Intellexa and Cytrox are latest spyware firms to face U.S. wrath

The Biden administration struck its latest blow against foreign spyware makers on Tuesday, placing two Europe-based companies on its list that restricts U.S. companies’ business dealings with them. Greece-based Intellexa and the Hungarian company Cytrox are now on the Commerce Read More …

Analysis of Storm-0558 techniques for unauthorized email access

As described in more detail in our July 11 blogs, Storm-0558 is a China-based threat actor with espionage objectives. Beginning May 15, 2023, Storm-0558 used forged authentication tokens to access user email from approximately 25 organizations, including government agencies and Read More …

Malicious campaigns target government, military and civilian entities in Ukraine, Poland

Cisco Talos has discovered a threat actor conducting several campaigns against government entities, military organizations and civilian users in Ukraine and Poland. Cisco Talos judge that these operations are very likely aimed at stealing information and gaining persistent remote access. Read More …

Enhanced Monitoring to Detect APT Activity Targeting Outlook Online

In June 2023, a Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agency identified suspicious activity in their Microsoft 365 (M365) cloud environment. The agency reported the activity to Microsoft and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Microsoft determined that advanced Read More …

Storm-0978 attacks reveal financial and espionage motives

Microsoft has identified a phishing campaign conducted by the threat actor tracked as Storm-0978 targeting defense and government entities in Europe and North America. The campaign involved the abuse of CVE-2023-36884, which included a remote code execution vulnerability exploited before Read More …

France set to allow police to spy on suspects through remote phone access

Part of a wider justice reform bill, the spying provision has been attacked by the left and rights defenders as an authoritarian snoopers’ charter, though Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti insists it would affect only “dozens of cases a year”. Covering Read More …

Chinese threat actors targeting Europe in SmugX campaign

In the last couple of months, Check Point Research (CPR) has been tracking the activity of a Chinese threat actor targeting Foreign Affairs ministries and embassies in Europe. Combined with other Chinese activity previously reported by Check Point Research, this Read More …

Turkish intelligence uncovers ‘ghost’ Mossad network

After monthslong surveillance, Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has exposed a “ghost” cell of 56 operatives spying on non-Turkish nationals in the country on behalf of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Documents from MIT revealed that the spies were gathering Read More …

EU set to approve the use of spyware to uncover confidential journalist sources

The European Union is set to approve new laws that would let governments spy on journalists in the name of national security. The legislation would expand legal ‘loopholes’ that let governments install spyware on journalist’s phones and computers, including British Read More …

Why is it so rare to hear about Western cyber-attacks?

A cyber-attack that took over iPhones at a Russian technology company is being blamed on US government hackers. Could the attack, and the response from the Russian government, be rewriting the narrative of who the good guys and bad guys Read More …