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A governmental entity in Guyana has been targeted as part of a cyber espionage campaign dubbed  Operation Jacana . The  activity , which was detected by ESET in February 2023, entailed a spear-phishing attack that led to the deployment of a hitherto undocumented implant written in C++ called DinodasRAT. The Slovak cybersecurity firm said it could link the intrusion to a known threat actor or group, but attributed with medium confidence to a China-nexus adversary owing to the use of  PlugX  (aka Korplug), a remote access trojan common to Chinese hacking crews. "This campaign was targeted, as the threat actors crafted their emails specifically to entice their chosen victim organization," ESET  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. "After successfully compromising an initial but limited set of machines with DinodasRAT, the operators proceeded to move inside and breach the target's internal network, where they again deployed this backdoor." The infec

The North Korea-linked  Lazarus Group  has been linked to a cyber espionage attack targeting an unnamed aerospace company in Spain in which employees of the firm were approached by the threat actor posing as a recruiter for Meta. "Employees of the targeted company were contacted by a fake recruiter via LinkedIn and tricked into opening a malicious executable file presenting itself as a coding challenge or quiz," ESET security researcher Peter Kálnai  said  in a technical report shared with The Hacker News. The attack is part of a long-standing spear-phishing campaign called  Operation Dream Job  that's orchestrated by the hacking crew in an attempt to lure employees working at prospective targets that are of strategic interest, enticing them with lucrative job opportunities to activate the infection chain. Earlier this March, the Slovak cybersecurity company detailed an attack wave aimed at Linux users that involved the use of bogus HSBC job offers to launch a backdo

A "multi-year" Chinese state-sponsored cyber espionage campaign has been observed targeting South Korean academic, political, and government organizations. Recorded Future's Insikt Group, which is  tracking  the activity under the moniker TAG-74, said the adversary has been linked to "Chinese military intelligence and poses a significant threat to academic, aerospace and defense, government, military, and political entities in South Korea, Japan, and Russia." The cybersecurity firm characterized the targeting of South Korean academic institutions as in alignment with China's broader efforts to conduct intellectual property theft and expand its influence, not to mention motivated by the country's strategic relations with the U.S. Social engineering attacks mounted by the adversary make use of Microsoft Compiled HTML Help (CHM) file lures to drop a custom variant of an open-source Visual Basic Script backdoor called  ReVBShell , which subsequently ser

Tibetan, Uyghur, and Taiwanese individuals and organizations are the targets of a persistent campaign orchestrated by a threat actor codenamed  EvilBamboo  to gather sensitive information. "The attacker has created fake Tibetan websites, along with social media profiles, likely used to deploy browser-based exploits against targeted users," Volexity security researchers Callum Roxan, Paul Rascagneres, and Thomas Lancaster said in a report published last week. "Partly through impersonating existing popular communities, the attacker has built communities on online platforms, such as Telegram, to aid in distribution of their malware." EvilBamboo, formerly tracked by the cybersecurity firm under the name Evil Eye, has been linked to multiple attack waves  since at least 2019 , with the threat actor leveraging watering hole attacks to deliver spyware targeting Android and iOS devices. It's also known as Earth Empusa and POISON CARP. The intrusions directed agai

China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) has accused the U.S. of breaking into Huawei's servers, stealing critical data, and implanting backdoors since 2009, amid mounting geopolitical tensions between the two countries. In a  message  posted on WeChat, the government authority said U.S. intelligence agencies have "done everything possible" to conduct surveillance, secret theft, and intrusions on many countries around the world, including China, using a "powerful cyber attack arsenal." Specifics about the alleged hacks were not shared. It explicitly singled out the U.S. National Security Agency's (NSA) Computer Network Operations (formerly the Office of Tailored Access Operations or TAO) as having "repeatedly carried out systematic and platform-based attacks" against the country to plunder its "important data resources." The post went on to claim that the cyber-warfare intelligence-gathering unit hacked Huawei's servers in 200

A hacking outfit nicknamed  Earth Estries  has been attributed to a new, ongoing cyber espionage campaign targeting government and technology industries based in the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Africa, Germany, and the U.S. "The threat actors behind Earth Estries are working with high-level resources and functioning with sophisticated skills and experience in cyber espionage and illicit activities," Trend Micro researchers Ted Lee, Lenart Bermejo, Hara Hiroaki, Leon M Chang, and Gilbert Sison  said . Active since at least 2020, Earth Estries is said to share tactical overlaps with another nation-state group tracked as  FamousSparrow , which was first exposed by ESET in 2021 as exploiting ProxyLogon flaws in Microsoft Exchange Server to penetrate hospitality, government, engineering, and legal sectors. It's worth pointing out that commonalities have also been unearthed between FamousSparrow and  UNC4841 , an uncategorized activity cluster held responsible for

An ongoing campaign targeting ministries of foreign affairs of NATO-aligned countries points to the involvement of Russian threat actors. The phishing attacks feature PDF documents with diplomatic lures, some of which are disguised as coming from Germany, to deliver a variant of a malware called  Duke , which has been attributed to  APT29  (aka BlueBravo, Cloaked Ursa, Cozy Bear, Iron Hemlock, Midnight Blizzard, and The Dukes). "The threat actor used Zulip – an open-source chat application – for command-and-control, to evade and hide its activities behind legitimate web traffic," Dutch cybersecurity company EclecticIQ  said  in an analysis last week. The infection sequence is as follows: The PDF attachment, named "Farewell to Ambassador of Germany," comes embedded with JavaScript code that initiates a multi-stage process to leave a persistent backdoor on compromised networks. APT29's use of invitation themes has been previously reported by Lab52, which  doc

A hitherto undocumented threat actor operating for nearly a decade and codenamed  MoustachedBouncer has been attributed to cyber espionage attacks aimed at foreign embassies in Belarus. "Since 2020, MoustachedBouncer has most likely been able to perform adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) attacks at the ISP level, within Belarus, in order to compromise its targets," ESET security researcher Matthieu Faou  said , describing the group as skilled and advanced. The adversary, active since at least 2014, is assessed to be aligned with Belarusian interests, likely employing a lawful interception system such as  SORM  to conduct its AitM attacks as well as deploy disparate tools called NightClub and Disco. Both the Windows malware frameworks support additional spying plugins including a screenshotter, an audio recorder, and a file stealer. The oldest sample of NightClub dates back to November 19, 2014, when it was uploaded to VirusTotal from Ukraine. Embassy staff from four differ

The Chinese threat actor known as APT31 (aka Bronze Vinewood, Judgement Panda, or Violet Typhoon) has been linked to a set of advanced backdoors that are capable of exfiltrating harvested sensitive information to Dropbox. The malware is part of a broader collection of  more than 15 implants  that have been put to use by the adversary in attacks targeting industrial organizations in Eastern Europe in 2022. "The attackers aimed to establish a permanent channel for data exfiltration, including data stored on air-gapped systems," Kaspersky  said  in an analysis spotlighting APT31's previously undocumented tradecraft. The intrusions employ a three-stage malware stack, each focused on disparate aspects of the attack chain: setting up persistence, gathering sensitive data, and transmitting the information to a remote server under the threat actor's control. Some variants of the second-stage backdoors also come with features designed to look up file names in the Microso

Hackers associated with China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) have been linked to attacks in 17 different countries in Asia, Europe, and North America from 2021 to 2023. Cybersecurity firm Recorded Future attributed the intrusion set to a nation-state group it tracks under the name  RedHotel  (previously Threat Activity Group-22 or TAG-22), which overlaps with a cluster of activity broadly monitored as  Aquatic Panda ,  Bronze University , Charcoal Typhoon,  Earth Lusca , and  Red Scylla  (or Red Dev 10). Active since 2019, some of the prominent sectors targeted by the prolific actor encompass academia, aerospace, government, media, telecommunications, and research. A majority of the victims during the period were government organizations. "RedHotel has a dual mission of intelligence gathering and economic espionage," the cybersecurity company  said , calling out its persistence, operational intensity, and global reach. "It targets both government entities for

Threat actors associated with the hacking crew known as Patchwork have been spotted targeting universities and research organizations in China as part of a recently observed campaign. The activity, according to  KnownSec 404 Team , entailed the use of a backdoor codenamed  EyeShell . Patchwork , also known by the names Operation Hangover and Zinc Emerson, is suspected to be a threat group that operates on behalf of India. Active since at least December 2015, attack chains mounted by the outfit have a narrow focus and tend to single out Pakistan and China with custom implants such as BADNEWS via spear-phishing and watering hole attacks. The adversarial collective has been found to share tactical overlaps with other cyber-espionage groups with an Indian connection, including  SideWinder  and the  DoNot Team . Earlier this May, Meta  disclosed  that it took down 50 accounts on Facebook and Instagram operated by Patchwork, which took advantage of rogue messaging apps uploaded to the

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 making the change in direct response to increasing frequency and evolution of nation-state cyber threats. It's expected to roll out starting in September 2023 to all government and commercial customers. "Over the coming months, we will include access to wider cloud security logs for our worldwide customers at no additional cost," Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president of security, compliance, identity, and management at Microsoft,  said . "As these changes take effect, customers can use Microsoft Purview Audit to centrally visualize more types of cloud log data generated across their enterprise." As part of this change, users are expected to receive access to

The U.S. government on Tuesday added two foreign commercial spyware vendors, Cytrox and Intellexa, to an economic blocklist for weaponizing cyber exploits to gain unauthorized access to devices and "threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide." This includes the companies' corporate holdings in Hungary (Cytrox Holdings Crt), North Macedonia (Cytrox AD), Greece (Intellexa S.A.), and Ireland (Intellexa Limited). By adding to the economic denylist, it prohibits U.S. companies from transacting with these businesses. "Recognizing the increasingly key role that surveillance technology plays in enabling campaigns of repression and other human rights abuses, the Commerce Department's action today targets these entities' ability to access commodities, software, and technology that could contribute to the development of surveillance tools that pose a risk of misuse in violations or abuses of human rights," the Bureau of Indus

Cyber attacks using infected USB infection drives as an initial access vector have witnessed a three-fold increase in the first half of 2023,  That's according to new findings from Mandiant, which detailed two such campaigns – SOGU and SNOWYDRIVE – targeting both public and private sector entities across the world. SOGU is the "most prevalent USB-based cyber espionage attack using USB flash drives and one of the most aggressive cyber espionage campaigns targeting both public and private sector organizations globally across industry verticals," the Google-owned threat intelligence firm  said . The activity has been attributed to a China-based cluster called TEMP.Hex, which is also tracked under the names Camaro Dragon, Earth Preta, and Mustang Panda. Targets include construction and engineering, business services, government, health, transportation, and retail in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. The infection chain detailed by Mandiant exhibits tactical commonalities with

Charming Kitten, the nation-state actor affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has been attributed to a bespoke spear-phishing campaign that delivers an updated version of a fully-featured PowerShell backdoor called POWERSTAR . "There have been improved operational security measures placed in the malware to make it more difficult to analyze and collect intelligence," Volexity researchers Ankur Saini and Charlie Gardner said in a report published this week. The threat actor is something of an expert when it comes to employing social engineering to lure targets, often crafting tailored fake personas on social media platforms and engaging in sustained conversations to build rapport before sending a malicious link. It's also tracked under the names APT35, Cobalt Illusion, Mint Sandstorm (formerly Phosphorus), and Yellow Garuda. Recent intrusions orchestrated by Charming Kitten have made use of other implants such as PowerLess and BellaCiao

The newly discovered Chinese nation-state actor known as Volt Typhoon has been observed to be active in the wild since at least mid-2020, with the hacking crew linked to never-before-seen tradecraft to retain remote access to targets of interest. The findings come from CrowdStrike, which is tracking the adversary under the name  Vanguard Panda . "The adversary consistently employed ManageEngine Self-service Plus exploits to gain initial access, followed by custom web shells for persistent access, and living-off-the-land (LotL) techniques for lateral movement," the cybersecurity company  said . Volt Typhoon, as known as Bronze Silhouette, is a  cyber espionage group  from China that's been linked to network intrusion operations against the U.S government, defense, and other critical infrastructure organizations. "This adversary has been known to leverage credentials and living-off-the-land techniques to remain hidden and move quickly through targeted environments

The Chinese cyber espionage actor known as  Camaro Dragon  has been observed leveraging a new strain of self-propagating malware that spreads through compromised USB drives. "While their primary focus has traditionally been Southeast Asian countries, this latest discovery reveals their global reach and highlights the alarming role USB drives play in spreading malware," Check Point said in new research shared with The Hacker News. The cybersecurity company, which found evidence of USB malware infections in Myanmar, South Korea, Great Britain, India, and Russia, said the findings are the result of a cyber incident that it investigated at an unnamed European hospital in early 2023. The probe found that the entity was not directly targeted by the adversary but rather suffered a breach via an employee's USB drive, which became infected when it was plugged into a colleague's computer at a conference in Asia. "Consequently, upon returning to the healthcare institu