TrendAI™ Research tracked a sustained malvertising campaign that abused Google Ads to deliver ClickFix social engineering attacks disguised as popular AI developer tools. The campaign impersonated at least six legitimate brand names, including ChatGPT Codex, Perplexity, Cursor IDE, JetBrains, Claude AI, and claude.ai, and simultaneously ran Mac utility scam lures.
By leveraging paid search ads targeting users actively seeking AI development tools, the attackers were able to target technically proficient users who are more likely to interact with command-line instructions without suspicion. This marks a sophisticated evolution of the ClickFix social engineering technique, where victims are tricked into manually executing malicious commands, typically by copying and pasting PowerShell or terminal commands under the guise of “fixing” a problem or completing a software installation.
Read more…
Source: Trend Micro
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Deleting Your Way Into SYSTEM: Why Arbitrary File Deletion Vulnerabilities Matter
September 11, 2023
Windows arbitrary file deletion vulnerabilities should no longer be considered mere annoyances or tools for Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. Over the past couple of years, these vulnerabilities have matured into potent threats capable of unearthing a portal to full system compromise. This transformation is exemplified in CVE-2023-27470 (an arbitrary file deletion vulnerability in N-Able’s Take Control Agent ...
- Analyzing Cuba ransomware
September 11, 2023
The group’s offensives first got on Kaspersky researchers radar in late 2020. Back then, the cybercriminals had not yet adopted the moniker “Cuba”; they were known as “Tropical Scorpius”. Cuba mostly targets organizations in the United States, Canada and Europe. The gang has scored a series of resonant attacks on oil companies, financial services, government ...
- 11 alleged Conti criminals hit with UK and US sanctions
September 8, 2023
UK and US authorities have issued sanctions on 11 individuals who are allegedly part of a cybercriminal gang that use Trickbot and Conti malware. The 11 individuals have been hit with asset freezes and travel bans in a coordinated effort to counter the threat of ransomware, according to UK officials. The country’s National Crime Agency (NCA) ...
- Evil Telegram doppelganger attacks Chinese users
September 8, 2023
UPDATE 11.09.2023. Google has informed us that all the apps were deleted from the Google Play store A while ago Kaspersky researchers discovered a bunch of Telegram mods on Google Play with descriptions in traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese and Uighur. The vendor says these are the fastest apps which use a distributed network of data processing ...
- CISA, FBI, and CNMF Release Advisory on Multiple Nation-State Threat Actors Exploit CVE-2022-47966 and CVE-2022-42475
September 7, 2023
Today, CISA, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF) published a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), Multiple Nation-State Threat Actors Exploit CVE-2022-47966 and CVE-2022-42475. This CSA provides information on an incident at an Aeronautical Sector organization, with malicious activity occurring as early as January 2023. CISA, FBI, and CNMF confirmed ...
- Cybercriminals target graphic designers with GPU miners
September 7, 2023
Cybercriminals are abusing Advanced Installer, a legitimate Windows tool used for creating software packages, to drop cryptocurrency-mining malware on infected machines. This activity has been ongoing since at least November 2021. The attacker uses Advanced Installer to package other legitimate software installers, such as Adobe Illustrator, Autodesk 3ds Max and SketchUp Pro, with malicious scripts and ...