Unit 42 identified a campaign targeting government entities and state-affiliated infrastructure, with observed activity spanning from October 2025–April 2026. We track this activity as CL-UNK-1211.
In the operations we witnessed, the attackers relied on AI-generated payloads. Multiple artifacts deployed throughout the intrusion contained AI-made conversational annotations and developer reasoning comments, suggesting that the code was either generated using large language models (LLMs) or executed by an automated AI agent.
The attackers behind this cluster of activity focused on Linux environments to conduct extensive reconnaissance and maintain persistent network access to support intelligence-gathering. The attackers attempted to dump sensitive databases and exfiltrate government mailboxes to access social media accounts.
Read more…
Source: Palo Alto Unit 42
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Apple patches new zero-day exploited to hack iPhones, iPads, Macs
February 11, 2022
Apple has released security updates to fix a new zero-day vulnerability exploited in the wild by attackers to hack iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The zero-day patched today is tracked as CVE-2022-22620 and is a WebKit Use After Free issue that could lead to OS crashes and code execution on compromised devices. Successful exploitation of this ...
- DDoS attacks in Q4 2021
February 10, 2022
Q4 2021 saw the appearance of several new DDoS botnets. A zombie network, named Abcbot by researchers, first hit the radar in July, but at the time it was little more than a simple scanner attacking Linux systems by brute-forcing weak passwords and exploiting known vulnerabilities. In October, the botnet was upgraded with DDoS functionality. ...
- Swipe left: Snoops use dating apps to hook sources, says Australian Five Eyes boss
February 10, 2022
Nations running online foreign influence campaigns have turned to dating apps to recruit people privy to sensitive information, according to the director general of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the nation’s security agency directed against external threats and a key partner in the Five Eyes security alliance. “In the last two years, thousands of ...
- A sign of ransomware growth: Gangs now arbitrate disputes
February 9, 2022
Cyber criminal gangs are getting increasingly adept at hacking and becoming more professional, even setting up an arbitration system to resolve payment disputes among themselves, according to a new report by the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom that paints a bleak picture of ransomware trends. Ransomware gangs, which hack targets and hold their data ...
- Critical Vulnerabilities Affecting SAP Applications Employing Internet Communication Manager (ICM)
February 8, 2022
On February 8, 2022, SAP released security updates to address vulnerabilities affecting multiple products, including critical vulnerabilities affecting SAP applications using SAP Internet Communication Manager (ICM). SAP applications help organizations manage critical business processes—such as enterprise resource planning, product lifecycle management, customer relationship management, and supply chain management. Impacted organizations could experience: theft of sensitive data, financial ...
- FBI: Criminals Increasing SIM Swap Schemes to Steal Millions of Dollars from US Public
February 8, 2022
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is issuing this announcement to inform mobile carriers and the public of the increasing use of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) swapping by criminals to steal money from fiat and virtual currency accounts. From January 2018 to December 2020, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 320 complaints related to ...