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:
- Exposed and vulnerable: Recent attacks highlight critical need to protect internet-exposed OT devices
May 30, 2024
Since late 2023, Microsoft has observed an increase in reports of attacks focusing on internet-exposed, poorly secured operational technology (OT) devices. Internet-exposed OT equipment in water and wastewater systems (WWS) in the US were targeted in multiple attacks over the past months by different nation-backed actors, including attacks by IRGC-affiliated “CyberAv3ngers” in November 2023, as well ...
- CVE-2024-30043: Abusing URL Parsing Confusion To Exploit XXE On Sharepoint Server And Cloud
May 30, 2024
Yes, the title is right. This blog covers an XML eXternal Entity (XXE) injection vulnerability that the author found in SharePoint. The bug was recently patched by Microsoft. In general, XXE vulnerabilities are not very exciting in terms of discovery and related technical aspects. They may sometimes be fun to exploit and exfiltrate data (or do ...
- Sing Us a Song You’re the Piano Scam
May 29, 2024
Proofpoint recently identified a cluster of activity conducting malicious email campaigns using piano-themed messages to lure people into advance fee fraud (AFF) scams. The campaigns have occurred since at least January 2024, and are ongoing. Most of the messages target students and faculty at colleges and universities in North America, however other targeting of industries including ...
- ‘People’s lives are at risk’: Ascension ransomware attack going on nearly three weeks
May 29, 2024
A ransomware attack on a major US hospital network that began three weeks ago is endangering patients’ health as nurses are forced to manually enter prescription information and work without electronic health records, nurses at two hospitals affected by the cyberattack told CNN. “It’s putting patients’ lives in danger,” said a nurse who works at Ascension ...
- Guidance on the 911 S5 Residential Proxy Service
May 29, 2024
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Defense Criminal Investigative Services (DCIS), and Department of Commerce (DOC) are publishing this announcement to notify the public of the dismantlement of the 911 S5 residential proxy service and to help individuals and businesses better understand and guard against 911 S5 proxy service and botnet. 911 S5 began operating in ...
- Pakistani hackers target ‘Make in India’ defence programs
May 28, 2024
As per a report, three public sector defence equipment manufacturers as well as India’s security forces have been on the target of an espionage campaign run by a notorious Pakistani hacking group with suspected links to its military. Transparent Tribe, known as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 36 among cybersecurity professionals, has been targeting employees in defence ...