Brazilian Feds Dismantle Grandoreiro Banking Trojan, Arresting Top Operatives

A Brazilian law enforcement operation has led to the arrest of several Brazilian operators in charge of the Grandoreiro malware. The Federal Police of Brazil said it served five temporary arrest warrants and 13 search and seizure warrants in the states of São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Pará, Goiás, and Mato Grosso. Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET, which provided additional

116 Malware Packages Found on PyPI Repository Infecting Windows and Linux Systems

Cybersecurity researchers have identified a set of 116 malicious packages on the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that are designed to infect Windows and Linux systems with a custom backdoor. "In some cases, the final payload is a variant of the infamous W4SP Stealer, or a simple clipboard monitor to steal cryptocurrency, or both," ESET researchers Marc-Etienne M.Léveillé and Rene

Iranian State-Sponsored OilRig Group Deploys 3 New Malware Downloaders

The Iranian state-sponsored threat actor known as OilRig deployed three different downloader malware throughout 2022 to maintain persistent access to victim organizations located in Israel. The three new downloaders have been named ODAgent, OilCheck, and OilBooster by Slovak cybersecurity company ESET. The attacks also involved the use of an updated version of a known OilRig downloader

Mysterious Kill Switch Disrupts Mozi IoT Botnet Operations

The unexpected drop in malicious activity connected with the Mozi botnet in August 2023 was due to a kill switch that was distributed to the bots. "First, the drop manifested in India on August 8," ESET said in an analysis published this week. "A week later, on August 16, the same thing happened in China. While the mysterious control payload – aka kill switch – stripped Mozi bots of most

Record-Breaking 100 Million RPS DDoS Attack Exploits HTTP/2 Rapid Reset Flaw

Cloudflare on Thursday said it mitigated thousands of hyper-volumetric HTTP distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that exploited a recently disclosed flaw called HTTP/2 Rapid Reset, 89 of which exceeded 100 million requests per second (RPS). "The campaign contributed to an overall increase of 65% in HTTP DDoS attack traffic in Q3 compared to the previous quarter," the web infrastructure

Guyana Governmental Entity Hit by DinodasRAT in Cyber Espionage Attack

A governmental entity in Guyana has been targeted as part of a cyber espionage campaign dubbed Operation Jacana. The activity, which was detected by ESET in February 2023, entailed a spear-phishing attack that led to the deployment of a hitherto undocumented implant written in C++ called DinodasRAT. The Slovak cybersecurity firm said it could link the intrusion to a known threat actor or group,

From Watering Hole to Spyware: EvilBamboo Targets Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Taiwanese

Tibetan, Uyghur, and Taiwanese individuals and organizations are the targets of a persistent campaign orchestrated by a threat actor codenamed EvilBamboo to gather sensitive information. "The attacker has created fake Tibetan websites, along with social media profiles, likely used to deploy browser-based exploits against targeted users," Volexity security researchers Callum Roxan, Paul

Spacecolon Toolset Fuels Global Surge in Scarab Ransomware Attacks

A malicious toolset dubbed Spacecolon is being deployed as part of an ongoing campaign to spread variants of the Scarab ransomware across victim organizations globally. "It probably finds its way into victim organizations by its operators compromising vulnerable web servers or via brute forcing RDP credentials," ESET security researcher Jakub Souček said in a detailed technical write-up

Asylum Ambuscade: A Cybercrime Group with Espionage Ambitions

The threat actor known as Asylum Ambuscade has been observed straddling cybercrime and cyber espionage operations since at least early 2020. "It is a crimeware group that targets bank customers and cryptocurrency traders in various regions, including North America and Europe," ESET said in an analysis published Thursday. "Asylum Ambuscade also does espionage against government entities in Europe

Data Stealing Malware Discovered in Popular Android Screen Recorder App

Google has removed a screen recording app named "iRecorder - Screen Recorder" from the Play Store after it was found to sneak in information stealing capabilities nearly a year after the app was published as an innocuous app. The app (APK package name "com.tsoft.app.iscreenrecorder"), which accrued over 50,000 installations, was first uploaded on September 19, 2021. The malicious functionality

Operation ChattyGoblin: Hackers Targeting Gambling Firms via Chat Apps

A gambling company in the Philippines was the target of a China-aligned threat actor as part of a campaign that has been ongoing since October 2021. Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET is tracking the series of attacks against Southeast Asian gambling companies under the name Operation ChattyGoblin. "These attacks use a specific tactic: targeting the victim companies' support agents via chat

RTM Locker: Emerging Cybercrime Group Targeting Businesses with Ransomware

Cybersecurity researchers have detailed the tactics of a "rising" cybercriminal gang called "Read The Manual" (RTM) Locker that functions as a private ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) provider and carries out opportunistic attacks to generate illicit profit. "The 'Read The Manual' Locker gang uses affiliates to ransom victims, all of whom are forced to abide by the gang's strict rules,"

Ukraine Hit with New Golang-based 'SwiftSlicer' Wiper Malware in Latest Cyber Attack

Ukraine has come under a fresh cyber onslaught from Russia that involved the deployment of a previously undocumented Golang-based data wiper dubbed SwiftSlicer. ESET attributed the attack to Sandworm, a nation-state group linked to Military Unit 74455 of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU). "Once executed it deletes shadow

Iranian Government Entities Under Attack by New Wave of BackdoorDiplomacy Attacks

The threat actor known as BackdoorDiplomacy has been linked to a new wave of attacks targeting Iranian government entities between July and late December 2022. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42, which is tracking the activity under its constellation-themed moniker Playful Taurus, said it observed the government domains attempting to connect to malware infrastructure previously identified as associated

StrongPity Hackers Distribute Trojanized Telegram App to Target Android Users

The advanced persistent threat (APT) group known as StrongPity has targeted Android users with a trojanized version of the Telegram app through a fake website that impersonates a video chat service called Shagle. "A copycat website, mimicking the Shagle service, is used to distribute StrongPity's mobile backdoor app," ESET malware researcher Lukáš Štefanko said in a technical report. "The app is

Hack-for-Hire Group Targets Travel and Financial Entities with New Janicab Malware Variant

Travel agencies have emerged as the target of a hack-for-hire group dubbed Evilnum as part of a broader campaign aimed at legal and financial investment institutions in the Middle East and Europe. The attacks, which took place during 2020 and 2021 and likely went as far back as 2015, involved a revamped variant of a malware called Janicab that leverages a number of public services like WordPress

Iranian Hackers Strike Diamond Industry with Data-Wiping Malware in Supply-Chain Attack

An Iranian advanced persistent threat (APT) actor known as Agrius has been attributed as behind a set of data wiper attacks aimed at diamond industries in South Africa, Israel, and Hong Kong. The wiper, referred to as Fantasy by ESET, is believed to have been delivered via a supply-chain attack targeting an Israeli software suite developer as part of a campaign that began in February 2022.

North Korea Hackers Using New "Dolphin" Backdoor to Spy on South Korean Targets

The North Korea-linked ScarCruft group has been attributed to a previously undocumented backdoor called Dolphin that the threat actor has used against targets located in its southern counterpart. "The backdoor [...] has a wide range of spying capabilities, including monitoring drives and portable devices and exfiltrating files of interest, keylogging and taking screenshots, and stealing

Russia-based RansomBoggs Ransomware Targeted Several Ukrainian Organizations

Ukraine has come under a fresh onslaught of ransomware attacks that mirror previous intrusions attributed to the Russia-based Sandworm nation-state group. Slovak cybersecurity company ESET, which dubbed the new ransomware strain RansomBoggs, said the attacks against several Ukrainian entities were first detected on November 21, 2022. "While the malware written in .NET is new, its deployment is

Notorious Emotet Malware Returns With High-Volume Malspam Campaign

The notorious Emotet malware has returned with renewed vigor as part of a high-volume malspam campaign designed to drop payloads like IcedID and Bumblebee. "Hundreds of thousands of emails per day" have been sent since early November 2022, enterprise security company Proofpoint said last week, adding, "the new activity suggests Emotet is returning to its full functionality acting as a delivery

Worok Hackers Abuse Dropbox API to Exfiltrate Data via Backdoor Hidden in Images

A recently discovered cyber espionage group dubbed Worok has been found hiding malware in seemingly innocuous image files, corroborating a crucial link in the threat actor's infection chain. Czech cybersecurity firm Avast said the purpose of the PNG files is to conceal a payload that's used to facilitate information theft. "What is noteworthy is data collection from victims' machines using

New Updates for ESET's Advanced Home Solutions

It's no secret that antivirus software is as essential to your computer as a power cord. However, the threats don't stop at your devices. For example, criminals trying to steal your data can attack your Wi-Fi router, and phishing attempts can target your email.  ESET's latest consumer product release takes a comprehensive approach to security to guard against a full range of threats. All are

New UEFI Firmware Flaws Reported in Several Lenovo Notebook Models

PC maker Lenovo has addressed yet another set of three shortcomings in the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware affecting several Yoga, IdeaPad, and ThinkBook devices. "The vulnerabilities allow disabling UEFI Secure Boot or restoring factory default Secure Boot databases (incl. dbx): all simply from an OS," Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET explained in a series of tweets. UEFI

Researchers Uncover Custom Backdoors and Spying Tools Used by Polonium Hackers

A threat actor tracked as Polonium has been linked to over a dozen highly targeted attacks aimed at Israelian entities with seven different custom backdoors since at least September 2021. The intrusions were aimed at organizations in various verticals, such as engineering, information technology, law, communications, branding and marketing, media, insurance, and social services, cybersecurity

Hackers Exploiting Dell Driver Vulnerability to Deploy Rootkit on Targeted Computers

The North Korea-backed Lazarus Group has been observed deploying a Windows rootkit by taking advantage of an exploit in a Dell firmware driver, highlighting new tactics adopted by the state-sponsored adversary. The Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attack, which took place in the autumn of 2021, is another variant of the threat actor's espionage-oriented activity called Operation In(ter)

SparklingGoblin APT Hackers Using New Linux Variant of SideWalk Backdoor

A Linux variant of a backdoor known as SideWalk was used to target a Hong Kong university in February 2021, underscoring the cross-platform abilities of the implant.  Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET, which detected the malware in the university's network, attributed the backdoor to a nation-state actor dubbed SparklingGoblin. The unnamed university is said to have been already targeted by the

North Korea Hackers Spotted Targeting Job Seekers with macOS Malware

The North Korea-backed Lazarus Group has been observed targeting job seekers with malware capable of executing on Apple Macs with Intel and M1 chipsets. Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET linked it to a campaign dubbed "Operation In(ter)ception" that was first disclosed in June 2020 and involved using social engineering tactics to trick employees working in the aerospace and military sectors into

Slack Resets Passwords After a Bug Exposed Hashed Passwords for Some Users

Slack said it took the step of resetting passwords for about 0.5% of its users after a flaw exposed salted password hashes when creating or revoking shared invitation links for workspaces. "When a user performed either of these actions, Slack transmitted a hashed version of their password to other workspace members," the enterprise communication and collaboration platform said in an alert on 4th

Experts Uncover New CloudMensis Spyware Targeting Apple macOS Users

Cybersecurity researchers have taken the wraps off a previously undocumented spyware targeting the Apple macOS operating system. The malware, codenamed CloudMensis by Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET, is said to exclusively use public cloud storage services such as pCloud, Yandex Disk, and Dropbox for receiving attacker commands and exfiltrating files. "Its capabilities clearly show that the