All news in category "Incidents and Data Breaches"

HttpTroy Backdoor Poses as VPN Invoice in Kimsuky Attack

🔒 Security researchers at Gen Digital disclosed a targeted Kimsuky campaign that delivered a previously undocumented backdoor called HttpTroy, hidden inside a ZIP attachment masquerading as a VPN invoice. The multi-stage chain used a Golang dropper, a loader dubbed MemLoad and a DLL backdoor executed via a scheduled task named "AhnlabUpdate" to achieve persistence. HttpTroy provides extensive remote-control capabilities and communicates with a C2 server over HTTP, while employing layered obfuscation to hinder analysis and detection.

Conti Suspect Appears in US Court After Extradition

🔒 A Ukrainian national extradited from Ireland has appeared in a US court, accused of conspiring to deploy Conti ransomware and manage stolen data and ransom notes. Authorities allege Oleksii Lytvynenko participated in attacks between 2020 and July 2022 that resulted in more than $500,000 in cryptocurrency extorted from victims in the Tennessee district and the publication of additional stolen data. He faces computer fraud and wire fraud conspiracy charges and could receive up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Pennsylvania: Hacker Claims 1.2M Donor Records Breach

🔐 A threat actor claims to have compromised University of Pennsylvania systems and exfiltrated data for roughly 1.2 million students, alumni, and donors, including names, dates of birth, contact details, estimated net worth, donation histories, and sensitive demographic data. The attacker said they gained access via a compromised PennKey SSO account and accessed VPN, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Qlik, SAP, SharePoint, and Box. After access was revoked on October 31 the actor used Marketing Cloud to send offensive emails to about 700,000 recipients and published a 1.7-GB archive of files. Penn says it is investigating; donors should watch for targeted phishing and verify solicitations directly with the university.

Alleged Jabber Zeus Coder 'MrICQ' Extradited to U.S.

🔒 A Ukrainian man long accused of building and operating components of the Jabber Zeus banking trojan has been arrested in Italy and is now in U.S. custody. Prosecutors say 41-year-old Yuriy Igorevich Rybtsov, previously identified only by the handle MrICQ, was charged in a 2012 Nebraska indictment as a developer and notification handler for the group. Investigators allege Jabber Zeus used a custom ZeuS variant and a Leprechaun component to intercept credentials and bypass multi-factor protections, enabling large payroll thefts via recruited money mules.

Open VSX Rotates Leaked Tokens After Supply-Chain Attack

🔒 Open VSX rotated access tokens after developers accidentally leaked credentials in public repositories, a lapse that allowed attackers to publish malicious VS Code–compatible extensions in a supply‑chain campaign. The Eclipse Foundation says the threat, linked to a campaign dubbed GlassWorm, was contained by Oct 21 after malicious extensions were removed and tokens revoked. The registry plans shorter token lifetimes, faster revocation workflows, automated publication scans, and increased collaboration with other marketplaces to reduce future risk.

China-Linked 'Bronze Butler' Exploits Lanscope Zero-Day

🔒 Sophos researchers discovered China-linked espionage group Bronze Butler exploiting a zero-day in Motex Lanscope Endpoint Manager (CVE-2025-61932) to deploy an updated Gokcpdoor backdoor. The flaw enabled unauthenticated remote code execution as SYSTEM on affected versions (<=9.4.7.2), and attackers used OAED Loader, DLL sideloading, and multiplexed C2 channels to evade detection. Motex released patches on October 20, 2025, and CISA added the vulnerability to its KEV list; organizations are advised to upgrade immediately since no mitigations exist.

Chinese Hackers Exploit Hard-to-Patch Windows Shortcut Flaw

🛡️Arctic Wolf reports that Chinese government-linked actors, tracked as UNC6384 and linked to the longer-running Mustang Panda cluster, conducted spear-phishing campaigns in September and October targeting diplomats in Hungary, Belgium, Serbia, Italy and the Netherlands by abusing a long-known Windows .LNK shortcut parsing flaw. The vulnerability allows command-line instructions to be concealed in .LNK whitespace so attackers can display decoy PDFs—such as an agenda for a European Commission meeting—while executing payloads that deploy the PlugX remote-access Trojan. Trend Micro and ZDI previously documented the issue (i.e., ZDI-CAN-25373, later CVE-2025-9491), but Microsoft has so far declined to fully patch it; Arctic Wolf advises blocking or disabling .LNK execution, monitoring for related binaries like cnmpaui.exe, and blocking C2 domains as interim mitigations.

Offensive 'We got hacked' emails sent from Penn addresses

📧 The University of Pennsylvania distributed a series of offensive emails to students and alumni claiming data was stolen in a breach and urging action. The messages, with the subject line "We got hacked (Action Required)", were sent from multiple Penn addresses, including the Graduate School of Education, via the connect.upenn.edu mailing-list platform hosted on Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Penn's Office of Information Security said the messages are fraudulent, its Incident Response team is investigating, and the university has placed a website banner advising recipients to disregard or delete the emails.

Nation-State Airstalk Malware Uses AirWatch via API

🛡️ Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 linked a suspected nation-state cluster (CL-STA-1009) to a new backdoor named Airstalk that abuses the AirWatch API (now Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management) as a covert command-and-control channel. The malware appears in PowerShell and more capable .NET variants and can capture screenshots, harvest browser cookies, history and bookmarks, and enumerate user files. Airstalk misuses MDM custom attributes as a dead-drop resolver and leverages the API blobs feature to exfiltrate large artifacts; some .NET samples were signed with a likely stolen certificate.

Australia warns of BadCandy infections on Cisco devices

⚠️ The Australian Signals Directorate warns of ongoing attacks against unpatched Cisco IOS XE devices being backdoored with the Lua-based BadCandy webshell. The exploited flaw, CVE-2023-20198, allows unauthenticated actors to create local admin accounts via the web UI and execute commands with root privileges. Cisco issued a patch in October 2023, but many internet-exposed devices remain vulnerable and have been repeatedly re-infected.

Conduent Breach Exposes Data of Over 10.5 Million People

🔒 Conduent has confirmed a breach affecting more than 10.5 million individuals, with customer notices sent in October 2025 after the incident was discovered on 13 January 2025. Unauthorized access reportedly began on 21 October 2024 and persisted for nearly three months. The criminal group SafePay claimed responsibility and said it exfiltrated large volumes of data, potentially including names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and medical and insurance information.

China-Linked UNC6384 Exploits Windows LNK Vulnerability

🔒 A China-affiliated group tracked as UNC6384 exploited an unpatched Windows shortcut flaw (ZDI-CAN-25373, CVE-2025-9491) to target diplomatic and government entities in Europe between September and October 2025. According to Arctic Wolf, the campaign used spear-phishing links to deliver malicious LNK files that launch a PowerShell stager, sideload a CanonStager DLL, and deploy the PlugX remote access trojan. Microsoft says Defender detections and Smart App Control can help block this activity.

Russian Police Arrest Suspected Meduza Stealer Operators

🔒 Russian authorities have arrested three individuals in Moscow accused of creating and operating the Meduza information‑stealing malware. Announced on Telegram by police general Irina Volk, investigators say the group developed and distributed Meduza via hacker forums around two years ago and offered it as a subscription-based service. The tool steals browser-stored credentials and cryptocurrency data and, since December 2023, can resurrect expired Chrome authentication cookies to facilitate account takeover. Authorities opened a criminal case after operators targeted an Astrakhan institution and seized confidential server data.

China-linked Tick exploits Lanscope flaw to deploy backdoor

⚠️ Sophos and JPCERT/CC have linked active exploitation of a critical Motex Lanscope Endpoint Manager vulnerability (CVE-2025-61932, CVSS 9.3) to the China-aligned Tick group. Attackers leveraged the flaw to execute SYSTEM-level commands and drop a Gokcpdoor backdoor, observed in both server and client variants that create covert C2 channels. The campaign used DLL side-loading to run an OAED Loader, deployed the Havoc post-exploitation framework on select hosts, and used tools like goddi and tunneled Remote Desktop for lateral movement. Organizations are advised to upgrade or isolate internet-facing LANSCOPE servers and review deployments of the MR and DA agents.

Chinese-Linked Hackers Exploit Windows Shortcut Flaw

🔎 Researchers at Arctic Wolf Labs uncovered a September–October 2025 cyber-espionage campaign that used a Windows shortcut vulnerability to target Belgian and Hungarian diplomatic entities. The operation, attributed to UNC6384 and likely tied to Mustang Panda (TEMP.Hex), combined spear phishing with malicious .LNK files exploiting ZDI-CAN-25373 and deployed a multi-stage chain ending in the PlugX RAT. Attackers used DLL side-loading, signed Canon utilities and obfuscated PowerShell to extract and execute an encrypted payload while displaying decoy diplomatic PDFs.

Chinese Hackers Exploit Windows LNK Zero-Day to Spy

🔒 A China-linked threat group is exploiting a high-severity Windows .LNK zero-day (CVE-2025-9491) to deploy the PlugX remote-access trojan against European diplomatic targets. The campaign begins with spearphishing that delivers malicious shortcut files themed around NATO and European Commission events. Researchers at Arctic Wolf Labs and StrikeReady attribute the activity to UNC6384 (Mustang Panda) and report the operation has expanded beyond Hungary and Belgium to other EU states. With no official patch available, defenders are urged to restrict .LNK usage and block identified C2 infrastructure.

Ukrainian Extradited from Ireland on Conti Ransomware Charges

🔒 A 43-year-old Ukrainian national, Oleksii Lytvynenko, has been extradited from Ireland to the United States on charges tied to the Conti ransomware operation. U.S. authorities allege he controlled stolen data and participated in sending ransom notes during double-extortion attacks between 2020 and June 2022. Arrested by An Garda Síochána in July 2023, Lytvynenko could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors say the conspiracy extorted cryptocurrency and targeted victims across multiple jurisdictions.

Eclipse Foundation Revokes Leaked Open VSX Tokens Promptly

🔒 The Eclipse Foundation said it revoked a small number of Open VSX access tokens after Wiz reported several VS Code extensions had inadvertently exposed credentials in public repositories. The exposures were attributed to developer error, not an Open VSX infrastructure compromise. Open VSX introduced an ovsxp_ token prefix, removed flagged extensions, reduced default token lifetimes, and plans automated scans to bolster supply‑chain defenses.

Malicious npm Packages Use Invisible URL Dependencies

🔍 Researchers at Koi Security uncovered a campaign, PhantomRaven, that has contaminated 126 packages in Microsoft's npm repository by embedding invisible HTTP URL dependencies. These remote links are not fetched or analyzed by typical dependency scanners or npmjs.com, making packages appear to have 0 Dependencies while fetching malicious code at install time. The attackers aim to exfiltrate developer credentials and environment details, and they also exploit AI hallucinations to create plausible package names.

Nation-state Hackers Breach Ribbon Communications' Network

🔒 In a filing with the SEC, Ribbon Communications disclosed that unauthorized actors, reportedly tied to a nation-state, had access to its IT network, with initial intrusion activity traced as far back as December 2024. The company detected the breach in September 2025, has worked to terminate access, and is collaborating with third-party cybersecurity experts and federal law enforcement. Ribbon says it has not yet found evidence of material corporate data theft, although attackers accessed customer files on two laptops outside the main network.