Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

A new malware family is turning forgotten home routers into a distributed reconnaissance and proxy network, not the DDoS botnet these devices usually end up in. QiAnXin's XLab calls it AryStinger and counts at least 4,300 infected routers, a total it says is still rising

Threat actors associated with The Gentlemen ransomware‑as‑a‑service (RaaS) operation have been observed attempting to deploy a known proxy malware called SystemBC

A SystemBC proxy malware botnet of more than 1,570 hosts, believed to be corporate victims, has been discovered following an investigation into a Gentlemen ransomware attack carried out by a gang affiliate. [...]

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new variant ofmalware called Chaosthat'scapable of hitting misconfigured cloud deployments, marking an expansion of the botnet's targeting infrastructure

A court-authorized international law enforcement operation has dismantled a criminal proxy service named SocksEscort that enslaved thousands of residential routers worldwide into a botnet for committing large-scale fraud

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new malware called KadNap that's primarily targeting Asus routers to enlist them into a botnet for proxying malicious traffic

A newly discovered botnet malware called KadNap is targeting ASUS routers and other edge networking devices to turn them into proxies for malicious traffic. [...]

The Kimwolf botnet, an Android variant of the Aisuru malware, has grown to more than two million hosts, most of them infected by exploiting vulnerabilities in residential proxy networks to target devices on internal networks. [...]

A proxy network known as REM Proxy is powered by malware known as SystemBC, offering about 80% of the botnet to its users, according to new findings from the Black Lotus Labs team at Lumen Technologies

The operators of the SystemBC proxy botnet are hunting for vulnerable commercial virtual private servers (VPS) and maintain an average of 1,500 bots every day that provide a highway for malicious traffic. [...]

The FBI also issued a list of end-of-life routers you need to replace Earlier this week, the FBI urged folks to bin aging routers vulnerable to hijacking, citing ongoing attacks linked to TheMoon malware. In a related move, the US Department of Justice unsealed indictments against four foreign nationals accused of running a long-running proxy-for-hire network that exploited outdated routers to funnel criminal traffic.…

Off-Brand Android Devices Come Infrected With A TrojanA botnet infected more than 1 million off-brand Android devices manufactured in China, reached consumers with a backdoor already installed. Scammers used the devices for programmatic ad fraud, click fraud and converting the devices into a residential proxy.

A new variant of the Vo1d malware botnet has grown to 1,590,299 infected Android TV devices across 226 countries, recruiting devices as part of anonymous proxy server networks. [...]

A malicious botnet called Socks5Systemz is powering a proxy service called PROXY.AM, according to new findings from Bitsight

The malware known as Ngioweb has been used to fuel a notorious residential proxy service called NSOCKS, as well as by other services such as VN5Socks and Shopsocks5, new findings from Lumen Technologies reveal

The U.S. Department of the Treasury today unveiled sanctions against three Chinese nationals for allegedly operating 911 S5, an online anonymity service that for many years was the easiest and cheapest way to route one's Web traffic through malware-infected computers around the globe. KrebsOnSecurity identified one of the three men in a July 2022 investigation into 911 S5, which was massively hacked and then closed ten days later.

A new variant of "TheMoon" malware botnet has been spotted infecting thousands of outdated small office and home office (SOHO) routers and IoT devices in 88 countries. [...]

On December 7, 2021, Google announced it had sued two Russian men allegedly responsible for operating the Glupteba botnet, a global malware menace that has infected millions of computers over the past decade. That same day, AWM Proxy -- a 14-year-old anonymity service that rents hacked PCs to cybercriminals -- suddenly went offline. Security experts had long seen a link between Glupteba and AWM Proxy, but new research shows AWM Proxy's founder is one of the men being sued by Google.

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the disruption of the Russian RSocks malware botnet used to hijack millions of computers, Android smartphones, and IoT (Internet of Things) devices worldwide for use as proxy servers. [...]