New GoSerpent Malware Targets Southeast Asian Governments and Diplomats for Espionage

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a previously undocumented malware called GoSerpent that has been put to use in cyber attacks targeting entities in Southeast Asia since late 2025 with a focus on long-term access and intelligence gathering. Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky, which...

Iran-Linked Password-Spraying Campaign Targets 300+ Israeli Microsoft 365 Organizations

An Iran-nexus threat actor is suspected to be behind a password-spraying campaign targeting Microsoft 365 environments in Israel and the U.A.E. amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The activity, assessed to be ongoing, was carried out in three distinct attack waves that took place on March 3...

OAuth redirection abuse enables phishing and malware delivery

Microsoft observed phishing-led exploitation of OAuth’s by-design redirection mechanisms. The activity targets government and public-sector organizations and uses silent OAuth authentication flows and intentionally invalid scopes to redirect victims to attacker-controlled infrastructure without...

Spam Campaign Abuses Atlassian Jira, Targets Government and Corporate Entities

We uncover how a campaign used Atlassian Jira Cloud to launch automated and targeted spam campaigns, exploiting trusted SaaS workflows to bypass security controls...

Asian State-Backed Group TGR-STA-1030 Breaches 70 Government, Infrastructure Entities

A previously undocumented cyber espionage group operating from Asia broke into the networks of at least 70 government and critical infrastructure organizations across 37 countries over the past year, according to new findings from Palo Alto Networks Unit 42. In addition, the hacking crew has been...

Experts Detect Pakistan-Linked Cyber Campaigns Aimed at Indian Government Entities

Indian government entities have been targeted in two campaigns undertaken by a threat actor that operates in Pakistan using previously undocumented tradecraft. The campaigns have been codenamed Gopher Strike and Sheet Attack by Zscaler ThreatLabz, which identified them in September 2025. "While...

China-Linked Hackers Have Used the PeckBirdy JavaScript C2 Framework Since 2023

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a JScript-based command-and-control C2 framework called PeckBirdy that has been put to use by China-aligned APT actors since 2023 to target multiple environments. The flexible framework has been put to use against Chinese gambling industries and malicious...

PeckBirdy: A Versatile Script Framework for LOLBins Exploitation Used by China-aligned Threat Groups

PeckBirdy is a sophisticated JScript-based C&C framework used by China-aligned APT groups to exploit LOLBins across multiple environments, delivering advanced backdoors to target gambling industries and Asian government entities...

FBI Warns North Korean Hackers Using Malicious QR Codes in Spear-Phishing

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI on Thursday released an advisory warning of North Korean state-sponsored threat actors leveraging malicious QR codes in spear-phishing campaigns targeting entities in the country. "As of 2025, Kimsuky actors have targeted think tanks, academic...

HoneyMyte (aka Mustang Panda) Deploys ToneShell Backdoor in New Attacks

HoneyMyte Mustang Panda is back with a new ToneShell backdoor. Read how this stealthy attack blinds Microsoft Defender to target government entities in Asia...

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...

China-Linked Hackers Exploit Windows Shortcut Flaw to Target European Diplomats

A China-affiliated threat actor known as UNC6384 has been linked to a fresh set of attacks exploiting an unpatched Windows shortcut vulnerability to target European diplomatic and government entities between September and October 2025. The activity targeted diplomatic organizations in Hungary,...

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...

Mysterious Elephant: a growing threat

Introduction Mysterious Elephant is a highly active advanced persistent threat APT group that we at Kaspersky GReAT discovered in 2023. It has been consistently evolving and adapting its tactics, techniques, and procedures TTPs to stay under the radar. With a primary focus on targeting government...

ShadowSilk Hits 35 Organizations in Central Asia and APAC Using Telegram Bots

A threat activity cluster known as ShadowSilk has been attributed to a fresh set of attacks targeting government entities within Central Asia and Asia-Pacific APAC. According to Group-IB, nearly three dozen victims have been identified, with the intrusions mainly geared towards data exfiltration...

ShadowSilk Hits 35 Organizations in Central Asia and APAC Using Telegram Bots

A threat activity cluster known as ShadowSilk has been attributed to a fresh set of attacks targeting government entities within Central Asia and Asia-Pacific APAC. According to Group-IB, nearly three dozen victims have been identified, with the intrusions mainly geared towards data exfiltration...

Transparent Tribe Targets Indian Govt With Weaponized Desktop Shortcuts via Phishing

The advanced persistent threat APT actor known as Transparent Tribe has been observed targeting both Windows and BOSS Bharat Operating System Solutions Linux systems with malicious Desktop shortcut files in attacks targeting Indian Government entities. "Initial access is achieved through...

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, Pham Duy Phuc and Alex Lanstein · July 8, 2025 This blog was also written by Akhil Reddy Introduction The DoNot APT group, al...

GIFTEDCROOK Malware Evolves: From Browser Stealer to Intelligence-Gathering Tool

The threat actor behind the GIFTEDCROOK malware has made significant updates to turn the malicious program from a basic browser data stealer to a potent intelligence-gathering tool. "Recent campaigns in June 2025 demonstrate GIFTEDCROOK's enhanced ability to exfiltrate a broad range of sensitive...

XDigo Malware Exploits Windows LNK Flaw in Eastern European Government Attacks

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a Go-based malware called XDigo that has been used in attacks targeting Eastern European governmental entities in March 2025. The attack chains are said to have leveraged a collection of Windows shortcut LNK files as part of a multi-stage procedure to depl...