- QNodeService: Node.js Trojan Spread via Covid-19 Lure
May 14, 2020
We recently noticed a Twitter post by MalwareHunterTeam that showed a Java downloader with a low detection rate. Its name, “Company PLP_Tax relief due to Covid-19 outbreak CI+PL.jar”, suggests it may have been used in a Covid-19-themed phishing campaign. Running this file led to the download of a new, undetected malware sample written in Node.js; this trojan ...
- COVID-19 blamed for 238% surge in cyberattacks against banks
May 14, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has been connected to a 238% surge in cyberattacks against banks, new research claims. On Thursday, VMware Carbon Black released the third edition of the Modern Bank Heists report, which says that financial organizations experienced a massive uptick in cyberattack attempts between February and April this year — the same months in which COVID-19 began to spread ...
- Texas Courts Won’t Pay Up in Ransomware Attack
May 14, 2020
A ransomware attack has hit the information technology office that supports Texas appellate courts and judicial agencies, leading to their websites and computer servers being shut down. The office said that it will not pay the ransom requested by the cybercriminals. Specifically affected is the Office of Court Administration (OCA), which is the IT provider for ...
- This powerful Android malware stayed hidden for years, infecting tens of thousands of smartphones
May 14, 2020
A carefully managed hacking and espionage campaign is infecting smartphones with a potent form of Android malware, providing those behind it with total control of the device, while also remaining completely hidden from the user. Mandrake spyware abuses legitimate Android functions to help gain access to everything on the compromised device in attacks that can gather ...
- UK electricity middleman hit by cyber-attack
May 14, 2020
Elexon, a crucial middleman in the UK power grid network, reported that it fell victim to a cyber-attack earlier today. In a short message posted on its website, the company said the incident only impacted its internal IT network and employee laptops. The company’s email server was also impacted and had been taken down, cutting employees off from crucial ...
- COVID-19 Themed Malware Within Cloud Environments
May 11, 2020
Unit 42 researchers found that public cloud infrastructure has communicated with domains known to distribute COVID-19 themed malware. On March 24, 2020, Unit 42 published a blog discussing attack patterns used by malicious actors in relation to the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Taking these findings a step further, researchers attempted to uncover if there are malicious COVID-19 related ...
- Zeus Sphinx revamped as coronavirus relief payment attack wave continues
May 11, 2020
The Zeus Sphinx banking Trojan is now receiving frequent updates and upgrades to its malicious arsenal while being deployed in active coronavirus scams. On Monday, IBM Security researcher Nir Shwarts said the company has been tracking the evolution of the malware which is based on the leaked codebase of the well-known Zeus v.2 Trojan. Zeus Sphinx — also referred ...
- A hacker group is selling more than 73 million user records on the dark web
May 9, 2020
A hacker group going by the name of ShinyHunters claims to have breached ten companies and is currently selling their respective user databases on a dark web marketplace for illegal products. The hackers ardarke the same group who breached last week Tokopedia, Indonesia’s largest online store. Hackers initially leaked 15 million user records online, for free, but ...
- Threat Brief: Maze Ransomware Activities
May 8, 2020
Since the beginning of the calendar year, Palo Alto Networks has detected an uptick in Maze ransomware samples across multiple industries. As a result, we’ve created this general threat assessment post on the Maze ransomware activities and a full visualization of these techniques can be viewed in the Unit 42 Playbook Viewer. Maze ransomware, a variant of ChaCha ...
- Hackers Breach 3.5 Million MobiFriends Dating App Credentials
May 8, 2020
The emails, hashed passwords and usernames of 3.5 million users of the dating app MobiFriends were put up for sale on an underground forum. The credentials of 3.5 million users of MobiFriends, a popular dating app, have surfaced on a prominent deep web hacking forum, according to researchers. MobiFriends is an online service and Android app designed to help ...

