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Mole Ransomware: How One Malicious Spam Campaign Quickly Increased Complexity and Changed Tactics

Unit 42 tracks the new Mole ransomware (CryptoMix family) spread via USPS-themed malspam, with tactics escalating to JavaScript downloaders dropping multiple malware families.

On April 11, 2017, a malspam campaign began distributing Mole ransomware, a CryptoMix-family strain, through USPS-themed emails linking to fake Microsoft Word Online sites offering a bogus Office plugin. By April 13 the campaign added Nemucod JavaScript downloaders installing Mole alongside Kovter and Miuref, and by April 18 it switched to the KINS banking Trojan before moving to speeding-ticket themes and a fake parking services website. Unit 42 notes the rapid tactic changes are likely intended to evade detection, and CryptoMix variants like Mole are typically repackaged within weeks.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Ransomware in the wild

"Blank Slate" Campaign Takes Advantage of Hosting Providers to Spread Ransomware

Unit 42 profiles the Blank Slate malspam campaign: blank emails with double-zipped attachments delivering Cerber ransomware while cycling abused hosting provider domains.

The Blank Slate campaign sends empty emails containing double-zipped archives with macro-enabled Word documents or JavaScript files that launch PowerShell to download ransomware, primarily Cerber, and occasionally Sage 2.0 or Locky. Unit 42 observed 555 campaign domains over seven months, with actors repeatedly registering new domains and cycling abuse of legitimate hosting providers after takedowns. In a five-day January-February 2017 window, at least eight domains across seven IP addresses were observed hosting Cerber payloads.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Threat actor in the wild1

Decline in Rig Exploit Kit

Rig exploit kit activity dropped roughly 75% after the pseudo-Darkleech and EITest campaigns stopped using EKs, reflecting an overall decline in exploit kit activity.

Rig EK activity fell sharply in 2017: the pseudo-Darkleech campaign disappeared at the end of March, cutting Rig traffic about 50%, and the EITest campaign switched to tech support scams in late April, cutting another 50% in May. Broader causes include a shrinking browser target base, no major EK zero-day in over a year, and community takedowns of domain shadowing infrastructure. Criminals are shifting to malspam, social engineering schemes like fake HoeflerText notifications, and tech support scams.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Exploit / PoC in the wild1

Malspam Targeting Brazil Continues to Evolve

Brazilian malspam campaigns continue evolving, abusing Google URL shortener and Dropbox and using Squiblydoo plus DLL side-loading to deploy likely infostealing botnet malware.

A June 2017 Brazilian malspam campaign spoofed IPTU tax notification emails, using the recipient's address as the sender, and abused Google's URL shortener and Dropbox to deliver a zip containing a malicious Windows shortcut (.lnk) file. The LNK used the Squiblydoo technique (regsvr32.exe) to download and execute a scriptlet with elevated privileges, retrieving a signed G-Buster Browser Defense executable alongside a malicious fltLib.dll loaded via side-loading, likely an information-stealing botnet. Post-infection HTTP traffic exposed over 400 infected Windows hosts, mostly in Brazil, with 2,132 Banload-tagged samples observed in the first half of 2017.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Malware in the wild

Automatically Detecting DNS Hijacking in Passive DNS

Unit 42's machine learning pipeline detected 6,729 DNS hijacking events between March and September 2024, hitting political parties, ISPs, and universities.

Unit 42 processes roughly 167 million new DNS records daily and applies a machine learning model using 74 features over 169 TB of passive DNS and geolocation data to flag hijacked domains. From March to September 2024 the pipeline screened over 29 billion records and classified 6,729 as DNS hijacking, averaging 38 detections per day; a new model detects hijacks in customer traffic within about 10 minutes. Notable cases include a Hungarian political party's hijacked domain, defacement of a large utility company and ISP, and university and research center domains repurposed for illicit gambling. DNS hijacking typically relies on stolen registrar or DNS provider credentials or cache poisoning, enabling MitM attacks, phishing, drive-by downloads, and scams.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Research in the wild

Understanding Angler Exploit Kit

Unit 42 examines Angler EK operations, including rapid zero-day adoption, fileless Bedep infections, and ransomware payloads like TeslaCrypt and CryptXXX.

Unit 42 published the second part of its Angler EK analysis, covering the kit's history since 2013, its SaaS rental model, and its focus on Flash, Internet Explorer, and Silverlight exploits. Angler integrated the CVE-2015-5119 Flash zero-day from the Hacking Team leak within hours and later added exploits for CVE-2015-2419 and CVE-2016-0034 roughly a month after Microsoft patched them. Campaigns use Angler to deliver ransomware such as CryptoWall, TeslaCrypt, and CryptXXX, plus banking trojans and stealers via EITest. Since August 2014, Angler has used fileless, in-memory execution, most often for Bedep, which later downloads CryptXXX and click-fraud malware.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Research in the wildCVE-2015-5119CVE-2015-2419CVE-2016-0034

Scam Attacks Taking Advantage of the Popularity of the Generative AI Wave

Unit 42 finds about 225 generative AI-themed domains registered daily since ChatGPT's launch, with nearly 29 percent suspicious, fueling scams and PUP delivery.

Palo Alto Networks analyzed new domain registrations containing generative AI keywords such as chatgpt, prompt, and sora since ChatGPT's November 2022 launch, observing around 225 GenAI-related registrations per day. About 28.75 percent of these domains are suspicious, a rate 22 times higher than for general new domains, with registration spikes aligning with milestones like Bing ChatGPT integration, the GPT-4 release, new GPTs, and OpenAI's Sora announcement. Over 72 percent of the domains use gpt or chatgpt keywords, and gpt domains show a 76 percent suspicious rate. Case studies cover PUP delivery, spam distribution, and monetized domain parking, with 35 percent of traffic to these domains directed at suspicious ones.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Phishing & fraud in the wild1

Locky Ransomware Installed Through Nuclear EK

Unit 42 reports Locky ransomware delivered through the Nuclear exploit kit using Flash exploits, adding a drive-by path to existing malspam distribution.

Unit 42 observed Locky ransomware being delivered by the Nuclear exploit kit in March 2016 via Flash exploits, following February reports of Neutrino EK distributing Locky. Infections follow a drive-by chain through a gate to the Nuclear EK, which either installs Locky directly or drops a downloader that retrieves it from another domain. Locky retains two distribution paths: malspam with malicious Office macros or JavaScript attachments and exploit kit traffic triggered by casual web browsing.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Ransomware in the wild1

Campaign Evolution: Darkleech to Pseudo

Unit 42 traces the pseudo-Darkleech campaign, which compromises websites to inject scripts redirecting visitors to exploit kits delivering ransomware.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 analyzed the evolution of the pseudo-Darkleech campaign, which injects malicious script into compromised Apache, IIS and WordPress sites to redirect visitors to exploit kits such as Angler and Neutrino. The original Darkleech Apache module infected thousands of servers starting in 2012 and delivered Blackhole EK until that kit disappeared after Paunch's 2013 arrest. From 2015 onward, pseudo-Darkleech delivered ransomware families like CryptoWall and TeslaCrypt, and by early 2016 its injected scripts added obfuscated numeric blocks with frequently changing separator characters. Unit 42 tracks these patterns to help defenders identify compromised websites.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Threat actor in the wild