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Cybersecurity researchers today uncovered a sustained malicious campaign dating back to May 2018 that targets Windows machines running MS-SQL servers to deploy backdoors and other kinds of malware, including multi-functional remote access tools (RATs) and cryptominers. Named " Vollgar " after the Vollar cryptocurrency it mines and its offensive "vulgar" modus operandi, researchers at Guardicore Labs said the attack employs password brute-force to breach Microsoft SQL servers with weak credentials exposed to the Internet. Researchers claim the attackers managed to successfully infect nearly 2,000-3,000 database servers daily over the past few weeks, with potential victims belonging to healthcare, aviation, IT & telecommunications, and higher education sectors across China, India, the US, South Korea, and Turkey. Thankfully for those concerned, researchers have also released a script to let sysadmins detect if any of their Windows MS-SQL servers have been...

Russian organizations have become the target of a phishing campaign that distributes malware called PureRAT, according to new findings from Kaspersky. "The campaign aimed at Russian business began back in March 2023, but in the first third of 2025 the number of attacks quadrupled compared to the same period in 2024," the cybersecurity vendor said . The attack chains, which have not been attributed to any specific threat actor, commence with a phishing email that contains a RAR file attachment or a link to the archive that masquerades as a Microsoft Word or a PDF document by making use of double extensions ("doc_054_[redacted].pdf.rar"). Present within the archive file is an executable that, when launched, copies itself to the "%AppData%" location of the compromised Windows machine under the name "task.exe" and creates a Visual Basic Script called "Task.vbs" in the Startup VBS folder. The executable then proceeds to unpack another ...

An advanced strain of malware masquerading as a cryptocurrency miner has managed to fly the radar for over five years, infecting no less than one million devices around the world in the process. That's according to findings from Kaspersky, which has codenamed the threat  StripedFly , describing it as an "intricate modular framework that supports both Linux and Windows." The Russian cybersecurity vendor, which first detected the samples in 2017, said the miner is part of a much larger entity that employs a custom  EternalBlue SMBv1 exploit  attributed to the Equation Group in order to infiltrate publicly-accessible systems. The malicious shellcode, delivered via the exploit, has the ability to download binary files from a remote Bitbucket repository as well as execute PowerShell scripts. It also supports a collection of plugin-like expandable features to harvest sensitive data and even uninstall itself. The platform's shellcode is injected in the  wininit.exe pro...

Adversaries are increasingly abusing Telegram as a "command-and-control" system to distribute malware into organizations that could then be used to capture sensitive information from targeted systems. "Even when Telegram is not installed or being used, the system allows hackers to send malicious commands and operations remotely via the instant messaging app," said researchers from cybersecurity firm Check Point , who have identified no fewer than 130 attacks over the past three months that make use of a new multi-functional remote access trojan (RAT) called "ToxicEye." The use of Telegram for facilitating malicious activities is not new. In September 2019, an information stealer dubbed  Masad Stealer  was found to plunder information and cryptocurrency wallet data from infected computers using Telegram as an exfiltration channel. Then last year,  Magecart groups  embraced the same tactic to send stolen payment details from compromised websites back to ...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new phishing campaign that spreads a new fileless variant of known commercial malware called Remcos RAT . Remcos RAT "provides purchases with a wide range of advanced features to remotely control computers belonging to the buyer," Fortinet FortiGuard Labs researcher Xiaopeng Zhang said in an analysis published last week. "However, threat actors have abused Remcos to collect sensitive information from victims and remotely control their computers to perform further malicious acts." The starting point of the attack is a phishing email that uses purchase order-themed lures to convince recipients to open a Microsoft Excel attachment. The malicious Excel document is designed to exploit a known remote code execution flaw in Office ( CVE-2017-0199 , CVSS score: 7.8) to download an HTML Application (HTA) file ("cookienetbookinetcahce.hta") from a remote server ("192.3.220[.]22") and launch it using mshta.e...

Cyber threats are evolving faster than ever. Attackers now combine social engineering, AI-driven manipulation, and cloud exploitation to breach targets once considered secure. From communication platforms to connected devices, every system that enhances convenience also expands the attack surface. This edition of ThreatsDay Bulletin explores these converging risks and the safeguards that help preserve trust in an increasingly intelligent threat landscape. How Threat Actors Abuse Microsoft Teams Attackers Abuse Microsoft Teams for Extortion, Social Engineering, and Financial Theft Microsoft detailed the various ways threat actors can abuse its Teams chat software at various stages of the attack chain, even using it to support financial theft through extortion, social engineering, or technical means. " Octo Tempest has used communication apps, including Teams, to send taunting and threatening messages to organizations, defenders, and incident response teams as p...

Security researchers have discovered a custom-built piece of malware that's wreaking havoc in Asia for past several months and is capable of performing nasty tasks, like password stealing, bitcoin mining, and providing hackers complete remote access to compromised systems. Dubbed Operation PZChao , the attack campaign discovered by the security researchers at Bitdefender have been targeting organizations in the government, technology, education, and telecommunications sectors in Asia and the United States. Researchers believe nature, infrastructure, and payloads, including variants of the Gh0stRAT trojan, used in the PZChao attacks are reminiscent of the notorious Chinese hacker group— Iron Tiger . However, this campaign has evolved its payloads to drop trojan, conduct cyber espionage and mine Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The PZChao campaign is attacking targets across Asia and the U.S. by using similar attack tactics as of Iron Tiger, which, according to the researchers, si...

Power doesn't just disappear in one big breach. It slips away in the small stuff—a patch that's missed, a setting that's wrong, a system no one is watching. Security usually doesn't fail all at once; it breaks slowly, then suddenly. Staying safe isn't about knowing everything—it's about acting fast and clear before problems pile up. Clarity keeps control. Hesitation creates risk. Here are this week's signals—each one pointing to where action matters most. ⚡ Threat of the Week Ghost Tap NFC-Based Mobile Fraud Takes Off — A new Android trojan called PhantomCard has become the latest malware to abuse near-field communication (NFC) to conduct relay attacks for facilitating fraudulent transactions in attacks targeting banking customers in Brazil. In these attacks, users who end up installing the malicious apps are instructed to place their credit/debit card on the back of the phone to begin the verification process, only for the card data to be sent to an attacker-controlled NFC relay...

Kaspersky Lab has revealed a new type of malware that can infect your computer when connected smartphone or tablet. Two such application, Super Clean and DroidCleaner found in Google Play android market. These two are actually same application, just released with two different names. These applications apparently disguised as a tool to clean memory for the Android operating system but after installing and running it displays a list of all running some processes and then restart the device. Later, in background, the app downloads three files autorun.inf, folder.ico, and svchosts.exe in phone. When user connect infected android mobile phone to any Windows computer with active Autorun or Autoplay functionality for USB devices, the svchosts.exe file ( Backdoor.MSIL.Ssucl.a ) is automatically executed on computer. A similar situation may arise in case of SD card. Before apps were removed by Google, they may together have been downloaded up to...

A few months back we reported how opening a simple MS Word file could compromise your computer using a critical vulnerability in Microsoft Office . The Microsoft Office remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2017-0199) resided in the Windows Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) interface for which a patch was issued in April this year, but threat actors are still abusing the flaw through the different mediums. Security researchers have spotted a new malware campaign that is leveraging the same exploit, but for the first time, hidden behind a specially crafted PowerPoint (PPSX) Presentation file. According to the researchers at Trend Micro, who spotted the malware campaign, the targeted attack starts with a convincing spear-phishing email attachment, purportedly from a cable manufacturing provider and mainly targets companies involved in the electronics manufacturing industry. Researchers believe this attack involves the use of a sender address disguised as a legitimate ema...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a new malicious campaign that uses a fake website advertising antivirus software from Bitdefender to dupe victims into downloading a remote access trojan called Venom RAT. The campaign indicates a "clear intent to target individuals for financial gain by compromising their credentials, crypto wallets, and potentially selling access to their systems," the DomainTools Intelligence (DTI) team said in a new report shared with The Hacker News. The website in question, "bitdefender-download[.]com," advertises site visitors to download a Windows version of the Antivirus software. Clicking on the prominent "Download for Windows" button initiates a file download from a Bitbucket repository that redirects to an Amazon S3 bucket. The Bitbucket account is no longer active. The ZIP archive ("BitDefender.zip") contains an executable called "StoreInstaller.exe," which includes malware configurations assoc...