The hidden network: Inside the phishing infrastructure ecosystem powering global cybercrime


Over the past year, Microsoft uncovered a Chinese-language cybercriminal ecosystem, an interconnected network of phishing kit operators, developers, and an illicit marketplace selling tools and infrastructure for large-scale phishing, enabling cybercriminal operations worldwide.

Threat actors purchased and used these tools and infrastructure, including phishing kits and access to compromised or fraudulent Microsoft or Google cloud environments and related credentials, to target organizations across the healthcare, financial services, wholesale distribution, and information technology (IT) sectors in Japan, the United States, Australia, and India. In collaboration with law enforcement agencies and other partners worldwide, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) facilitated a disruption of the ecosystem’s primary developers and infrastructure.

Read more…
Source:  Microsoft


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Romania: Around 1,000 systems compromised in ransomware attack on water agency

    December 22, 2025

    Romania’s cybersecurity agency confirms a major ransomware attack on the country’s water management administration has compromised around 1,000 systems, with work to remediate them still ongoing. Administrația Națională Apele Române (Romanian Waters) says its geographical information system applications servers, database servers, Windows workstations, Windows Servers, email and web servers, and domain name servers are all affected. ...

  • Hackers hijacking WhatsApp accounts without any need to crack the authentication

    December 21, 2025

    Security researchers are warning WhatsApp users about a growing account hijacking technique that does not rely on breaking passwords or bypassing encryption. Attackers exploit WhatsApp’s legitimate device-linking feature to quietly attach their own browser to a victim’s account. Once linked, the attacker can read messages in real time, download shared media, and send messages that appear ...

  • Data breach exposes 400,000 bank customers’ information

    December 20, 2025

    A major data breach tied to U.S. fintech firm Marquis is rippling through banks, credit unions and their customers. Hackers broke into Marquis systems by exploiting a known but unpatched vulnerability in a SonicWall firewall, gaining access to deeply sensitive consumer data. At least 400,000 people are confirmed to be affected so far across multiple states. ...

  • U.S. DOJ: Ukrainian National Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Use Ransomware

    December 19, 2025

    Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Artem Stryzhak pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity, including extortion, in connection with computers, for his role in a series of international ransomware attacks. Stryzhak, a Ukrainian citizen, was arrested in Spain in June 2024 and extradited to the United States on April 30, ...

  • Thailand says Cambodia border fight is also a war on scammers

    December 19, 2025

    Thailand’s army has recast its deadly clash with Cambodia as a battle against cybercriminals, adding a new motive for bombing runs across the border that it says are aimed at rooting out scammers. Calling the strikes a “war against the scam army,” a military division involved in the border fight said this week it’s on the ...

  • Cloud Atlas activity in the first half of 2025: what changed

    December 19, 2025

    Known since 2014, the Cloud Atlas group targets countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Infections occur via phishing emails containing a malicious document that exploits an old vulnerability in the Microsoft Office Equation Editor process (CVE-2018-0802) to download and execute malicious code. In this report, Kaspersky researchers describe the infection chain and tools that the ...