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

President Brad Smith tells an interviewer that Microsoft is reconsidering datacenter design in light of Iran war Microsoft is reevaluating how it designs and builds datacenters in conflict-prone regions after Iran began targeting Middle Eastern bit barns in retaliation for US military operations.…

Hijacking DNS Settings Helps Russian Hackers Decrypt TLS Traffic, Microsoft WarnsHackers tied to Russia's GRU military intelligence agency are compromising SOHO routers to hijack their DNS settings and spy on the cloud activities of high-value government, IT, telecommunications and energy organizations, Microsoft warns.

Hackers linked to Russia's military intelligence units are using known flaws in older Internet routers to mass harvest authentication tokens from Microsoft Office users, security experts warned today. The spying campaign allowed state-backed Russian hackers to quietly siphon authentication tokens from users on more than 18,000 networks without deploying any malicious software or code.

Also: Software Supply Chain Risks, Cato's AI Security BuyIn this week's update, four ISMG editors discussed the Pentagon's review of Microsoft's use of Chinese nationals on U.S. military cloud systems, renewed concerns over software supply chain risks and Cato Networks' first-ever acquisition to boost AI security.

Defense Department Suspends, Reviews Microsoft 'Digital Escorts' ProgramThe Pentagon is reviewing Microsoft's decade-long use of "digital escorts" - U.S.-based staff who review code from Chinese engineers - into military cloud systems, a workaround now deemed a "breach of trust" that may have exposed sensitive but unclassified government data.

Spy vs. spy China has accused US intelligence agencies of exploiting a Microsoft Exchange zero-day exploit to steal defense-related data and take over more than 50 devices belonging to a "major Chinese military enterprise" for nearly a year.…

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has formally attributed 'Authentic Antics' espionage malware attacks to APT28 (Fancy Bear), threat actor already linked to Russia's military intelligence service (GRU). [...]

Russian military intelligence-linked hackers are using a new malware called “Authentic Antics” to secretly access Microsoft cloud email accounts, the UK's NCSC reports

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a previously undocumented threat actor called NightEagle (aka APT-Q-95) that has been observed targeting Microsoft Exchange servers as a part of a zero-day exploit chain designed to target government, defense, and technology sectors in China

Microsoft Researchers Link Turkish Spy Group to Output Messenger Zero-Day HackA Turkish-linked cyberespionage group known as Marbled Dust exploited a zero-day in the Output Messenger Server Manager application to spy on Kurdish military operations in Iraq. Microsoft reported the hack and called for immediate mitigation to block credential theft and malware delivery.

Marbled Dust has been exploiting a vulnerability in user accounts associated with the Kurdish military operating in Iraq for over a year, according to Microsoft

Opposition activists in Belarus as well as Ukrainian military and government organizations are the target of a new campaign that employs malware-laced Microsoft Excel documents as lures to deliver a new variant of PicassoLoader.  The threat cluster has been assessed to be an extension of a long-running campaign mounted by a Belarus-aligned threat actor dubbed Ghostwriter (aka Moonscape,

The Sandworm Russian military cyber-espionage group is targeting Windows users in Ukraine with trojanized Microsoft Key Management Service (KMS) activators and fake Windows updates. [...]

This could be the start of a saga to rival TikTok’s troubles, and embroil Tesla and Microsoft The US Department of Defense has added Chinese messaging and gaming Tencent to its list of “Chinese military company”, a designation that won’t necessarily result in a ban but is nonetheless unpleasant.…

Secret Blizzard Used Third-party Amadey Bots to Hack Ukrainian Military DevicesA Russian state-backed hacker group used third-party data-stealing bots and possibly a backdoor used by another Russia-based threat group to infiltrate and spy on devices used by frontline Ukrainian military units, according to a report from the Microsoft threat intelligence team.

Microsoft detailed how Russian espionage group Secret Blizzard is leveraging infrastructure of other threat actors to target the Ukrainian military with custom malware

Anti-Mobilization Messaging Lead to Malware-Pushing 'Civil Defense' SitePotential Ukrainian military recruits are being targeted by a "hybrid espionage and information operation" - likely Russian - involving Telegram anti-mobilization messaging and a "Civil Defense" website designed to distribute Windows and Android malware, warns Google's Threat Intelligence Group.

A hybrid espionage/influence campaign conducted by the Russian threat group 'UNC5812' has been uncovered, targeting Ukrainian military recruits with Windows and Android malware. [...]

A suspected Russian hybrid espionage and influence operation has been observed delivering a mix of Windows and Android malware to target the Ukrainian military under the Telegram persona Civil Defense