No company too small for Phobos ransomware gang, indictment reveals

The US Department of Justice has charged a Russian national named Evgenii Ptitsyn with selling, operating, and distributing a ransomware variant known as “Phobos” during a four-year cybercriminal campaign that extorted at least $16 million from victims across the world. The government’s indictmen...

Wanted Russian Hacker Linked to Hive and LockBit Ransomware Arrested

A Russian cybercriminal wanted in the U.S. in connection with LockBit and Hive ransomware operations has been arrested by law enforcement authorities in the country. According to a news report from Russian media outlet RIA Novosti, Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev has been accused of developing a...

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...

Russian Hackers Exploit Firefox and Windows 0-Days to Deploy Backdoor

Watch out for the Russian hackers from the infamous RomRom group, also known as Storm-0978, Tropical Scorpius, or UNC2596, and their use of a custom backdoor...

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...

Russian Man Extradited to US, Face Charges in Phobos Ransomware Operation

Russian national Evgenii Ptitsyn, linked to Phobos ransomware, faces U.S. charges for extortion and hacking, with over $16M…...

I transformed my English-language site avleonov.com

I transformed my English-language siteavleonov.com. While my Russian-language site avleonov.ru was intended as a mirror of my Telegram channel @avleonovrus, I wasn't sure how to move forward with the English-language site. I've been running it since 2016. For a long time, it was my main VM blog...

Malware Campaign Uses Ethereum Smart Contracts to Control npm Typosquat Packages

An ongoing campaign is targeting npm developers with hundreds of typosquat versions of their legitimate counterparts in an attempt to trick them into running cross-platform malware. The attack is notable for utilizing Ethereum smart contracts for command-and-control C2 server address distribution...

Russian Cozy Bear Hackers Phish Critical Sectors with Microsoft, AWS Lures

Russian state-sponsored hackers Cozy Bear are targeting over 100 organizations globally with a new phishing campaign. This sophisticated…...

Russian Malware Attack Targets Ukrainian Military Recruits via Telegram

Russian hackers launched a targeted malware campaign via Telegram, aimed at Ukrainian military recruits. Disguised as recruitment tools,…...

Russian Espionage Group Targets Ukrainian Military with Malware via Telegram

A suspected Russian hybrid espionage and influence operation has been observed delivering a mix of Windows and Android malware to target the Ukrainian military under the Telegram persona Civil Defense. Google's Threat Analysis Group TAG and Mandiant are tracking the activity under the name UNC581...

Four REvil Ransomware Members Sentenced in Rare Russian Cybercrime Convictions

Four members of the now-defunct REvil ransomware operation have been sentenced to several years in prison in Russia, marking one of the rare instances where cybercriminals from the country have been convicted of hacking and money laundering charges. Russian news publication Kommersant reported th...

CERT-UA Identifies Malicious RDP Files in Latest Attack on Ukrainian Entities

The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine CERT-UA has detailed a new malicious email campaign targeting government agencies, enterprises, and military entities. "The messages exploit the appeal of integrating popular services like Amazon or Microsoft and implementing a zero-trust...

Linux Kernel Project Drops 11 Russian Developers Amid US Sanctions Concerns

Linux Foundation removes 11 Russian developers from the Linux kernel project due to U.S. sanctions. Linus Torvalds confirms…...

SEC Charges 4 Companies Over Misleading SolarWinds Cyber Attack Disclosures

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission SEC has charged four current and former public companies for making "materially misleading disclosures" related to the large-scale cyber attack that stemmed from the hack of SolarWinds in 2020. The SEC said the companies – Avaya, Check Point, Mimecast,...

Lazarus Group Exploits Google Chrome Vulnerability to Control Infected Devices

The North Korean threat actor known as Lazarus Group has been attributed to the zero-day exploitation of a now-patched security flaw in Google Chrome to seize control of infected devices. Cybersecurity vendor Kaspersky said it made the discovery after it came across a novel attack chain in May 20...

Gophish Framework Used in Phishing Campaigns to Deploy Remote Access Trojans

Russian-speaking users have become the target of a new phishing campaign that leverages an open-source phishing toolkit called Gophish to deliver DarkCrystal RAT aka DCRat and a previously undocumented remote access trojan dubbed PowerRAT. "The campaign involves modular infection chains that are...

Threat actor abuses Gophish to deliver new PowerRAT and DCRAT

Cisco Talos recently discovered a phishing campaign using an open-source phishing toolkit called Gophish by an unknown threat actor. The campaign involves modular infection chains that are either Maldoc or HTML-based infections and require the victim's intervention to trigger the infection chain...

Crypt Ghouls Targets Russian Firms with LockBit 3.0 and Babuk Ransomware Attacks

A nascent threat actor known as Crypt Ghouls has been linked to a set of cyber attacks targeting Russian businesses and government agencies with ransomware with the twin goals of disrupting business operations and financial gain. "The group under review has a toolkit that includes utilities such ...

CISA Warns of Threat Actors Exploiting F5 BIG-IP Cookies for Network Reconnaissance

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA is warning that it has observed threat actors leveraging unencrypted persistent cookies managed by the F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager LTM module to conduct reconnaissance of target networks. It said the module is being used to...