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Threat Brief: 3CXDesktopApp Supply Chain Attack (Updated)
Trojanized 3CXDesktopApp installers for Windows and macOS loaded RC4-encrypted shellcode delivering a backdoor to hundreds of thousands of 3CX users.
Threat actors compromised the 3CXDesktopApp build process, adding malicious libraries (ffmpeg.dll, d3dcompiler_47.dll) to installers downloaded from the developer's website. The Windows MSI loader decrypts embedded shellcode with RC4, sleeps for a random 1-4 weeks, then beacons to C2 hidden in icon files on GitHub. Unit 42 fingerprinted 247,277 IPs across 199 countries using 3CX applications and blocked shellcode execution at 127 Cortex XDR customers between March 9-30, 2023.
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MILE TEA: Cyber Espionage Campaign Targets Asia Pacific Businesses and Government Agencies
Unit 42 names MILE TEA, a cyber-espionage campaign since 2011 targeting Japanese and Taiwanese businesses and government agencies with e-ticket phishing lures and Elirks-family malware.
Unit 42 tracks the MILE TEA espionage campaign, observed as early as 2011, targeting Japanese trading, petroleum, and mobile companies, a Beijing office of a Japanese public organization, and a Taiwanese government agency. The primary infection vector is spear-phishing emails with attachments, mostly custom executable installers posing as flight e-tickets, dropping Elirks, Micrass, or Logedrut as initial bridgehead malware. Elirks and Logedrut retrieve encrypted C2 addresses from attacker-posted blog articles, decoded with Base64 and TEA or DES ciphers. The campaign's focus shifted from Taiwan to Japan around 2013.
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Hackers Abuse YouTube Gaming Channels and SEO Poisoning to Deploy RATs and Chrome Hijacker
Unit 42 exposed CL-CRI-1171, a pay-per-install operation using YouTube gaming channels and SEO poisoning to deliver RATs and a Chrome hijacker.
Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 identified over 10,000 OfferLoader samples and 11 YouTube channels pushing trojanized installers via gaming lures and SEO-poisoned searches for tools like WinDirStat and Bluetooth drivers. Trojanized Inno Setup installers spawn three payload branches: Insomnia RAT (dual Node.js/Python backdoor that disables Microsoft Defender), ARKTunnel (undocumented RAT hiding its payload in a bitmap image and tunneling TCP/UDP), and Docro Hijacker (alters Chrome protected preferences to hijack search and affiliate links). The pay-per-install model sells each infection to multiple buyers, reaching gamers as well as corporate and government endpoints.
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Gigabud Creates Android Work Profiles to Hide From Banking App Malware Checks
Group-IB reports the Gigabud Android banking trojan uses a cloned work profile to hide from banking app malware checks, with infections confirmed in Indonesia.
Group-IB says Gigabud installs a helper app called Vwork, derived from the open-source Shelter tool, which creates an Android work profile and drops a tampered banking app inside it, hiding the trojan from banking apps' malware scans. Gigabud, active since 2022 and linked by Group-IB to the GoldFactory group, abuses Accessibility access and overlay screens to steal credentials and run fraudulent payments while a black screen conceals the operator's actions. Group-IB confirmed the full attack chain on infected devices in Indonesia, counting about 1,469 compromised devices and estimated losses of roughly $960,000 between February and July 2026. Vwork-compatible Gigabud samples have been found targeting 11 countries including Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, and Türkiye, though only the Indonesian chain is confirmed.
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Grand Theft Auto VI hype leads to malware
Fake GTA6 ISO downloads spread via SEO poisoning, torrents, and forums deliver NJRAT, DCRAT, an infostealer, and wiper ransomware.
Huntress analyzed a malicious ISO masquerading as a leaked Grand Theft Auto VI build; there is no official GTA6 demo or leaked playable copy. The fake gta6installer.exe shows a Russian 'license' message asking victims to email the attacker if the crack fails, then drops GTA6-branded files into %TEMP%. It installs multiple repurposed NJRAT copies (2023-era files) connecting to AWS-hosted IPs 35.157.111.131, 3.68.56.232, 3.67.15.169 and an ngrok tunnel, plus DCRAT communicating with a0700877.xsph.ru (141.8.197.42). The bundle also includes an infostealer and ransomware used as a wiper, in what appears to be an opportunistic, everything-at-once campaign.
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GoldFactory Weaponizes Open-Source Vwork App Cloner in Gigabud Banking Malware Attacks
Group-IB says GoldFactory's Gigabud Android trojan uses Vwork, a weaponized Shelter fork, to clone banking apps into isolated Work Profiles and evade bank-side detection.
Group-IB's 'Hook for Gold' investigation found GoldFactory ships Vwork, a modified fork of the open-source Shelter app, alongside its Gigabud Android banking trojan, active since 2022. Vwork abuses Android Work Profile provisioning to clone banking apps into an isolated environment, weakening the link between detected malware signals and fraudulent transactions. Gigabud has targeted victims in Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and beyond via fake airline, tax, and government apps requesting Accessibility and overlay permissions. In Indonesia, telemetry recorded about 1,469 compromised devices and roughly $960,939 in estimated losses between February and July 2026.
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Bisonal Malware Used in Attacks Against Russia and South Korea
Unit 42 details a Bisonal malware variant, active since 2014, targeting Russian and South Korean defense organizations via PDF-disguised spearphishing emails.
In early May, Unit 42 discovered a campaign delivering a Bisonal malware variant against at least one Russian communications security and cryptography company and one unidentified organization in South Korea. The variant, in the wild since at least 2014, introduces a new C2 cipher and rewritten networking and persistence code, with only 14 samples collected to date. Attackers spoofed Russian state corporation Rostec in spearphishing emails carrying an executable disguised with a PDF icon; the dropper decrypts an RC4-encrypted DLL and establishes persistence via a registry Run key. Bisonal has been used since 2013 against government, military, and defense targets in South Korea, Russia, Japan, and India, alongside successors Bioazih and Dexbia.
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VectraRAT Malware-as-a-Service Lets Hackers Bypass UAC and Hijack Windows Systems
New VectraRAT malware-as-a-service at $250/month combines RAT capabilities, credential theft, clipboard hijacking, and a UACME-based UAC bypass; 38 victims observed.
VectraRAT is a previously undocumented MaaS platform with a Go-based VectraHub Linux C2 server embedding a Vue3 operator panel and a C++ Windows implant, rented from $250/month and linked to the aliases Vectra and Nyxel. It communicates over TCP port 3308 via a proprietary MessagePack protocol, steals browser and file-based credentials, and abuses UACME method 41 with debug-object handle hijacking via winver.exe and computerdefaults.exe. SOCRadar identified 38 live victim sessions in one week, 48% on corporate Windows editions, with delivery via the Amadey loader and ClickFix pages impersonating TurboTax.
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Fake GTA 6 Installer Steals Browser Passwords, Discord Tokens and Crypto Data From Gamers
Huntress found fake GTA 6 installer ISOs spreading NJRAT, DCRAT, Mercurial Grabber and a Chaos ransomware wiper that steals credentials.
Huntress analyzed a malicious ISO disguised as a leaked GTA 6 build, distributed via SEO poisoning, torrent sites, and social media, with some images exceeding 100 GB and padded with junk data. The installer stages game-named executables in %TEMP% and deploys NJRAT, DCRAT, and the Mercurial Grabber infostealer, harvesting browser passwords, Discord tokens, Roblox and Minecraft session data, Windows product keys, and cryptocurrency details, with exfiltration via a Discord webhook. A Chaos ransomware variant launched through gta6.exe deletes shadow copies, disables Windows recovery, encrypts files up to 200 MB with AES, and overwrites larger files, effectively acting as a wiper attributed to the 'ASHA Hacker Team'. A Visual Basic script displays a fake 'license not found' error to conceal the already-installed payloads.
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Hackers Clone Banking Apps Into Hidden Android Work Profiles to Evade Fraud Detection
GoldFactory-linked Gigabud and Vwork malware clone banking apps into hidden Android work profiles to evade fraud detection across 11+ countries.
Group-IB links Vwork, a modified version of the open-source Shelter app cloner, to the GoldFactory group and its Gigabud Android RAT, which clones victim banking apps into an isolated work profile so fraud sessions look clean to banks. From February through July 2026, researchers observed about 1,469 compromised devices and 1,281 potentially compromised logins in Indonesia, with estimated losses near $960,939. Targets span Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, Thailand, Türkiye, Laos, and a GCC state; delivery uses fake airline, tax, government, and banking apps pushed via phishing sites, messaging apps, and social media.
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Phishing Attacks Serve Browser-in-the-Browser Pages, Rogue RMM Persistence
Phishing emails with browser-in-the-browser fake Adobe pages trick users into installing rogue ScreenConnect clients granting persistent remote access.
Huntress SOC investigated two August incidents where phishing links led to fake CAPTCHA checks and Adobe PDF Reader lures rendered as browser-in-the-browser (BiTB) pages spoofing legitimate domains like get.adobe.com. Victims downloaded what they believed was Acrobat Reader but actually installed ScreenConnect.ClientSetup.exe from attacker infrastructure, yielding two rogue ScreenConnect clients with service-based persistence. The attacker used cmd.exe and curl to stage a second client connecting to 144.172.115.59, leveraged a ScreenConnect Trial Relay domain for stealth, and ran HideCursor.exe as a defense-evasion binary. Incident 2 arrived via AT&T Office@Hand (RingCentral), with both chains stopped before broader impact.
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Untracked Nightmares: The Threats Hiding Behind Commodity Infrastructure
Unit 42 exposes CL-CRI-1171, a pay-per-install network spreading malware like Insomnia RAT via YouTube channels and SEO poisoning for over two years.
Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 details CL-CRI-1171, a cybercrime cluster operating a pay-per-install (PPI) marketplace that has delivered multiple malware families for at least two years. The group used at least eleven YouTube gaming channels with hundreds of thousands of followers, plus SEO poisoning promoting trojanized software such as a Bluetooth driver and WinDirStat, infecting gamers and corporate endpoints including critical infrastructure and government entities. A single shared loader delivered payloads including Insomnia RAT, ARKTunnel, Docro Hijacker, GCleaner and Socks5Systemz between July 2025 and April 2026, with more than 10,000 distinct loader samples and over 200 rotating C2 domains identified. YouTube terminated the malicious channels after Unit 42 notified the platform.
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HVNC Backdoor Targets LATAM Organizations with Fake Tax and DocuSign Lures
A custom HVNC backdoor is targeting Latin American financial organizations via fake DocuSign and NFe tax-document lures, giving attackers hidden persistent remote access.
ANY.RUN researchers analyzed a multi-stage phishing campaign delivering a custom HVNC backdoor to banking and financial organizations in Latin America. The chain starts with fake DocuSign and NFe tax-document pages that serve per-visitor ZIP archives, followed by an LNK dropper, an NSIS loader, and a 64-bit backdoor masquerading as Windows Update Assistant. The implant provides hidden remote desktop control, keystroke monitoring, Firefox data theft, Startup-folder persistence, and EDR-aware behavior, communicating over TCP/27015.
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GentleKiller targets more than 400 security processes across 48 products
ESET details the Gentlemen ransomware gang's in-house GentleKiller EDR-killer framework targeting over 400 security processes across 48 products, supplied to affiliates.
ESET analyzed the Gentlemen ransomware gang's in-house GentleKiller EDR-killer framework, confirmed through an internal data leak from May 2026. The framework has at least eight variants impersonating legitimate security products and abusing vulnerable or malicious kernel drivers, targeting more than 400 process names across 48 security products. Gentlemen emerged in late 2025, became one of the five most active ransomware gangs in Q1 2026, offers affiliates a 90% ransom share, and practices double extortion using Go-based and C-based ESXi encryptors. The suite also reuses outside tools including HexKiller, ThrottleBlood, and HavocKiller, unified by a shared evasion layer that mimics well-known security vendors.
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Tracking Elirks Variants in Japan: Similarities to Previous Attacks
Unit 42 links new Elirks backdoor variants attacking Japanese organizations to 2012 Taiwan attacks, delivered via spear-phishing PDFs exploiting Adobe Flash CVE-2011-0611.
Unit 42 analyzed new Elirks backdoor variants found in an attack on a Japanese business, noting strong similarities to 2012 attacks on Taiwanese ministries. The backdoor retrieves its C2 address from attacker-created accounts on Japanese blog and SNS services. Recent deliveries used an airline e-ticket lure named "E-TKT" with a PDF exploiting Adobe Flash CVE-2011-0611. Shared infrastructure and tactics with the Scarlet Mimic campaign suggest possible ongoing cyber espionage across East Asia.
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APT36 Suspected in PATCHCORD Espionage Campaign Using Google Sheets C2
Acronis links the PATCHCORD espionage campaign targeting Afghan telecom and South Asian critical infrastructure to APT36 with moderate confidence.
Acronis Threat Research Unit documented PATCHCORD, a previously undocumented C/C++ backdoor delivered via fake VPN installers impersonating Afghan Telecom (AFTEL), which hijacks Edge, Chrome and Firefox shortcuts for persistence and executes in-memory shellcode. A related Go implant, SHEETCORD, abuses the Google Sheets API for per-victim C2 and was distributed via a domain impersonating India's National Informatics Centre, while a third tool, HACKERAI C2 Agent, uses GitHub Gists and shows signs of LLM-assisted coding. An exposed staging server revealed SuperShell, RAT frameworks, credential-harvesting tools and OpenSSH exploit code, and the researchers attribute the activity to APT36/Transparent Tribe at moderate confidence.
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DeadLock Ransomware Uses Polygon Smart Contracts to Make Extortion Infra Harder to Disrupt
Microsoft reports DeadLock ransomware using Polygon smart contracts and Session messaging for extortion infrastructure, claiming 96 victims across Europe and the U.S.
Microsoft Threat Intelligence reports the DeadLock ransomware operation uses the Session messaging network and Polygon blockchain smart contracts to host victim chat, proxy server addresses, and its data leak blog, making takedowns harder. First detected in July 2025, the group has claimed 96 victims, mostly in Italy, Spain, Poland, Türkiye, and the U.S., with deployments by affiliates of Lynx and INC ransomware. The encryptor uses Curve25519 with XChaCha20, drops an interactive HTML recovery chat application, geofences CIS-linked countries, and clears logs and shadow copies to evade forensics.
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⚡ Weekly Recap: Instagram Account Hacks, Android Zero
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CISA, Microsoft warn of active exploitation of Windows Shell vulnerability (CVE-2026-32202)
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