All news with #sandworm 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.

Sandworm Deploys Data Wipers Against Ukraine's Grain Sector

🔒Russian state-backed Sandworm (aka APT44) deployed multiple data-wiping malware families in June and September 2025, targeting Ukrainian education, government, and grain-production organizations. ESET says these wipers — distinct from ransomware — corrupt files, partitions, and boot records to prevent recovery and cause long outages. Some intrusions began with access by UAC-0099, which then handed access to APT44 for destructive payloads.

AI-Powered Cyberattacks Escalate Against Ukraine in 2025

🔍 Ukraine's SSSCIP reported a sharp rise in AI-enabled cyber operations in H1 2025, documenting 3,018 incidents versus 2,575 in H2 2024. Analysts found evidence that attackers used AI not only to craft phishing lures but also to generate malware samples, including a PowerShell stealer identified as WRECKSTEEL. Multiple UAC clusters—such as UAC-0219, UAC-0218, and UAC-0226—deployed stealers and backdoors via booby-trapped archives, SVG attachments, and ClickFix-style tactics. The report also details zero-click exploitation of Roundcube and Zimbra flaws and widespread abuse of legitimate cloud and collaboration services for hosting and data exfiltration.