CHOSEN BRICK is a malware family that has been used to target individuals around the world including in the UK, US and the Netherlands from at least 2025. CHOSEN BRICK enables Iranian state cyber actors to collect information on a target’s contacts, emails and social media messages, which could enable tracking of their movements.
Iran almost certainly uses cyber activity to support the repression of individuals who are seen as a threat to the regime, such as dissidents, activists and journalists. In some cases, the Iranian intelligence services have plotted to kidnap or conduct lethal operations against individuals internationally, who they perceive as enemies of the regime.
The personal details of some previous victims of CHOSEN BRICK have appeared on pro-Iranian leak sites, potentially increasing the risk to the personal safety of those affected.
Read more…
Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- DarkSide: New targeted ransomware demands million dollar ransoms
August 21, 2020
A new ransomware operation named DarkSide began attacking organizations earlier this month with customized attacks that have already earned them million-dollar payouts. Starting around August 10th, 2020, the new ransomware operation began performing targeted attacks against numerous companies. In a “press release” issued by the threat actors, they claim to be former affiliates who had made millions ...
- Diving Into End-to-End Deep Learning for Cybersecurity
August 21, 2020
The application of artificial intelligence (AI) across various industries has undeniably made significant improvements in the digital era. With the capability to interpret and make complex decisions based on data, AI technologies have enabled tasks or processes to function with human-like intelligence, enhancing the speed of and innovating business operations and adding valuable user experiences. The ...
- Transparent Tribe: Evolution analysis, part 1
August 20, 2020
Transparent Tribe, also known as PROJECTM and MYTHIC LEOPARD, is a highly prolific group whose activities can be traced as far back as 2013. Proofpoint published a very good article about them in 2016, and since that day, we have kept an eye on the group. We have periodically reported their activities through our APT ...
- Cisco Critical Flaw Patched in WAN Software Solution
August 19, 2020
Cisco patched a critical flaw in its wide area network (WAN) software solution for enterprises, which if exploited could give remote, unauthenticated attackers administrator privileges. The flaw exists in Cisco Virtual Wide Area Application Services (vWAAS), which is software that Cisco describes as a “WAN optimization solution.” It helps manage business applications that are being leveraged ...
- Airline DMARC Policies Lag, Opening Flyers to Email Fraud
August 19, 2020
More than half of global airlines do not have DMARC policies in place, opening their customers up to email fraud attacks, a new report found. DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is considered the industry standard for email authentication to prevent attackers from sending mails with counterfeit addresses. It does so by authenticating the sender’s ...
- Threat Recap: Darkside, Crysis, Negasteal, Coinminer
August 19, 2020
In the past few weeks, we have spotted notable developments for different types of threats. For ransomware, a new family named Darkside surfaced, while operators behind Crysis/Dharma released a hacking toolkit. For messaging threats, a targeted email campaign was used to propagate Negasteal/Agent Tesla. Finally, for fileless threats, a coinminer was seen bundled with legitimate applications. Read ...