- Indian Patchwork hacking group infects itself with remote access Trojan
January 10, 2022
An Indian threat group’s inner workings have been exposed after it accidentally infected its own development environment with a remote access Trojan (RAT). Dubbed Patchwork by Malwarebytes and tracked under names including Hangover Group, Dropping Elephant, Chinastrats, and Monsoon, the Indian group has been on the scene since at least 2015 and is actively launching campaigns ...
- Apple iPhone Malware Tactic Causes Fake Shutdowns to Enable Spying
January 6, 2022
In the world of mobile malware, simply shutting down a device can often wipe out any bad code, given that persistence after rebooting is a challenge for traditional malicious activity. But a new iPhone technique can hijack and prevent any shut-down process that a user initiates, simulating a real power-off while allowing malware to remain ...
- Purple Fox rootkit discovered in malicious Telegram installers
January 5, 2022
Researchers have warned that the Purple Fox rootkit is now being distributed through malicious, fake Telegram installers online. This week, the Minerva Labs cybersecurity team, working with MalwareHunterTeam, said that Purple Fox is being disguised through a file named “Telegram Desktop.exe.” Those that believe they are installing the popular messaging service are, instead, becoming laden with ...
- Firmware attack can drop persistent malware in hidden SSD area
December 30, 2021
Korean researchers have developed a set of attacks against some solid-state drives (SSDs) that could allow planting malware in a location that’s beyond the reach of the user and security solutions. The attack models are for drives with flex capacity features and target a hidden area on the device called over-provisioning, which is widely used by ...
- New Flagpro malware linked to Chinese state-backed hackers
December 28, 2021
BlackTech cyber-espionage APT (advanced persistent threat) group has been spotted targeting Japanese companies using novel malware that researchers call ‘Flagpro’. The threat actor uses Flagpro in the initial stage of an attack for network reconnaissance, to evaluate the target’s environment, and to download second-stage malware and execute it. The infection chain begins with a phishing email crafted ...
- Stealthy BLISTER malware slips in unnoticed on Windows systems
December 23, 2021
Security researchers have uncovered a malicious campaign that relies on a valid code-signing certificate to disguise malicious code as legitimate executables. One of the payloads that the researchers called Blister, acts as a loader for other malware and appears to be a novel threat that enjoys a low detection rate. The threat actor behind Blister has been ...
- Log4j vulnerability now used to install Dridex banking malware
December 20, 2021
Threat actors now exploit the critical Apache Log4j vulnerability named Log4Shell to infect vulnerable devices with the notorious Dridex banking trojan or Meterpreter. The Dridex malware is a banking trojan originally developed to steal online banking credentials from victims. However, over time, the malware has evolved to be a loader that downloads various modules that can ...
- New stealthy DarkWatchman malware hides in the Windows Registry
December 19, 2021
A new malware named ‘DarkWatchman’ has emerged in the cybercrime underground, and it’s a lightweight and highly-capable JavaScript RAT (Remote Access Trojan) paired with a C# keylogger. According to a technical report by researchers at Prevailion, the novel RAT is employed by Russian-speaking actors who target mainly Russian organizations. The first signs of DarkWatchman’s existence appeared in ...
- A deep dive into an NSO zero-click iMessage exploit: Remote Code Execution
December 16, 2021
Google Project Zero researchers want to thank Citizen Lab for sharing a sample of the FORCEDENTRY exploit with them, and Apple’s Security Engineering and Architecture (SEAR) group for collaborating with Google Project Zero on the technical analysis. The editorial opinions reflected below are solely Project Zero’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the organizations ...
- Suspected Iranian hackers target airline with new backdoor
December 16, 2021
A suspected, state-sponsored Iranian threat group has attacked an airline with a never-before-seen backdoor. On Wednesday, cybersecurity researchers from IBM Security X-Force said an Asian airline was the subject of the attack, which likely began in October 2019 until 2021. The advanced persistent threat (APT) group ITG17, also known as MuddyWater, leveraged a free workspace channel on ...