For years, the cyber security industry tracked AI as a force multiplier: something that made existing attack techniques faster, cheaper, and more accessible. That framing was accurate. But the Annual AI Security Report 2026 from Check Point Research documents a transition that goes further. AI has crossed from assistant to operator. Where it once helped attackers prepare, it now runs the operation. Key observed findings AI has crossed from development aid to live attack operator. It now does…
TrendAI™ Research analyzed over 200 Gemini CLI session logs showing how a Russian-speaking threat actor used AI to run a live botnet, finishing a full C&C migration in six minutes while doing just 11% of the work himself.
Aikido Intel is a real-time feed that catches malware and undisclosed vulnerabilities across open-source ecosystems, often within 8 minutes of release. Category: Product & Company Updates
A Mexican banking fraud operation we're tracking as REF6045 doesn't run on autopilot. A human operator is behind the wheel, monitoring infected machines and deciding what happens next. Victims are infected through fake CAPTCHA pages that trick them into running a single command, which installs SCMBANKER, a PowerShell toolkit with components dating back to at least October 2025. Once installed, the operator can see when a victim opens a banking session, lock the screen behind a fake bank warning…
A Mexican banking fraud operation we're tracking as REF6045 doesn't run on autopilot. A human operator is behind the wheel, monitoring infected machines and deciding what happens next. Victims are infected through fake CAPTCHA pages that trick them into running a single command, which installs SCMBANKER, a PowerShell toolkit with components dating back to at least October 2025. Once installed, the operator can see when a victim opens a banking session, lock the screen behind a fake bank warning…
Note: SysAid was not compromised, and no SysAid vulnerability was involved. The attacker had already gained access to the victim environment and abused a legitimate software-deployment feature to deploy malware onto another machine within it. Key Points Check Point Research (CPR) tracks ‘Cavern Manticore’ as an Iran-nexus threat actor operating against Israeli targets, with a focus on the government and IT sectors. Cavern Manticore shares technical overlaps with other Iranian MOIS (Ministry of…
Key Takeaways This case was first reported to customers in a threat brief released in July 2025 and in a public flash alert in August 2025 in partnership with Swisscom B2B CSIRT, which observed another intrusion tied to the same campaign. This report contains data from both intrusions. We plan to release a DFIR Labs […] The post From Bing Search to Ransomware: Bumblebee and AdaptixC2 Deliver Akira appeared first on The DFIR Report.
In this blog entry, TrendAI™ Research examines a wave of phishing emails observed in May 2026 that targeted Japanese accommodation facilities using Booking.com, detailing the victims, attack techniques used, and characteristics of the malware involved.
Aikido's malware feed now blocks bad package versions in Composer by default. A look at how Packagist is closing whole classes of supply chain attacks. Category: Product & Company Updates
Group-IB analyzes Millenium RAT version 4.*, a remote access trojan that has undergone an architectural shift from .NET to native C++, while continuing to leverage the Telegram Bot API for command and control, requiring no dedicated server infrastructure. This blog also profiles the developer “ShinyEnigma”, and threat actor cluster “Y2K Operators” responsible for active Millenium RAT exploitation campaigns. Over 62,000 compromised endpoints across more than 160 countries have been identified,…
ESET Research analyzes Gamaredon’s new toolset and the group’s growing reliance on legitimate online services to hide its C&C infrastructure and exfiltrate stolen data
ESET researchers assisted in the global disruption of the Amadey botnet and Stealc infostealer, providing technical analysis, infrastructure tracking, and affiliate-level insights
Aikido partners with Drydock to bring pre-publish package review to npm and PyPI. See exactly what's inside a release before it ships, malware caught before download number one. Category: Product & Company Updates
A previously undocumented Windows loader tracked as OXLOADER is delivering the CASTLESTEALER infostealer via malicious Google Ads, with low detection rates across static engines and sandbox detonations. The loader uses several obfuscation layers (control-flow flattening, opaque predicates, mixed Boolean-Arithmetic), self-modifying decryption stubs, and abuses the Windows .reloc section to stage shellcode. Elastic Security Labs identified OXLOADER in an active campaign targeting one of our…
FortiGuard Labs analyzes a multi-stage malware campaign that uses fake AI-themed documents, hidden PowerShell scripts, AutoHotkey loaders, and process injection to deploy AsyncRAT and maintain remote access.
FortiGuard Labs research shows how cybercriminals are exploiting the demand for the FIFA World Cup 2026 through phishing, fake tickets, malware, impersonation, and credential theft.
TrendAI™ Research analyzed an intrusion where threat actors used the EtherHiding technique to route ClearFake payload delivery through smart contracts on the BNB Smart Chain testnet. The attack chain ended with two simultaneously deployed stealers, SectopRAT and ACRStealer alongside an on-chain execution tracker that confirmed each victim compromise in real time.
Elastic Security Labs's prior coverage of REF6598 documented an intrusion set whose Windows toolchain landed via Obsidian plugin abuse, escalated via an in-memory PE loader (PHANTOMPULL), and finished with a RAT (PHANTOMPULSE). That post focused on delivery. This post analyzes the final stage: PHANTOMPULSE, an implant that ships three process-injection techniques, resolves its C2 through Ethereum/Base/Optimism transaction inputs, and bypasses UAC via the public schuac technique. The analysis…
In this blog entry, researchers from the TrendAI™ MDR team discuss how they mapped the full end-to-end operation of SHADOW-WATER-063’s Banana RAT banking malware by analyzing server-side artifacts and victim-side data.
Threat actors are actively targeting your security tools. Learn how threat actors disable antivirus and EDR through vulnerable drivers, tampering attacks, and malicious firewall rules, and how Huntress detects.
Rilevata una campagna su larga scala di compromissione della supply chain nell'ecosistema npm, denominata "Mini Shai-Hulud". L'attacco sfrutta un malware di tipo worm per infiltrarsi negli ambienti di sviluppo e nelle pipeline di Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD). L'obiettivo primario è l'esfiltrazione di credenziali sensibili e la successiva propagazione automatizzata attraverso la pubblicazione di versioni malevole di pacchetti legittimi.
The EtherRAT malware family was first reported by Sysdig back in December 2025. At that time, the initial access vector was exploitation of CVE-2025-55182 (React2Shell) targeting Linux servers. In March 2026, a Windows variant campaign was reported by Atos, with their investigation showing evidence of activity going back to the previous December. In April, we […] The post Flash Alert: EtherRat and TukTuk C2 End in The Gentleman Ransomware appeared first on The DFIR Report.
Executive Summary SentinelLABS has identified PCPJack, a credential theft framework that worms across exposed cloud infrastructure and removes artifacts associated with TeamPCP, a threat actor persona who claimed several high-profile supply chain intrusions throughout early 2026. The toolset harvests credentials from cloud, container, developer, productivity, and financial services, then exfiltrates the data through attacker-controlled infrastructure while attempting to spread to additional…
Elastic Security Labs identified a new Brazilian banking trojan that we are tracking as TCLBANKER, a malware family we assess is a major update of the MAVERICK/SORVEPOTEL family. The campaign, tracked as REF3076, features a loader with robust anti-analysis capabilities that deploys two embedded .NET Reactor-protected modules: a full-featured banking trojan and a worm module for self-propagation. The banking trojan monitors the victim's browser address bar via UI Automation, targeting 59…
ESET researchers have investigated an ongoing attack by the ScarCruft APT group that targets the Yanbian region via backdoor-laced Windows and Android games
TrendAI™ Research breaks down Quasar Linux (QLNX), a previously undocumented sophisticated Linux RAT with low detection rates. In this blog, we examine a full-featured Linux threat incorporating a rootkit, a PAM backdoor, credential harvesting, and more, revealing how this malware enables stealthy access, persistence, and potential supply-chain attacks.
See how Huntress EDR/ITDR Correlations stop infostealer-driven attacks before stolen credentials can be reused, linking endpoint compromise to cloud identities for one coordinated response.
A follow-up publication will provide a deeper technical analysis of PHANTOMPULSE itself, covering its injection engines, persistence internals, and C2 protocol in greater detail. Preamble Elastic Security Labs has identified a novel social engineering campaign that abuses the popular note-taking application, Obsidian, as an initial access vector. The campaign, which we track as REF6598, targets individuals in the financial and cryptocurrency sectors through elaborate social engineering on…
We're launching C2 Detection — a new GreyNoise intelligence module that gives you two distinct, high-confidence signals that a device in your environment has been compromised.
Preamble Last Monday night I was working late and a Slack alert came in from a monitoring tool I had built three days earlier. Axios compromised; one of the most popular npm packages in the world. My heart started racing, I knew every second mattered to respond and limit the damage. But honestly it was so crazy that I thought it must be a false positive. I checked and rechecked everything a few times even though it seemed very obviously malicious. It wasn't a false positive. It was one of the…
Introduction In part one, we examined how Linux rootkits work: their evolution, taxonomy, and techniques for manipulating user space and kernel space. In this second part, we turn to detection engineering. We begin by showing why static detection is often unreliable against Linux rootkits, even when binaries are only trivially modified, and then move on to behavioral and runtime signals that defenders can use instead. From shared object abuse and LKM loading to eBPF, io_uring, persistence, and…
Elastic Security Labs released initial triage and detection rules for the Axios supply-chain compromise. This is a detailed analysis of the RAT and payloads. Introduction Elastic Security Labs identified a supply chain compromise of the axios npm package, one of the most depended-upon packages in the JavaScript ecosystem with approximately 100 million weekly downloads. The attacker compromised a maintainer account and published backdoored versions that delivered a cross-platform Remote Access…
Elastic Security Labs is releasing an initial triage and detection rules for the Axios supply-chain compromise. We have released a detailed analysis on the Axios compromise RAT and payloads. Elastic Security Labs filed a GitHub Security Advisory to the axios repository on March 31, 2026 at 01:50 AM UTC to coordinate disclosure and ensure the maintainers and npm registry could act on the compromised versions. Introduction We are currently tracking a supply chain attack involving malicious Axios…
Introduction Elastic Security Labs has been tracking a financially motivated operation, designated REF1695, that has been active since at least late 2023. The operator deploys a combination of RATs, cryptominers, and custom XMRig loaders through fake installer packages. Across all observed campaigns, the infection chains share a consistent packing technique, overlapping C2 infrastructure, and common social engineering patterns, linking them to a single operator. Beyond cryptomining, the threat…
Key takeaways A South Asian financial institution was targeted with two custom malware components: a modular backdoor (BRUSHWORM) and a keylogger (BRUSHLOGGER) BRUSHWORM features anti-analysis checks, AES-CBC encrypted configuration, scheduled task persistence, modular DLL payload downloading, USB worm propagation, and broad file theft targeting documents, spreadsheets, email archives, and source code The keylogger masquerades as libcurl via DLL side-loading, capturing system-wide keystrokes…
Introduction During a recent investigation, we came across a data dump containing source code, compiled binaries, and deployment scripts for the kernel rootkit components of VoidLink, a cloud-native Linux malware framework first documented by Check Point Research in January 2026. Check Point's analysis revealed VoidLink to be a sophisticated, modular command-and-control framework written in Zig, featuring cloud-environment detection, a plugin ecosystem of over 30 modules, and multiple rootkit…
This blog discusses the steganography, cloud abuse, and email-based backdoors used against the Ukrainian defense supply chain in the latest Pawn Storm campaign that TrendAI™ Research observed and analyzed.
The BuddyBoss campaign (Parts 1 & 2) represents a full-spectrum software supply chain attack against the WordPress ecosystem, where the threat actor compromised the BuddyBoss plugin/theme distribution pipeline and leveraged it to infect hundreds of downstream websites. The ini...
Introduction Elastic Security Labs is observing malicious campaigns delivering a multi-stage infection involving a previously undocumented loader. The infection begins when users are diverted to a Cloudflare Turnstile CAPTCHA page under the guise of a digital invitation. After the link is clicked, a VBScript file is downloaded to the machine. Upon execution, the script retrieves C# source code, which is then compiled and executed in memory using PowerShell. The final payload observed in these…
Huntress’ AI-Centric SOC recently stopped a MacSync infostealer attack on a macOS device. The malware attempted to scrape credentials, browser cookies, and crypto wallets, but Huntress contained the threat before any data was sent to the attacker. Learn how we did it.