Threats Affecting India

A thriving gray market has emerged offering discounted access to AI models through fraudulent account registrations that exploit free trials and startup credits. Services like Poison Claude and Ecomagent offer 70-90% discounts by creating fake accounts on platforms such as AWS Bedrock and Google Cloud, then reselling access through custom API endpoints. The demand is driven by cost considerations, access restrictions in regions like China, and desire for anonymity. Fraudulent registration campaigns targeting AI video services show over 105,000 brute-force signup attempts using bots, VPNs, and disposable email domains. The operations leverage residential proxies to evade detection and accept cryptocurrency payments. These services operate through sophisticated AI gateways and are advertised on underground forums and messaging platforms, particularly in Chinese-language markets, representing a significant platform abuse challenge for AI service providers.

MediumCampaignBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryChinaIndia+3#startup credits#token reselling#platform abuse

A sophisticated traffic distribution system has been operating for over 14 months, using more than 12,700 structurally similar fake CAPTCHA PDFs hosted on Webflow's CDN. The operation begins with search engine optimization, where victims searching for legitimate content encounter malicious PDFs through Google searches. These documents contain fake CAPTCHA panels that route users through a custom Elixir/Phoenix traffic distribution system employing IP filtering, bot detection, and geographic targeting. The infrastructure sorts visitors and redirects qualifying traffic to three distinct endpoints: Legion Loader distribution, a TDS reseller gate, and premium-SMS subscription scams targeting Spanish-speaking users. Non-qualifying traffic is monetized through search-arbitrage advertising. The operation primarily targets English-speaking countries and has recently been surfaced by AI assistants including Google Gemini and Claude, expanding its reach beyond traditional search engines.

MediumMalwareUnited StatesAustraliaBritish Indian Ocean Territory+2#search engine poisoning#ai assistant exposure#webflow cdn abuse

A sophisticated malware campaign is targeting Indian taxpayers during filing season by impersonating the Income Tax Department. Attackers distribute fake penalty notices via WhatsApp from unknown or compromised accounts, using forged Office Memorandums citing legitimate tax law sections and creating 72-hour deadlines to induce panic. The campaign delivers ITD.zip files containing malicious Android APKs and Windows executables that harvest OTPs, banking credentials, and enable remote access. The infrastructure relies on disposable domains using cheap TLDs and Alibaba Cloud storage for payload delivery. This activity is part of a broader ecosystem including refund SMS fraud, cloned e-Filing portals, and fake e-PAN emails. The operation demonstrates resource and planning through bilingual content, payload rotation to evade detection, and abuse of legitimate code-signing certificates.

MediumCampaignBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryIndia#phishing#india#tax season

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Hugging Face PyTorch Image Models. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The ZDI has assigned a CVSS rating of 7.8. The following CVEs are assigned: CVE-2026-15679.

HighVulnerabilityUnited StatesChinaGermany+7#remote#rce

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GIMP. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The ZDI has assigned a CVSS rating of 7.8. The following CVEs are assigned: CVE-2026-18300.

HighVulnerabilityUnited StatesGermanyFrance+10#remote#rce

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GIMP. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The ZDI has assigned a CVSS rating of 7.8. The following CVEs are assigned: CVE-2026-18302.

HighVulnerabilityUnited StatesGermanyFrance+10#remote#rce

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GIMP. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The ZDI has assigned a CVSS rating of 7.8. The following CVEs are assigned: CVE-2026-18303.

HighVulnerabilityUnited StatesGermanyFrance+10#remote#rce

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GIMP. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The ZDI has assigned a CVSS rating of 7.8. The following CVEs are assigned: CVE-2026-18304.

HighVulnerabilityUnited StatesGermanyFrance+10#remote#rce

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GIMP. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The ZDI has assigned a CVSS rating of 7.8. The following CVEs are assigned: CVE-2026-18305.

HighVulnerabilityUnited StatesGermanyFrance+8#remote#rce

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GIMP. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The ZDI has assigned a CVSS rating of 7.8. The following CVEs are assigned: CVE-2026-18306.

HighVulnerabilityUnited StatesGermanyFrance+8#remote#rce