The Unified Cloud

Throughout the history of cloud computing, 2006 was a momentous year. In 2006 Amazon Web Services released S3, the first pay per GB storage service. By August, they released EC2, allowing you to spin up a server and pay by the hour in the cloud. In the decade that has followed, AWS has emerged as...

Through the Lens of MDR: Analysis of KongTuke’s ClickFix Abuse of Compromised WordPress Sites

Our analysis of an active KongTuke campaign deploying modeloRAT — malware capable of reconnaissance, command execution, and persistent access — through compromised WordPress sites and fake CAPTCHA lures shows that the group still operates this delivery chain in parallel with the newer CrashFix...

Agenda Ransomware Group Adds SmokeLoader and NETXLOADER to Their Arsenal

During our monitoring of Agenda ransomware activities, we uncovered campaigns that made use of the SmokeLoader malware and a new loader we've named NETXLOADER...

A Deep Dive into Water Gamayun’s Arsenal and Infrastructure

Trend Research discusses the delivery methods, custom payloads, and techniques used by Water Gamayun, the suspected Russian threat actor abusing a zero-day vulnerability in the Microsoft Management Console framework CVE-2025-26633 to execute malicious code on infected machines...

Earth Preta Evolves its Attacks with New Malware and Strategies

In this blog entry, we discuss our analysis of Earth Preta’s enhancements in their attacks by introducing new tools, malware variants and strategies to their worm-based attacks and their time-sensitive spear-phishing campaign...

A Dive into Earth Baku’s Latest Campaign

Earth Baku has broadened its scope from the Indo-Pacific region to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In this blog entry, we examine the threat actor's latest tools, tactics, and procedures...

Kasseika Ransomware Deploys BYOVD Attacks, Abuses PsExec and Exploits Martini Driver

In this blog, we detail our investigation of the Kasseika ransomware and the indicators we found suggesting that the actors behind it have acquired access to the source code of the notorious BlackMatter ransomware...

Profile Stealers Spread via LLM-themed Facebook Ads

In this entry, we discuss how a threat actor abuses paid Facebook promotions featuring LLMs to spread malicious code, with the goal of installing a malicious browser add-on and stealing victims’ credentials...

Related CherryBlos and FakeTrade Android Malware Involved in Scam Campaigns

Trend Micro’s Mobile Application Reputation Service MARS team discovered two new related Android malware families involved in cryptocurrency-mining and financially-motivated scam campaigns targeting Android users...

In Review: What GPT-3 Taught ChatGPT in a Year

Amidst the uproar and opinions since November 2022, we look at the possibilities and implications of what OpenAI’s ChatGPT presents to the cybersecurity industry using a comparison to earlier products, like its predecessor GPT-3...

New APT34 Malware Targets The Middle East

We analyze an infection campaign targeting organizations in the Middle East for cyberespionage in December 2022 using a new backdoor malware. The campaign abuses legitimate but compromised email accounts to send stolen data to external mail accounts controlled by the attackers...

Alibaba OSS Buckets Compromised to Distribute Malicious Shell Scripts via Steganography

In this blog entry, we discuss a malicious campaign that targets Alibaba Cloud’s OSS buckets with leaked credentials for malware distribution and cryptojacking...

Workshop: AWS S3 Bucket for Malware Scanning

In this workshop, you will learn how to scan your objects that are being uploaded to Amazon S3 buckets for malware and integrate into your custom workflows, by automating with your current resources, directly in your AWS environment...

Ransomware Operators Found Using New "Franchise" Business Model

We found a relatively new and interesting ransomware operation that takes inspiration from franchise business models. It seems that the operators are rebranding a "supplier" ransomware before deployment instead of simply distributing it under the original name...

Virtual Event: Google Cloud Next | October 12 – 14

Level-up your skills and uncover what’s next for cloud by registering for the virtual Google Cloud Next conference starting Oct. 12, 2021...

Identity Fraud: How to Protect Your Identity Data, Accounts and Money During the Coronavirus Crisis

We’ve all been spending more of our time online since the crisis hit. Whether it’s ordering food for delivery, livestreaming concerts, holding virtual parties, or engaging in a little retail therapy, the digital interactions of many Americans are on the rise. This means we’re also sharing more of...

Ransom from Home – How to close the cyber front door to remote working ransomware attacks

Coronavirus has caused a major shift to our working patterns. In many cases these will long outlast the pandemic. But working from home has its own risks. One is that you may invite ransomware attacks from a new breed of cyber-criminal who has previously confined his efforts to directly targeting...

This Week in Security News: Microsoft Fixes 129 Vulnerabilities for September’s Patch Tuesday and Trend Micro’s XDR Offerings Simplify and Optimize Detection and Response

Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. This week, read about this month’s Patch Tuesday update from Microsoft. Also, learn about Trend Micro’s Worry-Free XDR: a new version of its XDR platfo...

Cleaner One Pro Speeds Up Your Mac: Part 2

In Part 1 of this blog, we introduced Trend Micro Cleaner One Pro, a one-stop shop to help you speed up your Mac, highlighting the Quick Optimizer, the Main Console, and the Cleaning Tools. In Part 2, we resume the discussion of how to make your Mac run faster with the remaining Cleaner One Pro...

Cloud Security Is Simple, Absolutely Simple.

"Cloud security is simple, absolutely simple. Stop over complicating it." This is how I kicked off a presentation I gave at the CyberRisk Alliance, Cloud Security Summit on Apr 17 of this year. And I truly believe that cloud security is simple, but that does not mean easy. You need the right...

Survey: Employee Security Training is Essential to Remote Working Success

Organisations have been forced to adapt rapidly over the past few months as government lockdowns kept most workers to their homes. For many, the changes they’ve made may even become permanent as more distributed working becomes the norm. This has major implications for cybersecurity. Employees ar...

How the Cybercriminal Underground Has Changed in 5 Years

The cybercrime economy is one of the runaway success stories of the 21st century — at least, for those who participate in it. Estimates claim it could be worth over $1 trillion annually, more than the GDP of many countries. Part of that success is due to its ability to evolve and shift as the...

Securing Smart Manufacturing

“Alexa, turn on the TV.” ”Get it yourself.” This nightmare scenario could play out millions of times unless people take steps to protect their IoT devices. The situation is even worse in industrial settings. Smart manufacturing, that is, Industry 4.0, relies on tight integration between IT system...

This Week in Security News: Security and Safety on Social Media

Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. This week, California lawmakers passed a new online privacy bill guaranteeing more control over user data. Also, Typeform announced a breach involving...

Trend Micro Committed to Helping Those in Need – Most Recently in Vancouver

January often marks a fresh start for both organizations and individuals. For many, lots of time is put towards goal setting for the year and taking on new challenges. At Trend Micro, a goal of ours every year is to find new ways to give back to local communities so that we are not only helping...

As Cities Get Smarter, So Should Their Security

TrendMicro Today, more urban centers than ever are implementing a range of advanced technological systems. These sensors and networks used in combination with citizens' mobile devices create smarter cities capable of reduced pollution, increased safety, better engagement with residents and more...

This Week in Security News

Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. Below you’ll find a quick recap of topics followed by links to news articles and/or our blog posts providing additional insight. Be sure to check back...

Industrial Robots are Hackable: How Do We Fix Them?

Discuss cyber attacks involving robots and many people might think you’re talking about the latest Hollywood blockbuster to hit the screens. The reality, however, is that industrial robotic systems now form a vital cog in the manufacturing process of everything from silicon chips to cars and even...

Pawn Storm: The Power of Social Engineering

In our latest report on Pawn Storm a.k.a. APT28, Fancy Bear, Strontium, etc., researchers expose the scope and scale of the cyber espionage group’s attacks but more importantly their cyber tradecraft. Our researchers have observed activity going back seven years targeting government, military,...

13M+ Emails Sent in Tech Support Scam Targeting Users, Organizations in Japan

We analyzed a sustained tech support scam campaign that sent more than 13 million emails to Japanese addresses, with workplace-themed lures suggesting a possible expansion toward enterprise targets...

Six Minutes to Compromise: How ‘Patriot Bait’ Actor Used AI to Build and Deploy a C&C Botnet

TrendAI™ Research analyzed over 200 Gemini CLI session logs showing how a Russian-speaking threat actor used AI to run a live botnet, finishing a full C&C migration in six minutes while doing just 11% of the work himself...

Smart Contracts for C&C: How ClearFake Hid in Plain Sight on BSC Testnet

TrendAI™ Research analyzed an intrusion where threat actors used the EtherHiding technique to route ClearFake payload delivery through smart contracts on the BNB Smart Chain testnet. The attack chain ended with two simultaneously deployed stealers, SectopRAT and ACRStealer alongside an on-chain...

Weaponizing Trust Signals: Claude Code Lures and GitHub Release Payloads

A packaging error in Anthropic’s Claude Code npm release briefly exposed internal source code. This entry examines how threat actors rapidly weaponized the resulting attention, pivoting an existing AI-themed campaign to spread Vidar and GhostSocks...

CVE-2025-0411: Ukrainian Organizations Targeted in Zero-Day Campaign and Homoglyph Attacks

The Trend ZDI team offers an analysis on how CVE-2025-0411, a zero-day vulnerability in 7-Zip, was actively exploited to target Ukrainian organizations in a SmokeLoader campaign involving homoglyph attacks...

Link Trap: GenAI Prompt Injection Attack

Prompt injection exploits vulnerabilities in generative AI to manipulate its behavior, even without extensive permissions. This attack can expose sensitive data, making awareness and preventive measures essential. Learn how it works and how to stay protected...

TIDRONE Targets Military and Satellite Industries in Taiwan

Our research reveals that an unidentified threat cluster we named TIDRONE have shown significant interest in military-related industry chains, particularly in the manufacturers of drones...

Threat Actors Target the Middle East Using Fake Palo Alto GlobalProtect Tool

Threat actors are targeting users in the Middle East by distributing sophisticated malware disguised as the Palo Alto GlobalProtect tool...

Commando Cat: A Novel Cryptojacking Attack Abusing Docker Remote API Servers

We analyze a cryptojacking attack campaign exploiting exposed Docker remote API servers to deploy cryptocurrency miners, using Docker images from the open-source Commando project...

How to Embrace a Cloud Security Challenge Mindset

CISOs responsible for tackling cloud security challenges need to rethink traditional security practices, protect apps and infrastructure they don’t control, and justify enterprise security investments. Trend Micro’s Bryan Webster told the AWS SecurityLIVE! audience it can all be done—by embracing...

OT and IT Visibility and Efficiency Barriers

Learn the common OT and IT visibility and efficiency barriers, as well as how to get around them...

The XDR Payoff: Better Security Posture

As the extended detection and response XDR market grows and evolves, it’s a great opportunity to learn about the positive outcomes like better security posture experienced by organizations that have invested in these capabilities...

SeroXen Mechanisms: Exploring Distribution, Risks, and Impact

This is the third installment of a three-part technical analysis of the fully undetectable FUD obfuscation engine BatCloak and SeroXen malware. In this entry, we document the techniques used to spread and abuse SeroXen, as well as the security risks, impact, implications of, and insights into...

Worldwide 2022 Email Phishing Statistics and Examples

Explore the need for going beyond built-in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace™ security based on email threats detected in 2022...

Earth Preta’s Cyberespionage Campaign Hits Over 200

We present a case study of the cyberespionage efforts by Earth Preta. This study on an active campaign delves into the structure, goals, and requirements of the organizations involved, and provides an opportunity to conduct wider intelligence analysis and insights in the development of effective...

What Exposed OPA Servers Can Tell You About Your Applications

This blog entry discusses what an OPA is and what it’s for, what we’ve discovered after identifying 389 exposed OPA servers via Shodan, and how exposed OPAs can negatively impact your applications’ overall security...

Managing Cyber Risk: The People Element

Explore the latest findings from Trend Micro’s Cyber Risk Index 2H’2021 and how to better manage people to minimize cyber risk across the digital attack surface...

New APT Group Earth Berberoka Targets Gambling Websites With Old and New Malware

We recently found a new advanced persistent threat APT group that we have dubbed Earth Berberoka aka GamblingPuppet. This APT group targets gambling websites on Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms using old and new malware families...

3 cybersecurity trends & mitigation strategies for CISOs

Explore 3 cyber security trends and how to strategically mitigate future risks with Trend Micro’s Jon Clay, VP of threat intelligence and Ed Cabrera, chief cybersecurity officer...

Expanded Cloud Misconfiguration & IaaS Security

Cloud One – Conformity has expanded its support for multi-clouds and Terraform users to add even more configuration checks so cloud projects are built on a foundation of best practice security and compliance...

LockBit Resurfaces With Version 2.0 Ransomware Detections in Chile, Italy, Taiwan, UK

The ransomware group LockBit resurfaced in June with LockBit 2.0, with reports indicating an increased number of targeted companies and the incorporation of double extortion features. Our detections followed attack attempts in Chile, Italy, Taiwan, and the UK from July to August...