SEO Poisoning Attack Hits Windows Users With Hiddengh0st and Winos Malware
Source: https://hackread.com/seo-poisoning-attack-windows-hiddengh0st-winos-malware/
Yurei, a newly emerged ransomware group, targeted a Sri Lankan food manufacturing company on September 5, 2025. The group employs a double-extortion model, encrypting files and exfiltrating sensitive data. Check Point Research discovered that Yurei's ransomware is based on the open-source Prince-Ransomware, with minor modifications. The ransomware, written in Go, contains a flaw allowing partial recovery through Shadow Copies. Since its first victim, Yurei has quickly expanded to three victims across Sri Lanka, India, and Nigeria. The investigation suggests the threat actor may originate from Morocco. Yurei's operation demonstrates how open-source malware lowers the entry barrier for cybercriminals, enabling less-skilled actors to launch ransomware attacks.
This analysis delves into the HijackLoader malware campaign, which has gained prominence since 2023 for its sophisticated payload delivery and evasion techniques. The campaign initiates with a CAPTCHA-based phishing attack, progressing through multiple stages of obfuscated PowerShell scripts. It employs advanced anti-analysis methods, including anti-VM checks and registry manipulation. The final payload, typically an infostealer like NekoStealer or Lumma, is delivered via a multi-stage process involving packed .NET executables and protected DLLs. The loader's evolution and its role in the broader malware-as-a-service ecosystem underscore the need for organizations to focus on detecting initial access and intermediate stages rather than just final payloads.
Key Points Yurei Ransomware Check Point Research discovered a new ransomware group on September 5. The group calls themselves Yurei (a sort of spirit in Japanese folklore), and initially listed one victim, a Sri Lankan food manufacturing company, on their darknet blog. These blogs are used by ransomware groups to list their victims, show proofs […] The post Yurei & The Ghost of Open Source Ransomware appeared first on Check Point Research .
U.S. CISA adds Dassault Systèmes DELMIA Apriso flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Source: https://securityaffairs.com/182120/hacking/u-s-cisa-adds-dassault-systemes-delmia-apriso-flaw-to-its-known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog.html
The CyberVolk ransomware, emerging in May 2024, targets public institutions and key infrastructures of anti-Russian countries. It uses a double encryption structure with AES-256 GCM and ChaCha20-Poly1305 algorithms. The ransomware excludes certain files and directories from encryption and uses a symmetric key generated before the main function starts. A unique nonce is generated for each file encryption, but it's not stored, making decryption impossible. The ransomware includes a disguised decryption logic that fails due to an incorrect nonce value. This pro-Russian group communicates via Telegram and has claimed attacks on major facilities in Japan, France, and the UK.
In 2025, a significant surge in phishing attacks targeting major U.S.energy companies was observed. The campaign primarily focused on Chevron, ConocoPhillips, PBF Energy, and Phillips 66, utilizing sophisticated impersonation techniques. Attackers employed HTTrack-based cloning to replicate legitimate websites, creating over 1,465 phishing domains. The infrastructure was distributed across multiple hosting providers and countries to evade takedowns. Notably, Chevron faced the highest volume of impersonation attempts with 158 fake domains. The phishing sites combined credential harvesting with investment scam frameworks, enhancing their profitability. Many malicious domains showed low detection rates across security vendors, exposing gaps in current defense systems. The analysis highlights the need for improved threat intelligence integration and faster mitigation strategies in the energy sector.
In mid-2025, China-aligned threat actor Hive0154 deployed new malware variants, including an updated Toneshell backdoor and a novel USB worm called SnakeDisk. Toneshell9 evades detection and supports C2 communication through local proxies. SnakeDisk only executes on devices in Thailand, propagating via USB drives and dropping the Yokai backdoor. The malware shows code overlaps with previous Tonedisk variants. Hive0154 continues to refine its large malware arsenal, targeting organizations worldwide with frequent development cycles. The group uses multiple custom loaders, backdoors, and USB worm families, showcasing advanced capabilities. Defenders should monitor for suspicious network activity, USB drives with hidden components, and implement recommended security measures to mitigate risks from this evolving threat.
Bulletproof Host Stark Industries Evades EU Sanctions
Source: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/09/bulletproof-host-stark-industries-evades-eu-sanctions/
A sophisticated malware campaign has been uncovered that utilizes various techniques to deliver Remote Access Trojans (RATs) such as XWorm and Remcos. The attack chain begins with a ZIP archive, often hosted on trusted platforms like ImgKit, containing obfuscated BAT scripts. These scripts execute PowerShell-based loaders that inject RAT payloads directly into memory, enabling fileless execution. The campaign also employs SVG files with embedded JavaScript to trigger the malware download, exploiting non-traditional file formats to evade detection. The infection process involves multiple stages, including persistence mechanisms, PowerShell script execution, and the use of loaders to decrypt and deploy the final payload. This evolving threat landscape highlights the need for advanced security measures to counter such sophisticated attacks.
With the recent npm/Node.js supply chain incident (phished maintainer, 18 packages briefly shipping crypto-stealing code), I wanted to share a small project:
**Typo squat Detective,** a 2-3 minute browser game to practice spotting look-alike domains.
It covers:
• Numbers ↔ letters (1 ↔ l, 0 ↔ o)
• Unicode homoglyphs (Cyrillic/Greek lookalikes)
• Punycode (`xn--`) tricks
Play it here: [https://typo.himanshuanand.com/](https://typo.himanshuanand.com/)
Curious to hear which tricks fooled you and if you would like more levels/brands.
*Today, we have intuitively adapted to Quick Response (QR) codes in the tapestry of our day-to-day life.*
Whether we are scanning the menu at a restaurant or checking in to our flight, they have seamlessly integrated into the consumption of products and information.
Yet, with its widespread adoption, it has also acquired an accompanying security challenge. Bad actors have capitalized on QR codes to perpetrate phishing attacks, deliver malware, and exfiltrate data without the user’s knowledge.
Oftentimes, this is caught after the attack occurs. This is why you should [use a safe online QR code scanner](https://www.qrstuff.com/scan) that authenticates the link before you click on it is so critical.
A Chinese APT group compromised a Philippine military company using a new, fileless malware framework called EggStreme. This sophisticated multi-stage toolset achieves persistent, low-profile espionage by injecting malicious code directly into memory and leveraging DLL sideloading. The core component, EggStremeAgent, is a full-featured backdoor enabling extensive system reconnaissance, lateral movement, and data theft via an injected keylogger. The attack begins with EggStremeFuel deploying EggStremeLoader to set up a persistent service, which then executes EggStremeReflectiveLoader to launch EggStremeAgent. The framework's fileless nature and use of legitimate Windows processes make it difficult to detect, posing a significant and persistent threat.
A malware campaign targeting Chinese-speaking users has been identified, delivering three types of malware: ValleyRAT, FatalRAT, and kkRAT. The campaign uses fake installer pages to distribute the malware.kkRAT, a new Remote Access Trojan, shares similarities with Ghost RAT and Big Bad Wolf. It employs advanced evasion techniques, including sandbox detection and anti-analysis methods. The malware uses the BYOVD technique to disable antivirus and EDR systems.kkRAT's features include clipboard manipulation for cryptocurrency address replacement and deployment of remote monitoring tools. The malware's network communication protocol is similar to Ghost RAT's but with added encryption.kkRAT supports multiple plugins and commands for various malicious activities.
