All news with #eset tag

Who, Where and How: APT Attacks Q2–Q3 2025 Report Overview

🔍 The ESET research team released its APT Activity Report covering April–September 2025, summarizing operations by state-aligned hacking groups. The report details espionage, disruptive attacks and monetized campaigns targeting government and corporate networks across multiple regions. Notably, the Russia-aligned group Sandworm deployed several data wipers against Ukraine's grain sector, an apparent attempt to harm economic resilience. ESET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe outlines key findings in an accompanying video and encourages readers to consult the full report for technical specifics.

Sandworm Deploys New Wiper Malware in Ukraine Q2–Q3 2025

🛡️ ESET's APT Activity Report covering Q2–Q3 2025 reports that Russian-aligned Sandworm deployed new data wipers, identified as Zerolot and Sting, against Ukrainian targets including government bodies and critical sectors such as energy, logistics and grain. The firm assessed the activity as likely intended to weaken Ukraine's economy. The findings, published on 6 November 2025, also note increased espionage and tool-sharing among other Russia-aligned groups.

Trojanized ESET Installers Deliver Kalambur Backdoor

🛡️ A Russia-aligned cluster tracked as InedibleOchotense impersonated Slovak vendor ESET in May 2025, sending spear-phishing emails and Signal messages to multiple Ukrainian organizations. Recipients were directed to domains such as esetsmart[.]com hosting a trojanized installer that deployed the legitimate ESET AV Remover alongside a C# backdoor dubbed Kalambur (aka SUMBUR). Kalambur leverages the Tor network for command-and-control and can install OpenSSH and enable RDP on port 3389 to facilitate remote access. ESET links the campaign to Sandworm sub-clusters and notes overlaps with activity reported by CERT-UA and EclecticIQ.

ESET APT Activity Report Q2–Q3 2025: Key Findings Overview

🔍 ESET Research summarizes notable APT operations observed from April through September 2025, highlighting activity by China-, Iran-, North Korea-, and Russia-aligned groups. The report documents increased use of adversary-in-the-middle techniques, targeted spearphishing (including emails sent from compromised internal inboxes), and expanded campaigns against government, energy, healthcare, and maritime sectors. Notable tools and threats include BLOODALCHEMY, SoftEther VPN infrastructure, a WinRAR zero-day exploit, and a newly identified Android spyware family named Wibag. Findings are based on ESET telemetry and verified analysis.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2025: Deepfakes and Trust

🔍 Advances in AI and deepfake technology make it increasingly difficult to tell what’s real online, enabling convincingly fake videos, images and audio that scammers exploit to deceive individuals and organizations. Threat actors use deepfakes of public figures to promote bogus investments, create synthetic nudes to extort victims and deploy fake voices and videos to trick employees into wiring corporate funds. Watch ESET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe outline practical defenses to recognize and resist deepfakes, and explore other Cybersecurity Awareness Month videos on authentication, patching, ransomware and shadow IT.

Cyber-risk in the Shadows: Shadow IT, AI Use and Risks

🛡️ In a short video for Cybersecurity Awareness Month, ESET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe explains how unsanctioned hardware and software — commonly called shadow IT — is creating security gaps in the remote and hybrid work era. He warns that growing employee use of generative AI further increases risk by exposing sensitive corporate data outside IT control. The video outlines practical steps IT teams can take to discover, govern and mitigate these hidden risks and points to related guidance on authentication, patching and ransomware resilience.

Android Spyware Posing as Signal Plugin and ToTok Pro

⚠️ Researchers at ESET have uncovered two Android spyware campaigns, ProSpy and ToSpy, that masquerade as a Signal encryption plugin and a ToTok Pro upgrade to target users in the U.A.E. Distributed via fake websites and social engineering, these apps require manual installation and request extensive permissions to persist and exfiltrate contacts, messages, media and device data. Users are advised to avoid installing apps from unofficial sources and to disable installations from unknown origins.

North Korean hackers deploy new AkdoorTea backdoor

🛡️ ESET attributes a widespread recruitment-based intrusion campaign to the North Korea-linked cluster tracked as DeceptiveDevelopment, revealing a previously undocumented Windows backdoor called AkdoorTea. Active since late 2022, the operation targets software developers on Windows, Linux, and macOS, particularly in cryptocurrency and Web3, using fake recruiter outreach, video assessments and coding tasks to deliver multi-platform malware such as BeaverTail, TsunamiKit and Tropidoor. The group favors scale and social engineering while reusing dark-web projects and rented malware rather than developing wholly novel toolsets.

Protecting SMBs From Ransomware: Trends and Defenses

🔒 Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly targeted by ransomware gangs that exploit weak defenses, offer Ransomware-as-a-Service, and adapt tactics with AI-driven tools. RaaS industrialization and discoveries like ESET's PromptLock demonstrate how attackers can scale reconnaissance, exploitation and social engineering. SMBs face double-extortion, DDoS and coercive pressures while repeat payments remain an issue despite a decline in aggregate crypto payouts. Practical defenses—Zero Trust, timely patching, reliable backups, EDR/MDR and tested incident response—can materially reduce risk.

HybridPetya: Petya/NotPetya Copycat Adds UEFI Bypass Threat

🔒 ESET researchers have identified a new ransomware strain named HybridPetya that mimics the Petya/NotPetya family while adding UEFI-targeting capabilities. The malware weaponizes CVE-2024-7344 to bypass UEFI Secure Boot on unpatched systems, enabling persistent bootkit-style compromise. HybridPetya is not currently observed spreading in the wild but represents at least the fourth known bootkit with Secure Boot bypass functionality.

HybridPetya Bootkit Bypasses Secure Boot to Encrypt MFT

🔒 Researchers at ESET have identified HybridPetya, a bootkit-style ransomware that mimics Petya/NotPetya by targeting the NTFS Master File Table (MFT). Unlike destructive predecessors, HybridPetya functions as true ransomware and can reconstruct victim decryption keys from an installation key, with an analyzed sample demanding €850 in Bitcoin. The threat bypasses UEFI Secure Boot by exploiting CVE-2024-7344 in a Microsoft-signed EFI component to load an unsigned cloak.dat, replace the Windows bootloader, crash the system to force a reboot, and run prior to OS startup to encrypt the disk with Salsa20 while displaying a fake CHKDSK message.

HybridPetya Bootkit Bypasses Secure Boot on UEFI Systems

🔒 ESET researchers identified HybridPetya, a new ransomware strain that blends Petya-style MFT encryption with a UEFI bootkit that can bypass Secure Boot by abusing a patched flaw (CVE-2024-7344) in the Howyar Reloader EFI component. The malware installs a malicious EFI application, uses a three-state flag to track encryption and ransom status, displays a fake CHKDSK screen, and demands $1,000 in Bitcoin. Select variants load a cloak.dat payload into reloader.efi to evade integrity checks; Microsoft revoked the vulnerable binary via dbx updates. ESET found no evidence of widespread active abuse but warned Secure Boot bypasses are increasingly common and urged prompt patching and boot integrity monitoring.

GhostRedirector: China-aligned IIS SEO Fraud Campaign

🔍 ESET researchers identified GhostRedirector, a China-aligned threat group active since at least August 2024 that has compromised at least 65 Windows servers across multiple countries, notably Brazil, Thailand and Vietnam. The group deployed two novel tools: a C++ backdoor Rungan for remote command execution and a malicious IIS module Gamshen that manipulates search rankings to boost targeted sites. Operators also leveraged known privilege escalation exploits like BadPotato and EfsPotato to obtain administrator access and create persistent accounts. Organizations are advised to monitor IIS modules, patch promptly and audit high-privilege accounts and PowerShell activity.

AI Systems Begin Conducting Autonomous Cyberattacks

🤖 Anthropic's Threat Intelligence Report says the developer tool Claude Code was abused to breach networks and exfiltrate data, targeting 17 organizations last month, including healthcare providers. Security vendor ESET published a proof-of-concept AI ransomware, PromptLock, illustrating how public AI tools could amplify threats. Experts recommend red-teaming, prompt-injection defenses, DNS monitoring, and isolation of critical systems.

Is Your Phone Spying on You? Inside Modern Spyware

🔍 In this Unlocked 403 episode host Becks speaks with ESET malware researcher Lukas Stefanko to explain how modern spyware operates and why commonplace apps can become surveillance tools. They examine ESET’s discovery of BadBazaar, describe common infection vectors, persistence techniques and permissions abuse, and note that some tools can compromise devices without any user interaction. Lukas outlines practical detection signals and step‑by‑step removal advice. The conversation also points listeners to a prior episode for deeper Android threat analysis.

How to Break into Cybersecurity: Skills and Traits

🔐 In this Cybersecurity Podcast episode, ESET Principal Threat Intelligence Researcher Robert Lipovsky outlines the practical skills and personality traits useful for newcomers to the field. He addresses common questions about coding ability, college degrees, and whether formal qualifications are required. Lipovsky emphasizes curiosity, persistence, and a willingness to learn alongside foundational technical skills. The discussion frames these recommendations within an evolving threat landscape and ESET’s broader career guidance.

ESET Threat Report H1 2025: Key Cyberthreat Findings

🛡️ The ESET research team has released the H1 2025 Threat Report, summarizing cyberthreat activity from December 2024 through May 2025. The report highlights a rapid rise in a new social engineering technique, ClickFix, with detections increasing more than fivefold, and a 160% surge in Android adware linked to evil twin fraud and PUAs. It also notes growing numbers of ransomware attacks and gangs even as overall payment values trended downward. Watch ESET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe's video overview and consult the full report for details and mitigation guidance.