Iranian “Charming Kitten” hackers used old Cold War methods to steal tech secrets and plant malware

Iran-linked cyber operations are drawing renewed attention for relying less on advanced code and more on human manipulation to gain access to sensitive systems. At the centre of this activity is Charming Kitten, a group associated with Iran’s security apparatus Read More …

BellaCPP: Discovering a new BellaCiao variant written in C++

BellaCiao is a .NET-based malware family that adds a unique twist to an intrusion, combining the stealthy persistence of a webshell with the power to establish covert tunnels. It surfaced for the first time in late April 2023 and has since Read More …

Germany says Charming Kitten hackers target Iran dissidents

Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) on Thursday warned critics of the Iranian leadership living in Germany that they might be targeted by hackers. The agency said the Charming Kitten online espionage group works by building Read More …

Iran-linked Charming Kitten espionage gang bares claws to pollies, power orgs

An Iranian cyber espionage gang with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has learned new methods and phishing techniques, and aimed them at a wider set of targets – including politicians, government officials, critical infrastructure and medical researchers – Read More …

APT Charming Kitten Pounces on Medical Researchers

Security researchers have linked a late-2020 phishing campaign aimed at stealing credentials from 25 senior professionals at medical research organizations in the United States and Israel to an advanced persistent threat group with links to Iran called Charming Kitten. The Read More …

Iranian cyberspies leave training videos exposed online

One of Iran’s top hacking groups has left a server exposed online where security researchers say they found a trove of screen recordings showing the hackers in action. Discovered by IBM’s X-Force cyber-security division, researchers believe the videos are tutorials Read More …

Charming Kitten Iranian Espionage Campaign Thwarts 2FA

The campaign targets politicians involved in economic and military sanctions against Iran, along with various journalists and human rights activists. A range of political and civil society targets are under fire in an APT attack dubbed the Return of Charming Read More …