Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, March 22 - 26, 2021

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, March 22 - 26, 2021 - Featured Image

Weekly Threat Briefing • March 26, 2021

The Good

The smell of fresh coffee. Morning sunlight. The smell of new books. Quite a few good news. We believe that these exude the same feeling - inexplicable happiness. Your smartphone facial recognition is going to get more secure as researchers are going to leverage more facial features. In other news, the CISA is soon to start working with ISPs and warn the latter’s customers about vulnerabilities in their systems.

  • The CISA unveiled its plans to work in tandem with internet service providers to obtain the personal data of their customers to warn them about existing vulnerabilities in their systems.
  • Facebook claimed to disrupt a network of Chinese hackers targeting the Uyghur community by luring them into downloading spyware.
  • Researchers have devised a way to fortify smartphone security by adding facial features while unlocking phones with facial recognition. Dubbed Concurrent Two-Factor Identity Verification (C2FIV), the technology relies on an integrated neural network framework.
  • The CISA added two new Malware Analysis Reports (MARs) in its Mitigate Microsoft Exchange Server Vulnerabilities alert. The agency has also updated YARA rules in seven existing MARs so that organizations can identify the malware.

The Bad

Ripping off the bandaid straightaway. Threat actors behind REvil attacked Acer and demanded a ransom of $50 million. This only points to the fact that no organization is free from devastating cyberattacks. One of the major banks in the U.S. fell victim to a cyberattack and the threat actors managed to get away with the sensitive data of multiple customers. Not only this, the hackers contacted the customers and informed them of the breach. The Accellion hack claimed another victim - Shell.

  • Over 20TB of sensitive data belonging to forex broker FBS was leaked online due to an unprotected Elasticsearch database. The database contained over 16 billion records of customers’ personally identifiable information.
  • Michigan-based Flagstar Bank fell victim to a ransomware attack in January this year. Following the attack, the ransomware operators not only encrypted the database but also, siphoned banking data that includes social security numbers.
  • A threat actor calling itself The Israeli Autumn took credit for leaking registration and personal details of millions of Israeli citizens. The details include full names, phone numbers, ID card numbers, home addresses, gender, age, and political preferences.
  • Industrial giant Honeywell revealed that some of its IT systems were disrupted as a result of malware attacks. Although an investigation into the incident is ongoing, Honeywell stated it has found no evidence of data being exfiltrated from systems.
  • Popular manga reader MangaDex decided to rebuild its website after suffering a major breach. The incident resulted in the compromise of source code and potentially a customer database.
  • Canadian multinational Sierra Wireless was forced to halt production at its manufacturing sites across the world after a ransomware attack. The attack had hit the company on March 20, 2021.
  • World’s largest PC and device maker, Acer, has reportedly been targeted by the REvil ransomware gang who demanded $50 million in ransom to release the decryption key. To claim the attack, the gang has shared screenshots of customer data, payment application forms, and other information on the REvil darknet site.
  • A major cyberattack crippled the website of the Ministry of Defence academy, the U.K, in a state-sponsored attack, allegedly, conducted by Russian and Chinese hackers.
  • Energy giant Shell disclosed a data breach that occurred due to the compromise of Accellion’s File Transfer Appliance. The company claims that no IT systems have been affected during the attack.

New Threats

Agent Tesla is probably the Swiss knife of spyware. And now, it is back with more capabilities. Talking of upgraded malware, a new strain of Purple Fox has emerged with a worm module that is being leveraged in a recent attack campaign. Let’s finish this with a ransomware news. An insurance company got hit by a new ransomware strain.

  • A botnet written in Golang was found scanning the Ultimate GDPR & CCPA Compliance Toolkit plugin for a critical vulnerability that lets attackers redirect traffic to a malicious website. The flaw affects plugin version 2.4 and lower.
  • A new version of Agent Tesla includes capabilities to steal information via HTTP, SMTP, or FTP. Researchers have observed more than 100 indicators related to the infrastructure that is used to deliver the malware variant.
  • A serious security flaw was detected in the architecture of 5G network slicing and virtualized network functions. The vulnerability has the potential to allow data access and denial of service attacks between different mobile operators using the 5G network.
  • Attackers are actively exploiting the unpatched Thrive Themes plugin that is vulnerable to two remote code vulnerabilities. It is estimated that more than 100,000 WordPress sites using the plugin are vulnerable to the attack.
  • The U.K’s National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Center warned citizens about a National Insurance scam that targets their PII. The scam works by victims receiving automated phone calls mentioning that their National Insurance number has been exposed.
  • An upgraded variant of Purple Fox malware with worm capabilities has been found to be deployed in an ongoing attack campaign. The malware is being spread through indiscriminate port scanning and exploitation of exposed SMB services with weak passwords and hashes.
  • BlackKingdom is the second confirmed ransomware targeting Microsoft Exchange ProxyLogon vulnerabilities. Based on the logs collected from honeypots, victims are located in the USA, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, France, Israel, the U.K, Italy, Germany, Greece, Australia, and Croatia.
  • A new ransomware variant—Phoenix CryptoLocker—hit insurance giant CNA. affecting its business operations and online services. This strain is suspected to be associated with the Evil Corp threat actor.
  • Employees who are returning to work in offices and other company premises are being targeted in a new phishing campaign that impersonates their colleagues, as well as company leadership. The campaign uses several lures such as a ‘survey regarding the COVID-19 vaccine’, ‘internal precautionary measures’, and ‘changes in rules and new security roles within the company’.
  • Scammers are using demos and early access promises as bait to lure Resident Evil gamers. For this, they are using fake emails offering ‘Early access invitations’ to play Village itself.

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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, June 16–20, 2025

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Jun 13, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, June 09–13, 2025

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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, June 02–06, 2025

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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, May 26–30, 2025

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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, May 19–23, 2025

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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, May 12–16, 2025

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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, May 05–09, 2025

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May 2, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, April 28–May 02, 2025

The FBI just dropped a massive breadcrumb trail. Details of 42,000 phishing domains tied to the LabHost platform have been released to help defenders investigate potential breaches. The service enabled the theft of 500,000 credit cards and over a million credentials. The takedown of JokerOTP has exposed just how far phishing has evolved. The tool was used in more than 28,000 attacks across 13 countries, tricking victims into handing over 2FA codes by mimicking trusted brands. The operation cost victims £7.5 million and has now led to serious criminal charges, thanks to a joint effort involving Europol and Dutch authorities. Malware’s now hitching a ride on Go modules. Socket has uncovered three malicious packages hiding disk-wiping payloads, designed to cause irreversible data loss, especially on Linux systems. These modules take advantage of Go’s decentralized ecosystem. In the shadows of the cybersecurity landscape, MintsLoader emerges as a formidable adversary, orchestrating a multi-faceted infection strategy that deploys the notorious GhostWeaver RAT. Some PyPI packages are doing more than importing functions. Researchers uncovered seven malicious Python packages under the “Coffin” naming scheme, using Gmail’s SMTP service as a stealthy C2 channel. Ransomware groups aren’t always the ones breaking the door open. Researchers have uncovered ToyMaker, an initial access broker selling network entry to ransomware groups. Using a custom malware strain called LAGTOY, ToyMaker establishes reverse shells and executes commands on compromised systems. New vulnerabilities in Apple’s AirPlay protocol, collectively dubbed AirBorne, expose billions of devices to remote code execution without user interaction. Sharp and TX stealers are back, donning a new cloak - named Hannibal Stealer. It is going after credentials from browsers, crypto wallets, FTP clients, and VPN apps. It even captures Discord tokens and Steam sessions.

Apr 25, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, April 21–25, 2025

AI security finally has a global playbook. ETSI has released TS 104 223, a first-of-its-kind technical specification outlining how to secure AI systems across their entire lifecycle - from design to decommissioning. MITRE’s latest update is catching up with the cloud. ATT&CK v17 expands the framework to include ESXi and adds more than 140 defensive analytics. Platform-specific data collection advice, improved mitigation mapping, and deeper coverage of mobile threats like SIM swaps round out the upgrade. An APT group with deep roots in Southeast Asia is quietly siphoning data through everyday cloud platforms. Earth Kurma has been active since late 2020, targeting government and telecom entities across the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. Signal and WhatsApp are the new frontline for cloud compromise. Russian actors are running OAuth phishing campaigns against Microsoft 365 users tied to Ukraine and human rights work. A forged email that passes every security check - that’s the new phishing trick. Attackers are using DKIM replay tactics to forward legitimate Google security alerts to unsuspecting victims. It starts with a fake sales order and ends with FormBook silently stealing your data. A recent phishing campaign has been abusing a long-patched Microsoft flaw to deliver a fileless variant of the malware. Docker containers aren’t always what they seem. A new threat named TenoBot is targeting systems running outdated Teneo Web3 node software, deploying malicious containers to hijack environments. A stealthy new RAT is slipping through Ivanti Connect Secure devices in Japan. Dubbed DslogdRAT, the malware exploits a zero-day flaw to execute commands via web shell and quietly exfiltrate data using encoded C2 traffic.

Apr 18, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, April 14–18, 2025

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Apr 11, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, April 07–11, 2025

The U.K. government rolled out a Cyber Governance Code of Practice aimed at directors and board members, not just CISOs. Backed by the NCSC and other national bodies, the code includes practical actions, modular training, and a board-level toolkit. Startups building the future of cyber defense are getting serious backing. The British Business Bank has committed most of a £50 million fund to Osney Capital, which will invest in early-stage cybersecurity companies across the U.K. A torrent download might be doing more than delivering cracked software. A campaign has been distributing ViperSoftX to Korean users, likely run by Arabic-speaking threat actors. Invasive spyware campaigns are zeroing in on high-risk communities. MOONSHINE and BADBAZAAR are being deployed through trojanized mobile apps to surveil Uyghur, Tibetan, and Taiwanese individuals, as well as civil society groups. Search for QuickBooks during tax season, and you might land on a trap. Threat actors are placing deceptive Google Ads that link to phishing pages almost identical to the real QuickBooks login portal. It starts with a PDF search and ends with malware on your machine. A new campaign is using fake CAPTCHAs and Cloudflare Turnstile to lure users into downloading LegionLoader. Seed phrases aren’t supposed to come from strangers. The PoisonSeed campaign is targeting crypto holders and enterprise users by compromising bulk email services. Victims are lured with fake wallet setup instructions that embed attacker-controlled recovery phrases - giving threat actors full access once the wallets are used. A Chinese-linked threat group, ToddyCat, has been exploiting a security vulnerability in ESET's software to deliver a new malware, TCESB, in Asia.