Microsoft shifts to a new threat actor naming taxonomy
Microsoft is excited to announce that we are shifting to a new threat actor naming taxonomy aligned to the theme of weather.
Nation-state threat actor Mint Sandstorm refines tradecraft to attack high-value targets
Today, Microsoft is reporting on a distinct subset of Mint Sandstorm (formerly known as PHOSPHORUS), an Iranian threat actor that specializes in hacking into and stealing sensitive information from high-value targets. This subset is technically and operationally mature, capable of developing bespoke tooling and quickly weaponizing recently disclosed vulnerabilities.
Threat actors strive to cause Tax Day headaches
With U.S. Tax Day approaching, Microsoft has observed phishing attacks targeting accounting and tax return preparation firms to deliver the Remcos RAT and compromise target networks.
Guidance for investigating attacks using CVE-2022-21894: The BlackLotus campaign
This guide provides steps that organizations can take to assess whether users have been targeted or compromised by threat actors exploiting CVE-2022-21894 via a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) bootkit called BlackLotus.
DEV-0196: QuaDream’s “KingsPawn” malware used to target civil society in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia
Microsoft analyzes a threat group tracked as DEV-0196, the actor’s iOS malware “KingsPawn”, and their link to an Israel-based private sector offensive actor (PSOA) known as QuaDream, which reportedly sells a suite of exploits, malware, and infrastructure called REIGN, that’s designed to exfiltrate data from mobile devices.
MERCURY and DEV-1084: Destructive attack on hybrid environment
Microsoft detected a unique operation where threat actors carried out destructive actions in both on-premises and cloud environments.
DevOps threat matrix
In this blog, we discuss threats we face in our DevOps environment, introducing our new threat matrix for DevOps. Using this matrix, we show the different techniques an adversary might use to attack an organization from the initial access phase and forward.
Discover a new era of security with Microsoft at RSAC 2023
Microsoft Security will be at the 2023 RSA Conference and we’d love to connect with you there. In this blog post, we share all the ways you can—plus, attend the Pre-Day with Microsoft and watch the Microsoft Security Copilot demo.
Guidance for investigating attacks using CVE-2023-23397
This guide provides steps organizations can take to assess whether users have been targeted or compromised by threat actors exploiting CVE-2023-23397.
KillNet and affiliate hacktivist groups targeting healthcare with DDoS attacks
KillNet, a group that the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has called pro-Russia hacktivists, has been launching waves of attacks targeting governments and companies with focus on the healthcare sector. In this blog post, we provide an overview of the DDoS attack landscape against healthcare applications hosted in Azure over three months.
DEV-1101 enables high-volume AiTM campaigns with open-source phishing kit
DEV-1101 is an actor tracked by Microsoft responsible for the development, support, and advertising of several AiTM phishing kits, including an open-source kit capable of circumventing MFA through reverse-proxy functionality.
Protecting Android clipboard content from unintended exposure
Microsoft discovered that the SHEIN Android application periodically read the contents of the Android device clipboard and, if a particular pattern was present, sent the contents of the clipboard to a remote server.