Iran-Linked MuddyWater Targets 100+ Organizations in Global Espionage Campaign

The Iranian nation-state group known as MuddyWater has been attributed to a new campaign that has leveraged a compromised email account to distribute a backdoor called Phoenix to various organizations across the Middle East and North Africa MENA region, including over 100 government entities. The...

Phantom Taurus: New China-Linked Hacker Group Hits Governments With Stealth Malware

Government and telecommunications organizations across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia have emerged as the target of a previously undocumented China-aligned nation-state actor dubbed Phantom Taurus over the past two-and-a-half years. "Phantom Taurus' main focus areas include ministries of forei...

Chinese Hackers RedNovember Target Global Governments Using Pantegana and Cobalt Strike

A suspected cyber espionage activity cluster that was previously found targeting global government and private sector organizations spanning Africa, Asia, North America, South America, and Oceania has been assessed to be a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor. Recorded Future, which was tracking...

From Click to Compromise: Unveiling the Sophisticated Attack of DoNot APT Group on Southern European Government Entities

From Click to Compromise: Unveiling the Sophisticated Attack of DoNot APT Group on Southern European Government Entities By Aniket Choukde, Aparna Aripirala, Alisha Kadam, Akhil Reddy, Pham Duy Phuc and Alex Lanstein · July 8, 2025 Introduction The DoNot APT group, also identified by various...

Czech Republic Blames China-Linked APT31 Hackers for 2022 Cyberattack

The Czech Republic on Wednesday formally accused a threat actor associated with the People's Republic of China PRC of targeting its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a public statement, the government said it identified China as the culprit behind a malicious campaign targeting one of the...

Chinese Hackers Deploy SpiceRAT and SugarGh0st in Global Espionage Campaign

A previously undocumented Chinese-speaking threat actor codenamed SneakyChef has been linked to an espionage campaign primarily targeting government entities across Asia and EMEA Europe, Middle East, and Africa with SugarGh0st malware since at least August 2023. "SneakyChef uses lures that are...

Google Takes Down Influence Campaigns Tied to China, Indonesia, and Russia

Google has revealed that it took down 1,320 YouTube channels and 1,177 Blogger blogs as part of a coordinated influence operation connected to the People's Republic of China PRC. "The coordinated inauthentic network uploaded content in Chinese and English about China and U.S. foreign affairs,"...

Turla Group Deploys LunarWeb and LunarMail Backdoors in Diplomatic Missions

An unnamed European Ministry of Foreign Affairs MFA and its three diplomatic missions in the Middle East were targeted by two previously undocumented backdoors tracked as LunarWeb and LunarMail. ESET, which identified the activity, attributed it with medium confidence to the Russia-aligned...

Russian Government Software Backdoored to Deploy Konni RAT Malware

An installer for a tool likely used by the Russian Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs MID has been backdoored to deliver a remote access trojan called Konni RAT aka UpDog. The findings come from German cybersecurity company DCSO, which linked the activity as originating from t...

China-Linked Hackers Target Myanmar's Top Ministries with Backdoor Blitz

The China-based threat actor known as Mustang Panda is suspected to have targeted Myanmar's Ministry of Defence and Foreign Affairs as part of twin campaigns designed to deploy backdoors and remote access trojans. The findings come from CSIRT-CTI, which said the activities took place in November...

SugarGh0st RAT A Customized Gh0st Variant in Cyber Espionage

Summary: A malicious campaign deploying the customized SugarGh0st RAT, likely orchestrated by a Chinese-speaking threat actor targeting the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and South Korean users. SugarGh0st, a variant of Gh0st RAT, exhibits advanced features for remote control, keylogging,...

New SugarGh0st RAT targets Uzbekistan government and South Korea

Cisco Talos recently discovered a malicious campaign that likely started as early as August 2023, delivering a new remote access trojan RAT we dubbed "SugarGh0st." We found evidence suggesting the threat actor is targeting the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and users in South Korea. We...

Earth Lusca’s Sneaky Moves Unleashes New Linux Backdoor

Threat Level Actor Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary Earth Lusca, a highly sophisticated Chinese threat actor, is believed to have resumed its operations in the first half of 2023. This cyber espionage group utilizes the SprySOCKS backdoor, primarily...

Stealth Soldier: A New Custom Backdoor Targets North Africa with Espionage Attacks

A new custom backdoor dubbed Stealth Soldier has been deployed as part of a set of highly-targeted espionage attacks in North Africa. "Stealth Soldier malware is an undocumented backdoor that primarily operates surveillance functions such as file exfiltration, screen and microphone recording,...

Camaro Dragon Targets European Foreign Affairs with Malicious Firmware Implant

Threat Level Actor Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary Camaro Dragon is a Chinese state-sponsored advanced persistent threat APT group that has been targeting European foreign affairs entities. To receive real-time threat advisories, please follow HiveForce...

China's Mustang Panda Hackers Exploit TP-Link Routers for Persistent Attacks

The Chinese nation-state actor known as Mustang Panda has been linked to a new set of sophisticated and targeted attacks aimed at European foreign affairs entities since January 2023. An analysis of these intrusions, per Check Point researchers Itay Cohen and Radoslaw Madej, has revealed a custom...

North Korean Hackers Return with Stealthier Variant of KONNI RAT Malware

A cyberespionage group with ties to North Korea has resurfaced with a stealthier variant of its remote access trojan called Konni to attack political institutions located in Russia and South Korea. "The authors are constantly making code improvements," Malwarebytes researcher Roberto Santos said...

Massive Cyber Attack Knocks Down Ukrainian Government Websites

No fewer than 70 websites operated by the Ukrainian government went offline on Friday for hours in what appears to be a coordinated cyber attack amid heightened tensions with Russia. "As a result of a massive cyber attack, the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a number of other...

North Korean Hackers Start New Year with Attacks on Russian Foreign Ministry

A North Korean cyberespionage group named Konni has been linked to a series of targeted attacks aimed at the Russian Federation's Ministry of Foreign Affairs MID with New Year lures to compromise Windows systems with malware. "This activity cluster demonstrates the patient and persistent nature o...

Iran's Lyceum Hackers Target Telecoms, ISPs in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Africa

A state-sponsored threat actor allegedly affiliated with Iran has been linked to a series of targeted attacks aimed at internet service providers ISPs and telecommunication operators in Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia, as well as a ministry of foreign affairs MFA in Africa, new finding...