Threat actors misusing Quick Assist in social engineering attacks leading to ransomware


Since mid-April 2024, Microsoft Threat Intelligence has observed the threat actor Storm-1811 misusing the client management tool Quick Assist to target users in social engineering attacks.

Storm-1811 is a financially motivated cybercriminal group known to deploy Black Basta ransomware. The observed activity begins with impersonation through voice phishing (vishing), followed by delivery of malicious tools, including remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools like ScreenConnect and NetSupport Manager, malware like Qakbot, Cobalt Strike, and ultimately Black Basta ransomware.

Read more…
Source: Microsoft


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • Supply Chain Compromises Impact Nx Console and GitHub Repositories

    May 28, 2026

    CISA is prioritizing the response to multiple emerging software supply chain intrusion campaigns targeting developer ecosystems Continuous Integration/Continuous Development (CI/CD) pipelines. These recent incidents, including the GitHub compromise via a malicious Nx Console Visual Studio Code (VS Code) extension and the “Megalodon” supply chain intrusion campaign, demonstrate how cyber threat actors are abusing tools and ...

  • Hackers are trying to steal Signal users’ backups in new wave of phishing attacks

    May 28, 2026

    Hackers are targeting Signal users in an attempt to steal their chat backups as part of a new hacking campaign, TechCrunch has learned. On Wednesday, Washington Post analyst Josh Rogin posted a screenshot of a new kind of attack against Signal users, where hackers pretend to be the app’s support team and warn the target that ...

  • Carnival confirms ShinyHunters cruised off with 6M customer records after April breach

    May 28, 2026

    Carnival Corporation – the world’s largest cruise operator – has confirmed a digital heist, a month after hacking crew ShinyHunters claimed to have stolen millions of customers’ records. The breach, Carnival confirmed, stemmed from an April 14 social engineering attack on an employee, though the company declined to comment on the scale or name ShinyHunters. Read more… Source:  ...

  • Threat Actors Spoofing FIFA Websites in Advance of the 2026 World Cup

    May 27, 2026

    The FBI is issuing this Public Service Announcement (PSA) to warn the public that cyber threat actors are conducting spoofing attacks against the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) website in advance of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. A spoofed website is designed to pose as a legitimate website, with branding, product listings, etc., and malicious ...

  • Industrial robots targeted by malware, which could open them up to hacking

    May 25, 2026

    A critical command injection vulnerability has been discovered in Universal Robots PolyScope 5, the operating system whucg powers the company’s collaborative robots. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-8153, carries a CVSS score of 9.8 and affects all software versions prior to PolyScope 5.25.1. This vulnerability could lead to complete compromise of the robot controller, affecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability ...

  • Cloud Atlas activity in the second half of 2025 and early 2026: new tools and a new payload

    May 22, 2026

    In 2025, Kaspersky observed pervasive SSH tunnel activity, which has remained active into 2026, affecting many government organizations and commercial companies in Russia and Belarus. Behind some of this activity is Cloud Atlas, a group which was known  to Kaspersky researchers since 2014. During the investigation, the researches identified new tools used by this group, as ...