Maverick: a new banking Trojan abusing WhatsApp in a mass-scale distribution


A malware campaign was recently detected in Brazil, distributing a malicious LNK file using WhatsApp. It targets mainly Brazilians and uses Portuguese-named URLs.

To evade detection, the command-and-control (C2) server verifies each download to ensure it originates from the malware itself. The whole infection chain is complex and fully fileless, and by the end, it will deliver a new banking Trojan named Maverick, which contains many code overlaps with Coyote. In this blog post, we detail the entire infection chain, encryption algorithm, and its targets, as well as discuss the similarities with known threats.

Read more…
Source: Kaspersky


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • AWS says more than 600 FortiGate firewalls hit in AI-augmented campaign

    February 23, 2026

    Cybercriminals armed with off-the-shelf generative AI tools compromised more than 600 internet-exposed FortiGate firewalls across 55 countries in just over a month, according to a new incident report from AWS. The campaign, which ran from mid-January to mid-February, relied less on clever zero-days and more on the equivalent of trying every digital door handle – just ...

  • Hacker gained access to PayPal systems resulting in unauthorised transactions

    February 22, 2026

    Some PayPal users have started to receive email from the company confirming a data breach that exposed personal information to a threat actor who gained access to PayPal’s systems, leading to some seeing unauthorized transactions on their accounts and the resetting of passwords. A breach notification letter, which the authors have verified, has confirmed that some ...

  • ShinyHunters demands $1.5M not to leak Vegas casino and resort chain data

    February 20, 2026

    Las Vegas hotel and casino giant Wynn Resorts appears to be the latest victim of data-grabbing and extortion gang ShinyHunters. On Friday, the cybercrime crew listed the hospitality company on its blog, claiming to have stolen more than 800,000 records containing employees’ Social Security numbers and other private details. The extortionists set a February 23 deadline ...

  • Ukrainian gets five years for helping North Koreans secure US tech jobs

    February 20, 2026

    Ukrainian national Oleksandr Didenko will spend the next five years behind bars in the US for his involvement in helping North Korean IT workers secure fraudulent employment. The 29-year-old played a role in supporting individuals working for a hostile regime to get contracts in the US. In November 2025, Didenko pleaded guilty to wire fraud and ...

  • FBI: Increase in malware enabled ATM jackpotting incidents across United States

    February 19, 2026

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is releasing this FLASH to disseminate indicators of compromise (IOCs) and technical details associated with malware enabled ATM jackpotting. Threat actors exploit physical and software vulnerabilities in ATMs and deploy malware to dispense cash without a legitimate transaction. The FBI has observed an increase in ATM jackpotting incidents across the ...

  • Arkanix Stealer: C++ and Python infostealer

    February 19, 2026

    In October 2025, Kaspersky researchers discovered a series of forum posts advertising a previously unknown stealer, dubbed “Arkanix Stealer” by its authors. It operated under a MaaS (malware-as-a-service) model, providing users not only with the implant but also with access to a control panel featuring configurable payloads and statistics. The set of implants included a publicly ...