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Cybersecurity researchers have discovered additional infrastructure and previously undocumented malware associated with Nimbus Manticore , an Iranian state-sponsored hacking group affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Group-IB, in a new analysis published today, described the cyber espionage actor as among the most active Iranian APT groups in 2026. Nimbus Manticore (aka GalaxyGato, Mirage Kitten, Screening Serpens, Smoke Sandstorm, Subtle Snail, and UNC1549) is assessed to be linked to Tortoiseshell (aka Imperial Kitten and Unyielding Wasp), which is part of the Charming Kitten (aka Eclipsed Wasp) cluster. Tortoiseshell is known to be active since at least July 2018, mainly targeting defense, aerospace, IT service providers, and military organizations in the Middle East and the U.S. Nimbus Manticore also has a history of orchestrating its own version of the Dream Job campaign to deliver malware under the pretext of job opportunity-themed social engine...

An independent malware researcher has documented a previously unreported Windows backdoor, dubbed SLEEPWALKER , that stays inert in memory until a specifically crafted network packet reaches the machine and then runs commands written in a 23-instruction language of its own design. The sample is an unsigned 64-bit Windows dynamic-link library (DLL) of 59,904 bytes, built to be side-loaded into ERAAgent.exe, the Windows executable for ESET Management Agent. It impersonates Microsoft's dpapi.dll, exporting the same seven data protection functions as the genuine system library, and carries a version resource copied from ESET Management Agent. There are no domains, IP addresses or URLs built into the file, and it makes no outbound connection of its own, so an infected host can look clean to tooling that watches for connections to known-bad infrastructure. Commands arrive as bytecode rather than readable text, so recovering the encryption key yields opcodes in a format that...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new campaign that uses a cluster of 24 npm packages as free phishing infrastructure for redirecting to ClickFix-style fake CAPTCHA pages. "While the malware is simply a single HTML page inside the npm package, and while downloading it wouldn't do harm, the threat actor’s use of npm isn't to infect developers who install it, but to use the registry and its mirrors as a safe, validated storage for the malware," OX Security researchers Moshe Siman Tov Bustan and Vitalii Chepurko said . The list of npm packages, some of which are still available for download, is below - bgzxcuite2 prezdentkxheiw egair0810 mnteckets airdzticket egypt0811 passport811 vxhjkseuiaqkb ndmushdkeqe ndmxchdjxn2 ndmfguyhoxc3 mjsdqwocvn m2fcsfyjkuxb m3fdfocdoewn @worrisome/reutil testdgdbcsd tesgfvbncsdbcv mndsxcusiwlk1 mn2adskhweox mn3sadkoiewu mn4xcouzvhus mbxcnsuwgs1 s...

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a new campaign that employs FTP banners as dead drop resolvers ( DDRs ) to deliver two previously unreported remote access trojans (RATs) tracked as E4del and PINHOLE . While threat actors are known to abuse legitimate services to point to additional command-and-control (C2) infrastructure and blend in with regular network traffic, the development marks the first time this unusual technique has been spotted in the wild. An FTP banner is a welcome message or text string that an FTP server sends to a client immediately upon connection. The mechanism allows "malware stagers to fetch commands directly from the protocol's initial response," SOCRadar said in a technical report. The modus operandi was first highlighted by the MalwareHunterTeam early last month.  However, it's worth noting that the method is a lot less stealthy than traditional web-based DDRs, as security controls are likely to flag FTP connections ...

Cybersecurity researchers have found that several websites are still actively distributing a malware family known as Weedhack to gamers by masquerading as Minecraft clients. McAfee Labs said it detected and blocked more than 6,300 attempts to access malicious sites, adding that it found lookalike gaming websites designed to mimic legitimate projects, including branding, feature lists, FAQs, installation guides, developer credits, and links to genuine GitHub repositories. Notably, one of the sites has been built using Lovable , an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered website builder, highlighting how readily available tools can further lower the barrier and make it easier to launch convincing new malicious sites. Weedhack was first documented by the cybersecurity company back in June 2026, detailing its use of SEO poisoning and YouTube to redirect traffic to the bogus domains. The attack triggers a multi-stage sequence that culminates in the deployment of JAR payloads that can ...