Horabot Unleashed: A Stealthy Phishing Threat


In April, FortiGuard Labs observed a threat actor using phishing emails with malicious HTML files to spread Horabot, malware that primarily targets Spanish-speaking users. It is known for using crafted emails that impersonate invoices or financial documents to trick victims into opening malicious attachments and can steal email credentials, harvest contact lists, and install banking trojans.

Horabot leverages Outlook COM automation to send phishing messages from the victim’s mailbox, enabling it to propagate laterally within corporate or personal networks. The threat actor also executed a combination of VBScript, AutoIt, and PowerShell to conduct system reconnaissance, credential theft, and the installation of additional payloads.

Read more…
Source: Fortinet


Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.


Related:

  • Attackers have a new way to slip past your MFA

    December 3, 2025

    Attackers are using a tool called Evilginx to steal session cookies, letting them bypass the need for a multi-factor authentication (MFA) token. Researchers are warning about a rise in cases where this method is used against educational institutions. Evilginx is an attacker-in-the-middle phishing toolkit that sits between you and the real website, relaying the genuine sign-in ...

  • A data breach at analytics giant Mixpanel leaves a lot of open questions

    December 2, 2025

    A cybersecurity incident at analytics provider Mixpanel announced just hours before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend could set a new standard for how not to announce a data breach. To recap: In a bare bones blog post last Wednesday, Mixpanel chief executive Jen Taylor announced that the company had detected an unspecified security incident on November ...

  • Unraveling Water Saci’s New Multi-Format, AI-Enhanced Attacks Propagated via WhatsApp

    December 2, 2025

    Brazil has seen a recent surge of threats delivered via WhatsApp. As observed in Trend Micro previously published research on the SORVEPOTEL malware and the broader Water Saci campaignopen on a new tab, this popular platform has been used to launch sophisticated campaigns. Unsuspecting users receive convincing messages from trusted contacts, often crafted to exploit social ...

  • Google patches 107 Android flaws, including two being actively exploited

    December 2, 2025

      Google has patched 107 vulnerabilities in Android in its December 2025 Android Security Bulletin, including two high-severity flaws that are being actively exploited. The December updates are available for Android 13, 14, 15, and 16. Android vendors are notified of all issues at least a month before publication, but that doesn’t always mean the patches ...

  • NHS Highland staff ‘poor practice’ sparks fears of heightened risk of a major cyber attack

    December 1, 2025

    NHS Highland is at heightened risk of falling prey to a major cyber attack in part due to “poor practice” by some staff members. The warning, contained in a report to the board assessing risk levels faced in a range of areas against what is deemed an acceptable level of risk, comes as the busy ...

  • FTC cracks down on education tech company after massive student data breach

    December 1, 2025

    The Federal Trade Commission took action against Illuminate Education on December 1, 2025, after the Wisconsin-based company suffered a massive data breach that exposed personal information of more than 10 million students. In late December 2021, a hacker used login credentials from a former employee who had left the company three and a half years ...