APT24 Deploys BADAUDIO in Years-Long Espionage Hitting Taiwan and 1,000+ Domains

A China-nexus threat actor known as APT24 has been observed using a previously undocumented malware dubbed BADAUDIO to establish persistent remote access to compromised networks as part of a nearly three-year campaign. "While earlier operations relied on broad strategic web compromises to...

Chinese Hackers Weaponize Open-Source Nezha Tool in New Attack Wave

Threat actors with suspected ties to China have turned a legitimate open-source monitoring tool called Nezha into an attack weapon, using it to deliver a known malware called Gh0st RAT to targets. The activity, observed by cybersecurity company Huntress in August 2025, is characterized by the use...

HiddenGh0st, Winos and kkRAT Exploit SEO, GitHub Pages in Chinese Malware Attacks

Chinese-speaking users are the target of a search engine optimization SEO poisoning campaign that uses fake software sites to distribute malware. "The attackers manipulated search rankings with SEO plugins and registered lookalike domains that closely mimicked legitimate software sites," Fortinet...

New GodRAT Trojan Targets Trading Firms Using Steganography and Gh0st RAT Code

Financial institutions like trading and brokerage firms are the target of a new campaign that delivers a previously unreported remote access trojan called GodRAT. The malicious activity involves the "distribution of malicious .SCR screen saver files disguised as financial documents via Skype...

GodRAT – New RAT targeting financial institutions

Summary In September 2024, we detected malicious activity targeting financial trading and brokerage firms through the distribution of malicious .scr screen saver files disguised as financial documents via Skype messenger. The threat actor deployed a newly identified Remote Access Trojan RAT named...

2,500+ Truesight.sys Driver Variants Exploited to Bypass EDR and Deploy HiddenGh0st RAT

A large-scale malware campaign has been found leveraging a vulnerable Windows driver associated with Adlice's product suite to sidestep detection efforts and deliver the Gh0st RAT malware. "To further evade detection, the attackers deliberately generated multiple variants with different hashes of...

New UULoader Malware Distributes Gh0st RAT and Mimikatz in East Asia

A new type of malware called UULoader is being used by threat actors to deliver next-stage payloads like Gh0st RAT and Mimikatz. The Cyberint Research Team, which discovered the malware, said it's distributed in the form of malicious installers for legitimate applications targeting Korean and...

Gh0st RAT Trojan Targets Chinese Windows Users via Fake Chrome Site

The remote access trojan known as Gh0st RAT has been observed being delivered by an "evasive dropper" called Gh0stGambit as part of a drive-by download scheme targeting Chinese-speaking Windows users. These infections stem from a fake website "chrome-web.com" serving malicious installer packages...

PHP Vulnerability Exploited to Spread Malware and Launch DDoS Attacks

Multiple threat actors have been observed exploiting a recently disclosed security flaw in PHP to deliver remote access trojans, cryptocurrency miners, and distributed denial-of-service DDoS botnets. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2024-4577 CVSS score: 9.8, which allows an attacker to...

New Cross-Platform Malware 'Noodle RAT' Targets Windows and Linux Systems

A previously undocumented cross-platform malware codenamed Noodle RAT has been put to use by Chinese-speaking threat actors either for espionage or cybercrime for years. While this backdoor was previously categorized as a variant of Gh0st RAT and Rekoobe, Trend Micro security researcher Hara...

Inside Operation Diplomatic Specter: Chinese APT Group's Stealthy Tactics Exposed

Governmental entities in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia are the target of a Chinese advanced persistent threat APT group as part of an ongoing cyber espionage campaign dubbed Operation Diplomatic Specter since at least late 2022. "An analysis of this threat actor's activity reveals long-term...

Researchers Warn of Chinese-Aligned Hackers Targeting South China Sea Countries

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a previously undocumented threat group called Unfading Sea Haze that's believed to have been active since 2018. The intrusion singled out high-level organizations in South China Sea countries, particularly military and government targets,...

Open-Source Xeno RAT Trojan Emerges as a Potent Threat on GitHub

An "intricately designed" remote access trojan RAT called Xeno RAT has been made available on GitHub, making it easily accessible to other actors at no extra cost. Written in C and compatible with Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems, the open-source RAT comes with a "comprehensive set of...

Malicious Ads on Google Target Chinese Users with Fake Messaging Apps

Chinese-speaking users have been targeted by malicious Google ads for restricted messaging apps like Telegram as part of an ongoing malvertising campaign. "The threat actor is abusing Google advertiser accounts to create malicious ads and pointing them to pages where unsuspecting users will...

Chinese Hackers Using SugarGh0st RAT to Target South Korea and Uzbekistan

A suspected Chinese-speaking threat actor has been attributed to a malicious campaign that targets the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and South Korean users with a remote access trojan called SugarGh0st RAT. The activity, which commenced no later than August 2023, leverages two different...

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...

Sophisticated Phishing Campaign Targeting Chinese Users with ValleyRAT and Gh0st RAT

Chinese-language speakers have been increasingly targeted as part of multiple email phishing campaigns that aim to distribute various malware families such as Sainbox RAT, Purple Fox, and a new trojan called ValleyRAT. "Campaigns include Chinese-language lures and malware typically associated wit...

Researchers Warn of Cyber Weapons Used by Lazarus Group's Andariel Cluster

The North Korean threat actor known as Andariel has been observed employing an arsenal of malicious tools in its cyber assaults against corporations and organizations in the southern counterpart. "One characteristic of the attacks identified in 2023 is that there are numerous malware strains...

Lookalike Telegram and WhatsApp Websites Distributing Cryptocurrency Stealing Malware

Copycat websites for instant messaging apps like Telegram and WhatApp are being used to distribute trojanized versions and infect Android and Windows users with cryptocurrency clipper malware. "All of them are after victims' cryptocurrency funds, with several targeting cryptocurrency wallets," ES...

Hackers Exploit Vulnerabilities in Sunlogin to Deploy Sliver C2 Framework

Threat actors are leveraging known flaws in Sunlogin software to deploy the Sliver command-and-control C2 framework for carrying out post-exploitation activities. The findings come from AhnLab Security Emergency response Center ASEC, which found that security vulnerabilities in Sunlogin, a remote...