All news in category "Incidents and Data Breaches"

Agenda (Qilin) weaponizes Linux binaries against Windows

🛡️ Trend Micro reports that the Agenda (Qilin) ransomware group is running a Linux-based encryptor on Windows hosts to evade Windows-only detections. The actors abused legitimate RMM and file-transfer tools — including ScreenConnect, Splashtop, Veeam, and ATERA — to maintain persistence, move laterally, and execute payloads. They combined social engineering, credential theft, SOCKS proxy injection, and BYOVD driver tampering to disable EDR and compromise backups, impacting more than 700 victims since January 2025.

Qilin Ransomware Employs Linux Payloads and BYOVD Tactics

🔒 Qilin (aka Agenda, Gold Feather, Water Galura) has sharply increased operations in 2025, claiming dozens of victims monthly and peaking at 100 leak-site postings in June. Cisco Talos and Trend Micro analyses show affiliates gain initial access via leaked admin credentials, VPN interfaces and RDP, then harvest credentials with tools like Mimikatz and SharpDecryptPwd. Attackers combine legitimate remote-management software (for example AnyDesk, ScreenConnect, Splashtop) with a BYOVD vulnerable driver to disable defenses, exfiltrate data, and deploy a Linux ransomware binary on Windows systems before encrypting files and removing backups.

CoPhish: Microsoft Copilot Studio Agents Steal OAuth Tokens

🔐 Datadog Security Labs has described a new phishing technique called CoPhish that abuses Copilot Studio agents to present fraudulent OAuth consent requests on legitimate Microsoft-hosted demo pages. Attackers can configure an agent’s Login topic to deliver a malicious sign-in button that redirects to a hostile application and exfiltrates session tokens. Microsoft confirmed it will address the underlying causes in a future update and recommends governance and consent hardening to reduce exposure.

Phishing Campaign Targets LastPass Users with 'Death' Lure

⚠️ LastPass customers are being targeted by a phishing campaign that falsely notifies recipients that a family member uploaded a death certificate to request legacy access. Messages spoof the LastPass domain and include a cancellation link that redirects to an attacker-controlled site asking for the master password. Some victims have also received phone calls pressing the same ruse. LastPass warns it never asks for master passwords and has removed the initial phishing site.

Smishing Triad Linked to 194,000 Malicious Domains

📱 Unit 42 attributes a sprawling smishing campaign to the China-linked Smishing Triad, tying it to 194,345 FQDNs and more than 194,000 malicious domains registered since January 1, 2024. Most root domains are registered through Dominet (HK) Limited yet resolve to U.S.-hosted infrastructure, primarily on Cloudflare (AS13335). Campaigns impersonate USPS, toll services, banks, exchanges and delivery services, using rapid domain churn to evade detection. The operation has reportedly generated over $1 billion in three years and increasingly targets brokerage and banking accounts to enable market manipulation.

New LockBit Ransomware Victims Identified October 2025

🔒 After months of rumored silence, security researchers have identified multiple organizations hit by LockBit-branded ransomware in September 2025. Check Point's report documents about a dozen victims across Western Europe, the Americas and Asia, affecting both Windows and Linux systems. Roughly half were infected with LockBit 5.0 and the rest with the leaked 3.0 (LockBit Black) variant. LockBit 5.0 introduces multi-platform builds, enhanced anti-analysis, randomized extensions and a revamped affiliate panel requiring a roughly $500 deposit.

Fake LastPass inheritance emails used to steal vaults

🔒 LastPass warns customers of a sophisticated phishing campaign that uses fake inheritance emails claiming a family member uploaded a death certificate to request emergency access to a user's vault. The messages include an agent ID and a link that redirects victims to a fraudulent page on lastpassrecovery[.]com where the victim is prompted to enter their master password. In some incidents attackers also called victims while posing as LastPass staff. The campaign, active since mid‑October and attributed to financially motivated group CryptoChameleon (UNC5356), has expanded to target passkeys as well.

APT36 Targets Indian Government with Golang DeskRAT

🔐 Sekoia observed Transparent Tribe (APT36) conducting spear-phishing campaigns in Aug–Sep 2025 that deliver a Golang remote access trojan dubbed DeskRAT. The attacks use ZIP attachments containing malicious .desktop files that display a decoy PDF while executing the payload, specifically targeting BOSS Linux systems. DeskRAT establishes WebSocket C2, supports multiple persistence mechanisms, and includes modules for harvesting and exfiltrating WhatsApp and Chrome data. Researchers also reported the use of "stealth servers" and a shift from cloud-hosted distribution to dedicated staging infrastructure.

PhantomCaptcha spear-phishing targets NGOs and regions

🔒SentinelOne reported a one-day spear-phishing campaign on October 8 that targeted aid organisations and Ukrainian regional administrations. The operation, named PhantomCaptcha, delivered a WebSocket RAT hosted on Russian-owned infrastructure and used weaponized PDFs and a fake Cloudflare CAPTCHA to trick victims into executing PowerShell. The multi-stage chain enabled data exfiltration, persistent remote access and potential deployment of additional malware.

Lazarus Targets European Drone Makers in Espionage

📡 ESET researchers have uncovered a new Lazarus Group espionage campaign targeting European defense contractors, with a focus on companies involved in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development since March 2025. The attackers used spear-phishing with fake job offers and trojanized open-source tools such as WinMerge and Notepad++ to deliver loaders and the custom RAT ScoringMathTea. The intrusion chain relied on DLL side-loading, reflective loading, and process injection to maintain persistence and exfiltrate design and supply-chain data. ESET has published IoCs and MITRE ATT&CK mappings to help defenders respond.

3,000 YouTube Videos Used as Malware Traps in Ghost Network

⚠️ Check Point researchers uncovered a long-running operation that uploaded and promoted over 3,000 YouTube videos linking to malware downloads. The network, dubbed the YouTube Ghost Network, has been active since 2021 and saw its volume triple this year, using hacked channels and a role-based structure to sustain distribution. Videos offering pirated software and Roblox cheats pointed users to cloud-hosted files or phishing pages that deployed stealers and Node.js loaders, and Google has removed the majority of identified content.

FIA drivers' portal breached, Formula 1 data exposed

🔐 Hackers gained access to a drivers' portal run by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) during the summer, potentially exposing Formula 1 driver records. The three individuals said they were fans who reported a vulnerability instead of pursuing malicious use and claimed they neither viewed nor stored sensitive data after noticing passport details could be retrievable. The FIA took the site offline, secured the system and worked with the researchers to strengthen the portal.

GlassWorm self-spreading worm targets VS Code extensions

🪲 Researchers have uncovered GlassWorm, a self-propagating worm that spreads through Visual Studio Code extensions on the Open VSX Registry and the Microsoft Extension Marketplace. First seen on October 17, 2025, the campaign uses the Solana blockchain for resilient command-and-control with Google Calendar as a fallback and hides malicious code using invisible Unicode variation selectors. Infected extensions harvest developer credentials, drain cryptocurrency wallets, install SOCKS proxies and hidden VNC servers, and deliver a JavaScript payload named Zombi to escalate and propagate.

Ransomware recovery falters: 40% of paying victims lose data

🔒 Two in five companies that pay ransomware attackers still fail to recover their data, according to a Hiscox survey of thousands of SMEs. The study found 27% of businesses were hit in the past year and 80% of affected firms paid a ransom, yet only 60% recovered all or part of their data. Experts blame flawed encryptors, corrupted or compromised backups, and complex double- or triple-extortion tactics. Organisations are urged to maintain tested recovery plans, forensic validation, and incident response retainers rather than rely on payment.

Toys R Us Canada confirms customer data leak; regulators

🔔 Toys R Us Canada has notified customers that a threat actor leaked records taken from its database after a posting on the dark web on July 30, 2025. An investigation with third-party cybersecurity experts confirmed the data's authenticity and found exposed fields may include full name, physical address, email, and phone number, while passwords and payment card details were not exposed. The retailer says it has strengthened IT security, is notifying Canadian privacy regulators, and warns customers to beware of phishing attempts.

LockBit Resurges with New Variant and Fresh Victims

🛡️ LockBit has reemerged after a disruption in early 2024 and is actively extorting new victims. Check Point Research identified roughly a dozen organizations hit in September 2025, and about half of those incidents involved the new LockBit 5.0 variant, labeled ChuongDong. The group is deploying attacks across Windows, Linux and ESXi environments in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Check Point Harmony Endpoint and Quantum customers are protected via Threat Emulation, which can block these attacks before encryption occurs.

Pakistan-linked APT36 deploys DeskRAT against BOSS Linux

🔍 Sekoia.io researchers uncovered a cyber-espionage campaign, beginning June 2025, that targets Indian government Linux systems using a new Golang RAT named DeskRAT. The operation primarily abused the Indian government‑endorsed BOSS Linux distribution via phishing ZIPs that executed Bash downloaders and displayed decoy PDFs. Attackers used dedicated staging servers and a new operator dashboard to manage victims and exfiltrate files.

North Korean Hackers Target European Defense Firms

🛡️ European defense and aerospace firms are being targeted in a renewed Operation Dream Job campaign attributed to North Korean-linked Lazarus actors, ESET reports. Active since March 2025, attackers use social-engineering job lures and trojanized documents to deploy ScoringMathTea and MISTPEN-like downloaders such as BinMergeLoader that abuse Microsoft Graph API. The goal is theft of proprietary UAV manufacturing know‑how and related intellectual property.

Lazarus Group's Operation DreamJob Hits EU Drone Firms

🛡️ ESET attributes a March 2025 wave of cyber-espionage against three European defense firms to the North Korea-aligned Lazarus Group, describing it as a renewed phase of Operation DreamJob. Targets tied to UAV development were lured with convincing fake job offers that delivered trojanized PDF readers and chained loaders. The primary payload, ScoringMathTea, is a remote access Trojan that provides attackers full control, and researchers found malicious components disguised as legitimate open-source tools.

Microsoft Blocks Ransomware Campaign Targeting Teams Users

🛡️ Microsoft said it disrupted a ransomware campaign that used fake Teams installers to deliver a backdoor and prepare for encryption operations. Attackers lured victims with impersonated MSTeamsSetup.exe files hosted on malicious domains, which installed a loader and a fraudulently signed Oyster backdoor. The group identified as Vanilla Tempest intended to follow with Rhysida ransomware. Microsoft revoked over 200 fraudulent code-signing certificates and says a fully enabled Defender Antivirus will block the threat.