TookPS: DeepSeek isn’t the only game in town


In early March, we published a study detailing several malicious campaigns that exploited the popular DeepSeek LLM as a lure. Subsequent telemetry analysis indicated that the TookPS downloader, a malware strain detailed in the article, was not limited to mimicking neural networks.

Kaspersky researchers identified fraudulent websites mimic official sources for remote desktop and 3D modeling software, alongside pages offering these applications as free downloads. UltraViewer, AutoCAD, and SketchUp are common business tools. Therefore, potential victims of this campaign include both individual users and organizations. Kaspersky telemetry also detected file names such as “Ableton.exe” and “QuickenApp.exe”, alongside malicious websites. Ableton is music production software for composition, recording, mixing, and mastering, and Quicken is a personal finance app for tracking expenses, income, debts, and investments across various accounts.

Read more…
Source: Kaspersky


Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.


Related:

  • Muddying the Tracks: The State-Sponsored Shadow Behind Chaos Ransomware

    May 6, 2026

    Researchers at Rapid7 say that they have spotted what they believe was an Iranian intelligence cyber unit masquerading as the Chaos ransomware gang to hide a state-sponsored espionage operation. The intrusion was spotted earlier this year, and investigators say breadcrumbs left behind give them “medium confidence” in saying it was the work of MuddyWater, which has ...

  • DOJ says ransomware gang tapped into Russian government databases

    May 6, 2026

    A U.S. court has sentenced Latvian hacker Deniss Zolotarjovs to more than eight years in prison following his conviction for carrying out ransomware attacks. The Justice Department accused the hacker of working for a notorious Russian ransomware gang called Karakurt, which was led by former leaders of the Akira and Conti ransomware gangs, who were sanctioned ...

  • Critical Buffer Overflow in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS User-ID Authentication Portal (CVE-2026-0300)

    May 6, 2026

    On May 6, 2026, Palo Alto Networks published a security advisory for CVE-2026-0300, a critical unauthenticated buffer overflow vulnerability affecting PAN-OS PA-Series and VM-Series firewall appliances. Prisma Access, Cloud NGFW, and Panorama appliances are not affected by this vulnerability. The vulnerability carries a CVSSv4 score of 9.3 and has been confirmed as exploited in the wild ...

  • Update WhatsApp now: Two new flaws could expose you to malicious files

    May 5, 2026

    Meta has published a new security advisory for messaging app WhatsApp, announcing patches for two vulnerabilities. WhatsApp has fixed two security flaws that could be abused to interfere with how media and attachments are handled on your device. There is no evidence that either bug has been exploited in the wild. These bugs don’t automatically infect ...

  • DAEMON Tools software compromised with a malicious payload

    May 5, 2026

    In early May 2026, Kaspersky researchers identified installers of the DAEMON Tools software, used for mounting disk images, to be compromised with a malicious payload. These installers are distributed from the legitimate website of DAEMON Tools and are signed with digital certificates belonging to DAEMON Tools developers. Kaspersky analysis revealed that the software installers have been ...

  • Trellix confirms data breach after hack of ‘a portion’ of its source code

    May 5, 2026

    Cybersecurity giant Trellix has confirmed suffering a cyberattack in which threat actors accessed parts of its source code. In a brief announcement published on its website, Trellix said it had identified “unauthorized access to a portion of source code repository”. As soon as it spotted the intrusion, the company brought in third-party security experts to ...