Proofpoint recently identified a SugarGh0st RAT campaign targeting organizations in the United States involved in artificial intelligence efforts, including those in academia, private industry, and government service.
Proofpoint tracks the cluster responsible for this activity as UNK_SweetSpecter. SugarGh0st RAT is a remote access trojan, and is a customized variant of Gh0stRAT, an older commodity trojan typically used by Chinese-speaking threat actors. SugarGh0st RAT has been historically used to target users in Central and East Asia, as first reported by Cisco Talos in November 2023.
Read more…
Source: ProofPoint
Related:
- Russian Intelligence Services Continue to Target Commercial Messaging Applications
June 26, 2026
The FBI and CISA are issuing this update to the March 20, 2026, Public Service Announcement I-032026-PSA to provide additional information to the public and encourage device owners to take actions to protect themselves. The FBI has identified multiple clusters of Russian Intelligence Services (RIS) cyber threat actors responsible for an ongoing commercial messaging application (CMA) phishing campaign against individuals of high ...
- Public and Private Medical Community Targeted by China-Nexus Threat Actor
June 15, 2026
Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has identified a sophisticated campaign attributed to UNC6508, a People’s Republic of China (PRC)-nexus threat actor, targeting institutions in the North American academic, medical, and military research community. While remaining undetected for over a year, the threat actor compromised externally facing web applications, deployed bespoke malware, pivoted to sensitive internal ...
- WhatsApp says it caught new spyware attacks linked to NSO Group in violation of court order
June 8, 2026
WhatsApp said that it disrupted a new hacking campaign linked to NSO Group, a spyware maker that has been ensnared in countless cases of abuse all over the world. The messaging app maker accused NSO of violating an earlier court order that bars the company from targeting WhatsApp and its users with its spyware, and is seeking to ...
- Chinese spies use LinkedIn to target UK officials and military staff
June 3, 2026
Chinese spies are targeting UK government and military staff on job websites including LinkedIn to try to get access to classified or sensitive information, MI5 has warned. A bulletin has been released by the Five Eyes powers – the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – highlighting an “aggressive” online recruitment strategy where spies for Beijing military ...
- Russian spy agency says foreign spies turned officials’ smartphones into surveillance devices
June 2, 2026
Russia’s domestic spy agency says it has uncovered a sprawling foreign espionage operation that allegedly turned the smartphones of senior Russian officials into pocket-sized surveillance devices, though it has so far offered little in the way of evidence. In a statement Tuesday, the Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed foreign intelligence agencies implanted malware on the mobile devices ...
- Muddying the Tracks: The State-Sponsored Shadow Behind Chaos Ransomware
May 6, 2026
Researchers at Rapid7 say that they have spotted what they believe was an Iranian intelligence cyber unit masquerading as the Chaos ransomware gang to hide a state-sponsored espionage operation. The intrusion was spotted earlier this year, and investigators say breadcrumbs left behind give them “medium confidence” in saying it was the work of MuddyWater, which has ...