A new Astaroth banking trojan campaign has been discovered abusing GitHub to host malware configurations. The infection begins with a phishing email containing a link to download a zipped Windows shortcut file, which installs the Astaroth malware. The trojan detects when users access banking or cryptocurrency websites and steals credentials through keylogging. It sends stolen information to attackers using Ngrok reverse proxy and uses GitHub to update its configuration when command and control servers become inaccessible. The malware primarily targets South American countries, with a focus on Brazil. Astaroth employs various anti-analysis techniques and targets specific banking and cryptocurrency-related sites. The GitHub repositories hosting the malicious configurations have been reported and taken down.
A sophisticated phishing campaign targets Colombian users by impersonating the Attorney General's Office with judicial notification lures. The attack uses a multi-stage infection chain starting with a malicious . SVG file attachment that triggers HTA, VBS, and PowerShell scripts, ultimately injecting the AsyncRAT malware into MSBuild.exe. AsyncRAT establishes command and control (C2) communications, steals data, and can dynamically load plugins. The campaign employs anti-virtual machine (VM) techniques, persistence mechanisms, and heavy obfuscation to evade detection. Although primarily focused on Colombia, the advanced tactics and malware capabilities pose risks to any organization exposed to similar phishing vectors. The threat demonstrates extensive use of MITRE ATT&CK techniques, including execution, persistence, defense evasion, credential access, and command and control. No known exploits or CVEs are associated, and the severity is assessed as medium based on current information.
Insikt Group has identified five distinct activity clusters linked to TAG-144 (Blind Eagle), targeting primarily Colombian government entities across local, municipal, and federal levels throughout 2024 and 2025. The clusters share similar tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) such as using open-source and cracked remote access trojans (RATs), dynamic domain providers, and legitimate internet services (LIS) for staging. However, they differ in infrastructure, malware deployment, and operational methods. The group maintains an extensive operational infrastructure, employs various RATs, and uses multi-stage infection chains. TAG-144's primary focus appears to be credential theft and espionage, with evidence linking it to Red Akodon and compromised Colombian government email accounts used in spearphishing campaigns.
Blind Eagle Uses Proton66 Hosting for Phishing, RAT Deployment on Colombian Banks
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2025/06/blind-eagle-uses-proton66-hosting-for.html
Hive0131 is conducting email campaigns targeting users in Colombia with fake electronic notifications of criminal proceedings, purportedly from The Judiciary of Colombia. The campaigns deliver DCRat, a banking trojan operated as Malware-as-a-Service, through embedded links or PDF lures. DCRat's presence has increased in Latin America since 2024. The infection chain involves downloading a loader called VMDetectLoader, which uses process hollowing to inject DCRat into memory. VMDetectLoader can detect virtual machines and create persistence through scheduled tasks or registry keys. DCRat has various capabilities including recording victims, file manipulation, and keystroke logging. IBM X-Force assesses that Latin America will continue facing targeting from actors deploying banking trojans via phishing campaigns.
A malicious campaign targeting primarily Brazilian residents has been discovered, with attacks detected since early 2025. The attackers employed phishing emails, some sent from compromised company servers, to distribute malware. Two attack chains were identified: one using a malicious browser extension for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Brave, and another utilizing Mesh Agent or PDQ Connect Agent. The campaign aimed to steal authentication data from victims' bank accounts, particularly targeting Banco do Brasil customers. Over 700 downloads of the malicious extension were recorded, affecting users in Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, Mexico, Russia, Vietnam, and other countries. The attackers used sophisticated techniques, including virtualization checks, UAC bypass, and file deletion to evade detection.
