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 …

Qakbot-affiliated actors distribute Ransom Knight malware despite infrastructure takedown

In a late August 2023 operation involving the FBI and many international partners, law enforcement agencies seized the infrastructure and cryptocurrency assets used by the Qakbot malware, dealing considerable damage to the group’s operations. Many people in the security industry Read More …

CISA and FBI Publish Joint Advisory on QakBot Infrastructure

Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), Identification and Disruption of QakBot Infrastructure, to help organizations detect and protect against newly identified QakBot-related activity and malware. QakBot—also Read More …

Hibernating Qakbot: A Comprehensive Study and In-depth Campaign Analysis

In the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats, banking trojans continue to pose a significant risk to organizations worldwide. Among them, Qakbot, also known as QBot or Pinkslipbot, stands out as a highly sophisticated and persistent malware active since 2007, targeting Read More …

Black Basta Ransomware Gang Infiltrates networks via QAKBOT, Brute Ratel, and Cobalt Strike

QAKBOT’s malware distribution resumed on September 8, 2022 following a brief hiatus, when our researchers spotted several distribution mechanisms on this date. The distribution methods observed included SmokeLoader (using the ‘snow0x’ distributor ID), Emotet (using the ‘azd‘ distributor id), and Read More …

Black Basta Ransomware Operators Expand Their Attack Arsenal With QakBot Trojan and PrintNightmare Exploit

Since it became operational in April, Black Basta has garnered notoriety for its recent attacks on 50 organizations around the world and its use of double extortion, a modern ransomware tactic in which attackers encrypt confidential data and threaten to Read More …

Malicious spam campaigns delivering banking Trojans

In mid-March 2021, we observed two new spam campaigns. The messages in both cases were written in English and contained ZIP attachments or links to ZIP files. Further research revealed that both campaigns ultimately aimed to distribute banking Trojans. The Read More …