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Russia-aligned threat actor InedibleOchotense conducted a spear-phishing campaign targeting Ukrainian entities by impersonating the Slovak cybersecurity company ESET. Attackers distributed trojanized ESET installers via phishing emails and Signal messages, directing victims to fake ESET-branded domains such as esetsmart[.]com, esetscanner[.]com, and esetremover[.]com. The malicious installers delivered both a legitimate ESET AV Remover and the Kalambur backdoor, exploiting ESET’s strong reputation in Ukraine to increase the likelihood of successful compromise. The phishing messages contained minor language errors, likely due to poor translation from Russian to Ukrainian, and warned recipients of suspicious activity to prompt urgent action.
The Kalambur backdoor, also known as SUMBUR, is a C# malware that leverages the Tor network for command-and-control communications and can deploy additional tools such as OpenSSH and enable RDP access on port 3389. Security researchers noted tactical overlaps between this campaign and previous activity attributed to UAC-0212 and the BACKORDER downloader, with some reports linking related activity to Sandworm sub-clusters UAC-0125. The campaign was first detected in May 2025 and highlights ongoing Russian cyber operations targeting Ukraine through sophisticated social engineering and malware delivery techniques.
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In reporting on the campaign, ESET said the operation shared tactics with activity previously attributed to UAC-0212 and the BACKORDER downloader. Researchers also noted language mistakes in the lures that suggested poor translation from Russian to Ukrainian.
Victims who downloaded the fake installers received a legitimate ESET product together with the Kalambur backdoor, allowing the attackers to compromise targeted Ukrainian systems while appearing trustworthy.
In May 2025, the Russia-linked threat actor InedibleOchotense conducted a spearphishing campaign targeting Ukrainian entities. The attackers used phishing emails and Signal messages impersonating ESET to direct victims to fake domains hosting trojanized installers.
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CERT-UA reported that the Russia-linked **Sandworm** cluster `UAC-0145`, tied to `UAC-0002` and also tracked as **APT44** and **Seashell Blizzard**, has run a sustained campaign against Ukrainian targets using several social-engineering and malware-delivery methods. Investigators said attackers compromised more than 10 websites and deployed **ClickFix**-style fake CAPTCHA pages that instructed visitors to paste malicious PowerShell commands into Windows, while other lures included trojanized software installers from torrent trackers, bogus antivirus installation requests sent through Signal, and a fake Android security app. CERT-UA linked the activity to long-running operations targeting Ukrainian government and military-related organizations. The campaign used a broad malware ecosystem including **GHETTOVIBE**, **SCOUTCURL**, **FLUIDLEECH**, **LOADLOOP**, **FREAKYPOLL**, **SMARTAXE**, and the Android backdoor **COWARDDUCK**, alongside legitimate tools such as **OpenSSH**, **Tor**, and **rsync** for persistence, tunneling, and exfiltration. CERT-UA said at least one infection delivered through a trojanized installer enabled persistence and lateral movement inside an organization and was later used in a destructive attack against the infrastructure of a central executive authority of Ukraine. Analysts also found the operators using **Cloaking.House** and blockchain `eth_call` lookups to retrieve remote domains dynamically, while the Android malware was capable of stealing files, contacts, device data, and real-time geolocation and used the Dropbox API and content from legitimate services in its command-and-control workflow.
Jul 19, 2026
ClearSky reported a suspected Russian espionage campaign targeting Ukrainian entities using phishing emails that deliver two previously undocumented malware families: the **BadPaw** loader and the **MeowMeow** backdoor. The infection chain begins with a lure email (sent from `ukr[.]net` to appear credible) containing a link that first loads an unusually small image functioning as a tracking pixel to confirm user interaction, then redirects victims to download a ZIP archive. When opened, the archive launches an HTA that displays a Ukrainian-language decoy document about border-crossing appeals while executing background stages that deploy the .NET-based BadPaw loader, which then retrieves and installs the MeowMeow backdoor from a remote server; the HTA also performs sandbox/analysis-evasion checks. The activity was attributed with **moderate confidence** to **APT28** based on targeting, geopolitical lures, and technique overlaps with prior Russian operations. Separate reporting also noted CERT-UA warnings about other phishing-driven malware activity against Ukrainian government institutions (including **SHADOWSNIFF**, **SALATSTEALER**, and a Go backdoor **DEAFTICKK** attributed to **UAC-0252**), but that campaign is distinct from the BadPaw/MeowMeow intrusion chain and should not be conflated with the APT28-linked activity.
Jun 29, 2026
Multiple reports detailed **state-linked intrusion activity** relying on social engineering and trusted delivery mechanisms to gain initial access and establish remote control. Researchers reported a suspected state-affiliated espionage operation targeting government and financial organizations in **Kazakhstan and Afghanistan**, built around a previously unreported Windows DLL implant dubbed **KazakRAT** delivered via malicious `MSI` installers and decoy documents (e.g., a fake Kazakh presidential letter and an Afghan provincial memo). The malware was described as relatively unsophisticated—unencrypted HTTP beaconing and minimal obfuscation—yet capable of host reconnaissance, file search/exfiltration, and downloading/executing additional payloads, enabling long-running access since at least 2022. Separately, Insikt Group described **North Korean** operators (tracked as **PurpleBravo**) running the “**Contagious Interview**” campaign, using fake recruiter personas and weaponized “coding tests” hosted on platforms like GitHub to trick software developers into executing malware on corporate devices, supporting software supply-chain targeting. The toolset reportedly includes **BeaverTail** (JavaScript infostealer) and newly identified RATs **PylangGhost** and **GolangGhost**. In another supply-chain style incident, Trend research and an Emurasoft advisory reported the **official EmEditor download** being tampered with to serve a trojanized `MSI` whose `CustomAction` launched PowerShell to fetch staged payloads from lookalike domains (e.g., `EmEditorjp[.]com`, `EmEditorgb[.]com`, `EmEditorde[.]com`), followed by environment fingerprinting and geofencing checks—highlighting ongoing risk from compromised public software distribution channels.
Jun 29, 2026