Tag Archives: espionage

Fraudulent gambling network may actually be something more nefarious

A sprawling infrastructure that has been bilking unsuspecting people through fraudulent gambling websites for 14 years is likely a dual operation run by a nation-state-sponsored group that is targeting government and private-industry organizations in the US and Europe, researchers said Wednesday. Researchers have previously tracked smaller pieces of the enormous infrastructure. Last month, security firm… Read More »

Researchers question Anthropic claim that AI-assisted attack was 90% autonomous

Claude frequently overstated findings and occasionally fabricated data during autonomous operations, claiming to have obtained credentials that didn’t work or identifying critical discoveries that proved to be publicly available information. This AI hallucination in offensive security contexts presented challenges for the actor’s operational effectiveness, requiring careful validation of all claimed results. This remains an obstacle… Read More »

Financially motivated hackers are helping their espionage counterparts and vice versa

On Thursday, researchers with the Symantec security firm reported on a collaboration that worked the other way—use by the RA World ransomware group of a “distinct toolset” that previously has been seen used only in espionage operations by a China-linked threat group. The toolset, first spotted in July, was a variant of PlugX, a custom… Read More »

Kremlin-backed hackers have new Windows and Android malware to foist on Ukrainian foes

Google researchers said they uncovered a Kremlin-backed operation targeting recruits for the Ukrainian military with information-stealing malware for Windows and Android devices. The malware, spread primarily through posts on Telegram, came from a persona on that platform known as “Civil Defense.” Posts on the ​​@civildefense_com_ua telegram channel and the accompanying civildefense[.]com.ua website claimed to provide… Read More »

Two never-before-seen tools, from same group, infect air-gapped devices

The evolution of the kit from 2019 and the one from three years later underscores a growing sophistication by GoldenJackal developers. The first generation provided a full suite of capabilities, including: GoldenDealer, a component that delivers malicious executables to air-gapped systems over USB drives GoldenHowl, a backdoor that contains various modules for a mix of… Read More »

Mass exploitation of Ivanti VPNs is infecting networks around the globe

Enlarge / Cybercriminals or anonymous hackers use malware on mobile phones to hack personal and business passwords online. Getty Images reader comments 8 Hackers suspected of working for the Chinese government are mass exploiting a pair of critical vulnerabilities that give them complete control of virtual private network appliances sold by Ivanti, researchers said. As… Read More »

Pro-Russian hackers target elected US officials supporting Ukraine

Enlarge / Locked out. reader comments 30 with Share this story Threat actors aligned with Russia and Belarus are targeting elected US officials supporting Ukraine, using attacks that attempt to compromise their email accounts, researchers from security firm Proofpoint said. The campaign, which also targets officials of European nations, uses malicious JavaScript that’s customized for… Read More »

A widespread logic controller flaw raises the specter of Stuxnet

reader comments 24 with 0 posters participating Share this story In 2009, the computer worm Stuxnet crippled hundreds of centrifuges inside Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant by targeting the software running on the facility’s industrial computers, known as programmable logic controllers. The exploited PLCs were made by the automation giant Siemens and were all models… Read More »

“Dark ships” emerge from the shadow of the Nord Stream pipeline mystery

Swedish Coast Guard/Getty Images reader comments 21 with 0 posters participating Share this story The first gas leaks on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea were detected in the early hours of September 26, pouring up to 400,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere. Officials immediately suspected sabotage of the international pipeline.… Read More »