Former U.S. intel operatives to pay $1.6M for hacking for foreign govt

The U.S. government has entered a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with three former intelligence operatives to resolve criminal charges relating to their offering of hacking services to a foreign government. Between 2016 and 2019, Marc Baier, Ryan Adams, and Daniel Read More …

Analyzing The ForcedEntry Zero-Click iPhone Exploit Used By Pegasus

Citizen Lab has released a report detailing sophisticated iPhone exploits being used against nine Bahraini activists. The activists were reportedly hacked with the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware using two zero-click iMessage exploits: Kismet, which was identified in 2020; and ForcedEntry, Read More …

Apple rushes to block ‘zero-click’ iPhone spyware

Apple has issued a software patch to block so-called “zero-click” spyware that could infect iPhones and iPads. Independent researchers identified the flaw, which lets hackers access devices through the iMessage service even if users do not click on a link Read More …

US Media, Retailers Targeted by New SparklingGoblin APT

An emerging international cybergang is broadening its targets to include North American media firms, universities and one computer retailer. The advanced persistent threat (APT) group is new, according to researchers who dubbed it SparklingGoblin. Also new is a novel backdoor Read More …

APT41 Resurfaces as Earth Baku With New Cyberespionage Campaign

Trend Micro researchers have uncovered a cyberespionage campaign being perpetrated by Earth Baku, an advanced persistent threat (APT) group with a known history of carrying out cyberattacks under the alias APT41. This is not the group’s first foray into cyberespionage, Read More …

Govt hackers impersonate HR employees to hit Israeli targets

Hackers associated with the Iranian government have focused attack efforts on IT and communication companies in Israel, likely in an attempt to pivot to their real targets. The campaigns have been attributed to the Iranian APT group known as Lyceum, Read More …

Confucius Uses Pegasus Spyware-related Lures to Target Pakistani Military

While investigating the Confucius threat actor, we found a recent spear phishing campaign that utilizes Pegasus spyware-related lures to entice victims into opening a malicious document downloading a file stealer. The NSO Group’s spyware spurred a collaborative investigation that found Read More …

United Nations calls for moratorium on sale of surveillance tech like NSO Group’s Pegasus

The United Nations has called for a moratorium on the sale of “life threatening” surveillance technology and singled out the NSO Group and Israel for criticism. The catalyst for that UN’s action is the recent allegation that NSO Group’s wares Read More …

UNC215: Spotlight on a Chinese Espionage Campaign in Israel

This blog post details the post-compromise tradecraft and operational tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of a Chinese espionage group we track as UNC215. While UNC215’s targets are located throughout the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and North America, this report focuses Read More …