The Mask APT Resurfaces with Sophisticated Multi-Platform Malware Arsenal

A little-known cyber espionage actor known as The Mask has been linked to a new set of attacks targeting an unnamed organization in Latin America twice in 2019 and 2022. "The Mask APT is a legendary threat actor that has been performing highly sophisticated attacks since at least 2007," Kaspersky...

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...

Researchers Uncover Espionage Tactics of China-Based APT Groups in Southeast Asia

A suspected China-based threat actor has been linked to a series of cyber attacks targeting high-profile organizations in Southeast Asia since at least October 2023. The espionage campaign targeted organizations in various sectors spanning government ministries in two different countries, an air...

Hackers Weaponize Visual Studio Code Remote Tunnels for Cyber Espionage

A suspected China-nexus cyber espionage group has been attributed to an attacks targeting large business-to-business IT service providers in Southern Europe as part of a campaign codenamed Operation Digital Eye. The intrusions took place from late June to mid-July 2024, cybersecurity companies...

US Officials Recommend Encryption Apps Amid Chinese Telecom Hacking

Plus: Russian spies keep hijacking other hackers’ infrastructure, Hydra dark web market admin gets life sentence in Russia, and more of the week’s top security news...

Senators Warn the Pentagon: Get a Handle on China’s Telecom Hacking

In a letter to the Department of Defense, senators Ron Wyden and Eric Schmitt are calling for an investigation into fallout from the Salt Typhoon espionage campaign...

Joint Advisory Warns of PRC-Backed Cyber Espionage Targeting Telecom Networks

A joint advisory issued by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S. has warned of a broad cyber espionage campaign undertaken by People's Republic of China PRC-affiliated threat actors targeting telecommunications providers. "Identified exploitations or compromises associated with these threa...

CISA and Partners Release Joint Guidance on PRC-Affiliated Threat Actor Compromising Networks of Global Telecommunications Providers

Today, CISA—in partnership with the National Security Agency NSA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI, and international partners—released joint guidance, Enhanced Visibility and Hardening Guidance for Communications Infrastructure. Partners of this guidance include: Australian Signals...

IT threat evolution Q3 2024

IT threat evolution in Q3 2024 IT threat evolution in Q3 2024. Non-mobile statistics IT threat evolution in Q3 2024. Mobile statistics Targeted attacks New APT threat actor targets Russian government entities In May 2024, we discovered a new APT targeting Russian government organizations...

APT trends report Q3 2024

Kaspersky's Global Research and Analysis Team GReAT has been releasing quarterly summaries of advanced persistent threat APT activity for over seven years now. Based on our threat intelligence research, these summaries offer a representative overview of what we've published and discussed in more...

U.S. Telecom Giant T-Mobile Detects Network Intrusion Attempts from Wireline Provider

U.S. telecom service provider T-Mobile said it recently detected attempts made by bad actors to infiltrate its systems in recent weeks but noted that no sensitive data was accessed. These intrusion attempts "originated from a wireline provider's network that was connected to ours," Jeff Simon,...

New “CleverSoar” Installer Targets Chinese and Vietnamese Users

CleverSoar Installer Used to Deploy Nidhogg Rootkit and Winos4.0 Framework Against Targeted Users In early November, Rapid7 Labs identified a new, highly evasive malware installer, 'CleverSoar,' targeting Chinese and Vietnamese-speaking victims. CleverSoar is designed to deploy and protect multip...

APT-C-60 Hackers Exploit StatCounter and Bitbucket in SpyGlace Malware Campaign

The threat actor known as APT-C-60 has been linked to a cyber attack targeting an unnamed organization in Japan that used a job application-themed lure to deliver the SpyGlace backdoor. That's according to findings from JPCERT/CC, which said the intrusion leveraged legitimate services like Google...

Chinese Hackers Use GHOSTSPIDER Malware to Hack Telecoms Across 12+ Countries

The China-linked threat actor known as Earth Estries has been observed using a previously undocumented backdoor called GHOSTSPIDER as part of its attacks targeting Southeast Asian telecommunications companies. Trend Micro, which described the hacking group as an aggressive advanced persistent...

THN Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools, and Practices (Nov 18 - Nov 24)

We hear terms like "state-sponsored attacks" and "critical vulnerabilities" all the time, but what's really going on behind those words? This week's cybersecurity news isn't just about hackers and headlines—it's about how digital risks shape our lives in ways we might not even realize. For...

Game of Emperor: Unveiling Long Term Earth Estries Cyber Intrusions

Since 2023, APT group Earth Estries has aggressively targeted key industries globally with sophisticated techniques and new backdoors, like GHOSTSPIDER and MASOL RAT, for prolonged espionage operations...

Russian Hackers Deploy HATVIBE and CHERRYSPY Malware Across Europe and Asia

Threat actors with ties to Russia have been linked to a cyber espionage campaign aimed at organizations in Central Asia, East Asia, and Europe. Recorded Future's Insikt Group, which has assigned the activity cluster the name TAG-110, said it overlaps with a threat group tracked by the Computer...

China-Linked TAG-112 Targets Tibetan Media with Cobalt Strike Espionage Campaign

A China-linked nation-state group called TAG-112 compromised Tibetan media and university websites in a new cyber espionage campaign designed to facilitate the delivery of the Cobalt Strike post-exploitation toolkit for follow-on information collection. "The attackers embedded malicious JavaScrip...

Russian Spies Jumped From One Network to Another Via Wi-Fi in an Unprecedented Hack

In a first, Russia's APT28 hacking group appears to have remotely breached the Wi-Fi of an espionage target by hijacking a laptop in another building across the street...

A Bag of RATs: VenomRAT vs. AsyncRAT

Introduction Remote access tools RATs have long been a favorite tool for cyber attackers, since they enable remote control over compromised systems and facilitate data theft, espionage, and continuous monitoring of victims. Among the well-known RATs are VenomRAT and AsyncRAT. These are open-sourc...