cyber espionage | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

The Russia-linked threat actor known as APT29 is said to be behind a large-scale watering hole campaign targeting iOS and Android users through compromised websites, fake domains, and a supply chain attack involving a Ukrainian web analytics service called Plerdy SEO Tracker. "The injected JavaScript code collects browser and device attributes," Sekoia researchers Amaury-Jacques Garçon and Félix Aime said in a technical report shared with The Hacker News. "Then, the delivery infrastructure delivers a platform-specific N-day exploit chain targeting either iOS or Android." The end goal of the attacks is to serve payloads capable of stealing browser cookies, and in some cases, Wi-Fi passwords or full mobile device data. The activity, codenamed Poisoned Source , was discovered by the French cybersecurity company in mid-October 2026. A defining aspect of the campaign is the use of three infection vectors - Compromise of legitimate websites to inject malicio...

A China-aligned threat actor known as SlippyNunchucks has been attributed to a Domain Name System (DNS) hijacking operation abusing insecure HTTP communications in Windows versions of Sogou Input Method as part of a surveillance campaign designed to deploy an implant called DarkVigil (aka FDMTP). The campaign, observed starting July 1, 2026, is assessed to have targeted organizations and Chinese-speaking individuals in Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Oman, and Sri Lanka, according to ESET. "DarkVigil implants are typically deployed through popular Chinese applications," ESET researcher Anh Ho said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "By abusing these applications, the SlippyNunchucks threat actor has been able to reach Chinese-speaking users across Asia and Europe." Some of the applications abused by the adversary include Sogou Input Method, QuickFox, QingTalk, MiYunChat, SoftCam, and tawk.to. Active since at least September 15, 2023, SlippyNunc...

Russian authorities have arrested three suspected members of a threat group known as VasyGrek and dismantled its criminal infrastructure. Also known as Fluffy Wolf, the threat actor has a history of targeting Russian and international companies since 2016. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD) said members of the group are "suspected of embezzling funds from the accounts of organizations, as well as creating, distributing, and using malicious software." In one September 2025 case highlighted by the ministry, the attackers are said to have sent a phishing email to an unnamed organization, masquerading it as business correspondence and instructing recipients to open a reconciliation report that triggered the execution of malware. The incident resulted in losses of 660,000 rubles ($8,000) from the organization's bank account, with the attackers transferring the funds to accounts under their control. "The attacks utilized a vast ...

A Russia-aligned threat actor known as Gorbag has been observed using simple information stealer malware in attacks targeting Ukrainian organizations. "Active since at least February 2025, the group has focused exclusively on Ukrainian targets, with a clear preference for law enforcement and justice entities, local administrations near the front line, and the defense sector," ESET researcher Damien Schaeffer said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The activity shares overlaps with a cluster tracked by the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) under the moniker UAC-0226 and by Trend Micro as SHADOW-EARTH-066 . Gorbag is known to be active since at least February 2025. A key tool in the threat actor's malware arsenal is GIFTEDCROOK, a C/C++ stealer that facilitates the theft of sensitive data from web browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox, such as cookies, browsing history, and authentication data. Earlier this Ju...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a cyber espionage campaign targeting Israel and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by an Iran state-aligned threat actor between August and October 2026. According to a report published by Dream Research Labs, the campaign has led to the compromise of a high-profile individual in Israel, along with additional compromises affecting a government cloud environment in the Kurdistan Region. The activity has been attributed to a threat actor known as DarkBlinders , an Iran-nexus group assessed to be active since at least September 2024 and linked to attacks aimed at aviation infrastructure and telecommunications in the U.A.E. and Iraq. It exhibits no technical overlap with other known hacking groups. Attacks mounted by the group are known to rely on spear-phishing as an initial access pathway to lure recipients into opening trojanized utilities or clicking on attacker-controlled websites that host similar tools as direct downloads. Prev...