Russian hackers | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Microsoft has shed light on a previously undocumented cluster of malicious activity originating from a Russia-affiliated threat actor dubbed Void Blizzard (aka Laundry Bear) that it said is attributed to "worldwide cloud abuse." Active since at least April 2024, the hacking group is linked to espionage operations mainly targeting organizations that are important to Russian government objectives, including those in government, defense, transportation, media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and healthcare sectors in Europe and North America. "They often use stolen sign-in details that they likely buy from online marketplaces to gain access to organizations," the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team said in a report published today. "Once inside, they steal large amounts of emails and files." Attacks mounted by Void Blizzard have been found to disproportionately single out NATO member states and Ukraine, suggesting that the adversary is looking to ...

The Russia-aligned threat actor known as TAG-110 has been observed conducting a spear-phishing campaign targeting Tajikistan using macro-enabled Word templates as an initial payload. The attack chain is a departure from the threat actor's previously documented use of an HTML Application (.HTA) loader dubbed HATVIBE, Recorded Future's Insikt Group said in an analysis. "Given TAG-110's historical targeting of public sector entities in Central Asia, this campaign is likely targeting government, educational, and research institutions within Tajikistan," the cybersecurity company noted . "These cyber espionage operations likely aim to gather intelligence for influencing regional politics or security, particularly during sensitive events like elections or geopolitical tensions." TAG-110, also called UAC-0063, is the name assigned to a threat activity group that's known for its targeting of European embassies, as well as other organizations in Cent...

A sprawling operation undertaken by global law enforcement agencies and a consortium of private sector firms has disrupted the online infrastructure associated with a commodity information stealer known as Lumma (aka LummaC or LummaC2), seizing 2,300 domains that acted as the command-and-control (C2) backbone to commandeer infected Windows systems. "Malware like LummaC2 is deployed to steal sensitive information such as user login credentials from millions of victims in order to facilitate a host of crimes, including fraudulent bank transfers and cryptocurrency theft," the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a statement. The confiscated infrastructure has been used to target millions across the world through affiliates and other cyber criminals. Lumma Stealer, active since late 2022, is estimated to have been used in at least 1.7 million instances to steal information, such as browser data, autofill information, login credentials, and cryptocurrency seed phrases. Th...

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a Russian-speaking cyber espionage group called Nebulous Mantis that has deployed a remote access trojan called RomCom RAT since mid-2022. RomCom "employs advanced evasion techniques, including living-off-the-land (LOTL) tactics and encrypted command and control (C2) communications, while continuously evolving its infrastructure – leveraging bulletproof hosting to maintain persistence and evade detection," Swiss cybersecurity company PRODAFT said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Nebulous Mantis, also tracked by the cybersecurity community under the names CIGAR , Cuba , Storm-0978, Tropical Scorpius, UAC-0180, UNC2596 , and Void Rabisu , is known to target critical infrastructure, government agencies, political leaders, and NATO-related defense organizations. Attack chains mounted by the group typically involve the use of spear-phishing emails with weaponized document links to distribute RomCom RAT. The domains and com...

A new investigation has unearthed nearly 200 unique command-and-control (C2) domains associated with a malware called Raspberry Robin . "Raspberry Robin (also known as Roshtyak or Storm-0856) is a complex and evolving threat actor that provides initial access broker (IAB) services to numerous criminal groups, many of which have connections to Russia," Silent Push said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Since its emergence in 2019, the malware has become a conduit for various malicious strains like SocGholish, Dridex, LockBit, IcedID, BumbleBee, and TrueBot. It's also referred to as QNAP worm owing to the use of compromised QNAP devices to retrieve the payload. Over the years, Raspberry Robin attack chains have added a new distribution method that involves downloading it via archives and Windows Script Files sent as attachments using the messaging service Discord, not to mention acquiring one-day exploits to achieve local privilege escalation before they we...

Multiple Russia-aligned threat actors have been observed targeting individuals of interest via the privacy-focused messaging app Signal to gain unauthorized access to their accounts. "The most novel and widely used technique underpinning Russian-aligned attempts to compromise Signal accounts is the abuse of the app's legitimate 'linked devices' feature that enables Signal to be used on multiple devices concurrently," the Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) said in a report. In the attacks spotted by the tech giant's threat intelligence teams, the threat actors, including one it's tracking as UNC5792, have resorted to malicious QR codes that, when scanned, will link a victim's account to an actor-controlled Signal instance. As a result, future messages get delivered synchronously to both the victim and the threat actor in real-time, thereby granting threat actors a persistent way to eavesdrop on the victim's conversations. Google said UAC-...

A previously unknown threat actor has been observed copying the tradecraft associated with the Kremlin-aligned Gamaredon hacking group in its cyber attacks targeting Russian-speaking entities. The campaign has been attributed to a threat cluster dubbed GamaCopy , which is assessed to share overlaps with another hacking group named Core Werewolf , also tracked as Awaken Likho and PseudoGamaredon. According to the Knownsec 404 Advanced Threat Intelligence team, the attacks leverage content related to military facilities as lures to drop UltraVNC, allowing threat actors to remotely access the compromised hosts. "The TTP (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures) of this organization imitates that of the Gamaredon organization which conducts attacks against Ukraine," the company said in a report published last week. The disclosure arrives nearly four months after Kaspersky revealed that Russian government agencies and industrial entities have been the target of Core Werewolf, ...

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a new kind of investment scam that leverages a combination of social media malvertising, company-branded posts, and artificial intelligence (AI) powered video testimonials featuring famous personalities, ultimately leading to financial and data loss. "The main goal of the fraudsters is to lead victims to phishing websites and forms that harvest their personal information," ESET noted in its H2 2024 Threat Report shared with The Hacker News. The Slovak cybersecurity company is tracking the threat under the name Nomani , a play on the phrase "no money." It said the scam grew by over 335% between H1 and H2 2024, with more than 100 new URLs detected daily on average between May and November 2024. The attacks play out through fraudulent ads on social media platforms, in several cases targeting people who have previously been scammed by making use of Europol- and INTERPOL-related lures about contacting them for help ...

A Russian cybercriminal wanted in the U.S. in connection with LockBit and Hive ransomware operations has been arrested by law enforcement authorities in the country. According to a news report from Russian media outlet RIA Novosti, Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev has been accused of developing a malicious program designed to encrypt files and seek ransom in return for a decryption key. "At present, the investigator has collected sufficient evidence, the criminal case with the indictment signed by the prosecutor has been sent to the Central District Court of the city of Kaliningrad for consideration on the merits," the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement. Matveev has been charged under Part 1 of Article 273 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which relates to the creation, use, and distribution of computer programs that can cause "destruction, blocking, modification or copying of computer information." He was previously charged and ...

A Moscow-based company sanctioned by the U.S. earlier this year has been linked to yet another influence operation designed to turn public opinion against Ukraine and erode Western support since at least December 2023. The covert campaign undertaken by Social Design Agency (SDA) leverages videos enhanced using artificial intelligence (AI) and bogus websites impersonating reputable news sources to target audiences across Ukraine, Europe, and the U.S. It has been dubbed Operation Undercut by Recorded Future's Insikt Group. "This operation, running in tandem with other campaigns like Doppelganger , is designed to discredit Ukraine's leadership, question the effectiveness of Western aid, and stir socio-political tensions," the cybersecurity company said . "The campaign also seeks to shape narratives around the 2024 U.S. elections and geopolitical conflicts, such as the Israel-Gaza situation, to deepen divisions." Social Design Agency has been previously a...

Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday announced the seizure of 107 internet domains used by state-sponsored threat actors with ties to Russia to facilitate computer fraud and abuse in the country. "The Russian government ran this scheme to steal Americans' sensitive information, using seemingly legitimate email accounts to trick victims into revealing account credentials," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. The activity has been attributed to a threat actor called COLDRIVER , which is also known by the names Blue Callisto, BlueCharlie (or TAG-53), Calisto (alternately spelled Callisto), Dancing Salome, Gossamer Bear, Iron Frontier, Star Blizzard (formerly SEABORGIUM), TA446, and UNC4057. Active since at least 2012, the group is assessed to be an operational unit within Center 18 of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). In December 2023, the U.K. and U.S. governments sanctioned two members of the group – Aleksandrovich Peretyat...

A new wave of international law enforcement actions has led to four arrests and the takedown of nine servers linked to the LockBit (aka Bitwise Spider) ransomware operation, marking the latest salvo against what was once a prolific financially motivated group. This includes the arrest of a suspected LockBit developer in France while on holiday outside of Russia, two individuals in the U.K. who allegedly supported an affiliate, and an administrator of a bulletproof hosting service in Spain used by the ransomware group, Europol said in a statement. In conjunction, authorities outed a Russian national named Aleksandr Ryzhenkov (aka Beverley, Corbyn_Dallas, G, Guester, and Kotosel) as one of the high-ranking members of the Evil Corp cybercrime group, while simultaneously painting him as a LockBit affiliate. Sanctions have also been announced against seven individuals and two entities linked to the e-crime gang. "The United States, in close coordination with our allies and part...

The U.S. government and a coalition of international partners have officially attributed a Russian hacking group tracked as Cadet Blizzard to the General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) 161st Specialist Training Center ( Unit 29155 ). "These cyber actors are responsible for computer network operations against global targets for the purposes of espionage, sabotage, and reputational harm since at least 2020," the agencies said . "Since early 2022, the primary focus of the cyber actors appears to be targeting and disrupting efforts to provide aid to Ukraine." Targets of the attacks have focused on critical infrastructure and key resource sectors, including the government services, financial services, transportation systems, energy, and healthcare sectors of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, the European Union, Central American, and Asian countries. The joint advisory, released last week as part of a coordinated exercise dubbed Operatio...

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a sophisticated information stealer campaign that impersonates legitimate brands to distribute malware like DanaBot and StealC . The activity cluster, orchestrated by Russian-speaking cybercriminals and collectively codenamed Tusk, is said to encompass several sub-campaigns, leveraging the reputation of the platforms to trick users into downloading the malware using bogus sites and social media accounts. "All the active sub-campaigns host the initial downloader on Dropbox," Kaspersky researchers Elsayed Elrefaei and AbdulRhman Alfaifi said . "This downloader is responsible for delivering additional malware samples to the victim's machine, which are mostly info-stealers (DanaBot and StealC) and clippers." Of the 19 sub-campaigns identified to date, three are said to be currently active. The name "Tusk" is a reference to the word "Mammoth" used by the threat actors in log messages associated with t...