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Malware

Russian Hacker Dmitry Khoroshev Unmasked as LockBit Ransomware Administrator

The U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) has unmasked the administrator and developer of the LockBit ransomware operation, revealing it to be a 31-year-old Russian national named Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev. In addition, Khoroshev has been sanctioned by the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCD), the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control […]

APT42 Hackers Pose as Journalists to Harvest Credentials and Access Cloud Data

The Iranian state-backed hacking outfit called APT42 is making use of enhanced social engineering schemes to infiltrate target networks and cloud environments. Targets of the attack include Western and Middle Eastern NGOs, media organizations, academia, legal services and activists, Google Cloud subsidiary Mandiant said in a report published last week. “APT42 was observed posing as […]

China-Linked Hackers Suspected in ArcaneDoor Cyberattacks Targeting Network Devices

The recently uncovered cyber espionage campaign targeting perimeter network devices from several vendors, including Cisco, may have been the work of China-linked actors, according to new findings from attack surface management firm Censys. Dubbed ArcaneDoor, the activity is said to have commenced around July 2023, with the first confirmed attack against an unnamed victim detected […]

New ‘Cuckoo’ Persistent macOS Spyware Targeting Intel and Arm Macs

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new information stealer targeting Apple macOS systems that’s designed to set up persistence on the infected hosts and act as a spyware. Dubbed Cuckoo by Kandji, the malware is a universal Mach-O binary that’s capable of running on both Intel- and Arm-based Macs. The exact distribution vector is currently unclear, […]

Hackers Increasingly Abusing Microsoft Graph API for Stealthy Malware Communications

Threat actors have been increasingly weaponizing Microsoft Graph API for malicious purposes with the aim of evading detection. This is done to “facilitate communications with command-and-control (C&C) infrastructure hosted on Microsoft cloud services,” the Symantec Threat Hunter Team, part of Broadcom, said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Since January 2022, multiple nation-state-aligned […]

NSA, FBI Alert on N. Korean Hackers Spoofing Emails from Trusted Sources

The U.S. government on Thursday published a new cybersecurity advisory warning of North Korean threat actors’ attempts to send emails in a manner that makes them appear like they are from legitimate and trusted parties. The joint bulletin was published by the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department […]

ZLoader Malware Evolves with Anti-Analysis Trick from Zeus Banking Trojan

The authors behind the resurfaced ZLoader malware have added a feature that was originally present in the Zeus banking trojan that it’s based on, indicating that it’s being actively developed. “The latest version, 2.4.1.0, introduces a feature to prevent execution on machines that differ from the original infection,” Zscaler ThreatLabz researcher Santiago Vicente said in […]

Eternal Malware: CVE-2024-3400 Rootkits Persist Through Palo Alto Firewalls Updates and Resets

The cybersecurity community has recently been abuzz with discussions surrounding CVE-2024-3400, a critical vulnerability affecting Palo Alto Networks’ PAN-OS, used in their popular firewall products. This vulnerability has seen a surge in exploitation activities following the release of a proof-of-concept (PoC) code, prompting urgent responses from both cybersecurity experts and Palo Alto Networks. Overview of […]

Millions of Malicious ‘Imageless’ Containers Planted on Docker Hub Over 5 Years

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered multiple campaigns targeting Docker Hub by planting millions of malicious “imageless” containers over the past five years, once again underscoring how open-source registries could pave the way for supply chain attacks. “Over four million of the repositories in Docker Hub are imageless and have no content except for the repository documentation,” […]

New U.K. Law Bans Default Passwords on Smart Devices Starting April 2024

The U.K. National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is calling on manufacturers of smart devices to comply with new legislation that prohibits them from using default passwords, effective April 29, 2024. “The law, known as the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure act (or PSTI act), will help consumers to choose smart devices that have been designed […]

Okta Warns of Unprecedented Surge in Proxy-Driven Credential Stuffing Attacks

Identity and access management (IAM) services provider Okta has warned of a spike in the “frequency and scale” of credential stuffing attacks aimed at online services. These unprecedented attacks, observed over the last month, are said to be facilitated by “the broad availability of residential proxy services, lists of previously stolen credentials (‘combo lists’), and […]

Ukraine Targeted in Cyberattack Exploiting 7-Year-Old Microsoft Office Flaw

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a targeted operation against Ukraine that has been found leveraging a nearly seven-year-old flaw in Microsoft Office to deliver Cobalt Strike on compromised systems. The attack chain, which took place at the end of 2023 according to Deep Instinct, employs a PowerPoint slideshow file (“signal-2023-12-20-160512.ppsx”) as the starting point, with the […]

Bogus npm Packages Used to Trick Software Developers into Installing Malware

An ongoing social engineering campaign is targeting software developers with bogus npm packages under the guise of a job interview to trick them into downloading a Python backdoor. Cybersecurity firm Securonix is tracking the activity under the name DEV#POPPER, linking it to North Korean threat actors. “During these fraudulent interviews, the developers are often asked […]

New ‘Brokewell’ Android Malware Spread Through Fake Browser Updates

Fake browser updates are being used to push a previously undocumented Android malware called Brokewell. “Brokewell is a typical modern banking malware equipped with both data-stealing and remote-control capabilities built into the malware,” Dutch security firm ThreatFabric said in an analysis published Thursday. The malware is said to be in active development, adding new commands […]

U.S. Treasury Sanctions Iranian Firms and Individuals Tied to Cyber Attacks

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Monday sanctioned two firms and four individuals for their involvement in malicious cyber activities on behalf of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC) from at least 2016 to April 2021. This includes the front companies Mehrsam Andisheh Saz Nik (MASN) […]

Researchers Detail Multistage Attack Hijacking Systems with SSLoad, Cobalt Strike

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an ongoing attack campaign that’s leveraging phishing emails to deliver malware called SSLoad. The campaign, codenamed FROZEN#SHADOW by Securonix, also involves the deployment of Cobalt Strike and the ConnectWise ScreenConnect remote desktop software. “SSLoad is designed to stealthily infiltrate systems, gather sensitive information and transmit its findings back to its operators,” […]

eScan Antivirus Update Mechanism Exploited to Spread Backdoors and Miners

A new malware campaign has been exploiting the updating mechanism of the eScan antivirus software to distribute backdoors and cryptocurrency miners like XMRig through a long-standing threat codenamed GuptiMiner targeting large corporate networks. Cybersecurity firm Avast said the activity is the work of a threat actor with possible connections to a North Korean hacking group […]

CoralRaider Malware Campaign Exploits CDN Cache to Spread Info-Stealers

A new ongoing malware campaign has been observed distributing three different stealers, such as CryptBot, LummaC2, and Rhadamanthys hosted on Content Delivery Network (CDN) cache domains since at least February 2024. Cisco Talos has attributed the activity with moderate confidence to a threat actor tracked as CoralRaider, a suspected Vietnamese-origin group that came to light […]

Microsoft Warns: North Korean Hackers Turn to AI-Fueled Cyber Espionage

Microsoft has revealed that North Korea-linked state-sponsored cyber actors have begun to use artificial intelligence (AI) to make their operations more effective and efficient. “They are learning to use tools powered by AI large language models (LLM) to make their operations more efficient and effective,” the tech giant said in its latest report on East […]

New RedLine Stealer Variant Disguised as Game Cheats Using Lua Bytecode for Stealth

A new information stealer has been found leveraging Lua bytecode for added stealth and sophistication, findings from McAfee Labs reveal. The cybersecurity firm has assessed it to be a variant of a known malware called RedLine Stealer owing to the fact that the command-and-control (C2) server IP address has been previously identified as associated with […]