Beginning in August 2025, a sophisticated intrusion was discovered where attackers used log poisoning techniques to deploy a web shell on vulnerable phpMyAdmin panels. The threat actors exploited misconfigured web applications to plant China Chopper web shells, controlled via AntSword, before deploying Nezha, an open-source monitoring tool, to facilitate remote command execution. This led to the deployment of Ghost RAT on compromised systems. Analysis revealed over 100 compromised machines, predominantly located in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The attackers demonstrated technical proficiency through multi-stage operations, utilizing AWS and VPS infrastructure, with indicators pointing to China-nexus threat actors. The campaign highlights increasing abuse of legitimate publicly available tools to achieve malicious objectives while maintaining plausible deniability.
Kaspersky uncovered a sophisticated phishing campaign by the APT group Armored Likho, deploying a previously undocumented Python-based infostealer dubbed BusySnake Stealer. The campaign targets government agencies and electric power sectors across Russia, Brazil, and Kazakhstan through spear-phishing emails containing malicious EXE or LNK attachments. BusySnake Stealer features advanced obfuscation using PyArmor Pro, extracts credentials from browsers using DPAPI and NSS libraries, captures screenshots, logs keystrokes, scrapes cryptocurrency wallets and 2FA tokens, and establishes reverse SSH tunnels for remote access. The threat actor leverages AI-generated code for first-stage payloads and distributes components via GitHub repositories. The stealer maintains persistence through scheduled tasks and communicates with C2 infrastructure to receive commands dynamically, representing a significant evolution in the group's technical capabilities.
An ongoing malware campaign is targeting WhatsApp users in multiple countries with deceptive messages that push VBScript files, leading to remote system access. [...]
An active malware campaign has been discovered distributing malicious VBScript files through WhatsApp direct messages since June 2026. The operation affects users across multiple countries, with Malaysia experiencing the highest concentration of victims. Attackers compromise WhatsApp accounts and send weaponized VBS files disguised as business and financial documents to contacts. The multi-stage infection chain ultimately deploys legitimate ManageEngine Endpoint Central RMM software, providing persistent remote access to compromised systems. The scripts employ heavy obfuscation, Chinese-language comments, and modify Windows UAC settings. Infrastructure overlaps with ValleyRAT and Gh0st RAT operations suggest possible Chinese-speaking operators, though attribution remains uncertain. The campaign primarily targets individual users through opportunistic rather than focused methods, exploiting social engineering techniques with localized filenames in multiple languages.
Since late 2025, cybercriminals have been exploiting Wallpaper Engine, a popular live wallpaper application on Steam, to distribute malware through Steam Workshop. Attackers target primarily Chinese and Russian gamers by embedding malicious code within application wallpapers shared on the platform. These compromised wallpapers deliver various malware types including infostealers, backdoors, crypto miners, and ransomware. One analyzed sample dropped DarkKomet backdoor while hijacking Steam sessions to steal account credentials. The malware modifies system libraries to locate Steam installations and exfiltrate data to attacker-controlled servers. Compromised accounts are then used to upload additional malicious wallpapers. The diverse malware families suggest multiple independent hacking groups are exploiting this distribution method. Infected wallpapers received thousands of downloads before removal, with 89% of infections occurring in China.
The Leek Likho group (also known as SkyCloak or Vortex Werewolf) was first described by researchers in 2025, when a series of targeted attacks on public sector organizations in Russia and Belarus became known. This campaign was called Operation SkyCloak. We observed the continuation of its activity during February-April 2026, and also discovered a new technique that attackers use to filter files.
The software developer has identified the impacted systems, removed potentially compromised files, and validated installation packages. The post Vendor Says Daemon Tools Supply Chain Attack Contained appeared first on SecurityWeek .
A sophisticated spear phishing campaign targets professionals in the Eurasian unmanned aviation sector, timed to coincide with the XIII Eurasian International Forum 'Unmanned Aviation 2026' in Moscow. The attack delivers malicious archives containing Rust-based executables disguised as legitimate documents from the Russian Aeronautical Information Center. The malware displays aviation-themed decoy documents in Russian while collecting system information including hostnames, volume serial numbers, network adapter details, and environment variables. Collected data is encrypted via XOR and exfiltrated to a C2 server over HTTPS. The malware subsequently downloads and executes a second-stage payload using AES-256 decryption. The campaign demonstrates targeted social engineering with realistic aviation order documents, translation certificates, and product summaries to compromise victims in Russia, Tajikistan, Central Asia, Middle East and Europe.
The Silver Fox threat group conducted phishing campaigns in December 2025 and January 2026, impersonating tax authorities in India and Russia. Malicious emails contained archives with a modified Rust-based RustSL loader that deployed ValleyRAT backdoor. Over 1600 malicious emails targeted organizations across industrial, consulting, retail, and transportation sectors. During investigation, a previously undocumented Python-based backdoor named ABCDoor was discovered, active since late 2024. The attacks utilized multi-stage infection chains involving encrypted payloads, custom ValleyRAT modules, and various persistence mechanisms including Phantom Persistence technique. ABCDoor features remote control capabilities, screen broadcasting using ffmpeg, and file manipulation functions. The group employed sophisticated evasion techniques including geofencing, string encryption, and mimicking legitimate VPN services.
DinDoor is a Deno-based backdoor delivered via MSI files that exploits the Deno runtime to execute obfuscated JavaScript for command and control communications and system fingerprinting. Two analyzed samples show different execution behaviors: one writes JavaScript to disk while the other executes entirely in memory. Both samples use identical fingerprinting algorithms generating unique victim identifiers. One sample contains an embedded JWT exposing campaign metadata and the domain serialmenot[.]com, identified as multi-tenant infrastructure serving multiple threat actors including state-sponsored groups and cybercriminals. Analysis of HTTP response headers enabled identification of 20 active C2 servers across 15 autonomous systems, many using bulletproof hosting providers. The malicious infrastructure uses Caddy proxy with distinctive headers allowing network-based detection.
The new CrystalX remote access Trojan combines pranks with full control over the victim’s computer. It also spies on its victims, steals their cryptocurrency and accounts, and uses advanced methods to bypass protection. We explain how it works, and how to avoid infection.
Elastic Security Labs identified a supply chain compromise of the axios npm package, one of the most depended-upon packages in the JavaScript ecosystem with approximately 100 million weekly downloads. The attacker compromised a maintainer account and published backdoored versions that delivered a cross-platform Remote Access Trojan to macOS, Windows, and Linux systems through a malicious postinstall hook.
In March 2026, a new MaaS active campaign was discovered promoting previously unknown malware in private Telegram chats. The Trojan features an extensive arsenal of capabilities. On the panel provided to third‑party actors, in addition to the standard features of RAT‑like malware, a stealer, keylogger, clipper, and spyware are also available.
A sophisticated malware campaign targeting WhatsApp users has been observed since February 2026. The attack chain begins with malicious Visual Basic Script files sent via WhatsApp messages, which, when executed, initiate a multi-stage infection process. The malware uses renamed Windows utilities, retrieves payloads from trusted cloud services, and installs malicious MSI packages. The campaign employs social engineering, stealth techniques, and cloud-based payload hosting to establish persistence and escalate privileges on victim systems. The attackers utilize legitimate tools and trusted platforms to reduce visibility and increase the likelihood of successful execution. The final stage involves the delivery of unsigned MSI installers that enable remote access to compromised systems.
GhostSocks is an emerging threat that turns compromised devices into residential proxy nodes, enabling attackers to evade detection. Originally marketed on Russian underground forums as Malware-as-a-Service, it has gained popularity due to its partnership with Lumma Stealer. Written in GoLang, GhostSocks uses SOCKS5 proxy protocol and TLS encryption to blend malicious traffic into normal network activity. It also incorporates backdoor functionality for running arbitrary commands and deploying additional payloads. Darktrace observed an increase in GhostSocks activity, detecting it alongside Lumma Stealer in customer networks. The malware's versatility in converting devices into proxy nodes while enabling covert network access illustrates how threat actors maximize the value of compromised infrastructure.
Licensed malware with built-in persistence and automation enables attackers to continuously siphon credentials, session data, and cryptocurrency assets. The post Venom Stealer Raises Stakes With Continuous Credential Harvesting appeared first on SecurityWeek .
Ransomware is increasingly targeting home backups on NAS, cloud storage, and external drives. Here’s how these attacks work, and how to keep your family photos and documents safe.
Operation DualScript is a sophisticated multi-stage malware campaign targeting cryptocurrency and financial activities. It utilizes Windows Scheduled Tasks, VBScript launchers, and PowerShell execution to maintain persistence while minimizing disk artifacts. The attack operates through two parallel chains: a web-based PowerShell loader deploying a cryptocurrency clipboard hijacker, and a secondary chain executing the RetroRAT implant in memory. RetroRAT monitors user activity, captures keystrokes, and tracks interactions with financial services to harvest sensitive information. The malware employs various anti-analysis techniques and establishes a command-and-control channel for remote access and data exfiltration. This campaign highlights the growing abuse of trusted system utilities and in-memory execution techniques to evade traditional detection mechanisms.
