IIS | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a previously unreported threat cluster dubbed OP-512 (where "OP" stands for "opponent") that has been observed targeting Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) servers to deploy a bespoke web shell framework. ReliaQuest has assessed with moderate to high confidence that the espionage-focused activity is linked to China. "OP-512 was highly likely conducting espionage through a compromised Internet Information Services (IIS) web server on an organization whose sector and geography align with China-linked intelligence priorities," the company said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Although no overlaps have been found between OP-512 and other known China-aligned adversaries, it's the fourth such threat group after CL-STA-0048 , DragonRank , and GhostRedirector to single out IIS web servers over the past 12 months. As recently as last month, Cisco Talos revealed that multiple Chinese-speaking...

The threat actor known as Jewelbug has been increasingly focusing on government targets in Europe since July 2025, even as it continues to attack entities located in Southeast Asia and South America. Check Point Research is tracking the cluster under the name Ink Dragon . It's also referenced by the broader cybersecurity community under the names CL-STA-0049 , Earth Alux , and REF7707 . The China-aligned hacking group is assessed to be active since at least March 2023. "The actor's campaigns combine solid software engineering, disciplined operational playbooks, and a willingness to reuse platform-native tools to blend into normal enterprise telemetry," the cybersecurity company said in a technical breakdown published Tuesday. "This mix makes their intrusions both effective and stealthy." Eli Smadja, group manager of Products R&D at Check Point Software, told The Hacker News that the activity is still ongoing, and that the campaign has "impacte...

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning campaign likely undertaken by a Chinese-speaking threat actor using a malware called BadIIS in attacks targeting East and Southeast Asia, particularly with a focus on Vietnam. The activity, dubbed Operation Rewrite , is being tracked by Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 under the moniker CL-UNK-1037, where "CL" stands for cluster and "UNK" refers to unknown motivation. The threat actor has been found to share infrastructure and architectural overlaps with an entity referred to as Group 9 by ESET and DragonRank . "To perform SEO poisoning, attackers manipulate search engine results to trick people into visiting unexpected or unwanted websites (e.g., gambling and porn websites) for financial gain," security researcher Yoav Zemah said . "This attack used a malicious native Internet Information Services ( IIS ) module called BadIIS." BadIIS is designed to i...