eStore CMS version 2.0 suffers from a remote SQL injection vulnerability.

    ====================================================================================================================================| # Title     : eStore CMS v2.0 Sql injection Vulnerability                                                                        || # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                          || # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 125.0.1 (64 bits)                                                   || # Vendor    : http://www.2iraq.com/                                                                                              |====================================================================================================================================poc :[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.[+] use payload : "CMS.php?CMS_P=" or "News_Details.php?ID="<===== inject here[+] https://www/127.0.0.1/uruk.edu.iq/News_Details.php?ID=467Greetings to :=================================================================jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * shadow_00715 * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R |===============================================================================

eStore CMS 2.0 SQL Injection

Clenix version 1.0 suffers from an insecure direct object reference vulnerability.

    ====================================================================================================================================| # Title     : Clenix v1.0 IDOR Vulnerability                                                                                     || # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                          || # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 128.0.1 (64 bits)                                                   || # Vendor    : https://www.radiustheme.com/                                                                                       |====================================================================================================================================poc :[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.[+] use payload : /admin/main.php[+] https://www/127.0.0.1/otabucert.co.uk/admin/main.php[+] Insecure Direct Object Reference : suffers from an insecure direct object reference that allows users to access the administrative interface.Greetings to :=================================================================jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * shadow_00715 * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R |===============================================================================

Clenix 1.0 Insecure Direct Object Reference

Candy Redis version 2.1.2 appears to suffer from an administrative page disclosure issue.

====================================================================================================================================  
| # Title     : Candy Redis V2.1.2 HTML Form in redirect page Vulnerability                                                        |  
| # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                          |  
| # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 125.0.1 (64 bits)                                                   |  
| # Vendor    : https://bacadigital.com/pasti-bisa-panduan-ujian-cbt-untuk-pengguna/                                               |  
====================================================================================================================================

poc :

[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.

[+] Vulnerability description :

An HTML form was found in the response body of this page. However, the current page redirects the visitor to another page by returning an HTTP status code of 301/302.  
 Therefore, all browser users will not see the contents of this page and will not be able to interact with the HTML form. 

Sometimes programmers don't properly terminate the script after redirecting the user to another page. For example:   
<?php  
    if (!isset($_SESSION["authenticated"])) {  
        header("Location: auth.php");  
    }  
?>  
<title>Administration page</title>  
<form action="/admin/action" method="post">  
      
</form>

    
This script is incorrect because the script is not terminated after the "header("Location: auth.php");" line. An attacker can access the content the administration page by using an HTTP client that doesn't follow redirection (like HTTP Editor). This creates an authentication bypass vulnerability.   
The correct code would be 

<?php  
    if (!isset($_SESSION[auth])) {  
        header("Location: auth.php");  
        exit();  
    }  
?>  
<title>Administration page</title>  
<form action="/admin/action" method="post">  
      
</form>

    

[+] infected item : /pass. 

[+] Attack details :

Form action=''

GET /pass/ HTTP/1.1  
Pragma: no-cache  
Cache-Control: no-cache  
Referer: https://127.0.0.1/elearning7.smpn49-jkt.sch.id/pass  
Acunetix-Aspect: enabled  
Acunetix-Aspect-Password: 082119f75623eb7abd7bf357698ff66c  
Acunetix-Aspect-Queries: filelist;aspectalerts  
Cookie: PHPSESSID=dc1a2974e1afffa5b1926d0e4f3ff57f  
Host: elearning7.smpn49-jkt.sch.id  
Connection: Keep-alive  
Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate  
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.21 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/41.0.2228.0 Safari/537.21  
Accept: */*

Response  
HTTP/1.1 302 Found  
Connection: Keep-Alive  
Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100  
x-powered-by: PHP/7.3.33  
location: https://127.0.0.1/elearning7.smpn49-jkt.sch.id/login.php  
content-type: text/html; charset=UTF-8  
content-length: 16992  
vary: Accept-Encoding,User-Agent  
date: Fri, 19 Jul 2024 10:09:49 GMT  
server: LiteSpeed  
cache-control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate, max-age=0  
platform: hostinger  
strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload  
x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block  
x-content-type-options: nosniff  
Original-Content-Encoding: gzip

[+] The impact of this vulnerability : depends on the affected web application.

[+] How to fix this vulnerability : Make sure the script is terminated after redirecting the user to another page

Greetings to :==================================================  
jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R |  
================================================================

Candy Redis 2.1.2 Admin Page Disclosure

Agop CMS version 1.0 suffers from an insecure direct object reference vulnerability.

**Agop CMS 1.0 Insecure Direct Object Reference**

Posted Jul 22, 2024

Authored by indoushka

Agop CMS version 1.0 suffers from an insecure direct object reference vulnerability.

tags | exploit

SHA-256 | 1ed22de09e417dcaed8d9f03d8d62abd6b70fc4587552e70a4bdbce253d3011b

Download | Favorite | View

**Agop CMS 1.0 Insecure Direct Object Reference**

    ====================================================================================================================================| # Title     : Agop CMS v1.0 IDOR Vulnerability                                                                                   || # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                          || # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 125.0.1 (64 bits)                                                   || # Vendor    : http://gico.io/agop/demos/                                                                                         |====================================================================================================================================poc :[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.[+] Insecure Direct Object Reference : suffers from an insecure direct object reference that allows users to access the administrative interface.[+] use payload : /admin/managePages.php[+] https://www/127.0.0.1/tiktrades.com/admin/managePages.phpGreetings to :==================================================jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R |================================================================

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Agop CMS 1.0 Insecure Direct Object Reference

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which is facing the heat for causing worldwide IT disruptions by pushing out a flawed update to Windows devices, is now warning that threat actors are exploiting the situation to distribute Remcos RAT to its customers in Latin America under the guise of a providing a hotfix.
The attack chains involve distributing a ZIP archive file named "crowdstrike-hotfix.zip,"

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which is facing the heat for causing worldwide IT disruptions by pushing out a flawed update to Windows devices, is now warning that threat actors are exploiting the situation to distribute Remcos RAT to its customers in Latin America under the guise of a providing a hotfix.

The attack chains involve distributing a ZIP archive file named "crowdstrike-hotfix.zip," which contains a malware loader named Hijack Loader (aka DOILoader or IDAT Loader) that, in turn, launches the Remcos RAT payload.

Specifically, the archive file also includes a text file ("instrucciones.txt") with Spanish-language instructions that urges targets to run an executable file ("setup.exe") to recover from the issue.

"Notably, Spanish filenames and instructions within the ZIP archive indicate this campaign is likely targeting Latin America-based (LATAM) CrowdStrike customers," the company said, attributing the campaign to a suspected e-crime group.

On Friday, CrowdStrike acknowledged that a routine sensor configuration update pushed to its Falcon platform for Windows devices on July 19 at 04:09 UTC inadvertently triggered a logic error that resulted in a Blue Screen of Death (BSoD), rendering numerous systems inoperable and sending businesses into a tailspin.

The event impacted customers running Falcon sensor for Windows version 7.11 and above, who were online between 04:09 and 05:27 a.m. UTC.

Malicious actors have wasted no time capitalizing on the chaos created by the event to set up typosquatting domains impersonating CrowdStrike and advertise services to companies affected by the issue in return for a cryptocurrency payment.

Customers who are impacted are recommended to "ensure they are communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels and adhere to technical guidance the CrowdStrike support teams have provided."

Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter __ and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

Cybercriminals Exploit CrowdStrike Update Mishap to Distribute Remcos RAT Malware

Plus: The FBI unlocks the Trump shooter’s phone, a security researcher gets legal threats for exposing hackable traffic lights, and more.

The week was particularly chock-full of dramatic security news. On Friday, a flawed update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform caused massive global service outages and disruptions around the world. The issue, which only impacted Windows computers, crashed PCs and servers, disrupting air travel, hospitals, banks, universities, and more.

Earlier in the week, WIRED had reported that following a massive data breach, AT&T paid $370,000 to get hackers to delete the stolen data. And, though it’s always possible that attackers saved a copy of the trove, a security researcher with knowledge of the transaction told WIRED he believes the only copy has been wiped. In a separate incident, hackers claimed last week to have stolen and leaked more than a terabyte of data comprising Disney’s complete Slack archive.

A WIRED analysis of Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s Venmo account sheds some light on the Senator’s network and connections, including some of the architects of Project 2025 and enemies of Vance’s running mate, Donald Trump.

Federal prosecutors indicted a 20-year-old man on Tuesday for allegedly leading the violent and White supremacist Eastern European gang known as “Maniac Murder Cult,” or MKY. The group has been implicated in a number of assaults and attacks abroad, including at least one murder.

The US Supreme Court’s recent decision in _Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo_ to overturn what’s known as the Chevron deference will have major implications for US cybersecurity defense, because federal agencies are now limited in their ability to regulate. And US senator Mark Warner of Virginia is working to pass new limits on government wiretaps, but at least two senators are quietly trying to stop him.

And there’s more. Each week, we round up the security news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories, and stay safe out there.

**Russian Hacktivists Who Attacked US Water Utilities Named and Sanctioned**

Sometimes “Julia,” the shadowy, pseudonymous Russian hacker telling you her grand plans to sabotage the West, really is just Julia. Or Yuliya.

On Friday, the Treasury Department announced that it is imposing sanctions on two alleged Russian cybercriminals for their alleged involvement in the hacktivist group Cyber Army of Russia Reborn, or CARR, which rose to prominence this year due to its reckless and somewhat sloppy attacks on Western critical infrastructure, as well as its apparent ties to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency. Those two sanctioned hackers are identified in Treasury’s statement for the first time as Yuliya Vladimirovna Pankratova and Denis Olegovich Degtyarenko.

In May, WIRED interviewed a CARR spokesperson who called herself Julia about the group’s attacks, which included one that caused tens of thousands of gallons of water to be spilled from a water utility in the small town of Muleshoe, Texas. That spokesperson now appears to have likely been Pankratova, who is identified by Treasury as CARR’s spokesperson, while Degtyarenko is described as its “primary hacker.”

Treasury also notes that “instances of major damage to victims have thus far been avoided due to CARR’s lack of technical sophistication,” a line that, for any hacker, may hurt even worse than sanctions.

**FBI Gains Access to Trump Shooter’s Locked Phone**

For anyone who thought the locked phone of would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks was about to lead to another standoff between the FBI and the tech industry’s privacy advocates—standoff over. Immediately following the assassination attempt, which ended when Crooks was shot and killed by police, Crooks’ locked Android phone was unlocked by the FBI, the Bureau announced last weekend. Though the FBI didn’t reveal how it was able to crack the phone, Bloomberg reported later this week that law enforcement used “unreleased technology” from the phone-hacking software company Cellebrite.

**Security Researcher Shows Traffic Lights Are Hackable—and Gets a Legal Threat**

Hacking traffic lights has long been one of Hollywood’s favorite ideas of cyber mayhem, from the _Italian Job_ to _Live Free or Die Hard_. If only cyber defenders had known all along that they could prevent all that traffic hacking with a strongly worded letter from their lawyer.

This week, Andrew Lemon, a researcher for security firm Red Threat, published a pair of blog posts that outline how it would be possible to hack traffic light systems sold by the company Econolite due to a lack of authentication in their web interface. While the software had safeguards in place that would have prevented tampering with the lights to cause collisions, a hacker could nonetheless have messed with their configuration to cause traffic jams, Lemon found. When Lemon reported the issues to Econolite, however, its parent company, Q-Free, responded in a letter that not only didn’t suggest it would fix the issue—it said it no longer sells the systems—but also threatened Lemon by pointing out his hacking research was potentially illegal. A company spokesperson told TechCrunch, which broke the story, that municipalities that use the vulnerable system should not leave the traffic light software exposed online and should buy newer systems to replace them.

**North Korean Hackers Steal $230 Million in Crypto From WazirX Exchange**

Another week, another nine-figure injection of digital funds into the world’s most authoritarian country. WazirX, India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked this week and robbed of nearly a quarter-billion dollars in crypto, largely in the form of SHIB, a Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency. Crypto-tracing firm Elliptic quickly tied the attack to North Korean hackers. That absurd and disturbing crime adds significantly to the $1.4 billion that hackers have stolen in crypto so far this year, which was already on pace to double last year’s total cryptocurrency thefts.

The Feds Say These Are the Russian Hackers Who Attacked US Water Utilities

Swindlers are spinning up bogus websites in an attempt to dupe people with “CrowdStrike support” scams following the security firm's catastrophic software update.

The security firm CrowdStrike inadvertently caused mayhem around the world on Friday after deploying a faulty software update to the company's Falcon monitoring platform that bricked Windows computers running the product. Fallout from the incident will take days to resolve, and the company is warning that, as system administrators and IT staff work on remediation, another threat is looming: predatory digital scams attempting to capitalize on the crisis.

Researchers on Friday afternoon began warning that attackers are reserving domain names and starting to spin up websites and other infrastructure to run “CrowdStrike Support” scams targeting the company's customers and anyone who might be impacted by the chaos. CrowdStrike's own researchers also warned about the activity on Friday and published a list of domains seemingly registered to impersonate the company.

“We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” CrowdStrike founder and CEO George Kurtz wrote in a statement. “I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives. Our blog and technical support will continue to be the official channels for the latest updates."

Attackers inevitably take advantage of prominent global events as well as topical issues in specific geographic areas to try to trick people into sending them money, steal target account credentials, or compromise victims with malware.

“Threat actors invariably attempt to capitalize on any major event,” says Brett Callow, managing director of cybersecurity and data privacy communications at FTI Consulting. “Whenever an organization experiences an incident, it's something customers and business partners should be prepared for.”

While most individuals are not personally responsible for addressing CloudStrike-related computer outages, the incident is ripe for exploitation because some of the IT professionals working on remediation could be desperate for solutions. In most cases, the fix for impacted computers involves individually booting and correcting each one—a potentially time-consuming and logistically difficult process. And for small-business owners who don't have access to extensive IT expertise, the challenge may be particularly daunting.

Researchers, including those from CrowdStrike intelligence, have thus far seen attackers sending phishing emails or making phone calls where they pretend to be CrowdStrike support staff and selling software tools that claim to automate the process of recovering from the faulty software update. Some attackers are also pretending to be researchers and claiming to have special information vital to recovery—that the situation is actually the result of a cyberattack, which it's not.

CrowdStrike emphasizes that customers should confirm that they are communicating with legitimate company staff members and only trust the company's official corporate communications.

“Speedy alerts to employees outlining potential risks will help,” Callow says of how CloudStrike customers should work to defend themselves. "Forewarned is forearmed."

Don't Fall for CrowdStrike Outage Scams

An enormous IT outage across the world today is not the result of a cyberattack, but rather a faulty update from CrowdStrike.

A faulty update from the cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike crashed countless Windows computers and sent them into a “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD), grinding to a halt the global operations of airlines, hospitals, news broadcasters, transportation agencies, and more.

The incident itself is not the result of a cyberattack. There is no evidence of a breach or of any cybercriminal involvement.

But, as Malwarebytes Labs has reported before, many major events can lead to follow-on threats of phishing and scams, and this global outage is no different. On July 19, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an advisory on this same risk:

“CISA has observed threat actors taking advantage of this incident for phishing and other malicious activity. CISA urges organizations and individuals to remain vigilant and only follow instructions from legitimate sources. CISA recommends organizations to remind their employees to avoid clicking on phishing emails or suspicious links.”

As of reporting, CrowdStrike has already issued a fix.

****What happened****

On July 19, businesses in Australia began reporting that their Windows computers were restarting automatically into a BSOD, making them inaccessible to users. The reports were limited only to Windows machines and, as verified later by CrowdStrike, computers running Mac OS or Linux were not affected.

As IT admins in Australia scrambled to get their organizations back online, the same BSOD issue began greeting workers across Europe. The problem, it became clear, was becoming global, with reports of similar problems in Germany, Japan, India, and, eventually, the United States.

Hundreds of businesses were immediately impacted. Flights were grounded. Delays are being warned for package delivery provider UPS. Hospitals in the state of Maryland began cancelling procedures. And The Washington Post reported that, while many retailers were unscathed, coffee giant Starbucks was experiencing difficulties with its mobile ordering system.

What every affected business had in common was their use of Windows computers running CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity platform.

In the past 24 hours, CrowdStrike issued a faulty software update for Windows devices that included a problematic “channel file.” Windows devices that installed this update were then sent into a boot loop back into the “Blue Screen of Death” which kept users from accessing their own computers.

****The fix****

As of 05:27 AM UTC, CrowdStrike had identified the faulty channel file and issued a new, safe channel file for use. Deleting the channel file and installing the correct channel file, however, could require direct, physical access to a computer—a particularly time-intensive task as increasingly more businesses have adopted hybrid and Work From Home models.

CrowdStrike has a full statement on hox to fix Windows machines that are still stuck in the BSOD loop here.

Everyday users who are affected by this outage on their work machines or personal machines are not at heightened risk of a cybersecurity attack. Instead, people should simply remain vigilant about malicious emails and websites that promise fixes for the problem. For any and all maintenance, rely on CrowdStrike’s official statements and, if experiencing problems at work, rely on your IT admin.

**Summer mega sale**

Go into your vacation knowing you’re much more secure: This summer you can get a huge **50% off a Malwarebytes Standard subscription** or **Malwarebytes Identity bundle**. Run, don’t walk!

 CrowdStrike update at center of Windows &#8220;Blue Screen of Death&#8221; outage 

Though the cybersecurity vendor has since reverted the update, chaos continues as companies continue to struggle to get back up and running.

Source: SOPA Images Limited via Alamy Stock Photo

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as new developments occur.

This morning, Microsoft servers across the world displayed the dreaded "blue screen of death," leading to mass IT outages that disrupted business, airlines and flights, healthcare providers, banks, and more. The cause: A defective update to CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor, a widely used cloud-based endpoint detection and prevention (EDR) software program.

CrowdStrike said its engineering team has identified the issue that caused the massive disruption to Windows-based systems: A bug in the Memory Scanning prevention policy, which was not identified during their testing stages, Callie Guenther, senior manager at Critical Start, noted in an emailed statement.

"While CrowdStrike likely performed standard regression and functionality tests, these were insufficient because they did not simulate the real-world deployment environment where the bug caused the Falcon sensor to consume 100% of a CPU core," she wrote. This ultimately led to system performance issues.

CrowdStrike has since reverted the flawed Falcon software update. Even so, some users are still experiencing system crashes or are unable to stay online to receive the new and fixed version. The cybersecurity vendor has provided workaround steps for this issue.

In a post on social platform X, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company is aware of the issue and is working closely with CrowdStrike to provide technical support to its customers and get their systems back online.

**Falcon Fallout**

The severity of the broken CrowdStrike update became increasingly painful as victim reports rolled in throughout the day: More than 1,300 flights have been canceled or delayed, trains, card payments in stores, pharmacies, and even general practitioner (GP) surgeries were stalled. 

The Department of Health in Belfast reported that two-thirds of GP practices in Northern Ireland have been affected, with patient records inaccessible as well as lab tests and routine prescriptions.

Delta flights have been paused as it "works through a vendor technology issue," the New York Times reported, and Turkish Airlines has canceled at least 84 flights. Employees at financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase and Instinet have had trouble accessing their corporate systems as operations began to stutter.

Even the Paris Olympics organizing committee reports that its IT operations have been affected, mainly affecting delivery of uniforms and accreditations.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has been briefed on the outage, according to the White House, and administration officials are reportedly in touch with affected entities as well as CrowdStrike, which is working with customers that have been impacted.

"Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted," George Kurtz, president and CEO of CrowdStrike, wrote online. "This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified \[and isolated,\] and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website."

**It's Not a Data Breach, but it's a Disaster**

In an industry where cybersecurity practices and services are meant to protect an enterprise without interrupting them, this outage proves that "even non-malicious cybersecurity failures can bring businesses to their knees," according to Maxine Holt, cybersecurity analyst at Omdia.

This massive incident underscores an over-reliance on cloud services, Holt noted in an online statement, and the outage may prompt organizations to reconsider moving their mission-critical applications to the cloud.

"Omdia's Cloud and Data Center analysts have long warned about over-reliance on cloud services," Holt said. "Today's outages will make enterprises rethink moving mission-critical applications off-premises. The ripple effect is massive, hitting CrowdStrike, Microsoft, AWS, Azure, Google, and beyond. CrowdStrike's shares have plummeted by more than 20% in unofficial pre-market trading in the US, translating to a staggering $16 billion loss in value."

As CrowdStrike will undoubtedly face scrutiny as it gets back on its feet, only time will tell how this outage could affect regulation and pressure on software vendors.

"We need stronger regulations and guidance on vendor responsibilities for functional testing," Josh Thorngren, security strategist at ForAllSecure, wrote in an emailed statement. "If you're not testing the behavior of your application under-expected (and unexpected) conditions with every update — this type of issue will always be a risk."

Buggy CrowdStrike EDR Update Crashes Windows Systems Worldwide

After an extended period underground, the Chinese hackers have added a more sophisticated infection chain and additional EDR evasion techniques.

Source: Rokas Tenys via Alamy Stock Photo

The mysterious and covert Chinese hacking group GhostEmperor has resurfaced after a two-year hiatus with even more advanced capabilities and evasion techniques.

Initially discovered by Kaspersky Lab in 2021, GhostEmperor was notorious for targeting telecommunications and government entities in Southeast Asia through sophisticated supply chain attacks.

The group's recent activities were uncovered by cybersecurity firm Sygnia, which detailed the group's evolved attack methods in a report released this week. 

A recent investigation by the security firm into a compromised network of an unidentified client revealed that GhostEmperor was behind the breach.

The attackers used the compromised network as a launchpad to infiltrate another victim's systems, an incident which marks the first confirmed activity from GhostEmperor since 2021.

Sygnia's investigation found GhostEmperor had updated its well-known Demodex rootkit, a kernel-level tool that grants the highest level of access to the victim's operating system while evading endpoint detection and response (EDR) software.

The updated variant includes a reflective loader to execute the Core-Implant and employs new obfuscation techniques, such as different file names and registry keys. Additionally, the variant analyzed appears to have been compiled in July 2021, indicating it might be a newer version than what Kaspersky originally documented.

**Infection Chain, Evasion Techniques**

The analysis also noted significant alterations in GhostEmperor's infection chain.

Traditionally, the group gained initial access by exploiting vulnerabilities such as ProxyLogon. A batch file was executed to initiate the infection, deploying various tools that communicated with a set of command-and-control (C2) servers.

In the most recent breach, GhostEmperor employed the WMIExec tool from the Impacket Toolkit to execute commands remotely via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), initiating the infection chain on the compromised machine.

The report noted the new infection chain is more sophisticated and stealthier, incorporating additional EDR evasion techniques.

“We are seeing, again and again — especially in this scenario, when we went into the customer's domain — that people are not aware of their environment,” Azeem Aleem, Sygnia's managing director, told The Record, cybersecurity firm Recorded Future's news site. 

**GhostEmperor Left a Global Trail**

When GhostEmperor was first identified in September 2021, Kaspersky described the group as a highly skilled and sophisticated threat actor, primarily targeting high-profile entities in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. 

Additional victims included entities in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan, indicating a broad and ambitious scope of operations.

The initial discovery by Kaspersky highlighted GhostEmperor's use of multistage malware designed for stealth and persistence, leveraging rootkits and other advanced tools to maintain a foothold in compromised networks.

The group's ability to evade detection and employ complex attack strategies led researchers to categorize them as a state-sponsored actor, given the resources and expertise required to develop and deploy such tools.

**Chinese Threat Actors Multiply **

This month alone Chinese threat actors have been discovered targeting Internet cafes in China that allow attackers to execute malicious code with the highest privileges. 

The Chinese state-sponsored actor APT40 was discovered exploiting newly discovered software vulnerabilities within hours targeting organizations globally, including repeated attacks on Australian networks. At the start of the month China-backed threat group Velvet Ant was discovered using targeted malware to exploit a vulnerability in Cisco's NX-OS software for managing a variety of switches.

**About the Author(s)**

Nathan Eddy is a freelance journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker specializing in IT security, autonomous vehicle technology, customer experience technology, and architecture and urban planning. A graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Nathan currently lives in Berlin, Germany.

Tag

#windows