Espionage
Google: Brickstorm malware used to steal U.S. orgs’ data for over a year
Suspected Chinese hackers have used the Brickstorm malware in long-term persistence espionage operations against U.S. organizations in the technology and legal sectors. Brickstorm is a Go-based backdoor documented by Google in April 2024 following China-related intrusions that spawned from various edge devices and remained undetected in the victim environment for more than a year, on average. The […]
XenoRAT malware campaign hits multiple embassies in South Korea
A state-sponsored espionage campaign is targeting foreign embassies in South Korea to deploy XenoRAT malware from malicious GitHub repositories. According to Trellix researchers, the campaign has been running since March and is ongoing, having launched at least 19 spearphishing attacks against high-value targets. Although infrastructure and techniques match the pllaybook of North Korean actor Kimsuky (APT43), there are signs that better […]
Curly COMrades cyberspies hit govt orgs with custom malware
A new cyber-espionage threat group has been using a new backdoor malware that provides persistent access through a seemingly inactive scheduled task. The threat actor’s operations appear to support Russian interests by targeting government and judicial bodies in Georgia, and energy firms in Moldova. The attacker is currently tracked as Curly COMrades and has been active since […]
‘Batavia’ Windows spyware campaign targets dozens of Russian orgs
A previously undocumented spyware called ‘Batavia’ has been targeting large industrial enterprises in Russia in a phishing email campaign that uses contract-related lures. The researchers believe the operation has been active since at least last year in July and is ongoing. Based on telemetry data, the phishing emails delivering Batavia have reached employees at several […]
Canada says Salt Typhoon hacked telecom firm via Cisco flaw
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the FBI confirm that the Chinese state-sponsored ‘Salt Typhoon’ hacking group is also targeting Canadian telecommunication firms, breaching a telecom provider in February. During the February 2025 incident, Salt Typhoon exploited the CVE-2023-20198 flaw, a critical Cisco IOS XE vulnerability allowing remote, unauthenticated attackers to create arbitrary accounts and gain admin-level privileges. The flaw […]
Washington Post’s email system hacked, journalists’ accounts compromised
Email accounts of several Washington Post journalists were compromised in a cyberattack believed to have been carried out by a foreign government. The incident was discovered on Thursday evening and the publication started an investigation. On Sunday, June 15, an internal memo was sent to employees, informing them of a “possible targeted unauthorized intrusion into their […]
Hackers exploited Windows WebDav zero-day to drop malware
An APT hacking group known as ‘Stealth Falcon’ exploited a Windows WebDav RCE vulnerability in zero-day attacks since March 2025 against defense and government organizations in Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, and Yemen. Stealth Falcon (aka ‘FruityArmor’) is an advanced persistent threat (APT) group known for conducting cyberespionage attacks against Middle East organizations. The flaw, tracked under CVE-2025-33053, […]
Government webmail hacked via XSS bugs in global spy campaign
Hackers are running a worldwide cyberespionage campaign dubbed ‘RoundPress,’ leveraging zero-day and n-day flaws in webmail servers to steal email from high-value government organizations. ESET researchers who uncovered the operation attribute it with medium confidence to the Russian state-sponsored hackers APT28 (aka “Fancy Bear” or “Sednit”). The campaign started in 2023 and continued with the adoption of new exploits […]
North Korea ramps up cyberspying in Ukraine to assess war risk
The state-backed North Korean threat group Konni (Opal Sleet, TA406) was observed targeting Ukrainian government entities in intelligence collection operations. The attackers use phishing emails that impersonate think tanks, referencing important political events or military developments to lure their targets. Proofpoint researchers who discovered the activity in February 2025 suggest that it’s likely an effort […]
Midnight Blizzard deploys new GrapeLoader malware in embassy phishing
Russian state-sponsored espionage group Midnight Blizzard is behind a new spear-phishing campaign targeting diplomatic entities in Europe, including embassies. Midnight Blizzard, aka ‘Cozy Bear’ or ‘APT29,’ is a state-sponsored cyberespionage group linked to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). According to Check Point Research, the new campaign introduces a previously unseen malware loader called ‘GrapeLoader,’ and a […]