Security News
Threat analysts have spotted a novel attack attributed to the Iranian hacking group known as APT34 group or Oilrig, who targeted a Jordanian diplomat with custom-crafted tools. The attack involved advanced anti-detection and anti-analysis techniques and had some characteristics that indicate lengthy and careful preparation.
The China-based threat actor known as Mustang Panda has been observed refining and retooling its tactics and malware to strike entities located in Asia, the European Union, Russia, and the U.S. "Mustang Panda is a highly motivated APT group relying primarily on the use of topical lures and social engineering to trick victims into infecting themselves," Cisco Talos said in a new report detailing the group's evolving modus operandi. The group is known to have targeted a wide range of organizations since at least 2012, with the actor primarily relying on email-based social engineering to gain initial access to drop PlugX, a backdoor predominantly deployed for long-term access.
A Chinese state-sponsored espionage group known as Override Panda has resurfaced in recent weeks with a new phishing attack with the goal of stealing sensitive information. "The Chinese APT used a spear-phishing email to deliver a beacon of a Red Team framework known as 'Viper,'" Cluster25 said in a report published last week.
China appears to be entering a raging cyber-espionage battle that's grown in line with Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine, deploying advanced malware on the computer systems of Russian officials. China has tried to play a neutral role since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, with government officials saying they want to see a peaceful resolution.
Trouble is brewing over moves by Taiwan to prevent China from gaining access to its chip technology, as the island nation proposes tougher laws to deter the leaking of trade secrets outside the country. China has reportedly hit back after Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang called this week for a speedier introduction of legislation designed to protect the local semiconductor industry from what it sees as Chinese industrial espionage.
A Chinese state-backed advanced persistent threat group known for singling out Japanese entities has been attributed to a new long-running espionage campaign targeting new geographies, suggesting a "Widening" of the threat actor's targeting. "Victims in this Cicada campaign include government, legal, religious, and non-governmental organizations in multiple countries around the world, including in Europe, Asia, and North America," researchers from the Symantec Threat Hunter Team, part of Broadcom Software, said in a report shared with The Hacker News.
The Daxin malware is taking aim at hardened government networks around the world, according to researchers, with the goal of cyberespionage. "Daxin malware is a highly sophisticated rootkit backdoor with complex, stealthy command-and-control functionality that enabled remote actors to communicate with secured devices not connected directly to the internet," warned CISA, in a Monday alert.
A previously undocumented espionage tool has been deployed against selected governments and other critical infrastructure targets as part of a long-running espionage campaign orchestrated by China-linked threat actors since at least 2013. Broadcom's Symantec Threat Hunter team characterized the backdoor, named Daxin, as a technologically advanced malware, allowing the attackers to carry out a variety of communications and information-gathering operations aimed at entities in the telecom, transportation, and manufacturing sectors that are of strategic interest to China.
The United States' National Security Division will wind up its "China Initiative" - an effort to combat what then-attorney general Jeff Sessions described in 2018 as "Systematic and calculated threats" posed by Beijing-backed economic espionage. "We have heard concerns from the civil rights community that the 'China Initiative' fueled a narrative of intolerance and bias," Olsen stated in a speech delivered at the National Security Institute and George Mason University.
The politically motivated Moses Staff hacker group has been observed using a custom multi-component toolset with the goal of carrying out espionage against its targets as part of a new campaign that exclusively singles out Israeli organizations. First publicly documented in late 2021, Moses Staff is believed to be sponsored by the Iranian government, with attacks reported against entities in Israel, Italy, India, Germany, Chile, Turkey, the U.A.E., and the U.S. Earlier this month, the hacker collective was observed incorporating a previously undocumented remote access trojan called "StrifeWater" that masquerades as the Windows Calculator app to evade detection.