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xHunt Campaign: Attacks on Kuwait Shipping and Transportation Organizations

xHunt deployed custom backdoors Hisoka, Killua, Gon, and EYE against Kuwait shipping and transportation organizations, using DNS tunneling and email-draft C2 channels.

Unit 42 observed the xHunt campaign targeting Kuwait transportation and shipping organizations between May and June 2019, installing backdoors named after characters from the anime Hunter x Hunter, including Hisoka, Killua, Sakabota, and Netero. The tools use HTTP and DNS tunneling for C2, and Hisoka v0.9 added an unusual email-based C2 channel that abuses Exchange Web Services with stolen credentials to exchange email drafts. The Gon tool provides port scanning, file transfer, screenshots, remote command execution, and RDP session creation, while EYE acts as a cleanup failsafe if a legitimate user logs in. Related activity targeting Kuwait between July and December 2018 was reported by IBM X-Force IRIS, suggesting the campaigns are likely related.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Threat actor1

Attackers Expose Ongoing AI Tool Use Targeting Organizations in Latin America

Unit 42 documents two AI-assisted intrusion campaigns against Latin American government, utility, and financial organizations using LLM-orchestrated tooling.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 tracks two ongoing intrusion clusters, CL-CRI-1131 (Mexican transportation, federal ministries, municipal water utilities) and CL-CRI-1163 (Brazilian financial sector), both using living-off-the-land techniques, SOCKS5 relays, and custom RATs. The attackers appear to orchestrate operations via commercial LLMs like Claude and GPT-4.1, evidenced by iterative batch scripts and AI-generated tunneling tool naming. The Mexican campaign (also reported as Operation Escaneo by CloudSEK) exfiltrated sensitive data via dynamic-DNS infrastructure with rotated multi-SAN TLS certificates between February and June 2026. This signals broader adoption of AI-enhanced operations by diverse threat groups in the region.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · 13d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Iranian APTs increased activity against US industries in late spring, researchers say

Nozomi Networks recorded 28 Iran-linked attacks on US customers in May-June, up 133%, mostly hitting transportation and manufacturing.

Nozomi Networks telemetry showed 28 Iran-linked attacks against customers in May and June versus 12 in the prior two months, a 133% increase focused on transportation and manufacturing. MuddyWater was the most active group, targeting at least five US companies, followed by APT33 with at least three; OilRig, CyberAv3ngers, FoxKitten and Homeland Justice were also active. In a separate report, Morphisec said Fox Kitten is recruiting ransomware affiliates with an 80% share of proceeds for attacks against Iran's adversaries, including the US and Israel. The activity comes amid heightened concerns over Iranian cyber retaliation after US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

The Record · 9d agoThreat actor in the wild1· 1 read

Hackers Use Claude and GPT-Powered Tools to Help Breach Government and Financial Networks

Unit 42 links two Latin America campaigns where operators used Claude and GPT-4.1 during intrusions against government and financial targets.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 identified two activity clusters, CL-CRI-1131 and CL-CRI-1163, tied by shared SOCKS5 relay infrastructure and use of large language models during operations. The Mexican cluster targeted a transportation organization, federal ministries and water utilities in Mexico and Ecuador, while the Brazilian cluster used resume-themed phishing, custom remote-access Trojans and SockTz SOCKS5 tunneling against financial organizations. An exposed self-hosted NextChat interface on attacker infrastructure led researchers to assess operators used Claude and GPT-4.1 to generate workaround scripts and troubleshoot execution failures. Unit 42 noted AI reduced time needed to troubleshoot intrusions after initial access, rather than replacing the attacker.

Cyber Security News · 6d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Gaming the system: how a Chinese-speaking actor turned Brazilian government sites into an SEO weapon

Check Point identifies Chinese-speaking group Gambling Goblin hijacking Brazilian government domains via malicious Apache modules for SEO-manipulated gambling phishing.

Check Point Research tracks a sustained campaign since mid-2025 against Brazilian government and educational organizations by Gambling Goblin, a Chinese-speaking cybercrime cluster linked to Earth Berberoka. Attackers compile and install malicious Apache modules that silently reverse-proxy visitors to phishing pages impersonating Google Play, Microsoft Store, and Amazon, chaining compromised high-reputation domains to inflate search rankings. The group deploys a heavily obfuscated Linux toolkit including DownPro, AlphaAgent, oRAT, a 3snake-based credential stealer, and SSH brute-forcers, with parallel phishing networks localized for Vietnamese, Spanish, and English victims.

Check Point Research · 14d agoThreat actor

TrueConf Server Flaws Exploited to Replace Client Installers with PhantomCore

Head Mare exploits TrueConf server flaws to install web shells and deliver PhantomCore and PhantomGraph backdoors at Russian organizations.

Kaspersky detected July 2026 attacks by the threat actor Head Mare exploiting a vulnerability chain (KLCERT-26-057 and KLCERT-26-058) in unpatched TrueConf videoconferencing servers. The chain enables arbitrary code execution with SYSTEM privileges, deployment of a web shell at locale.php, and replacement of client installers with versions delivering the PhantomCore backdoor and PhantomGraph, which uses Microsoft OneDrive as C2. Targets span Russian instrumentation, electronics, transport, energy, IT, and software firms. Patches shipped in TrueConf Server 5.3.9, 5.4.9, and 5.5.5 on June 18, 2026.

The Hacker News · 26d agoThreat actor in the wild1

xHunt Campaign: New PowerShell Backdoor Blocked Through DNS Tunnel Detection

xHunt's new CASHY200 PowerShell backdoor used DNS tunneling for C2; DNS security blocked beaconing at a Kuwait organization in September 2019.

Unit 42 describes CASHY200, a new PowerShell-based backdoor tied to the xHunt campaign that communicates with its C2 server windows64x[.]com via DNS tunneling, parsing commands from DNS answers. In September 2019, a Kuwait-based organization's DNS security service blocked the beaconing minutes after detection, cutting off adversary access. Samples dating to May and June 2018 and open source collection suggest the tool was used against Kuwait government organizations from spring 2018 through 2019, with malicious Word documents observed installing CASHY200 payloads configured with C2 domains such as firewallsupports[.]com and winx64-microsoft[.]com. The tool's name derives from identifiers stored under the registry key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Cashe and the command value 200.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Threat actor

New PATCHCORD Backdoor Targets Afghan Telecom and Indian Critical Infrastructure

Acronis links APT36 (Transparent Tribe) to new backdoors PATCHCORD and SHEETCORD targeting Afghan Telecom and Indian government, defense, and energy networks.

Acronis TRU described an ongoing Pakistan-aligned campaign attributed with moderate confidence to APT36, delivering a previously undocumented C/C++ backdoor named PATCHCORD via fake VPN installers impersonating Afghan Telecom (AFTEL) and telecom management tools. PATCHCORD persists by hijacking browser shortcuts for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, registers with a single C2 server, and executes shellcode and arbitrary cmd.exe commands. Infrastructure analysis revealed SHEETCORD, a Go backdoor combining SHEETCREEP and PATCHCORD features that uses Google Sheets for C2 and a PowerShell-based remote execution, delivered via a fake site mimicking India's National Informatics Center. APT36 has used PATCHCORD since at least March 2026, including a variant with anti-analysis features used against India's energy sector, and the toolkit includes antnium, GateSentinel, SuperShell, and exploits for CVE-2024-6387.

The Hacker News · Aug 15, 2026Threat actor in the wildCVE-2024-6387