Security News

A North Korean espionage group tracked as UNC2970 has been observed employing previously undocumented malware families as part of a spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. and European media and technology organizations since June 2022. UNC2970 is the new moniker designated by the threat intelligence firm to a set of North Korean cyber activity that maps to UNC577, and which also comprises another nascent threat cluster tracked as UNC4034.

Here's a piece of Chinese malware that infects SonicWall security appliances and survives firmware updates. On Thursday, security firm Mandiant published a report that said threat actors with a suspected nexus to China were engaged in a campaign to maintain long-term persistence by running malware on unpatched SonicWall SMA appliances.

An international law enforcement operation involving the FBI and police agencies worldwide led to the arrest of the suspected administrator of the NetWire remote access trojan and the seizure of the service's web domain and hosting server. Since at least 2014, NetWire has been a tool of choice in various malicious activities, including phishing attacks, BEC campaigns, and to breach corporate networks.

A suspected Chinese hacking campaign has been targeting unpatched SonicWall Secure Mobile Access appliances to install custom malware that establishes long-term persistence for cyber espionage campaigns.The deployed malware is customized for SonicWall devices and is used to steal user credentials, provide shell access to the attackers, and even persist through firmware upgrades.

Security vulnerabilities in remote desktop programs such as Sunlogin and AweSun are being exploited by threat actors to deploy the PlugX malware. AhnLab Security Emergency Response Center, in a new analysis, said it marks the continued abuse of the flaws to deliver a variety of payloads on compromised systems.

Researchers have discovered malware that "Can hijack a computer's boot process even when Secure Boot and other advanced protections are enabled and running on fully updated versions of Windows." Dubbed BlackLotus, the malware is what's known as a UEFI bootkit.

The Sharp Panda cyber-espionage hacking group is targeting high-profile government entities in Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia with a new version of the 'Soul' malware framework. Check Point identified a new campaign using the malware that started in late 2022 and continues through 2023, employing spear-phishing attacks for initial compromise.

The Emotet malware operation is again spamming malicious emails as of Tuesday morning after a three-month break, rebuilding its network and infecting devices worldwide. Emotet is a notorious malware distributed through email containing malicious Microsoft Word and Excel document attachments.

A new phishing campaign targets organizations in Eastern European countries with the Remcos RAT malware with aid from an old Windows User Account Control bypass discovered over two years ago. The use of mock trusted directories to bypass Windows User Account Control stands out in the attack as it's been known since 2020 but remains effective today.

The Sandbox blockchain game is warnings its community that a security incident caused some users to receive fraudulent emails impersonating the game, trying to infect them with malware. The Sandbox is a blockchain-based open-world multiplayer game with over 350,000 active monthly users, offering them ways to build, own, and monetize interactive content like virtual worlds, items, and experiences.