come under a wave of targeted attacks since January 2022 to steal confidential data by simultaneously making use of six different backdoors. Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky attributed...

Meta Cracks Down on Cyber Espionage Operations in South Asia Abusing Facebook

Facebook parent company Meta disclosed that it took action against two espionage operations in South Asia that leveraged its social media platforms to distribute malware to potential targets. The first set of activities is what the company described as "persistent and well-resourced" and undertak...

Hackers Exploited Atlassian Confluence Bug to Deploy Ljl Backdoor for Espionage

A threat actor is said to have "highly likely" exploited a security flaw in an outdated Atlassian Confluence server to deploy a never-before-seen backdoor against an unnamed organization in the research and technical services sector. The attack, which transpired over a seven-day-period during the...

North Korean Hackers Using Malicious Browser Extension to Spy on Email Accounts

A threat actor operating with interests aligned with North Korea has been deploying a malicious extension on Chromium-based web browsers that's capable of stealing email content from Gmail and AOL. Cybersecurity firm Volexity attributed the malware to an activity cluster it calls SharpTongue, whi...

APT trends report Q2 2022

For five years, the Global Research and Analysis Team GReAT at Kaspersky has been publishing quarterly summaries of advanced persistent threat APT activity. These summaries are based on our threat intelligence research; and they provide a representative snapshot of what we have published and...

U.S. Offers $10 Million Reward for Information on North Korean Hackers

The U.S. State Department has announced rewards of up to $10 million for any information that could help disrupt North Korea's cryptocurrency theft, cyber-espionage, and other illicit state-backed activities. "If you have information on any individuals associated with the North Korean...