Search: “social-engineering”

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StopAndProtect Turns 2,000 Hacked WordPress Sites Into a Criminal Network

Check Point uncovered StopAndProtect, a cybercrime operation using ~2,000 hacked WordPress sites for ClickFix-driven malware delivery, data theft, surveillance, and ransomware.

Check Point Research identified the StopAndProtect operation in May 2026; it abuses close to 2,000 compromised WordPress sites, many running outdated software, to host malware stages, act as C2, and store stolen data. Infection starts with fake CAPTCHA ClickFix prompts that trick visitors into running a PowerShell command, followed by .NET downloaders deploying ransomware, SMB/USB worm, lockscreen, chat, and credential-stealing components. Rather than always encrypting, operators selectively exfiltrate file lists and specific files; researchers found 700+ stolen-data archives, roughly 31,000 screenshots, and 6,000+ unique victim IP addresses, including WhatsApp activity monitoring.

Security AffairsAug 20, 07:20 UTC · 27d agoThreat actor in the wild

Microsoft Tracks MacSync Stealer by Its Behavior, Not Its Domains

Microsoft correlates over 30 rotating domains to track MacSync Stealer, which steals passwords, SSH keys, wallets and AWS credentials.

Microsoft Defender Experts tracked MacSync Stealer, a macOS information stealer, by analyzing recurring behaviors rather than individual domains, linking over 30 domains to the campaign. The infection chain uses the ClickFix social engineering technique, tricking victims into pasting commands in Terminal, then uses curl, AppleScript, and native macOS tools to deploy the payload. The stealer targets Keychain data, browser passwords and cookies, SSH keys, AWS credentials, Kubernetes configurations, and Ledger and Trezor wallet data, staging data before exfiltration via chunked HTTP PUT requests. RST Cloud identified rapid C2 infrastructure replacement after initial public disclosure.

Security AffairsAug 19, 08:57 UTC · 28d agoMalware

Thousands of Hacked WordPress Sites, One Operation: Unmasking StopAndProtect

Check Point uncovers the StopAndProtect ransomware operation infecting thousands of WordPress sites via ClickFix social engineering and PowerShell downloaders.

Check Point Research first observed the StopAndProtect ransomware family in mid-May 2026 and linked its infrastructure to thousands of hacked WordPress sites. The infection chain begins with ClickFix social engineering that prompts victims to run a PowerShell command, followed by two stages of additional downloaders. The research maps the shared infrastructure unifying the operation.

Check Point ResearchAug 18, 13:05 UTC · 29d agoRansomware in the wild

Cavern C2 Uses DNS and Google Apps Script to Blend Into Legitimate Traffic

Kaspersky details Iranian Cavern Manticore's expanded C2 framework using DNS and Google Apps Script, plus APT42's TAMECAT spyware in nuclear-sector phishing.

Kaspersky reported new components in the Cavern (Cav3rn) C2 framework, used by Iranian MOIS-affiliated Cavern Manticore (with overlaps to MuddyWater and OilRig's Lyceum) against Israeli entities, monitored since December 2025. The new GoogleService.dll module performs DNS A-record queries to choose between direct HTTPS and a Google Apps Script relay per transaction, with the DNS infrastructure able to rotate the Google deployment ID; Kaspersky also found an inter-component broker (rnp.dll) and linked the framework's plugin-based pivot to late April 2026. Separately, Group-IB and Kaspersky detailed HOLLOWGRAPH, a .NET NativeAOT DLL first seen in the wild June 7, 2026, that uses Microsoft 365 calendar events via the Graph API as two-way dead drops dated May 13, 2050, with DNS tunneling refreshing Entra ID credentials. DarkAtlas also reported APT42's TAMECAT modular surveillance framework delivered via LNK masquerading as PDFs in spear-phishing targeting the nuclear energy sector in April-May 2026, with the group using generative AI to accelerate operations.

The Hacker NewsAug 18, 12:12 UTC · 29d agoThreat actor