Jun 14, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalware / Threat Intelligence A new malware campaign is exploiting a weakness in Discord's invitation system to deliver an information stealer called Skuld and the AsyncRAT remote access trojan. "Attackers hijacked the links through vanity link registration, allowing them to silently redirect users from trusted sources to malicious servers," Check Point said in a technical report. "The attackers combined the ClickFix phishing technique, multi-stage loaders, and time-based evasions to stealthily deliver AsyncRAT, and a customized Skuld Stealer targeting crypto wallets." The issue with Discord's invite mechanism is that it allows attackers to hijack expired or deleted invite links and secretly redirect unsuspecting users to malicious servers under their control. This also means that a Discord invite link that was once trusted and shared on forums or social media platforms could unwittingly lead users to malicious sites. Details of the campaign come a little over a month after the cybersecurity company revealed another sophisticated phishing campaign that hijacked expired vanity invite links to entice users into joining a Discord server and instruct them to visit a phishing site to verify ownership, only to have their digital assets drained upon connecting their wallets. While users can create temporary, permanent, or custom (vanity) invite links on Discord, the platform prevents other legitimate servers from reclaiming a previously expired or deleted invite. However, Check Point found that creating custom invite links allows the reuse of expired invite codes and even deleted permanent invite codes in some cases. This ability to reuse Discord expired or deleted codes when creating custom vanity invite links opens the door to abuse, allowing attackers to claim it for their malicious server. "This creates a serious risk: Users who follow previously trusted invite links (e.g., on websites, blogs, or forums) can unknowingly be redirected to fake Discord servers created by threat actors," Check Point said. The Discord invite-link hijacking, in a nutshell, involves taking control of invite links originally shared by legitimate communities and then using them to redirect users to the malicious server. Users who fall prey to the scheme and join the server are asked to complete a verification step in order to gain full server access by authorizing a bot, which then leads them to a fake website with a prominent "Verify" button. This is where the attackers take the attack to the next level by incorporating the infamous ClickFix social engineering tactic to trick users into infecting their systems under the pretext of verification. Specifically, clicking the "Verify" button surreptitiously executes JavaScript that copies a PowerShell command to the machine's clipboard, after which the users are urged to launch the Windows Run dialog, paste the already copied "verification string" (i.e., the PowerShell command), and press Enter to authenticate their accounts. But in reality, performing these steps triggers the download of a PowerShell script hosted on Pastebin that subsequently retrieves and executes a first-stage downloader, which is ultimately used to drop AsyncRAT and Skuld Stealer from a remote server and execute them. At the heart of this attack lies a meticulously engineered, multi-stage infection process designed for both precision and stealth, while also taking steps to subvert security protections through sandbox security checks. AsyncRAT, which offers comprehensive remote control capabilities over infected systems, has been found to employ a technique called dead drop resolver to access the actual command-and-control (C2) server by reading a Pastebin file. The other payload is a Golang information stealer that's downloaded from Bitbucket. It's equipped to steal sensitive user data from Discord, various browsers, crypto wallets, and gaming platforms. Skuld is also capable of harvesting crypto wallet seed phrases and passwords from the Exodus and Atomic crypto wallets. It accomplishes this using an approach called wallet injection that replaces legitimate application files with trojanized versions downloaded from GitHub. It's worth noting that a similar technique was recently put to use by a rogue npm package named pdf-to-office. The attack also employs a custom version of an open-source tool known as ChromeKatz to bypass Chrome's app-bound encryption protections. The collected data is exfiltrated to the miscreants via a Discord webhook. The fact that payload delivery and data exfiltration occur via trusted cloud services such as GitHub, Bitbucket, Pastebin, and Discord allows the threat actors to blend in with normal traffic and fly under the radar. Discord has since disabled the malicious bot, effectively breaking the attack chain. Check Point said it also identified another campaign mounted by the same threat actor that distributes the loader as a modified version of a hacktool for unlocking pirated games. The malicious program, also hosted on Bitbucket, has been downloaded 350 times. It has been assessed that the victims of these campaigns are primarily located in the United States, Vietnam, France, Germany, Slovakia, Austria, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The findings represent the latest example of how cybercriminals are targeting the popular social platform, which has had its content delivery network (CDN) abused to host malware in the past. "This campaign illustrates how a subtle feature of Discord's invite system, the ability to reuse expired or deleted invite codes in vanity invite links, can be exploited as a powerful attack vector," the researchers said. "By hijacking legitimate invite links, threat actors silently redirect unsuspecting users to malicious Discord servers." "The choice of payloads, including a powerful stealer specifically targeting cryptocurrency wallets, suggests that the attackers are primarily focused on crypto users and motivated by financial gain." Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE    

New cyber threat exploits abandoned cloud links and DNS records, hijacking subdomains to deliver malware and scams through scam web pages that look legitimate.

Cyber threats don't show up one at a time anymore. They're layered, planned, and often stay hidden until it's too late. For cybersecurity teams, the key isn't just reacting to alerts—it's spotting early signs of trouble before they become real threats. This update is designed to deliver clear, accurate insights based on real patterns and changes we can verify. With today's complex systems, we need focused analysis—not noise. What you'll see here isn't just a list of incidents, but a clear look at where control is being gained, lost, or quietly tested. ⚡ Threat of the Week Lumma Stealer, DanaBot Operations Disrupted — A coalition of private sector companies and law enforcement agencies have taken down the infrastructure associated with Lumma Stealer and DanaBot. Charges have also been unsealed against 16 individuals for their alleged involvement in the development and deployment of DanaBot. The malware is equipped to siphon data from victim computers, hijack banking sessions, and steal device information. More uniquely, though, DanaBot has also been used for hacking campaigns that appear to be linked to Russian state-sponsored interests. All of that makes DanaBot a particularly clear example of how commodity malware has been repurposed by Russian state hackers for their own goals. In tandem, about 2,300 domains that acted as the command-and-control (C2) backbone for the Lumma information stealer have been seized, alongside taking down 300 servers and neutralizing 650 domains that were used to launch ransomware attacks. The actions against international cybercrime in the past few days constituted the latest phase of Operation Endgame. Get the Guide ➝ 🔔 Top News Threat Actors Use TikTok Videos to Distribute Stealers — While ClickFix has become a popular social engineering tactic to deliver malware, threat actors have been observed using artificial intelligence (AI)-generated videos uploaded to TikTok to deceive users into running malicious commands on their systems and deploy malware like Vidar and StealC under the guise of activating pirated version of Windows, Microsoft Office, CapCut, and Spotify. "This campaign highlights how attackers are ready to weaponize whichever social media platforms are currently popular to distribute malware," Trend Micro said. APT28 Hackers Target Western Logistics and Tech Firms — Several cybersecurity and intelligence agencies from Australia, Europe, and the United States issued a joint alert warning of a state-sponsored campaign orchestrated by the Russian state-sponsored threat actor APT28 targeting Western logistics entities and technology companies since 2022. "This cyber espionage-oriented campaign targeting logistics entities and technology companies uses a mix of previously disclosed TTPs and is likely connected to these actors' wide scale targeting of IP cameras in Ukraine and bordering NATO nations," the agencies said. The attacks are designed to steal sensitive information and maintain long-term persistence on compromised hosts. Chinese Threat Actors Exploit Ivanti EPMM Flaws — The China-nexus cyber espionage group tracked as UNC5221 has been attributed to the exploitation of a pair of security flaws affecting Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile (EPMM) software (CVE-2025-4427 and CVE-2025-4428) to target a wide range of sectors across Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region. The intrusions leverage the vulnerabilities to obtain a reverse shell and drop malicious payloads like KrustyLoader, which is known to deliver the Sliver command-and-control (C2) framework. "UNC5221 demonstrates a deep understanding of EPMM's internal architecture, repurposing legitimate system components for covert data exfiltration," EclecticIQ said. "Given EPMM's role in managing and pushing configurations to enterprise mobile devices, a successful exploitation could allow threat actors to remotely access, manipulate, or compromise thousands of managed devices across an organization." Over 100 Google Chrome Extensions Mimic Popular Tools — An unknown threat actor has been attributed to creating several malicious Chrome Browser extensions since February 2024 that masquerade as seemingly benign utilities such as DeepSeek, Manus, DeBank, FortiVPN, and Site Stats but incorporate covert functionality to exfiltrate data, receive commands, and execute arbitrary code. Links to these browser add-ons are hosted on specially crafted sites to which users are likely redirected to via phishing and social media posts. While the extensions appear to offer the advertised features, they also stealthily facilitate credential and cookie theft, session hijacking, ad injection, malicious redirects, traffic manipulation, and phishing via DOM manipulation. Several of these extensions have been taken down by Google. CISA Warns of SaaS Providers of Attacks Targeting Cloud Environments — The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned that SaaS companies are under threat from bad actors who are on the prowl for cloud applications with default configurations and elevated permissions. While the agency did not attribute the activity to a specific group, the advisory said enterprise backup platform Commvault is monitoring cyber threat activity targeting applications hosted in their Microsoft Azure cloud environment. "Threat actors may have accessed client secrets for Commvault's (Metallic) Microsoft 365 (M365) backup software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, hosted in Azure," CISA said. "This provided the threat actors with unauthorized access to Commvault's customers' M365 environments that have application secrets stored by Commvault." GitLab AI Coding Assistant Flaws Could Be Used to Inject Malicious Code — Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an indirect prompt injection flaw in GitLab's artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Duo that could have allowed attackers to steal source code and inject untrusted HTML into its responses, which could then be used to direct victims to malicious websites. The attack could also leak confidential issue data, such as zero-day vulnerability details. All that's required is for the attacker to instruct the chatbot to interact with a merge request (or commit, issue, or source code) by taking advantage of the fact that GitLab Duo has extensive access to the platform. "By embedding hidden instructions in seemingly harmless project content, we were able to manipulate Duo's behavior, exfiltrate private source code, and demonstrate how AI responses can be leveraged for unintended and harmful outcomes," Legit Security said. One variation of the attack involved hiding a malicious instruction in an otherwise legitimate piece of source code, while another exploited Duo's parsing of markdown responses in real-time asynchronously. An attacker could leverage this behavior – that Duo begins rendering the output line by line rather than waiting until the entire response is generated and sending it all at once – to introduce malicious HTML code that can access sensitive data and exfiltrate the information to a remote server. The issues have been patched by GitLab following responsible disclosure. ‎️‍🔥 Trending CVEs Software vulnerabilities remain one of the simplest—and most effective—entry points for attackers. Each week uncovers new flaws, and even small delays in patching can escalate into serious security incidents. Staying ahead means acting fast. Below is this week's list of high-risk vulnerabilities that demand attention. Review them carefully, apply updates without delay, and close the doors before they're forced open. This week's list includes — CVE-2025-34025, CVE-2025-34026, CVE-2025-34027 (Versa Concerto), CVE-2025-30911 (RomethemeKit For Elementor WordPress plugin), CVE-2024-57273, CVE-2024-54780, and CVE-2024-54779 (pfSense), CVE-2025-41229 (VMware Cloud Foundation), CVE-2025-4322 (Motors WordPress theme), CVE-2025-47934 (OpenPGP.js), CVE-2025-30193 (PowerDNS), CVE-2025-0993 (GitLab), CVE-2025-36535 (AutomationDirect MB-Gateway), CVE-2025-47949 (Samlify), CVE-2025-40775 (BIND DNS), CVE-2025-20152 (Cisco Identity Services Engine), CVE-2025-4123 (Grafana), CVE-2025-5063 (Google Chrome), CVE-2025-37899 (Linux Kernel), CVE-2025-26817 (Netwrix Password Secure), CVE-2025-47947 (ModSecurity), CVE-2025-3078, CVE-2025-3079 (Canon Printers), and CVE-2025-4978 (NETGEAR). 📰 Around the Cyber World Sandworm Drops New Wiper in Ukraine — The Russia-aligned Sandworm group intensified destructive operations against Ukrainian energy companies, deploying a new wiper named ZEROLOT. "The infamous Sandworm group concentrated heavily on compromising Ukrainian energy infrastructure. In recent cases, it deployed the ZEROLOT wiper in Ukraine. For this, the attackers abused Active Directory Group Policy in the affected organizations," ESET Director of Threat Research, Jean-Ian Boutin, said. Another Russian hacking group, Gamaredon, remained the most prolific actor targeting the East European nation, enhancing malware obfuscation and introducing PteroBox, a file stealer leveraging Dropbox. Signal Says No to Recall — Signal has released a new version of its messaging app for Windows that, by default, blocks the ability of Windows to use Recall to periodically take screenshots of the app. "Although Microsoft made several adjustments over the past twelve months in response to critical feedback, the revamped version of Recall still places any content that's displayed within privacy-preserving apps like Signal at risk," Signal said. "As a result, we are enabling an extra layer of protection by default on Windows 11 in order to help maintain the security of Signal Desktop on that platform even though it introduces some usability trade-offs. Microsoft has simply given us no other option." Microsoft began officially rolling out Recall last month. Russia Introduces New Law to Track Foreigners Using Their Smartphones — The Russian government has introduced a new law that makes installing a tracking app mandatory for all foreign nationals in the Moscow region. This includes gathering their real-time locations, fingerprint, face photograph, and residential information. "The adopted mechanism will allow, using modern technologies, to strengthen control in the field of migration and will also contribute to reducing the number of violations and crimes in this area," Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, said. "If migrants change their actual place of residence, they will be required to inform the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) within three working days." A proposed four-year trial period begins on September 1, 2025, and runs until September 1, 2029. Dutch Government Passes Law to Criminalize Cyber Espionage — The Dutch government has approved a law criminalizing a wide range of espionage activities, including digital espionage, in an effort to protect national security, critical infrastructure, and high-quality technologies. Under the amended law, leaking sensitive information that is not classified as a state secret or engaging in activities on behalf of a foreign government that harm Dutch interests can also result in criminal charges. "Foreign governments are also interested in non-state-secret, sensitive information about a particular economic sector or about political decision-making," the government said. "Such information can be used to influence political processes, weaken the Dutch economy or play allies against each other. Espionage can also involve actions other than sharing information." Microsoft Announces Availability of Quantum-Resistant Algorithms to SymCrypt — Microsoft has revealed that it's making post-quantum cryptography (PQC) capabilities, including ML-KEM and ML-DSA, available for Windows Insiders, Canary Channel Build 27852 and higher, and Linux, SymCrypt-OpenSSL version 1.9.0. "This advancement will enable customers to commence their exploration and experimentation of PQC within their operational environments," Microsoft said. "By obtaining early access to PQC capabilities, organizations can proactively assess the compatibility, performance, and integration of these novel algorithms alongside their existing security infrastructure." New Malware DOUBLELOADER Uses ALCATRAZ for Obfuscation — The open-source obfuscator ALCATRAZ has been seen within a new generic loader dubbed DOUBLELOADER, which has been deployed alongside Rhadamanthys Stealer infections starting December 2024. The malware collects host information, requests an updated version of itself, and starts beaconing to a hardcoded IP address (185.147.125[.]81) stored within the binary. "Obfuscators such as ALCATRAZ end up increasing the complexity when triaging malware," Elastic Security Labs said. "Its main goal is to hinder binary analysis tools and increase the time of the reverse engineering process through different techniques; such as hiding the control flow or making decompilation hard to follow." New Formjacking Campaign Targets WooCommerce Sites — Cybersecurity researchers have detected a sophisticated formjacking campaign targeting WooCommerce sites. The malware, per Wordfence, injects a fake but professional-looking payment form into legitimate checkout processes and exfiltrates sensitive customer data to an external server. Further analysis has revealed that the infection likely originated from a compromised WordPress admin account, which was used to inject malicious JavaScript via a Simple Custom CSS and JS plugin (or something similar) that allows administrators to add custom code. "Unlike traditional card skimmers that simply overlay existing forms, this variant carefully integrates with the WooCommerce site's design and payment workflow, making it particularly difficult for site owners and users to detect," the WordPress security company said. "The malware author repurposed the browser's localStorage mechanism – typically used by websites to remember user preferences – to silently store stolen data and maintain access even after page reloads or when navigating away from the checkout page." E.U. Sanctions Stark Industries — The European Union (E.U.) has announced sanctions against 21 individuals and six entities in Russia over its "destabilising actions" in the region. One of the sanctioned entities is Stark Industries, a bulletproof hosting provider that has been accused of acting as "enablers of various Russian state-sponsored and affiliated actors to conduct destabilising activities including, information manipulation interference and cyber attacks against the Union and third countries." The sanctions also target its CEO Iurie Neculiti and owner Ivan Neculiti. Stark Industries was previously spotlighted by independent cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, detailing its use in DDoS attacks in Ukraine and across Europe. In August 2024, Team Cymru said it discovered 25 Stark-assigned IP addresses used to host domains associated with FIN7 activities and that it had been working with Stark Industries for several months to identify and reduce abuse of their systems. The sanctions have also targeted Kremlin-backed manufacturers of drones and radio communication equipment used by the Russian military, as well as those involved in GPS signal jamming in Baltic states and disrupting civil aviation. The Mask APT Unmasked as Tied to the Spanish Government — The mysterious threat actor known as The Mask (aka Careto) has been identified as run by the Spanish government, according to a report published by TechCrunch, citing people who worked at Kaspersky at the time and had knowledge of the investigation. The Russian cybersecurity company first exposed the hacking group in 2014, linking it to highly sophisticated attacks since at least 2007 targeting high-profile organizations, such as governments, diplomatic entities, and research institutions. A majority of the group's attacks have targeted Cuba, followed by hundreds of victims in Brazil, Morocco, Spain, and Gibraltar. While Kaspersky has not publicly attributed it to a specific country, the latest revelation makes The Mask one of the few Western government hacking groups that has ever been discussed in public. This includes the Equation Group, the Lamberts (the U.S.), and Animal Farm (France). Social Engineering Scams Target Coinbase Users — Earlier this month, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase revealed that it was the victim of a malicious attack perpetrated by unknown threat actors to breach its systems by bribing customer support agents in India and siphon funds from nearly 70,000 customers. According to Blockchain security firm SlowMist, Coinbase users have been the target of social engineering scams since the start of the year, bombarding with SMS messages claiming to be fake withdrawal requests and seeking their confirmation as part of a "sustained and organized scam campaign." The goal is to induce a false sense of urgency and trick them into calling a number, eventually convincing them to transfer the funds to a secure wallet with a seed phrase pre-generated by the attackers and ultimately drain the assets. It's assessed that the activities are primarily carried out by two groups: low-level skid attackers from the Com community and organized cybercrime groups based in India. "Using spoofed PBX phone systems, scammers impersonate Coinbase support and claim there's been 'unauthorized access' or 'suspicious withdrawals' on the user's account," SlowMist said. "They create a sense of urgency, then follow up with phishing emails or texts containing fake ticket numbers or 'recovery links.'" Delta Can Sue CrowdStrike Over July 2024 Mega Outage — Delta Air Lines, which had its systems crippled and almost 7,000 flights canceled in the wake of a massive outage caused by a faulty update issued by CrowdStrike in mid-July 2024, has been given the green light to pursue to its lawsuit against the cybersecurity company. A judge in the U.S. state of Georgia stating Delta can try to prove that CrowdStrike was grossly negligent by pushing a defective update to its Falcon software to customers. The update crashed 8.5 million Windows devices across the world. Crowdstrike previously claimed that the airline had rejected technical support offers both from itself and Microsoft. In a statement shared with Reuters, lawyers representing CrowdStrike said they were "confident the judge will find Delta's case has no merit, or will limit damages to the 'single-digit millions of dollars' under Georgia law." The development comes months after MGM Resorts International agreed to pay $45 million to settle multiple class-action lawsuits related to a data breach in 2019 and a ransomware attack the company experienced in 2023. Storm-1516 Uses AI-Generated Media to Spread Disinformation — The Russian influence operation known as Storm-1516 (aka CopyCop) sought to spread narratives that undermined the European support for Ukraine by amplifying fabricated stories on X about European leaders using drugs while traveling by train to Kyiv for peace talks. One of the posts was subsequently shared by Russian state media and Maria Zakharova, a senior official in Russia's foreign ministry, as part of what has been described as a coordinated disinformation campaign by EclecticIQ. The activity is also notable for the use of synthetic content depicting French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, and German chancellor Friedrich Merz of drug possession during their return from Ukraine. "By attacking the reputation of these leaders, the campaign likely aimed to turn their own voters against them, using influence operations (IO) to reduce public support for Ukraine by discrediting the politicians who back it," the Dutch threat intelligence firm said. Turkish Users Targeted by DBatLoader — AhnLab has disclosed details of a malware campaign that's distributing a malware loader called DBatLoader (aka ModiLoader) via banking-themed banking emails, which then acts as a conduit to deliver SnakeKeylogger, an information stealer developed in .NET. "The DBatLoader malware distributed through phishing emails has the cunning behavior of exploiting normal processes (easinvoker.exe, loader.exe) through techniques such as DLL side-loading and injection for most of its behaviors, and it also utilizes normal processes (cmd.exe, powershell.exe, esentutl.exe, extrac32.exe) for behaviors such as file copying and changing policies," the company said. SEC SIM-Swapper Sentenced to 14 Months for SEC X Account Hack — A 26-year-old Alabama man, Eric Council Jr., has been sentenced to 14 months in prison and three years of supervised release for using SIM swapping attacks to breach the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) official X account in January 2024 and falsely announced that the SEC approved Bitcoin (BTC) Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Council Jr. (aka Ronin, Agiantschnauzer, and @EasyMunny) was arrested in October 2024 and pleaded guilty to the crime earlier this February. He has also been ordered to forfeit $50,000. According to court documents, Council used his personal computer to search incriminating phrases such as "SECGOV hack," "telegram sim swap," "how can I know for sure if I am being investigated by the FBI," "What are the signs that you are under investigation by law enforcement or the FBI even if you have not been contacted by them," "what are some signs that the FBI is after you," "Verizon store list," "federal identity theft statute," and "how long does it take to delete telegram account." FBI Warns of Malicious Campaign Impersonating Government Officials — The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning of a new campaign that involves malicious actors impersonating senior U.S. federal or state government officials and their contacts to target individuals since April 2025. "The malicious actors have sent text messages and AI-generated voice messages — techniques known as smishing and vishing, respectively — that claim to come from a senior US official in an effort to establish rapport before gaining access to personal accounts," the FBI said. "One way the actors gain such access is by sending targeted individuals a malicious link under the guise of transitioning to a separate messaging platform." From there, the actor may present malware or introduce hyperlinks that lead intended targets to an actor-controlled site that steals login information. DICOM Flaw Enables Attackers to Embed Malicious Code Within Medical Image Files — Praetorian has released a proof-of-concept (PoC) for a high-severity security flaw in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM), predominant file format for medical images, that enables attackers to embed malicious code within legitimate medical image files. CVE-2019-11687 (CVSS score: 7.8), originally disclosed in 2019 by Markel Picado Ortiz, stems from a design decision that allows arbitrary content at the start of the file, otherwise called the Preamble, which enables the creation of malicious polyglots. Codenamed ELFDICOM, the PoC extends the attack surface to Linux environments, making it a much more potent threat. As mitigations, it's advised to implement a DICOM preamble whitelist. "DICOM's file structure inherently allows arbitrary bytes at the beginning of the file, where Linux and most operating systems will look for magic bytes," Praetorian researcher Ryan Hennessee said. "[The whitelist] would check a DICOM file's preamble before it is imported into the system. This would allow known good patterns, such as 'TIFF' magic bytes, or '\x00' null bytes, while files with the ELF magic bytes would be blocked." Cookie-Bite Attack Uses Chrome Extension to Steal Session Tokens — Cybersecurity researchers have demonstrated a new attack technique called Cookie-Bite that employs custom-made malicious browser extensions to steal "ESTAUTH" and "ESTSAUTHPERSISTNT" cookies in Microsoft Azure Entra ID and bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA). The attack has multiple moving parts to it: A custom Chrome extension that monitors authentication events and captures cookies; a PowerShell script that automates the extension deployment and ensures persistence; an exfiltration mechanism to send the cookies to a remote collection point; and a complementary extension to inject the captured cookies into the attacker's browser. "Threat actors often use infostealers to extract authentication tokens directly from a victim's machine or buy them directly through darkness markets, allowing adversaries to hijack active cloud sessions without triggering MFA," Varonis said. "By injecting these cookies while mimicking the victim's OS, browser, and network, attackers can evade Conditional Access Policies (CAPs) and maintain persistent access." Authentication cookies can also be stolen using adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) phishing kits in real-time, or using rogue browser extensions that request excessive permissions to interact with web sessions, modify page content, and extract stored authentication data. Once installed, the extension can access the browser's storage API, intercept network requests, or inject malicious JavaScript into active sessions to harvest real-time session cookies. "By leveraging stolen session cookies, an adversary can bypass authentication mechanisms, gaining seamless entry into cloud environments without requiring user credentials," Varonis said. "Beyond initial access, session hijacking can facilitate lateral movement across the tenant, allowing attackers to explore additional resources, access sensitive data, and escalate privileges by abusing existing permissions or misconfigured roles." 🎥 Cybersecurity Webinars Non-Human Identities: The AI Backdoor You're Not Watching → AI agents rely on Non-Human Identities (like service accounts and API keys) to function—but these are often left untracked and unsecured. As attackers shift focus to this hidden layer, the risk is growing fast. In this session, you'll learn how to find, secure, and monitor these identities before they're exploited. Join the webinar to understand the real risks behind AI adoption—and how to stay ahead. Inside the LOTS Playbook: How Hackers Stay Undetected → Attackers are using trusted sites to stay hidden. In this webinar, Zscaler experts share how they detect these stealthy LOTS attacks using insights from the world's largest security cloud. Join to learn how to spot hidden threats and improve your defense. 🔧 Cybersecurity Tools ScriptSentry → It is a free tool that scans your environment for dangerous logon script misconfigurations—like plaintext credentials, insecure file/share permissions, and references to non-existent servers. These overlooked issues can enable lateral movement, privilege escalation, or even credential theft. ScriptSentry helps you quickly identify and fix them across large Active Directory environments. Aftermath → It is a Swift-based, open-source tool for macOS incident response. It collects forensic data—like logs, browser activity, and process info—from compromised systems, then analyzes it to build timelines and track infection paths. Deploy via MDM or run manually. Fast, lightweight, and ideal for post-incident investigation. AI Red Teaming Playground Labs → It is an open-source training suite with hands-on challenges designed to teach security professionals how to red team AI systems. Originally developed for Black Hat USA 2024, the labs cover prompt injections, safety bypasses, indirect attacks, and Responsible AI failures. Built on Chat Copilot and deployable via Docker, it's a practical resource for testing and understanding real-world AI vulnerabilities. 🔒 Tip of the Week Review and Revoke Old OAuth App Permissions — They're Silent Backdoor → You've likely logged into apps using "Continue with Google," "Sign in with Microsoft," or GitHub/Twitter/Facebook logins. That's OAuth. But did you know many of those apps still have access to your data long after you stop using them? Why it matters: Even if you delete the app or forget it existed, it might still have ongoing access to your calendar, email, cloud files, or contact list — no password needed. If that third-party gets breached, your data is at risk. What to do: Go through your connected apps here: Google: myaccount.google.com/permissions Microsoft: account.live.com/consent/Manage GitHub: github.com/settings/applications Facebook: facebook.com/settings?tab=applications Revoke anything you don't actively use. It's a fast, silent cleanup — and it closes doors you didn't know were open. Conclusion Looking ahead, it's not just about tracking threats—it's about understanding what they reveal. Every tactic used, every system tested, points to deeper issues in how trust, access, and visibility are managed. As attackers adapt quickly, defenders need sharper awareness and faster response loops. The takeaways from this week aren't just technical—they speak to how teams prioritize risk, design safeguards, and make choices under pressure. Use these insights not just to react, but to rethink what "secure" really needs to mean in today's environment. Found this article interesting? 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A threat actor known as Hazy Hawk has been observed hijacking abandoned cloud resources of high-profile organizations, including Amazon S3 buckets and Microsoft Azure endpoints, by leveraging misconfigurations in the Domain Name System (DNS) records. The hijacked domains are then used to host URLs that direct users to scams and malware via traffic distribution systems (TDSes), according to Infoblox. Some of the other resources usurped by the threat actor include those hosted on Akamai, Bunny CDN, Cloudflare CDN, GitHub, and Netlify. The DNS threat intelligence firm said it first discovered the threat actor after it gained control of several sub-domains associated with the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) in February 2025. It has since been determined that other government agencies across the globe, prominent universities, and international corporations such as Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ernst & Young have been victimized by the same threat actor since at least December 2023. "Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Hazy Hawk is that these hard-to-discover, vulnerable domains with ties to esteemed organizations are not being used for espionage or 'highbrow' cybercrime," Infoblox's Jacques Portal and Renée Burton said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "Instead, they feed into the seedy underworld of adtech, whisking victims to a wide range of scams and fake applications, and using browser notifications to trigger processes that will have a lingering impact." What makes Hazy Hawk's operations noteworthy is the hijacking of trusted and reputable domains belonging to legitimate organizations, thus boosting their credibility in search results when they are being used to serve malicious and spammy content. But even more concerningly, the approach enables the threat actors to bypass detection. Underpinning the operation is the ability of the attackers to seize control of abandoned domains with dangling DNS CNAME records, a technique previously exposed by Guardio in early 2024 as being exploited by bad actors for spam proliferation and click monetization. All a threat actor needs to do is register the missing resource to hijack the domain. Hazy Hawk goes a step further by finding abandoned cloud resources and then commandeering them for malicious purposes. In some cases, the threat actor employs URL redirection techniques to conceal which cloud resource was hijacked. "We use the name Hazy Hawk for this actor because of how they find and hijack cloud resources that have dangling DNS CNAME records and then use them in malicious URL distribution," Infoblox said. "It's possible that the domain hijacking component is provided as a service and is used by a group of actors." The attack chains often involve cloning the content of legitimate sites for their initial site hosted on the hijacked domains, while luring victims into visiting them with pornographic or pirated content. The site visitors are then funneled via a TDS to determine where they land next. "Hazy Hawk is one of the dozens of threat actors we track within the advertising affiliate world," the company said. "Threat actors who belong to affiliate advertising programs drive users into tailored malicious content and are incentivized to include requests to allow push notifications from 'websites' along the redirection path." In doing so, the idea is to flood a victim's device with push notifications and deliver an endless torrent of malicious content, with each notification leading to different scams, scareware, and fake surveys, and accompanied by requests to allow more push notifications. To prevent and protect against Hazy Hawk activities, domain owners are recommended to remove a DNS CNAME record as soon as a resource is shut down. End users, on the other hand, are advised to deny notification requests from websites they don't know. "While operators like Hazy Hawk are responsible for the initial lure, the user who clicks is led into a labyrinth of sketchy and outright malicious adtech. The fact that Hazy Hawk puts considerable effort into locating vulnerable domains and then using them for scam operations shows that these advertising affiliate programs are successful enough to pay well," Infoblox said. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

May 20, 2025Ravie LakshmananCredential Theft / Browser Security An unknown threat actor has been attributed to creating several malicious Chrome Browser extensions since February 2024 that masquerade as seemingly benign utilities but incorporate covert functionality to exfiltrate data, receive commands, and execute arbitrary code. "The actor creates websites that masquerade as legitimate services, productivity tools, ad and media creation or analysis assistants, VPN services, crypto, banking and more to direct users to install corresponding malicious extensions on Google's Chrome Web Store (CWS)," the DomainTools Intelligence (DTI) team said in a report shared with The Hacker News. While the browser add-ons appear to offer the advertised features, they also enable credential and cookie theft, session hijacking, ad injection, malicious redirects, traffic manipulation, and phishing via DOM manipulation. Another factor that works in the extensions' favor is that they are configured to grant themselves excessive permissions via the manifest.json file, allowing them to interact with every site visited on the browser, execute arbitrary code retrieved from an attacker-controlled domain, perform malicious redirects, and even inject ads. The extensions have also been found to rely on the "onreset" event handler on a temporary document object model (DOM) element to execute code, likely in an attempt to bypass content security policy (CSP). Some of the identified lure websites impersonate legitimate products and services like DeepSeek, Manus, DeBank, FortiVPN, and Site Stats to entice users into downloading and installing the extensions. The add-ons then proceed to harvest browser cookies, fetch arbitrary scripts from a remote server, and set up a WebSocket connection to act as a network proxy for traffic routing. There is currently no visibility into how victims are redirected to the bogus sites, but DomainTools told the publication that it could involve usual methods like phishing and social media. "Because they appear in both Chrome Web Store and have adjacent websites, they can return from as results in normal web searches and for searches within the Chrome store," the company said. "Many of the lure websites used Facebook tracking IDs, which strongly suggests they are leveraging Facebook / Meta apps in some way to attract site visitors. Possibly through Facebook pages, groups, and even ads." As of writing, it's not known who is behind the campaign, although the threat actors have set up over 100 fake websites and malicious Chrome extensions. Google, for its part, has taken down the extensions. To mitigate risks, users are advised to stick with verified developers before downloading extensions, review requested permissions, scrutinize reviews, and refrain from using lookalike extensions. That said, it's also worth keeping in mind that ratings could be manipulated and artificially inflated by filtering negative user feedback. DomainTools, in an analysis published late last month, found evidence of extensions impersonating DeepSeek that redirected users providing low ratings (1-3 stars) to a private feedback form on the ai-chat-bot[.]pro domain, while sending those providing high ratings (4-5 stars) to the official Chrome Web Store review page. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE    

A new global phishing threat called "Meta Mirage" has been uncovered, targeting businesses using Meta's Business Suite. This campaign specifically aims at hijacking high-value accounts, including those managing advertising and official brand pages. Cybersecurity researchers at CTM360 revealed that attackers behind Meta Mirage impersonate official Meta communications, tricking users into handing over sensitive details like passwords and security codes (OTP). The scale of this operation is alarming. Researchers have already identified over 14,000 malicious URLs, a concerning majority of which—nearly 78%—were not blocked by browsers at the time the report was published. Cybercriminals cleverly hosted fake pages leveraging trusted cloud platforms like GitHub, Firebase, and Vercel, making it harder to spot the scams. This method aligns closely with recent findings from Microsoft, which highlighted similar abuse of cloud hosting services to compromise Kubernetes applications, emphasizing how attackers frequently leverage trusted platforms to evade detection. The attackers deploy fake alerts about policy violations, account suspensions, or urgent verification notices. These messages, sent via email and direct messages, look convincing because they mimic official communications from Meta, often appearing urgent and authoritative. This tactic mirrors techniques observed in the recent Google Sites phishing campaign, which used authentic-looking Google-hosted pages to deceive users. Two main methods are being used: Credential Theft: Victims enter passwords and OTPs into realistic-looking fake websites. The attackers deliberately trigger fake error messages, causing users to re-enter their details, ensuring accurate and usable stolen information. Cookie Theft: Scammers also steal browser cookies, allowing them continued access to compromised accounts even without passwords. These compromised accounts don't just affect individual businesses—they're often exploited to run malicious advertising campaigns, further amplifying damage, similar to tactics observed in the PlayPraetor malware campaign that hijacked social media accounts for fraudulent ad distribution. CTM360's report also outlines a structured and calculated approach used by the attackers to maximize effectiveness. Victims are initially contacted with mild, non-alarming notifications that progressively escalate in urgency and severity. Initial notices might mention generic policy violations, while subsequent messages warn of immediate suspensions or permanent deletion of accounts. This incremental escalation induces anxiety and urgency, driving users to act quickly without thoroughly verifying the authenticity of these messages. To protect against this threat, CTM360 recommends: Only use official devices to manage business social media accounts. Use separate business-only email addresses. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). Regularly review account security settings and active sessions. Train staff to recognize and report suspicious messages. This widespread phishing campaign underscores the importance of vigilance and proactive security measures to protect valuable online assets. Found this article interesting? This article is a contributed piece from one of our valued partners. Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, thinks that The Atlantic and The BBC are credible, reputable sources for news and information. Which is funny, because Musk — who's engaged in a years-long project to erode trust in legacy media organizations and even specific journalists — doesn't. And now, he's furious at his own AI chatbot.The Musk-Grok tiff happened over the weekend, when a misinformation-spreading X-formerly-Twitter user @amuse posted an "article" about billionaire bogeymen (like George and Alex Soros, Bill Gates, and the philanthropic Ford Foundation) using deep pockets to "hijack federal grants" by "seeding" nongovernmental organizations with left-wing ideology.As opposed to a thoughtful or reported analysis of how cash from wealthy donors has transformed American politics, the article was a deeply partisan, conspiracy-riddled account smattered with scary-sounding buzzwords, "DEI" ranting, and no foundational evidence to back its conspiratorial claims (with little mention of high-powered and heavily funded conservative non-profit groups, either).It seems that Grok, the chatbot created and operated by the Musk-owned AI company xAI, had some issues with the @amuse post, too.When an X user asked Grok to analyze the post, the AI rejected its core premise, arguing that there's "no evidence" that Soros, Gates, and the Ford Foundation "hijack federal grants or engage in illegal influence peddling." In other words, it said that the world as described in the @amuse post doesn't exist.The user — amid accusations that Grok has been trained on "woke" data — then asked Grok to explain what "verified" sources it pulled from to come to that conclusion. Grok explained that it used "foundation websites and reputable news outlets," naming The Atlantic and the BBC, which it said are "credible" and "backed by independent audits and editorial standards." It also mentioned denials from Soros-led foundations."No evidence shows the Gates, Soros, or Ford Foundations hijacking grants; they operate legally with private funds," said Grok. "However, their support for progressive causes raises transparency concerns, fueling debate. Critics question their influence, while supporters highlight societal benefits. Verification comes from audits and public records, but skepticism persists in polarized discussions."This response, apparently, ticked off Musk."This is embarrassing," the world's richest man responded to his own chatbot. Which, at this rate, might prove to be his Frankenstein.It's unclear whether Musk was specifically mad about the characterization of news outlets or claims by Soros-founded organizations as reliable, but we'd go out on a limb to venture the answer is both.By no means should the world be handing their media literacy over to quick reads by Grok, or any other chatbot. Chatbots get things wrong — they even make up sources — and users need to employ their own discretion, judgment, and reasoning skills while engaging with them. (Interestingly, @amuse stepped in at one point to claim that Grok had given him a figure to use that the chatbot said was inaccurate in a later post.)But this interaction does highlight the increasing politicization of chatbots, a debate at which Grok has been very much at the center. While there's a ton of excellent, measured journalism out there, we're existing in a deeply partisan attention and information climate in which people can — and very much do — seek out information that fuels and supports their personal biases.In today's information landscape, conclusion-shopping is easy — and when chatbots fail to scratch that itch, people get upset. Including, it seems, the richest man on Earth, who's been DIY-ing his preferred reality for a while now.Share This Article