Hunting for Mythic in network traffic

Threat actors frequently employ post-exploitation frameworks in cyberattacks to maintain control over compromised hosts and move laterally within the organization’s network. While they once favored closed-source frameworks, such as Cobalt Strike and Brute Ratel C4, open-source projects like Mythic, Sliver, Read More …

Post-exploitation framework now also delivered via npm

The first version of the AdaptixC2 post-exploitation framework, which can be considered an alternative to the well-known Cobalt Strike, was made publicly available in early 2025. In spring of 2025, the framework was first observed being used for malicious means. Read More …

Cobalt Strike Beacon delivered via GitHub and social media

n the latter half of 2024, the Russian IT industry, alongside a number of entities in other countries, experienced a notable cyberattack. The attackers employed a range of malicious techniques to trick security systems and remain undetected. To bypass detection, Read More …

Innovative Tunnelling and Forensic Tool Abuse: IR Tales from the Field

Rapid7’s Incident Response (IR) team was engaged to investigate an incident involving an attempted Cobalt Strike execution. The investigation uncovered twists and turns with pre-ransomware activities, tunneling tools, and attackers taking a page out of the defender’s playbook. The attacker Read More …

Spot the Difference: Earth Kasha’s New LODEINFO Campaign And The Correlation Analysis With The APT10 Umbrella

LODEINFO is a malware used in attacks targeting mainly Japan since 2019. Trend Micro has been tracking the group as Earth Kasha. While some vendors suspect that the actor using LODEINFO might be APT10, we don’t have enough evidence to Read More …

Wreaking havoc in cyberspace: threat actors experiment with pentest tools

In recent months, adversaries have increasingly opted for the Havoc post‑exploitation framework. The tool is less popular compared to Cobalt Strike, Metasploit, and Sliver. According to BI.ZONE Threat Intelligence, this C2 framework is employed in an attempt to evade cybersecurity Read More …

Europol coordinates global action against criminal abuse of Cobalt Strike

Law enforcement has teamed up with the private sector to fight against the abuse of a legitimate security tool by criminals who were using it to infiltrate victims’ IT systems. Older, unlicensed versions of the Cobalt Strike red teaming tool Read More …

LevelBlue Labs Discovers Highly Evasive, New Loader Targeting Chinese Organizations

LevelBlue Labs recently discovered a new highly evasive loader that is being delivered to specific targets through phishing attachments. A loader is a type of malware used to load second-stage payload malware onto a victim’s system. Due to the lack Read More …

Excel File Deploys Cobalt Strike at Ukraine

FortiGuard Labs has recently identified a sophisticated cyberattack involving an Excel file embedded with a VBA macro designed to deploy a DLL file. The attacker uses a multi-stage malware strategy to deliver the notorious “Cobalt Strike” payload and establish communication Read More …

Threat actors misusing Quick Assist in social engineering attacks leading to ransomware

Since mid-April 2024, Microsoft Threat Intelligence has observed the threat actor Storm-1811 misusing the client management tool Quick Assist to target users in social engineering attacks. Storm-1811 is a financially motivated cybercriminal group known to deploy Black Basta ransomware. The Read More …