All news with #malware tag

⚠️ Superbox media streaming boxes sold through retailers like BestBuy and Walmart have been found running intrusive, unofficial apps that can enlist buyers' Internet connections into distributed residential proxy networks and botnets. Censys researchers observed devices phoning home to Tencent QQ and a proxy service called Grass IO, and installing tools such as tcpdump and netcat while performing DNS hijacking and ARP spoofing. The boxes require removing Google Play and installing a third-party app store, increasing the risk of unauthorized relays, advertising fraud, and account takeovers. Consumers are advised to avoid uncertified Android TV devices and follow FBI and EFF guidance on suspicious app marketplaces.

🛠️ Morphisec researchers have uncovered a six-month campaign embedding StealC V2 inside weaponized Blender .blend files distributed via marketplaces such as CGTrader. When opened with Blender's Auto Run enabled, concealed Python scripts fetch loaders from workers.dev domains and initiate a multistage infection that deploys PowerShell components and Python-based stealers. The malware establishes persistence with LNK files and communicates with Pyramid-linked C2 servers to retrieve encrypted payloads. Morphisec says its deception-based protection thwarts credential theft by injecting decoy credentials and terminating processes before exfiltration.

🔍 Check Point's Harmony Mobile Detection Team discovered a broad Android adware campaign on Google Play that operated as a persistent background advertising engine. Masquerading as benign utilities and emoji editors, the apps continued running after closure or reboot, quietly consuming battery and mobile data. The campaign, dubbed GhostAd, comprised at least 15 related apps, with five still available at discovery.

🔔 Matrix Push C2 is a browser-native, fileless C2 platform that leverages web push notifications, fake alerts, and link redirects to distribute phishing links across operating systems. Attackers social-engineer users into allowing notifications on malicious or compromised sites, then send branded, OS-like alerts with action buttons that redirect victims to fraudulent landing pages. Sold as a MaaS kit via Telegram and cybercrime forums, it includes a web dashboard, analytics, URL shortening, configurable templates (e.g., MetaMask, Netflix, PayPal), and tiered crypto-paid subscriptions.

⚠️ Kaspersky describes a campaign in which attackers used the AI-powered web builder Lovable to mass-generate convincing fake vendor pages that host malicious installers. Those pages distribute a custom, attacker-signed build of the legitimate remote administration tool Syncro, which installs silently and grants full remote access. Because the payload is a legitimate admin tool altered for abuse, detection is difficult and victims risk data theft and loss of cryptocurrency funds.

🔔 BlackFrog has identified a new command-and-control platform, Matrix Push C2, that abuses browser push notifications to deliver phishing and malware. The campaign social-engineers users into allowing notifications and then issues realistic system-style alerts that redirect victims to malicious sites. Described as fileless, the technique leverages the browser notification channel rather than an initial executable. The platform includes a web dashboard with real-time client visibility, analytics and templates impersonating services like MetaMask, Netflix and PayPal.

🛡️ Kaspersky researcher Lisandro Ubiedo details an expanding Windows-focused botnet named Tsundere that retrieves and executes arbitrary JavaScript from remote command-and-control servers. The threat, active since mid‑2025, has been distributed via fake MSI installers and PowerShell scripts that deploy Node.js, install dependencies (ws, ethers, and pm2) and establish persistence. Operators fetch WebSocket C2 addresses from an Ethereum smart contract to rotate infrastructure, while a control panel enables artifact building, bot management, proxying, and an on-platform marketplace.

🔍 Group-IB researchers reveal a multi-year ATM fraud campaign by UNC2891 that targeted two Indonesian banks and extended well beyond a Raspberry Pi infiltration. The campaign combined sophisticated malware — including the CAKETAP rootkit — with an extensive money-mule operation that recruited via Google ads and Telegram. Cloned card equipment was shipped to mules, who withdrew cash with real-time TeamViewer support or phone coordination. Group-IB warns banks to reassess ATM security and monitoring.

🔍 Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) details a three-year espionage campaign by APT24 deploying the obfuscated BADAUDIO downloader to deliver AES-encrypted payloads, including Cobalt Strike beacons. The actor evolved from broad strategic web compromises to targeted supply-chain abuse of a Taiwanese digital marketing firm and spear-phishing lures. BADAUDIO uses DLL search order hijacking, control-flow flattening, and cookie-based beaconing to retrieve decrypted payloads in memory. GTIG added related domains and files to Safe Browsing, issued victim notifications, and published IOCs and YARA rules to support detection and mitigation.

🔒 PlushDaemon, a China-linked APT, has deployed a network implant called EdgeStepper to hijack DNS on compromised routers and redirect update traffic to attacker-controlled servers, according to ESET. The MIPS32 Go-built implant modifies iptables to forward UDP port 53 to a local proxy that substitutes legitimate update IPs with malicious ones. Using the hijacked channel, a downloader chain (LittleDaemon, DaemonicLogistics) delivers the espionage backdoor SlowStepper, enabling credential theft, document exfiltration and audio/video capture.

🛡️ ThreatFabric has detailed a new Android banking trojan named Sturnus that combines screen-capture, accessibility abuse, and overlays to steal credentials and enable full device takeover. The malware captures decrypted messages from WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal by recording the device screen, serves region-specific fake banking login screens, and contacts operator servers via WebSocket/HTTP to receive encrypted payloads and enable remote VNC-style control. It resists cleanup by blocking uninstallation and leveraging administrator privileges.

🔒Sturnus is a new Android banking trojan discovered by ThreatFabric that can capture decrypted messages from end-to-end encrypted apps like Signal, WhatsApp, and Telegram. It abuses Accessibility services and on-screen capture to read message content and deploys HTML overlays to harvest banking credentials. The malware also supports real-time, AES-encrypted VNC remote control and obtains Android Device Administrator privileges to resist removal while targeting European financial customers with region-specific overlays.

📰 In episode 444 of the Smashing Security podcast Graham Cluley and guest Tricia Howard examine a refreshingly candid breach response where a company apologised and redirected a ransom payment to cybersecurity research, illustrating how legacy systems can still magnify risk. They unpack a sophisticated hotel-booking malware campaign that abuses trust in apps and CAPTCHAs to deliver PureRAT. The hosts also discuss the rise of autonomous pen testing, AI-turbocharged cybercrime, and practical questions CISOs should be asking on Monday morning, with a featured interview featuring Snehal Antani from Horizon3.ai.

⚠️ Acronis Threat Research Unit (TRU) reports an ongoing global malvertising campaign, dubbed TamperedChef, that employs counterfeit installers masquerading as popular utilities and product manuals to deploy an information-stealer and obfuscated JavaScript backdoors. Operators use SEO poisoning, malicious ads, and abused code-signing certificates from shell companies in the U.S., Panama, and Malaysia to increase trust and evade detection. Installers drop an XML file to create a scheduled task that launches the JavaScript backdoor, which exfiltrates encrypted, Base64-encoded JSON over HTTPS. Infections concentrate in the U.S. and have also been observed in Israel, Spain, Germany, India, and Ireland, with healthcare, construction, and manufacturing among the most affected sectors.

📲 Trustwave SpiderLabs describes a Python-based WhatsApp worm that propagates a Delphi credential stealer named Eternidade Stealer across Brazilian devices. The campaign begins with an obfuscated Visual Basic Script dropper that installs both a Python WPPConnect-based propagator and an MSI/AutoIt installer which injects the stealer into svchost.exe. Operators use IMAP to fetch dynamic C2 addresses and apply Brazilian Portuguese geofencing to limit infections to the target region.

🔒 Trustwave SpiderLabs has identified Eternidade Stealer, a multi-component banking Trojan that combines a Python-based WhatsApp-propagating worm, a Delphi stealer and an MSI dropper to harvest financial credentials and spread laterally. The campaign uses an obfuscated VBScript to deliver two payloads, dynamically retrieves command-and-control via IMAP and activates only on systems using Brazilian Portuguese. Defenders should watch for unexpected MSI or script executions, suspicious WhatsApp messages and indicators linked to the campaign.

🛡️ A China-aligned group known as PlushDaemon has been observed deploying a previously undocumented network implant, codenamed EdgeStepper, to perform adversary-in-the-middle DNS attacks. ESET researchers found an ELF sample (internally called dns_cheat_v2) that forwards DNS traffic to attacker-controlled nodes, enabling update hijacking. Operators then deploy downloaders LittleDaemon and DaemonLogistics to install espionage backdoors.

🔒 PlushDaemon operators are hijacking software-update traffic using a new network implant named EdgeStepper, ESET researchers report. Attackers compromise routers via known vulnerabilities or weak credentials, intercept DNS queries, and redirect update requests to malicious infrastructure. Trojanized updates deliver a DLL downloader (LittleDaemon), which stages DaemonicLogistics and ultimately loads the SlowStepper backdoor on Windows systems, targeting manufacturers, universities, and industrial sites across multiple countries.

🔒 This article by Stan Kaminsky reviews Athanasios Giatsos’ Security Analyst Summit 2025 talk and explains why malicious browser extensions are a major blind spot for organizations. It outlines how extensions can access cookies, local storage, proxy settings, clipboard and screen capture, enabling session and account theft, espionage, ad fraud and crypto theft, and why Manifest V3 reduces but does not eliminate risk. Practical controls described include formal extension policies and allowlists, disabling developer mode, version pinning and testing of updates, EDR and SIEM-based monitoring, and the use of specialized vetting tools for deeper analysis.

🛡️ Researchers from the Socket Threat Research Team uncovered a new npm malware campaign operated by threat actor dino_reborn, distributed across seven packages that executed immediately and fingerprinted visitors. The packages used Adspect proxying and cloaking to distinguish researchers from victims, delivering branded fake CAPTCHAs and dynamic redirects to malicious crypto sites. Anti-analysis measures disabled developer tools and user interactions to hinder inspection.