Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence - December 20–24

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence - December 20–24 - Featured Image

Weekly Threat Briefing • December 24, 2021

The Good

As 2021 comes to an end, it is time to celebrate all the positive developments we saw this year in the cybersecurity world. Check out our compilation of the best of cybersecurity in 2021. This week, the U.S. federal agencies provided new guidance and a special tool to help counter the tide of Log4j attacks. Meanwhile, the shutdown of yet another dark web marketplace gave us a reason to cheer up.

  • The U.K’s National Crime Agency shared a collection of more than 585 million compromised passwords it found during an investigation with Have I Been Pwned. This move will help prevent the use of such compromised credentials so as to improve online security and avoid further attacks using those credentials.

  • As the saga of the Log4j bugs continues, the US government is taking positive steps to help all organizations tackle the onslaught from cybercriminals. The U.S. CISA and Five Eyes alliance partners issued guidance to help slow Log4j attacks, whereas the CISA also released a scanner for identifying web services impacted by Log4j flaws.

  • The operators behind ToRReZ, a dark web underground marketplace for the trade of illicit wares, announced to shut down their operation. This marks the third such marketplace to shut down on its own this year. The site, which was launched in February 2020, operated like any online marketplace, allowing users to register as buyers or sellers.

The Bad

While there are always reasons to celebrate, there were also bad incidents this week that gave us a pause. A business email compromise at a hospital system in West Virginia resulted in a data breach for thousands of patients, staff members, and contractors. In a series of unfortunate data leaks, the personal details of hundreds of thousands of citizens of Albania and Ghana were revealed online. In a shocking revelation, a massive global phishing campaign was also found raking in up to $80 million a month through fake surveys and giveaways.

  • Around 1.8 million customers’ credit details were stolen following a cyberattack on four popular sporting goods websites. The affected firms are Tackle Warehouse LLC, Running Warehouse LLC, Tennis Warehouse LLC, and Skate Warehouse LLC. An investigation into the incident revealed that the stolen information included full names, financial account numbers, and website account passwords of customers.

  • Monongalia Health System, a hospital system in West Virginia which managed three different hospitals, suffered a data breach due to a phishing attack. Due to the business email compromise, the hackers gained access to internal accounts between May and August. These emails also included the personal information of 40,000 patients, providers, employees, and contractors.

  • Game developer Ubisoft has announced a data breach impacting Just Dance, one of its popular video game franchises. The incident occurred due to a misconfiguration issue that exposed GamerTags, profile IDs, and device IDs, and dance videos of a limited number of users. Ubisoft did not disclose how many people were affected by the incident, however, it has sold millions of copies of the game since 2009.

  • The personal data, including the name and salary of over 637,000 Albanian citizens, was leaked in a data breach recently. An Excel file containing the data of 637,138 citizens was found circulating online, especially on WhatsApp. The file contained the names, ID numbers, monthly salaries, positions, and employer names for nearly all employed Albanian nationals. It is believed to have originated from the offices of the Albanian Internal Revenue Services.

  • A new sophisticated global phishing campaign that is estimated to have cost victims approximately $80 million per month, has been uncovered by researchers at Group-IB. The campaign offers fake giveaways and surveys from popular brands in order to steal data from victims. So far, it has targeted users in over 90 countries including the U.S., Canada, and Italy.

  • As part of the ongoing Log4j-related attack campaigns, hackers breached the Belgian Defense Ministry’s network by exploiting its internal systems. This affected its computer network, including the mail system used by the department. The officials roped in an external security team to mitigate the issues.

  • A misconfigured AWS S3 bucket exposed data of 700,000 citizens in Ghana. The unprotected storage bucket, which contained 55GB worth of data, belonged to Ghana’s National Service Secretariat. The exposed data included program membership cards, Ghana National Health Insurance scheme, and professional IDs of individuals.

New Threats

The week also saw the discovery of several new and resurgent malware strains. This included the JavaScript and C# based trojan called DarkWatchman, a surprisingly simple ransomware named TimeTime, the TellYouPass ransomware that came back from the dead, and the Dridex banking trojan that appeared in an employee termination malspam campaign and in attacks exploiting the Log4Shell vulnerability.

  • This week, a new malware named DarkWatchman was revealed in the cybercrime landscape. The malware, which was first spotted in early November, is being distributed via phishing emails containing malicious ZIP attachments. The malware is a highly-capable JavaScript-based remote access trojan that is paired with a C# keylogger.

  • Researchers at Sophos and Curated Intelligence this week confirmed that a second ransomware family after Khonsari –TellYouThePass – has been exploiting the Apache Log4j vulnerability. The ransomware, which had remained inactive since the summer of 2020, resurfaced to target both Linux and Windows systems.

  • Microsoft notified Azure users about source code leaks due to a serious security vulnerability in the Azure App service. The flaw affected hundreds of source code repositories belonging to Azure users who deployed applications using Local Git after files were created or modified in the content root directory. Following the disclosure, the company has taken steps to fix the issue.

  • Researchers from the New York University Abu Dhabi discovered security vulnerabilities in handover, a fundamental mechanism used by all modern cellular networks. These flaws could be exploited by attackers to launch denial-of-service and man-in-the-middle attacks using low-cost equipment. All generations of mobile networks since 2G (GSM) are affected by these security issues.

  • A new ransomware strain, dubbed TimeTime, was discovered recently. Curiously enough, the TimeTime ransomware is written in C#, does not use any obfuscation techniques, and contains well documented code with meaningful function names. It encrypts victims’ files with a simple algorithm and asks them to pay 100 Euro via PaysafeCard in ransom.

  • In a new phishing campaign, attackers send fake termination letters to employees via emails to scare them into opening a malicious Excel attachment. The Excel file trolls the victim with a season's greeting message and infects them with Dridex banking trojan. Dridex also made an appearance in another campaign exploiting the Log4j vulnerability to distribute the malware on Windows and Linux systems with Meterpreter. The malware has the capability to install additional payloads and take screenshots, among other malicious actions.

  • In a recent phishing campaign, attackers were found bypassing the patch for a flaw in MSHTML to deliver the Formbook malware to Windows systems. The vulnerability in question, tracked as CVE-2021-40444, relates to a remote code execution flaw in MSHTML that could be exploited using specially crafted Microsoft Office documents.

  • Two severe vulnerabilities affecting the ‘All in One SEO’ plugin put more than three million WordPress websites at risk of cyberattacks. The two flaws, described as a privilege escalation bug (CVE-2021-25036) and an SQL injection bug (CVE-2021-25037), were addressed with the release of a new version 4.1.5.3 of the plugin.

  • A relatively new AvosLocker ransomware was found actively targeting its victims using a bunch of new evasion techniques. It now uses the AnyDesk remote IT administrator tool in Windows Safe Mode. One of the other clever techniques used by it is the targeting of VMware ESXi servers by killing the virtual machines and then encrypting the files.

  • Microsoft released an alert on two Active Directory vulnerabilities and urged customers to install the available patches as soon as possible, to prevent potential compromise. Tracked as CVE-2021-42287 and CVE-2021-42278, the two security flaws can be used in an attack chain to impersonate domain controllers and gain administrative privileges on Active Directory.

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Apr 25, 2025

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Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, April 14–18, 2025

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Apr 11, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, April 07–11, 2025

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Apr 4, 2025

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Mar 28, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, March 24–28, 2025

The U.K’s NCSC is putting domain abuse in its crosshairs. New guidance targets registrars with a push to curb malicious domain registrations and hijacks. The recommendations focus on tightening security at registration, offering enhanced protections to customers, and more. Europe is getting serious about the quantum future. ETSI has rolled out a new quantum-safe encryption standard featuring Covercrypt, a novel key encapsulation scheme with built-in access controls. By tying decryption permissions to user attributes, Covercrypt delivers speed and post-quantum security. Medusa isn’t just encrypting files, it’s dismantling defenses first. The RaaS has been leveraging a malicious driver called ABYSSWORKER in BYOVD attacks to disable endpoint protections. FamousSparrow has returned with new tools and a familiar agenda. The Chinese APT group was behind a July 2024 attack targeting a U.S. trade group and a Mexican research institute, deploying a web shell on an IIS server to drop SparrowDoor and ShadowPad. A supply chain attack snuck through npm by modifying what developers thought they could trust. Threat actors used two packages to inject malware into the widely used ethers library. Lucid isn’t just phishing - it’s engineering trust through your inbox. This advanced PhaaS platform weaponizes the built-in features of iMessage and RCS to create hyper-realistic scams. Known for years of corporate espionage, RedCurl has shifted gears with a new ransomware called QWCrypt. The malware was found in a North American network, targeting hypervisors for maximum disruption. PlayBoy Locker is offering ransomware with a user manual and tech support. The newly investigated RaaS platform operates on an affiliate model and comes packed with features. Targeting Windows, NAS, and ESXi systems, it moves laterally using LDAP scans and abuses Restart Manager DLLs to shut down active processes before encryption.

Mar 21, 2025

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The race to outpace quantum threats is officially on. The NCSC has issued guidance to help organizations transition to post-quantum cryptography by 2035, with a focus on NIST-approved algorithms and planned support for critical sectors. A nationwide fraud crackdown ends with hundreds behind bars. Operation Henhouse led to 422 arrests and the seizure of millions in assets, as U.K. police target the country’s most widespread and costly crime - fraud. A threat actor briefly exposed their entire playbook. Researchers found a public server hosting tools tied to a campaign targeting South Korea, including a Rust-compiled payload delivering Cobalt Strike Cat and a list of over 1,000 potential targets. Phishing messages on Signal are leading to full system compromise. CERT-UA warns of DarkCrystal RAT attacks targeting Ukraine’s defense sector, using fake contacts and malicious files to trick victims into executing spyware. Ransomware slipped into VSCode under the radar. Two malicious extensions were discovered on the VSCode Marketplace, bypassing checks to deliver test-stage ransomware demanding ShibaCoin for decryption. Fake ads are being weaponized to steal Google credentials. A campaign targeting Semrush users is redirecting victims to spoofed login pages, where attackers harvest Google account logins through a fake “Log in with Google” prompt. A fake browser update could cost you more than a few clicks. A new ClearFake campaign is using fake reCAPTCHA and Turnstile pages to deliver malware like Lumma and Vidar Stealer, with payloads fetched through Binance’s Smart Chain. Hackers are quietly poisoning AI-generated code. A new supply chain attack targets AI editors like Copilot and Cursor, exploiting rules files to inject malicious prompts that trick the tools into writing compromised code.

Mar 14, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, March 10–14, 2025

A Russian hosting provider is feeling the heat from global sanctions. Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. have sanctioned Zservers, a bulletproof hosting provider linked to ransomware and fraud, freezing its assets and restricting operations. Switzerland is tightening its grip on cyber incident reporting. Starting April 1, critical infrastructure operatorsmust report cyberattacks to the NCSC within 24 hours, reinforcing national cybersecurity defenses. Cybercriminals are upgrading their toolkit for long-term access. Ragnar Loader is being leveraged by ransomware groups like FIN7, FIN8, and Ragnar Locker, evolving into a stealthier and more modular malware for persistent system compromise. Chinese hackers are slipping past defenses in Juniper routers. The UNC3886 threat group is backdooring older Juniper MX routers, bypassing security protections and embedding custom TinyShell malware to maintain access. North Korean hackers are adding ransomware to their arsenal. Moonstone Sleet (Storm-1789) is deploying Qilin ransomware, using fake companies and trojanized tools to infiltrate targets through LinkedIn and freelance platforms. A botnet is turning home routers into attack platforms. The Ballista botnet is exploiting an unpatched TP-Link Archer router flaw (CVE-2023-1389) to spread stealthily, using Tor domains and remote command execution to launch DDoS attacks worldwide. Copy, paste, and lose your crypto. MassJacker hijacks clipboard transactions, swapping wallet addresses with attacker-controlled ones, stealing funds from victims who unknowingly send money to the wrong destination. A fake CAPTCHA is all it takes to get root access. The OBSCURE#BAT campaign is using social engineering tactics to install the r77 rootkit, bypassing defenses and targeting English-speaking users with stealthy, persistent malware.

Mar 7, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, March 03–07, 2025

The code caves of GitHub just got a cleanup crew courtesy of Microsoft. A sprawling malvertising campaign that snagged nearly a million devices worldwide has been knocked down a peg. Cheap Android gadgets are getting a breather from a relentless digital pest. The BadBox 2.0 botnet, a souped-up sequel backed by multiple threat crews, saw 24 shady apps booted from Google Play and half a million infected devices cut off from their puppet masters, thanks to some crafty sinkholing and Google’s cleanup sweep. A sneaky gatecrasher has turned WordPress into a redirect rollercoaster. A malicious JavaScript injection lurking in a theme file has snagged at least 31 sites, pulling visitors through a two-step detour to shady third-party domains. Japan’s digital defenses are under siege from a shadowy crew with a taste for chaos. Since January, unknown threat actors have been prying open organizations in tech, telecom, entertainment, and more, exploiting CVE-2024-4577 in PHP-CGI on Windows. Crooks posing as the Electronic Frontier Foundation are targeting Albion Online players with phishing emails and fake PDFs, claiming account trouble. It’s a ruse to drop Stealc malware and Pyramid C2. A fresh face in the cybercrime underworld is juggling a bag of nasty surprises. EncryptHub is hitting users of QQ Talk, WeChat, Google Meet, and more with trojanized apps and slick multi-stage attacks. The Eleven11bot botnet, loosely tied to Iran, has taken over 86,000 IoT devices to slam telecoms and gaming servers with relentless DDoS barrages. Social media’s sunny side has a dark shadow creeping across the Middle East and North Africa. Since September 2024, Desert Dexter has been slinging a tweaked AsyncRAT via legit file-sharing sites and Telegram. For detailed Cyber Threat Intel, click ‘Read More’.

Feb 28, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, February 24–28, 2025

Stay ahead of cyber threats with the latest on the Vo1d botnet infecting Android TVs, GitVenom malware on GitHub, Redox Stealer, LCRYX ransomware, and a critical WordPress XSS vulnerability. Plus, insights on Lotus Blossom cyber espionage, PolarEdge malware targeting routers, Chrome extension hijacks, and PayPal phishing scams. Get the full security briefing now!

Feb 21, 2025

Cyware Weekly Threat Intelligence, February 17–21, 2025

Google is stepping up its defenses against the quantum threat. The company is rolling out quantum-resistant digital signatures in Cloud KMS, following NIST’s post-quantum cryptography standards. Supply chain attacks just got harder to pull off. Apiiro has released two open-source tools to detect malicious code in software projects. With high detection rates across PyPI and npm packages, these tools add a crucial layer of security for developers. China’s Salt Typhoon is making itself at home in global telecom networks. The group has been caught using JumbledPath, a custom-built spying tool, to infiltrate ISPs in the U.S., Italy, South Africa, and Thailand. ShadowPad malware is once again causing havoc in Europe. Trend Micro flagged 21 targeted companies across 15 countries, with manufacturing firms bearing the brunt. A RAT is hiding in plain sight. SectopRAT has been spotted disguised as a fake Google Docs Chrome extension. It steals browser data, targets VPNs and cryptocurrency wallets, and injects malicious scripts into web pages. Darcula Suite is taking PhaaS to the next level. The upcoming update, currently in beta, will let users generate their own phishing kits by cloning real websites and customizing attack elements. A new payment card skimming campaign is turning Stripe’s old API into a weapon. Hackers are injecting malicious scripts into checkout pages, validating stolen card details through Stripe before exfiltration. LummaC2 is spreading through cracked software downloads again. ASEC found it disguised as a pirated Total Commander installer, hiding behind Google Collab Drive and Reddit links.