Since October 22, 2024, Microsoft Threat Intelligence has observed Russian threat actor Midnight Blizzard sending a series of highly targeted spear-phishing emails to individuals in government, academia, defense, non-governmental organizations, and other sectors.
This activity is ongoing, and Microsoft will continue to investigate and provide updates as available. Based on our investigation of previous Midnight Blizzard spear-phishing campaigns, we assess that the goal of this operation is likely intelligence collection. Microsoft is releasing this blog to notify the public and disrupt this threat actor activity. This blog provides context on these external spear-phishing attempts, which are common attack techniques and do not represent any new compromise of Microsoft.
Read more…
Source: Microsoft
Related:
- In 2025, age checks started locking people out of the internet
December 31, 2025
If 2024 was the year lawmakers talked about online age verification, 2025 was the year they actually flipped the switch. In 2025, across parts of Europe and the US, age checks for certain websites (especially pornography) turned long‑running child‑protection debates into real‑world access controls. Overnight, users found entire categories of sites locked behind ID checks, platforms ...
- European Space Agency confirms data breach
December 30, 2025
MILAN — The European Space Agency has confirmed a security breach of unclassified material from science servers following reports on social media. A threat actor claimed to have compromised ESA systems and to have leaked roughly 200 gigabytes of data. According to screenshots shared on X by French cybersecurity professional Seb Latom, the actor alleges they ...
- U.S. DOJ: Two Americans Plead Guilty to Targeting Multiple U.S. Victims Using ALPHV BlackCat Ransomware
December 30, 2025
Yesterday, a federal district court in the Southern District of Florida accepted the guilty pleas of two men to conspiring to obstruct, delay or affect commerce through extortion in connection with ransomware attacks occurring in 2023. “These defendants used their sophisticated cybersecurity training and experience to commit ransomware attacks — the very type of crime ...
- The HoneyMyte APT evolves with a kernel-mode rootkit and a ToneShell backdoor
December 29, 2025
In mid-2025, Kaspersky researchers identified a malicious driver file on computer systems in Asia. The driver file is signed with an old, stolen, or leaked digital certificate and registers as a mini-filter driver on infected machines. Its end-goal is to inject a backdoor Trojan into the system processes and provide protection for malicious files, user-mode ...
- CVE-2025-14847: Critical Memory Leak in MongoDB Allowing Attackers to Extract Sensitive Data
December 29, 2025
On December 19, 2025, MongoDB Inc. disclosed a critical new vulnerability, CVE-2025-14847, which has since been dubbed MongoBleed. This vulnerability is a high-severity unauthenticated memory leak affecting MongoDB, one of the world’s most popular document-oriented databases. While initially identified as a data exposure flaw, the severity is underscored by the fact that it allows attackers ...
- Malware in 2025 spread far beyond Windows PCs
December 29, 2025
If there’s one thing that became very clear in 2025, it’s that malware is no longer focused on Windows alone. We’ve seen some major developments, especially in campaigns targeting Android and macOS. Unfortunately, many people still don’t realize that protecting smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices is just as essential as securing their laptops. Banking Trojans ...
