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FamousSparrow Exploits Public-Facing Exchange Servers to Deploy SparroWocky Backdoor

ESET attributes a new SparroWocky backdoor to espionage group FamousSparrow, deployed via exploited internet-facing Exchange servers across Latin American governments.

ESET's Welivesecurity team reports FamousSparrow gained initial access by exploiting publicly reachable Microsoft Exchange servers, with roughly 90 percent of targets since mid-2025 in Latin America, including governments in Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. The group's new modular C-language backdoor SparroWocky replaces SparrowDoor and uses a three-part loader: a legitimate executable, a malicious DLL side-loaded in memory, and an encrypted payload. It persists via Windows services or Registry Run keys, supports screenshots, file operations, TCP proxying, Beacon Object Files, TLS/RC4-encrypted C2, and anti-forensics such as call-stack spoofing. IOCs including loader SHA-1 hashes and C2 IP addresses were published.

Cyber Security News · 1h agoThreat actor in the wild 3 sources

China-Linked Hackers Exploit Sogou One-Click RCE to Deploy GRAYRABBIT Backdoor

China-linked UNC3569 exploited CVE-2026-51990 in Sogou Input Method to deploy the GRAYRABBIT backdoor in active espionage intrusions.

Gen Threat Labs discovered UNC3569 exploiting CVE-2026-51990, a one-click RCE in Tencent's Sogou Input Method for Windows that chains an insecure sgbiz: protocol handler with an unsandboxed Chromium 80 CEF webview. The chain weaponizes CVE-2021-38003 (V8 type confusion) to run shellcode that DLL-sideloads via 7z.exe/7z.dll and deploys the GRAYRABBIT backdoor, which beacons over RC4-encrypted raw TCP 443 to mail.uaiubifas[.]top. Tencent patched the issue in version 16.3.0.3498, released via automatic updates on April 21, 2026. UNC3569 is a PRC-nexus espionage actor targeting government, education, technology, and financial sectors across East and Southeast Asia.

GBHackersupdated · 2d agofirst · 3d agoThreat actor in the wild 3 sourcesCVE-2026-51990CVE-2021-380031

BlackHatSect0r Uses DeepSeek-Powered AI Agent to Automate Attacks and Harvest 16,834 Credentials

SOCRadar linked the BlackHatSect0r crew to a DeepSeek-powered AI agent that automated scanning and harvested 16,834 credentials from exposed systems.

SOCRadar researchers found an exposed operation server with 4.9 GB across 9,299 files, including the DXSCAN scanning platform, phishing tools, extortion material and a vault holding 16,834 credentials such as AWS keys, GitHub tokens and Stripe keys. The French-speaking crew ran a Nous Research Hermes agent against a DeepSeek model with safety features removed, queuing 2,759,860 domains and reaching 726,989 hosts. Access came from misconfigurations like public cloud buckets and exposed .env files, not new vulnerabilities.

Cyber Security News · 2h agoThreat actor in the wild 4 sources1

Three Threat Groups Target Russian Enterprises With Backdoors, Ransomware, and Wipers

Kaspersky details NightEagle, Hacking Cat, and Toy Ghouls targeting Russian enterprises with Exchange backdoors, Gorilla RAT, and destructive Monkey ransomware.

Kaspersky reports three threat clusters targeting Russian enterprises: NightEagle (APT-Q-95), the pro-Ukrainian hacktivist group Hacking Cat, and Toy Ghouls. NightEagle uses compromised VPN credentials and the GhostContainer modular backdoor to fully compromise Microsoft Exchange servers, chaining CVE-2020-0688 exploitation, BlueKeep (CVE-2019-0708), Active Directory vulnerabilities, and DCSync to seize domain controllers. Hacking Cat exploits Exchange flaws including CVE-2021-26855 and CVE-2026-42897 to deliver the Gorilla RAT and multiple Monkey ransomware variants written in Rust, .NET, C++, and Golang targeting Windows, Linux, and VMware ESXi, with some variants acting as wipers that never store the encryption key.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 4h agofirst · 21h agoThreat actor in the wild 5 sourcesCVE-2020-0688CVE-2019-0708CVE-2021-26855+1 CVEs1

One Exploit Chain, Two Espionage Campaigns: Chrome and Windows Under Fire

Two China-linked APT groups reused identical Chrome/Windows zero-day chain against NGOs, deploying GRIMWIDGE backdoor and LONGTALE credential-stealing extension.

Volexity reports that China-linked actors UTA0560 and JungleBamboo (APT31/TA412) ran byte-identical Chrome/Windows exploit chains against NGOs starting September 1, 2026, combining Chrome type confusion CVE-2026-85046, WebAssembly sandbox escape CVE-2026-87491, and Windows kernel flaw CVE-2026-85880. The Chrome bug was fixed in Chromium source but not yet shipped to Chrome users, making it an effective zero-day with an unusual patch gap. UTA0560 delivered the in-memory GRIMWEDGE JScript backdoor, while JungleBamboo deployed the SUPERSTOMP loader installing LONGTALE, a malicious Chrome extension disguised as Google Gemini that steals cookies, session tokens, and keystrokes. Volexity assesses with low confidence the exploit chain was sold or shared among different Chinese end-users.

Hackers Use Autonomous AI Agents to Harvest Thousands of Credentials in Under 6 Hours

Google Cloud documents a financially motivated actor using autonomous AI agents on a compromised cloud tenant to harvest 23,800+ credentials in under six hours.

Google Cloud reports that an attacker compromised a victim's cloud environment and deployed a multi-agent framework driven by preconfigured Markdown playbooks to autonomously handle vulnerability scanning, credential collection, error troubleshooting, and IP rotation. An exposed command-and-control server hosted the 'Recon' framework with a live dashboard managing over 23,800 harvested secrets, including cloud and AI-service API keys. The report also ties DUSTMAKER to UNC6780/TeamPCP, targeting AI development tools and CI/CD systems via trojanized MCP packages such as tiktoken_mcp. Google has disabled linked assets and updated protections after the actors' operational security failures.

Cyber Security News · 2d agoThreat actor in the wild

Hackers Deploy Agentic AI to Automate Exploitation and Mass Credential Harvesting

Google GTIG documents a financially motivated actor using a multi-agent AI framework to automate credential harvesting, compromising over 23,800 secrets within hours.

Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) documented a financially motivated actor that compromised an unnamed organization's cloud infrastructure and used a multi-agent AI framework to automate vulnerability scanning, credential harvesting, troubleshooting, and IP rotation. The operation went from planning to mass credential compromise in under six hours, harvesting more than 23,800 secrets including cloud and AI-service API keys via an exposed C2 dashboard called 'Recon'. The actor directed specialized agents using an AI coding chatbot and Markdown instruction files such as AGENTS.KNOWLEDGE.md and agentic_vuln_research.md. Google has not observed fully autonomous zero-day exploitation; the shift automates labor-intensive tasks like reconnaissance, account validation, and infrastructure management, sharply shrinking detection windows.

GBHackers · 2d agoThreat actor in the wild1

AI lets small actors run state-level hacking campaigns, Anthropic report finds

Anthropic's threat report finds AI let a Russian-aligned espionage campaign, a Chinese student-run exploit foundry and ShinyHunters operators run state-grade operations.

Anthropic's report covering December 2025 to August 2026 details a Russian-aligned espionage campaign by actor 'JackPoterz' — matching Midnight Blizzard behaviors — against more than 20 government and defense organizations across Ukraine and Europe, with AI agents autonomously rebuilding Windows implants to evade detections. Chinese undergraduates ran an automated vulnerability-research foundry using Claude agent swarms, yielding more than a dozen potential zero-days in one month. ShinyHunters-affiliated operators used AI to dump over 2,100 Azure access tokens across 40 corporate tenants in 34 hours. Seven Chinese labs including Alibaba, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Xiaomi and Zhipu distilled Claude outputs; Alibaba peaked at nearly 3 million exchanges per day from more than 3,500 fraudulent accounts to train its Qwen systems.

CyberScoopupdated · 19h agofirst · 6d agoThreat actor in the wild 20 sources2· 1 read