Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

The Russian state-sponsored threat actor known as Turla has been attributed to a previously undocumented .NET backdoor called STOCKSTAY that has been deployed against government and military organizations in Ukraine, and entities that have an interest in Italian foreign policy

The North Korean state-sponsored hacking group known as ScarCruft (aka APT37) has been observed using spear-phishing messages impersonating Microsoft Account security notifications to deliver a new malware called NarwhalRAT

Kazuar, a sophisticated malware family attributed to the Russian state actor Secret Blizzard, has been under constant development for years and continues to evolve in support of espionage-focused operations. Over time, Kazuar has expanded from a relatively traditional backdoor into a highly modular peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet ecosystem designed to enable persistent, covert access to target environments. The post Kazuar: Anatomy of a nation-state botnet appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

The Iranian state-sponsored hacking group known as MuddyWater (aka Mango Sandstorm, Seedworm, and Static Kitten) has been attributed to a ransomware attack in what has been described as a "false flag" operation

The North Korea-aligned state-sponsored hacking group known as ScarCruft has compromised a video game platform in a supply chain espionage attack, trojanizing its components with a backdoor called BirdCallto likely target ethnic Koreans residing in China

Monday is back, and the weekend’s backlog of chaos is officially hitting the fan. We are tracking a critical zero-day that has been quietly living in your PDFs for months, plus some aggressive state-sponsored meddling in infrastructure that is finally coming to light. It is one of those mornings where the gap between a quiet shift and a full-blown incident response is basically

Crims 'will do what gets them their objective easiest and fastest,' Microsoft threat intel boss tells The Reg interview AI agents allow cybercriminals and nation-state hackers to outsource the "janitorial-type work" needed to plan and carry out cyberattacks, according to Sherrod DeGrippo, Microsoft's GM of global threat intelligence. North Korea is taking advantage.…

A recently disclosed security flaw patched by Microsoft may have been exploited by the Russia-linked state-sponsored threat actor known as APT28, according to new findings from Akamai

Hacked Infrastructure Delivered Chinese Nation-State Group's Backdoor, Experts WarnThe widely used, open source text-editing software Notepad++ for Windows said attackers exploited a vulnerability to redirect some users to sites that pushed a backdoor onto their system. Security experts have tied the attack to a broader campaign perpetrated by Chinese nation-state actors.

The Russia-linked state-sponsored threat actor known as APT28 (aka UAC-0001) has been attributed to attacks exploiting a newly disclosed security flaw in Microsoft Office as part of a campaign codenamed Operation Neusploit

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Thursday released details of a backdoor named BRICKSTORM that has been put to use by state-sponsored threat actors from the People's Republic of China (PRC) to maintain long-term persistence on compromised systems

Chinese Hackers Target European Diplomats with LNK File FlawChinese nation-state hackers are exploiting a Windows vulnerability to hack European diplomatic outposts, say security researchers - but operating system giant Microsoft says the flaw doesn't merit a patch. Hackers used a flaw already compromised by North Korea and Russia.

PLUS: Cyber-exec admits selling secrets to Russia; LastPass isn't checking to see if you're dead; Nation-state backed Windows malware; and more Infosec in brief Australia’s Signals Directorate (ASD) last Friday warned that attackers are installing an implant named “BADCANDY” on unpatched Cisco IOS XE devices and can detect deletion of their wares and reinstall their malware.…

MuddyWater Also Embraces Bulletproof Hosts and Custom MalwareThe Iranian nation-state cyberespionage group MuddyWater is going back to the future with attacks featuring Microsoft Office documents with malicious macros. It is also shifting to homegrown malware in place of commercial remote monitoring and management tools, said researchers.

The Russian state-sponsored hacking group tracked as APT28 has been attributed to a new Microsoft Outlook backdoor called NotDoor in attacks targeting multiple companies from different sectors in NATO member countries

The notorious Russian state-sponsored hacking unit, also known as Fancy Bear, is abusing Microsoft Outlook for covert data exfiltration.

Gap in Microsoft Blocklist Exploited, ValleyRAT Runs UndetectedA Chinese nation-state cyber group is exploiting a Microsoft-signed driver to shut down Windows security protections. The attackers deployed the driver through a custom loader. The core weakness that Silver Fox relied on remained exploitable even after patching.

Researchers have disrupted an operation attributed to Russian state-sponsored threat group Midnight Blizzard, who sought access to Microsoft 365 accounts and data. [...]

Microsoft has observed Russian state actor Secret Blizzard using an AiTM position to gain initial access, assisted by official domestic intercept systems

Threat actors are piling on the zero-day vulnerabilities in SharePoint, including at least three Chinese nation-state cyberespionage groups.