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Threat researchers reported multiple COVID-19-themed phishing campaigns distributing the RedLine Stealer malware by disguising payloads as legitimate pandemic-related software and information. In one campaign, attackers used an Omicron Stats.exe lure tied to the Omicron outbreak; in another, they impersonated a coronavirus research effort and pushed a fake Folding@home application named foldingathomeapp.exe. Researchers assessed email as the likely delivery vector, with the campaigns exploiting public anxiety and curiosity around the pandemic to drive downloads.
Once executed, RedLine harvested browser credentials, cookies, credit card and autocomplete data, cryptocurrency wallet artifacts, Telegram and Discord data, and detailed host information. Fortinet said the Omicron-themed sample copied itself into the victim’s roaming AppData directory, established persistence through a scheduled task, and communicated with a command-and-control server at 207.32.217.89:14588 using a distinctive authorization header; Proofpoint and BleepingComputer also noted RedLine receives remote tasking after infection. Victims were observed across at least 12 countries, indicating broad opportunistic targeting rather than a narrowly focused operation.
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FortiGuard Labs observed repeated communication between the campaign's C2 server at 207.32.217.89 and Telegram network IP 149.154.167.91, suggesting possible use of abused Telegram infrastructure. The observed activity spanned from November 26 to December 23, 2021.
Proofpoint discovered a phishing campaign that used coronavirus cure messaging and a fake Folding@home download to distribute the RedLine information-stealing Trojan. The emails urged recipients to install a file named "foldingathomeapp.exe," which was actually malware.
FortiGuard Labs discovered a Windows RedLine Stealer variant masquerading as "Omicron Stats.exe" and assessed it as a COVID-themed social-engineering campaign likely delivered by email. Researchers said the malware stole credentials, browser and wallet data, Telegram and Discord artifacts, and host information, while targeting victims across 12 countries.
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Threat actors widely exploited COVID-19 news, relief programs, testing, and vaccine demand to increase the effectiveness of phishing and malware campaigns, while mostly reusing established malware and infrastructure. Microsoft reported an eleven-fold jump in COVID-19-themed attacks after the disease was formally named, but said these campaigns remained a small share of overall activity and largely repurposed existing tradecraft. Palo Alto Networks tracked **69,950** pandemic-related phishing URLs from early 2020 through early 2021, including a **530%** rise in vaccine-themed phishing and a **189%** increase in pharmacy- and hospital-related lures, with many pages harvesting Microsoft 365, Outlook, and webmail credentials or personal and financial data from newly created and compromised sites. The same social-engineering theme was used to deliver a broad mix of malware across desktop and mobile platforms. Researchers linked COVID-19 spam and fake sites to loaders and commodity malware including **GuLoader**, **Parallax RAT**, **Remcos**, **Agent Tesla**, **NanoCore**, **NetWire**, **AzorUlt**, **FormBook**, **TrickBot**, and **MetaMorfo**, often relying on malicious attachments, macro-enabled Office files, or exploits such as `CVE-2017-11882`; Microsoft and others warned users not to enable macros in untrusted documents. More disruptive campaigns included **Netwalker** ransomware delivered through a `CORONAVIRUS_COVID-19.vbs` attachment, Android fraud via the **Ginp** trojan’s fake “Coronavirus Finder,” an Android **SLocker** variant that locked devices with COVID-19-themed ransom messages, and later low-volume phishing that used WHO-themed documents to install **Nerbian RAT** with anti-analysis and persistence features.
Aug 15, 2026
Researchers reported continued **RedLine Stealer** activity across multiple delivery chains, including phishing sites, fake cryptocurrency tools, trojanized installers, malicious Office documents, and botnet-driven payload drops. Recent analysis showed a sample disguised as a fake Netflix checker decrypting an embedded payload, writing `%AppData%\winlogon.exe`, and contacting `siyatermi.duckdns[.]org:17044` over **SOAP/HTTP via Windows Communication Foundation**. Separate investigations tied RedLine delivery to AutoIt-based wrappers used on phishing pages impersonating a cryptocurrency exchange, YouTube lures for a fake Binance autobuy bot hosted on GitHub, and Excel exploit chains abusing `CVE-2017-11882` to fetch and inject the stealer.
Aug 15, 2026
Cybercriminals rapidly adopted coronavirus as a global social-engineering lure, using pandemic-themed emails to drive **business email compromise**, credential phishing, malware delivery, and large-scale spam across multiple countries and sectors. Proofpoint reported campaigns targeting organizations in Italy, the Czech Republic, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Turkey, as well as industries including healthcare, education, manufacturing, media, advertising, and hospitality. Attackers frequently impersonated trusted public-health institutions such as the **WHO**, **CDC**, and national health agencies to make messages appear legitimate and increase click-through rates. The activity included highly tailored phishing against healthcare firms, fake employee surveys designed to steal **OWA** credentials, and region-specific lures written in local languages, including Italian. Proofpoint linked portions of the activity to known threat actors including **TA505**, **TA542**, and **TA564**, and observed malware families such as `Ostap`, `The Trick banker`, `Get2`, `SDBbot`, `Ursnif`, `GuLoader`, `Agent Tesla`, and `Remcos`. The report found that coronavirus had become a near-universal pretext for cybercrime, enabling both opportunistic and targeted attacks at global scale.
Aug 14, 2026