Hacking Employers and Seeking Employment: Two Job-Related Campaigns Bear Hallmarks of North Korean Threat Actors

Unit 42 researchers recently discovered two separate campaigns targeting job-seeking activities linked to state-sponsored threat actors associated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. The research team call the first campaign “Contagious Interview,” where Read More …

Konni Campaign Distributed Via Malicious Document

FortiGuard Labs recently identified the use of a Russian-language Word document equipped with a malicious macro in the ongoing Konni campaign. Despite the document’s creation date of September, ongoing activity on the campaign’s C2 server is evident in internal telemetry. Read More …

Data stolen in hack of nuclear energy testing facility Idaho National Lab

The Idaho National Laboratory, part of the U.S. Department of Energy and one of the country’s foremost advanced nuclear energy testing labs, has suffered a breach that released the details of employees online. A hacking group called SiegeSec took responsibility Read More …

Stately Taurus targets the Philippines as tensions flare in the South Pacific

Tensions between China and the Philippines have risen sharply over the past several months. Coinciding with these real-world events, Unit 42 researchers observed three Stately Taurus campaigns during the month of August. These campaigns are assessed to have targeted entities Read More …

Into The Trash: Analyzing LitterDrifter

Gamaredon, also known as Primitive Bear, ACTINIUM, and Shuckworm, is a unique player in the Russian espionage ecosystem that targets a wide variety of almost exclusively Ukrainian entities. While researchers often struggle to uncover evidence of Russian espionage activities, Gamaredon Read More …

TA402 Uses Complex IronWind Infection Chains to Target Middle East-Based Government Entities

In mid-2023, Proofpoint researchers first identified TA402 (Molerats, Gaza Cybergang, Frankenstein, WIRTE) activity using a labyrinthine infection chain to target Middle Eastern governments with a new initial access downloader Proofpoint has dubbed IronWind. From July through October 2023, TA402 utilized Read More …

In-depth analysis of July 2023 exploit chain featuring CVE-2023-36884 and CVE-2023-36584

During their analysis of a July 2023 campaign targeting groups supporting Ukraine’s admission into NATO, Unit 42 researchers discovered a new vulnerability for bypassing Microsoft’s Mark-of-the-Web (MotW) security feature. This activity has been attributed by the community to the pro-Russian Read More …

Modern Asian APT groups’ tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs)

This report consists of six main sections – Incidents involving Asian APT groups in various regions of the planet Information on five unique incidents that Kaspersky researchers detected in different parts of the world. Each incident is a unique case within Read More …

Agonizing Serpens (Aka Agrius) Targeting the Israeli Higher Education and Tech Sectors

Unit 42 researchers have investigated a series of destructive cyberattacks beginning in January 2023 and continuing as recently as October 2023, targeting the education and technology sectors in Israel. The attacks are characterized by attempts to steal sensitive data, such Read More …