Microsoft Warns of Nation-State Hackers Exploiting Critical Atlassian Confluence Vulnerability

Microsoft has linked the exploitation of a recently disclosed critical flaw in Atlassian Confluence Data Center and Server to a nation-state actor it tracks as Storm-0062 aka DarkShadow or Oro0lxy. The tech giant's threat intelligence team said it observed in-the-wild abuse of the vulnerability...

Gaza-Linked Cyber Threat Actor Targets Israeli Energy and Defense Sectors

A Gaza-based threat actor has been linked to a series of cyber attacks aimed at Israeli private-sector energy, defense, and telecommunications organizations. Microsoft, which revealed details of the activity in its fourth annual Digital Defense Report, is tracking the campaign under the name...

China-Linked Budworm Targeting Middle Eastern Telco and Asian Government Agencies

Government and telecom entities have been subjected to a new wave of attacks by a China-linked threat actor tracked as Budworm using an updated malware toolset. The intrusions, targeting a Middle Eastern telecommunications organization and an Asian government, took place in August 2023, with the...

Peach Sandstorm password spray campaigns enable intelligence collection at high-value targets

Since February 2023, Microsoft has observed password spray activity against thousands of organizations carried out by an actor we track as Peach Sandstorm HOLMIUM. Peach Sandstorm is an Iranian nation-state threat actor who has recently pursued organizations in the satellite, defense, and...

Peach Sandstorm password spray campaigns enable intelligence collection at high-value targets

Since February 2023, Microsoft has observed password spray activity against thousands of organizations carried out by an actor we track as Peach Sandstorm HOLMIUM. Peach Sandstorm is an Iranian nation-state threat actor who has recently pursued organizations in the satellite, defense, and...

How Cyberattacks Are Transforming Warfare

There is a new battlefield. It is global and challenging to defend. What began with a high-profile incident back in 2007, when Estonia was hit by hackers targeting its government and commercial sector, has evolved into cyber warfare that is being waged constantly worldwide. Today, cyberattacks ha...

Nation-State Actors Infiltrate U.S. by Exploiting Zoho and Fortinet Flaws

Threat Level Vulnerability Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary Multiple nation-state entities infiltrated a prominent U.S. aeronautics organization by capitalizing on vulnerabilities within Fortinet FortiOS SSL-VPN and Zoho ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus,...

CISA Warning: Nation-State Hackers Exploit Fortinet and Zoho Vulnerabilities

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA on Thursday warned that multiple nation-state actors are exploiting security flaws in Fortinet FortiOS SSL-VPN and Zoho ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus to gain unauthorized access and establish persistence on compromised systems...

CISA, FBI, and CNMF Release Advisory on Multiple Nation-State Threat Actors Exploit CVE-2022-47966 and CVE-2022-42475

Today, CISA, Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI, and U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force CNMF published a joint Cybersecurity Advisory CSA, Multiple Nation-State Threat Actors Exploit CVE-2022-47966 and CVE-2022-42475. This CSA provides information on an incident at an Aeronautical...

Multiple Nation-State Threat Actors Exploit CVE-2022-47966 and CVE-2022-42475

Actions to take today to mitigate malicious cyber activity: 1. Patch all systems for known exploited vulnerabilities KEVs, including firewall security appliances. 2. Monitor for unauthorized use of remote access software using endpoint detection tools. 3. Remove unnecessary disabled accounts and...

New SuperBear Trojan Emerges in Targeted Phishing Attack on South Korean Activists

A new phishing attack likely targeting civil society groups in South Korea has led to the discovery of a novel remote access trojan called SuperBear. The intrusion singled out an unnamed activist, who was contacted in late August 2023 and received a malicious LNK file from an address impersonatin...

How the Microsoft Incident Response team helps customers remediate threats

Each year, organizations face tens of billions of malware, phishing, and credential threats—with real-world impacts. When an attack succeeds, it can result in grave impacts on any industry. For example, it could delay a police or fire department’s response to an emergency, prevent a hospital from...

DroxiDat Targets Southern African Power Utility

Threat Level Attack Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary In a targeted operation, an unidentified actor strategically deployed the advanced DroxiDat proxy-capable backdoor alongside Cobalt Strike beacons. The operation was aimed at a critical power utility...

Researchers Uncover New High-Severity Vulnerability in PaperCut Software

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new high-severity security flaw in PaperCut print management software for Windows that could result in remote code execution under specific circumstances. Tracked as CVE-2023-39143 CVSS score: 8.4, the flaw impacts PaperCut NG/MF prior to version 22.1.3...

Iranian Company Cloudzy Accused of Aiding Cybercriminals and Nation-State Hackers

Services offered by an obscure Iranian company known as Cloudzy are being leveraged by multiple threat actors, including cybercrime groups and nation-state crews. "Although Cloudzy is incorporated in the United States, it almost certainly operates out of Tehran, Iran – in possible violation of U....

Have you been compromised?

Imagine the scenario… A nation state recruits an asset / spy at age 18. Their education and living expenses are fully funded, all with the aim of getting them a job at a target organisation. All goes to plan, on paper they’re a good fit and they get a low profile graduate role in the company. Lif...

STARK#MULE Targets Koreans with U.S. Military-themed Document Lures

An ongoing cyber attack campaign has set its sights on Korean-speaking individuals by employing U.S. Military-themed document lures to trick them into running malware on compromised systems. Cybersecurity firm Securonix is tracking the activity under the name STARKMULE. The scale of the attacks i...

Decoy Dog: New Breed of Malware Posing Serious Threats to Enterprise Networks

A deeper analysis of a recently discovered malware called Decoy Dog has revealed that it's a significant upgrade over the Pupy RAT, an open-source remote access trojan it's modeled on. "Decoy Dog has a full suite of powerful, previously unknown capabilities – including the ability to move victims...

Azure AD Token Forging Technique in Microsoft Attack Extends Beyond Outlook, Wiz Reports

The recent attack against Microsoft's email infrastructure by a Chinese nation-state actor referred to as Storm-0558 is said to have a broader scope than previously thought. According to cloud security company Wiz, the inactive Microsoft account MSA consumer signing key used to forge Azure Active...

Microsoft Expands Cloud Logging to Counter Rising Nation-State Cyber Threats

Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it's expanding cloud logging capabilities to help organizations investigate cybersecurity incidents and gain more visibility after facing criticism in the wake of a recent espionage attack campaign aimed at its email infrastructure. The tech giant said it's...