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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.
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“Tick” Group Continues Attacks
Unit 42 tracks the Tick espionage group attacking Korean and Japanese defense and high-tech targets with Daserf, Minzen, 9002, Invader, and custom Gh0st RAT variants.
The Tick group has conducted long-running espionage attacks against organizations in the Republic of Korea and Japan, focusing on defense and high-tech companies holding intellectual property, and repeatedly attacked one high-profile Japanese target for three years. Unit 42 links the Daserf backdoor, the 9002 RAT, and the Invader backdoor through shared C2 infrastructure used between July 2012 and April 2013. Minzen samples install a "NamelessHdoor" backdoor derived from publicly available code over a decade old, modified with ReflectiveDLLLoader DLL injection, and the group also uses custom Gh0st RAT variants. Tick has shifted from privacy-protected domain registration to compromised websites for C2 infrastructure.
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China-Linked UNC3569 Exploited Sogou Input Method Flaw to Deploy GRAYRABBIT Backdoor
China-linked UNC3569 exploited a Sogou Input Method flaw to deploy GRAYRABBIT backdoor on Windows machines across East and Southeast Asia.
Gen Digital found that China-linked UNC3569, a hacker-for-hire group tracked by Google since 2021, exploited a flaw in Sogou Input Method's Windows sgbiz: link handler to reach a sandbox-disabled Chromium 80 build and exploit 2021's CVE-2021-38003 for code execution. The chain delivered GRAYRABBIT, a remote shell backdoor capable of file transfer and module loading, via a 7-Zip DLL sideloading trick gated on process count. Tencent fixed the handler flaw in April 2026 but the embedded browser remains outdated. Sogou has over 455 million monthly users and roughly 70% share of Chinese input methods.
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Malicious Apache Modules Hijack Brazilian Government Site Traffic to Push Betting Pages
Check Point links Gambling Goblin, a Chinese-speaking cluster, to malicious Apache modules hijacking Brazilian government servers to promote betting sites.
Check Point Research tracks Gambling Goblin, a Chinese-speaking cluster, installing malicious Apache reverse-proxy modules on compromised Brazilian government and education web servers since mid-2025. The modules divert visitors to gambling and fake app-store pages while stripping the site's security headers, likely for large-scale SEO manipulation. The group's Linux arsenal includes DownPro, AlphaAgent, oRAT, a 3snake-based credential stealer, and SSH brute-forcing tools, and it is tied to Trend Micro's Earth Berberoka. Related SEO-fraud campaigns on .gov.br domains were documented by ESET (GhostRedirector), Palo Alto Networks Unit 42, and Hunt.io.
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