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Microsoft’s decision to block Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default for Office files downloaded from the internet has led many threat actors to improvise their attack chains in recent months. Now according to Cisco Talos, advanced persistent threat (APT) actors and commodity malware families alike are increasingly using Excel add-in (.XLL) files as […]
With Microsoft taking steps to block Excel 4.0 (XLM or XL4) and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default across Office apps, malicious actors are responding by refining their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). “The use of VBA and XL4 Macros decreased approximately 66% from October 2021 through June 2022,” Proofpoint said in a […]
Microsoft has officially resumed blocking Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default across Office apps, weeks after temporarily announcing plans to roll back the change. “Based on our review of customer feedback, we’ve made updates to both our end user and our IT admin documentation to make clearer what options you have for different […]
A newly observed phishing campaign is leveraging the recently disclosed Follina security vulnerability to distribute a previously undocumented backdoor on Windows systems. “Rozena is a backdoor malware that is capable of injecting a remote shell connection back to the attacker’s machine,” Fortinet FortiGuard Labs researcher Cara Lin said in a report this week. Tracked as […]
The threat actor behind the prolific Emotet botnet is testing new attack methods on a small scale before co-opting them into their larger volume malspam campaigns, potentially in response to Microsoft’s move to disable Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default across its products. Calling the new activity a “departure” from the group’s typical […]
mraptor is a simple tool designed to detect malicious VBA macros in MS Office files, based on characteristics of the VBA code. This article explains how it works, and how it can be used in practice. Malicious VBA Macros VBA macros in MS Office files have been used since 1995 to deliver malware, and especially […]