* Proofpoint has observed recent espionage-related activity by TA473, including yet to be reported instances of TA473 targeting US elected officials and staffers. TA473 is a newly minted Proofpoint threat actor that aligns with public reporting on Winter Vivern. * TA473 since at least February 2023 has continuously leveraged an unpatched Zimbra vulnerability in publicly facing webmail portals that allows them to gain access to the email mailboxes of government entities in Europe. * TA473 recons and reverse engineers bespoke JavaScript payloads designed for each government targets’ webmail portal. * Proofpoint concurs with Sentinel One analysis that TA473 targeting superficially aligns with the support of Russian and/or Belarussian geopolitical goals as they pertain to the Russia-Ukraine War.

* TA569 leverages many types of injections, traffic distribution systems (TDS), and payloads including, but not limited to, SocGholish. * In addition to serving as an initial access broker, these additional injects imply TA569 may be running a pay-per-install (PPI) service * TA569 may remove injections from compromised websites only to later re-add them to the same websites. * There are multiple opportunities for defense against TA569: educating users about the activity, using Proofpoint’s Emerging Threats ruleset to block the payload domains, and blocking .js files from executing in anything but a text editor.

Key Findings: * The use of Microsoft OneNote documents to deliver malware via email is increasing. * Multiple cybercriminal threat actors are using OneNote documents to deliver malware. * While some campaigns are targeted at specific industries, most are broadly targeted and include thousands of messages. * In order to detonate the payload, an end-user must interact with the OneNote document. * Campaigns have impacted organizations globally, including North America and Europe. * TA577 returned from a month-long hiatus in activity and began using OneNote to deliver Qbot at the end of January 2023.

Key Takeaways * Nighthawk is an advanced C2 framework intended for red team operations through commercial licensing. * Proofpoint researchers observed initial use of the framework in September 2022 by a likely red team. * We have seen no indications at this time that leaked versions of Nighthawk are being used by attributed threat actors in the wild. * The tool has a robust list of configurable evasion techniques that are referenced as “opsec” functions throughout its code. P* roofpoint researchers expect Nighthawk will show up in threat actor campaigns as the tool becomes more widely recognized or as threat actors search for new, more capable tools to use against targets.

* Emotet returned to the email threat landscape in early November for the first time since July 2022. It is once again one of the most high-volume actors observed by Proofpoint, distributing hundreds of thousands of emails per day. * Proofpoint observed multiple changes to Emotet and its payloads including the lures used, and changes to the Emotet modules, loader, and packer. * Emotet was observed dropping IcedID. * The new activity suggests Emotet is returning to its full functionality acting as a delivery network for major malware families. * New operators or management might be involved as the botnet has some key differences with previous deployments.

A cybercriminal group has compromised a media content provider to deploy malware on the websites of hundreds of news outlets in the U.S. according to cybersecurity company Proofpoint.

* TA558 is a likely financially motivated small crime threat actor targeting hospitality, hotel, and travel organizations. * Since 2018, this group has used consistent tactics, techniques, and procedures to attempt to install a variety of malware including Loda RAT, Vjw0rm, and Revenge RAT. * TA558’s targeting focus is mainly on Portuguese and Spanish speakers, typically located in the Latin America region, with additional targeting observed in Western Europe and North America. * TA558 increased operational tempo in 2022 to a higher average than previously observed. * Like other threat actors in 2022, TA558 pivoted away from using macro-enabled documents in campaigns and adopted new tactics, techniques, and procedures.

* TA558 is a likely financially motivated small crime threat actor targeting hospitality, hotel, and travel organizations. * Since 2018, this group has used consistent tactics, techniques, and procedures to attempt to install a variety of malware including Loda RAT, Vjw0rm, and Revenge RAT. * TA558’s targeting focus is mainly on Portuguese and Spanish speakers, typically located in the Latin America region, with additional targeting observed in Western Europe and North America. * TA558 increased operational tempo in 2022 to a higher average than previously observed. * Like other threat actors in 2022, TA558 pivoted away from using macro-enabled documents in campaigns and adopted new tactics, techniques, and procedures.

* Proofpoint has identified a likely nation-state sponsored phishing campaign using a possibly compromised Ukrainian armed service member’s email account to target European government personnel involved in managing the logistics of refugees fleeing Ukraine. * The email included a malicious macro attachment which attempted to download a Lua-based malware dubbed SunSeed. * The infection chain used in this campaign bears significant similarities to a historic campaign Proofpoint observed in July 2021, making it likely the same threat actor is behind both clusters of activity. * Proofpoint is releasing this report in an effort to balance accuracy with responsibility to disclose actionable intelligence during a time of high-tempo conflict.

* Proofpoint has identified a likely nation-state sponsored phishing campaign using a possibly compromised Ukrainian armed service member’s email account to target European government personnel involved in managing the logistics of refugees fleeing Ukraine. * The email included a malicious macro attachment which attempted to download a Lua-based malware dubbed SunSeed. * The infection chain used in this campaign bears significant similarities to a historic campaign Proofpoint observed in July 2021, making it likely the same threat actor is behind both clusters of activity. * Proofpoint is releasing this report in an effort to balance accuracy with responsibility to disclose actionable intelligence during a time of high-tempo conflict.

Proofpoint has tracked TA2541, which is targeting aviation, aerospace, transportation, manufacturing, and defense industries for years. Learn more today.