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:
- Tesco Bank facing £30m fine from FCA over 2016 cyber attack
September 24, 2018
Tesco Bank could be fined as much as £30 million over its 2016 cyber attack that compromised the accounts of at least 40,000 of its seven million customers. The attack in November 2016 is one of the most serious ever on a UK retail bank, with money stolen from 20,000 accounts over one weekend – some customers seeing ...
- New Virobot malware works as ransomware, keylogger, and botnet
September 21, 2018
A newly discovered malware strain is a multi-tasking threat that besides working as ransomware and encrypting users’ files, it can also log and steal their keystrokes, and add infected computers to a spam-sending botnet. This new threat is named Virobot and appears to be under development, and comprised of multiple components that allow it to work ...
- Mirai Botnet Creators Helping FBI Fight Cybercrime to Stay Out of Jail
September 19, 2018
Three young hackers who were sentenced late last year for creating and spreading the notorious Mirai botnet are now helping the FBI to investigate other “complex” cybercrime cases in return to avoid their lengthy prison terms. Paras Jha, 21 from New Jersey, Josiah White, 20 from Washington, and Dalton Norman, 21 from Louisiana, plead guilty in December 2017 to multiple ...
- Cybercrime: Ransomware remains a ‘key’ malware threat says Europol
September 18, 2018
Targeted attacks replace spam campaigns, but Europol’s annual cybercrime report also warns that cryptojacking malware “may overtake ransomware as a future threat”. Ransomware remains the top malware threat to organisations, causing millions of dollars of damage and remaining a potent tool for cyber criminals and nation-state attackers. The rise of highly targeted file-locking malware campaigns and the ...
- US State Department confirms: Unclassified staff email boxes hacked
September 18, 2018
The US State Department has confirmed one of its email systems was attacked, potentially exposing the personal information of some of its employees. Uncle Sam’s officials said in a statement to The Register on Tuesday that “suspicious activity” in its email system led it to send out warnings to a number of employees whose personal information may have ...
- Zero-Day Bug Allows Hackers to Access CCTV Surveillance Cameras
September 17, 2018
Firmware used in up to 800,000 CCTV cameras open to attack thanks to buffer overflow zero-day bug. Between 180,000 and 800,000 IP-based closed-circuit television cameras are vulnerable to a zero-day vulnerability that allows hackers to access surveillance cameras, spy on and manipulate video feeds or plant malware. According to a Tenable Research Advisory issued Monday, the bugs are ...