In an incident response in Q4 of 2024, GuidePoint Security identified evidence of a threat actor utilizing a Python-based backdoor to maintain access to compromised endpoints. The threat actor later leveraged this access to deploy RansomHub encryptors throughout the entire impacted network. ReliaQuest documented an earlier version of this malware on their website in February 2024.

• The Russian autonomous system PROSPERO (AS200593) could be linked with a high level of confidence to Proton66 (AS198953), another Russian AS, that we believe to be connected to the bulletproof services named ‘SecureHost‘ and ‘BEARHOST‘. We notably observed that both network’s configurations are almost identical in terms of peering agreements and their respective share of loads throughout time.
• Amongst the activities shared by the two networks, we noticed that both GootLoader and SpyNote malwares recently changed their infrastructure of command-and-control servers and phishing pages from to Proton66. Additionally, the domains hosting the phishing pages deploying SpyNote were hosted on either one of the two AS and had already been used in previous campaigns delivering revoked AnyDesk and LiveChat versions for both Windows and Mac.
• Regarding the other malicious activities found on PROSPERO’s IPs, we found that throughout September, multiple SMS spam campaigns targeting citizens from various countries were leading to phishing domains hosted on PROSPERO and Proton66. While most phishing templates were usurping bank login pages to steal credit card details, we also noticed that some of them were used to deploy android spywares such as Coper (a.k.a. Octo).
• SocGholish, another initial access broker (IAB) that we found to be hosting a major part of its infrastructure on Proton66, continues to leverage this autonomous system to host fingerprinting scripts contained on the websites it infects. Along SocGholish, we found out that FakeBat, another loader that infects systems through compromised websites, was using the same IPs to host both screening and redirection script

WordPress admins, take heed: A recent development in a malware downloader called "SocGholish" could place your visitors at risk from malware infections!

• 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.

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.