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Iranian Hackers Use Telegram-Controlled Malware to Spy on Dissidents and Journalists

FBI, NCSC, and AIVD detail Iran MOIS spyware CHOSEN BRICK/HEAVYGRAM, Telegram-controlled Windows malware spying on dissidents since 2023.

A September 15 joint advisory from the FBI, UK NCSC, and Dutch AIVD attributes the Windows spyware HEAVYGRAM (NCSC name CHOSEN BRICK) to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security, with the campaign dating to autumn 2023 and targeting dissidents, journalists, and activists in the UK, US, Netherlands, and worldwide. Delivered via messages impersonating known contacts or tech support, the malware assigns each victim a dedicated Telegram bot for command-and-control and exfiltration, and can take screenshots, record microphone audio, steal Telegram/WhatsApp data, saved passwords, and emails, download more malware, and wipe the computer. Persistence uses a registry Run key (SMQDService or winappx) plus Microsoft Defender exclusions, with stolen data exiting via Telegram and cloud storage services like Vultr and Storj. The US Justice Department seized four pro-Iranian leak sites in March that had published stolen victim data.

The Hacker News · 1d agoMalware in the wild1

Hackers Can Rent VectraRAT for $250 a Month to Take Control of Windows PCs

SOCRadar uncovered VectraRAT, a previously undocumented $250-per-month Windows RAT rental service delivered via Amadey and ClickFix lures.

SOCRadar's Threat Research Unit identified VectraRAT, a rental-only remote access trojan sold by a developer known as Vectra (formerly Nyxel), after an exposed online directory revealed samples, licenses, and operator logs across ten-plus servers. The toolkit includes a Linux control server, Windows implant, payload builder, and VectraHub panel, enabling hidden desktop access, keylogging, command execution, credential theft, file transfer, proxying, and silent privilege escalation. Of victims with OS data, 48 percent ran corporate Windows editions, and researchers recorded 38 genuine victim sessions in under a week, including file theft from business systems. Distribution occurs through the Amadey loader and ClickFix pages impersonating TurboTax, with custom TCP-based C2 over non-standard ports.

Cyber Security News · 5h agoMalware in the wild 3 sources

PAPERMILL Malware Campaign Abuses Signed Notepad++ to Deliver VenomRAT to Windows Users

JUMPSEC tracks PAPERMILL, a China-nexus phishing campaign using a signed Notepad++ binary, libcurl.dll sideloading, and Donut loaders to deploy VenomRAT against Indian tax-audit targets.

PAPERMILL delivers ISO disk images via tax-audit phishing emails that passed SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, containing a renamed Authenticode-signed Notepad++ executable and a malicious libcurl.dll that proxies curl functions while executing loader logic in DllMain. The chain uses Mark-of-the-Web bypasses, anti-sandbox sleeps, UAC elevation prompts, Registry persistence, and a Donut shellcode loader to reflectively load .NET VenomRAT v6.0.3 with HVNC and credential-stealing capability, with C2 at 154.36.188.201:4449. JUMPSEC assesses the campaign as China-nexus, financially motivated, and Silver Fox-adjacent rather than definitively Silver Fox-operated.

GBHackersupdated · 8h agofirst · 10h agoMalware in the wild 2 sources