Security News

According to Google's Threat Analysis Group, more than a dozen nation-state-backed APTs are using the COVID-19 pandemic as a cover for their various cyberespionage and malware activities. The email had an embedded tracking link, which Mandiant researchers said contained the victim's email address and a code to report back to the actors if the email was opened.

Five related APT groups operating in the interest of the Chinese government have systematically targeted Linux servers, Windows systems and mobile devices running Android while remaining undetected for nearly a decade, according to BlackBerry. Linux runs nearly all of the top 1 million websites online, 75% of all web servers, 98% of the world's supercomputers and 75% of major cloud service providers.

A recently discovered, mass-targeted watering-hole campaign has been aiming at Apple iPhone users in Hong Kong - infecting website visitors with a newly developed custom surveillance malware. Despite the deep level of surveillance afforded by the malware, researchers said that the campaign doesn't appear to be a targeted effort, apart from focusing on Hong Kong residents.

An advanced persistent threat group is leveraging the coronavirus pandemic to infect victims with a previously unknown malware, in a recently discovered campaign that researchers call "Vicious Panda." Researchers identified two suspicious Rich Text Format files targeting the Mongolian public sector.

Even a long-standing China-based APT has begun to use the threat in a new spear-phishing campaign. Researchers from Check Point Research have found a spear-phishing campaign targeting the Mongolian public sector and apparently emanating from China.

Multiple threat groups are actively exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange servers, researchers warn. After Microsoft patched the flaw in February researchers with the Zero Day Initiative, which first reported the vulnerability, published further details of the flaw and how it could be exploited.

Multiple threat groups are actively exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange servers, researchers warn. After Microsoft patched the flaw in February researchers with the Zero Day Initiative, which first reported the vulnerability, published further details of the flaw and how it could be exploited.

Researchers have attributed the campaign to a known Iranian advanced persistence threat group. As part of the campaign, researchers observed multiple emails using malicious attachments to gain initial access.

According to the analysis, Fox Kitten's objective has been to develop and maintain access routes to the targeted organizations, establishing persistent footholds within them; stealing information; and pivoting from within to additional targets via supply-chain attacks. The APT34 connection stems from the fact that part of the attack infrastructure used by the group in previous campaigns has been reused for Fox Kitten.

Now, security firm ClearSky says that at least three advanced persistent threat groups, all with apparent ties to the Iranian government, have been joining the fray and hitting unpatched Fortinet, Pulse Secure and Palo Alto Networks VPN servers and Citrix remote gateways. Specific flaws needing to be patched include CVE-2019-11510 in Pulse Secure's VPN SSL servers, CVE-2018-13379 in Fortigate's SSL VPN servers, and CVE-2019-1579 in Palo Alto Network VPN servers, all of which ClearSky says Fox Kitten is now exploiting.