All news with #backdoor found tag

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lazarus Operation DreamJob Targets European Defense

🔍 North Korean-linked Lazarus actors ran an Operation DreamJob campaign in late March that targeted three European defense companies involved in UAV technology. Using fake recruitment lures, victims were tricked into installing trojanized open-source applications and plugins which loaded malicious payloads via DLL sideloading. Final-stage malware included the ScoringMathTea RAT, while an alternate chain used the BinMergeLoader (MISTPEN) to abuse Microsoft Graph API tokens. ESET published extensive IoCs to aid detection.

Lazarus Targets UAV Sector with Operation DreamJob

🛩️ ESET researchers observed a renewed Operation DreamJob campaign that targeted European defense and UAV-related companies and has been linked to the North Korea-aligned Lazarus group. Attackers used social-engineering lures and trojanized open-source projects on GitHub to deliver loaders and the ScoringMathTea RAT. Techniques included DLL side-loading, reflective in-memory loading and encrypted C2 channels. The apparent objective was theft of proprietary UAV designs and manufacturing know-how.

Iranian MuddyWater Targets 100+ Governments with Phoenix

⚠ State-sponsored Iranian group MuddyWater deployed version 4 of the Phoenix backdoor against more than 100 government and diplomatic entities across the Middle East and North Africa. The campaign began on August 19 with phishing sent from a NordVPN-compromised account and used malicious Word macros to drop a FakeUpdate loader that writes C:\ProgramData\sysprocupdate.exe. Researchers observed Phoenix v4 using AES-encrypted embedded payloads, COM-based persistence, WinHTTP C2 communications and an accompanying Chrome infostealer, while server-side C2 was taken offline on August 24, suggesting a shift in operational tooling.

Iran-Linked MuddyWater Targets 100+ Organisations Globally

🔒 Group-IB links a broad espionage campaign to Iran-aligned MuddyWater that leveraged a compromised email account accessed via NordVPN to send convincing phishing messages. The actor distributed weaponized Microsoft Word documents that coax recipients to enable macros, which execute VBA droppers that write and decode a FakeUpdate loader. FakeUpdate installs an AES-encrypted payload that launches the Phoenix v4 backdoor. Targets exceeded 100 organisations across the MENA region, predominantly diplomatic and government entities.

PhantomCaptcha Phishing Targets Ukraine Aid Groups

🕵️ SentinelOne describes a coordinated spear-phishing campaign named PhantomCaptcha that used booby-trapped PDFs and a fake Zoom site to deliver a WebSocket-based remote access trojan (RAT). The October 8, 2025 operation targeted members of humanitarian and government organizations connected to Ukraine, including Red Cross, UNICEF Ukraine, and several regional administrations. Victims were lured to a ClickFix-style fake Cloudflare CAPTCHA that prompted a malicious PowerShell command, which fetched an obfuscated downloader and a second-stage payload. The final WebSocket RAT connects to wss://bsnowcommunications[.]com:80 and enables remote command execution, data exfiltration, and further malware deployment.

MuddyWater Exploits Compromised Mailboxes in Global Phishing

🔒 Researchers have uncovered a global phishing campaign that used compromised mailboxes to deliver malicious Microsoft Word attachments, attributed with high confidence to the Iran-linked actor MuddyWater by Group-IB. The operation abused a NordVPN-accessed mailbox to send trusted-looking messages that prompted users to enable macros, which then installed the Phoenix v4 backdoor. Investigators also found RMM tools (PDQ, Action1, ScreenConnect) and a Chromium_Stealer credential stealer, while infrastructure traced to the domain screenai[.]online and an IP tied to NameCheap-hosted services.

Russian ColdRiver Hackers Use Fake CAPTCHA to Deploy Malware

⚠️ Google Cloud’s Threat Intelligence Group attributes a new campaign to Russian state-linked ColdRiver actors who are using fake “I am not a robot” CAPTCHA pages to deliver espionage malware, including NOROBOT, YESROBOT, and MAYBEROBOT. The attackers use a ClickFix social-engineering chain and multi-stage, encrypted payloads with split cryptographic keys to evade detection and rebuild tooling rapidly after exposure. Organizations are urged to emphasize behavioral monitoring, EDR/NDR telemetry, and simulated interactive-phishing tests to detect these user-assisted intrusions.

ToolShell SharePoint Exploit Hits Organizations Worldwide

⚠️ Symantec reports that hackers linked to China exploited the ToolShell vulnerability (CVE-2025-53770) in on-premise Microsoft SharePoint servers to target government agencies, universities, telecommunications providers, and financial firms across four continents. The zero-day, disclosed on July 20, was used to plant webshells and enable remote code execution. Attackers deployed DLL side-loading to load a Go backdoor named Zingdoor, later chained to ShadowPad, KrustyLoader, and the Sliver framework, and performed credential dumping and PetitPotam abuse to escalate to domain compromise.

PassiveNeuron APT Uses Neursite and NeuralExecutor

🧠 Kaspersky researchers have identified a sophisticated cyber-espionage campaign dubbed PassiveNeuron that has targeted government, financial, and industrial organizations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America since late 2024. The operation uses bespoke implants—Neursite (a C++ modular backdoor) and NeuralExecutor (a .NET loader)—alongside Cobalt Strike, leveraging compromised internal servers as intermediate C2s and a plugin architecture to maintain persistence and adapt tooling. Victims include internet-exposed servers; attackers have used SQL-based remote command execution, attempted ASPX web shells, deployed DLL loaders into the System32 directory, and in 2025 adopted a GitHub-based dead-drop resolver to retrieve C2 addresses.

Self-Propagating GlassWorm Targets VS Code Marketplaces

🪲 Researchers at Koi Security have uncovered GlassWorm, a sophisticated self-propagating malware campaign affecting extensions in the OpenVSX and Microsoft VS Code marketplaces. The worm hides executable payloads using Unicode variation selectors, harvests NPM, GitHub and Git credentials, drains 49 cryptocurrency wallets, and deploys SOCKS proxies and hidden VNC servers on developer machines. CISOs are urged to treat this as an immediate incident: inventory VS Code usage, monitor for anomalous outbound connections and long-lived SOCKS/VNC processes, rotate exposed credentials, and block untrusted extension registries.

Russian Star Blizzard shifts to 'Robot' malware families

🔐 The Russian state-backed Star Blizzard group (aka ColdRiver/UNC4057) has shifted to modular, evolving malware families — NOROBOT, YESROBOT, and MAYBEROBOT — delivered through deceptive ClickFix pages that coerce victims into executing a fake "I am not a robot" CAPTCHA. NOROBOT is a malicious DLL executed via rundll32 that establishes persistence through registry changes and scheduled tasks, stages components (including a Windows Python 3.8 install), and, after iteration, primarily delivers a PowerShell backdoor. Google Threat Intelligence Group and Zscaler observed the transition from May through September and reported that ColdRiver abandoned the previously exposed LostKeys tooling shortly after disclosure. GTIG has published IoCs and YARA rules to help defenders detect these campaigns.

Coldriver Deploys New 'NoRobot' Malware Suite, 2025

🛡️ Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has observed the Russian-linked Coldriver group deploying a new, staged malware ecosystem tracked as NoRobot, YesRobot and MaybeRobot. GTIG's October 20, 2025 report shows the campaign replaces the previously disclosed LostKeys strain and begins with a 'ClickFix-style' ColdCopy phishing lure that tricks victims into running a malicious DLL via rundll32.exe. NoRobot functions as a downloader using split-key cryptography and staged payloads; operators briefly used a Python-based backdoor (YesRobot) before switching to a more flexible PowerShell backdoor (MaybeRobot) to reduce detection.

Google: Three New COLDRIVER Malware Families Identified

🔍 Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) reports three new malware families — NOROBOT, YESROBOT, and MAYBEROBOT — linked to the Russia-attributed COLDRIVER group following public disclosure of LOSTKEYS. The attacks use ClickFix-style HTML lures and fake CAPTCHA prompts to trick users into running malicious PowerShell via the Windows Run dialog. NOROBOT functions as a loader invoked by rundll32.exe, while YESROBOT acted as a brief HTTPS-based Python backdoor and MAYBEROBOT is a more extensible PowerShell implant targeting high-value victims.

Snappybee, Citrix Flaw Used to Breach European Telecom

🔒 A European telecommunications organization was targeted in the first week of July 2025, according to Darktrace, with a threat actor linked to the China-associated group Salt Typhoon gaining initial access via a vulnerable Citrix NetScaler Gateway. The intruders pivoted to Citrix VDA hosts in an MCS subnet and used SoftEther VPN to mask their origin. They deployed Snappybee (aka Deed RAT) via DLL side-loading alongside legitimate antivirus executables; the backdoor called home to aar.gandhibludtric[.]com. Darktrace says the activity was detected and remediated before significant escalation.

New Russian COLDRIVER Malware: NOROBOT and ROBOTs Variants

🤖 Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) attributes a rapid malware retooling to the Russia-aligned COLDRIVER group after the May 2025 LOSTKEYS disclosure. The campaign uses a COLDCOPY “ClickFix” lure that coerces users to run a malicious DLL via rundll32; the DLL family is tracked as NOROBOT. Early NOROBOT variants fetched a noisy Python backdoor named YESROBOT, which was quickly replaced by a lighter, extensible PowerShell backdoor called MAYBEROBOT. GTIG published IOCs, YARA rules, and protective measures including Safe Browsing coverage and targeted alerts.