In mid-2025, Kaspersky researchers identified a malicious driver file on computer systems in Asia. The driver file is signed with an old, stolen, or leaked digital certificate and registers as a mini-filter driver on infected machines. Its end-goal is to inject a backdoor Trojan into the system processes and provide protection for malicious files, user-mode processes, and registry keys.
Kaspersky analysis indicates that the final payload injected by the driver is a new sample of the ToneShell backdoor, which connects to the attacker’s servers and provides a reverse shell, along with other capabilities. The ToneShell backdoor is a tool known to be used exclusively by the HoneyMyte (aka Mustang Panda or Bronze President) APT actor and is often used in cyberespionage campaigns targeting government organizations, particularly in Southeast and East Asia.
Read more…
Source: Kaspersky
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- From cause to cash: a cross-border look at hacktivist activity
June 8, 2026
While tracking the activities of 4BID Kaspersky researchers uncovered a new string of campaigns that appear to be the work of several interconnected actors. While politically motivated groups generally limit their scope to specific nations – for 4BID and its peers, primarily Russian and occasionally Belarusian organizations – the latest findings reveal a shift. The actual ...
- Seeking Counsel: Ongoing Targeted Campaign Against US Law Firms
June 5, 2026
From January through May 2026, Mandiant identified a financially motivated data theft extortion campaign executed by the threat cluster UNC3753 (also tracked as “Luna Moth,” “Chatty Spider,” and “Silent Ransom Group”) targeting dozens of organizations across professional, legal, and financial services in the United States. UNC3753 leverages voice phishing (vishing) and social engineering deception techniques to ...
- Meta, Starlink and Microsoft team up with the FBI to delete over 1.4 million accounts and seize millions in cryptocurrency related to huge scam networks targeting Americans
June 4, 2026
Dozens of people have been arrested, and millions of dollars in cryptocurrency seized, in a large-scale, multi-national operation against internet scammers and fraudsters. On May 18, the US Department of Justice, the FBI, Secret Service, law enforcement agencies in the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Thailand, as well as multiple commercial businesses such as Meta, ...
- You do surprise me.exe: An unexpected executable in Hola Browser
June 4, 2026
During review work related to an AppEsteem Windows Certified Application test, Sophos X-Ops recently identified an unexpected executable delivered alongside Hola Browser (version 1.251.91.0). The executable, me.exe, was not listed as a certified component, and appears to be a crypto-miner. After the issue was reported through the certification program, Hola reported that they had fixed their delivery pipeline, removing the condition that ...
- Chinese spies use LinkedIn to target UK officials and military staff
June 3, 2026
Chinese spies are targeting UK government and military staff on job websites including LinkedIn to try to get access to classified or sensitive information, MI5 has warned. A bulletin has been released by the Five Eyes powers – the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – highlighting an “aggressive” online recruitment strategy where spies for Beijing military ...
- MiniPlasma: detecting exploitation of a critical unpatched Windows vulnerability
June 3, 2026
Over the past two months, the anonymous researcher Nightmare Eclipse (also known as Chaotic Eclipse) has publicly released six Windows vulnerabilities complete with ready-to-use exploits, without prior coordination with Microsoft. The most critical of these is MiniPlasma, a zero-day local privilege escalation exploit that grants attackers SYSTEM-level access. Read more… Source: Kaspersky Sign up for the Cyber Security ...