Research Saturday
Recent Episodes
Thomas Elkins, SOC L3 Analyst from BlueVoyant, is discussing "Unpacking Augmented Marauder’s Multi-Pronged Casbaneiro Campaigns." BlueVoyant researchers uncovered a large-scale phishing campaign by the Brazil-linked threat group targeting Spanish-speaking users across Latin America and Europe, using fake judicial summons emails, WhatsApp attacks, ClickFix tactics, and email phishing to spread the Casbaneiro banking trojan through the Horabot malware framework. The campaign uses sophisticated evasion methods including password-protected PDFs, dynamically generated ZIP filenames, anti-sandbox checks, fileless execution, and customized phishing lures to bypass security tools while turning infected systems into self-propagating botnets that hijack Outlook and webmail accounts to spread further attacks. Researchers say the operation highlights how the Augmented Marauder group (also known as Water Saci) is rapidly evolving its malware ecosystem, combining WhatsApp automation, dynamic phishing infrastructure, and advanced banking malware delivery into a highly adaptable, multi-pronged cybercrime operation.
Mark Kelly, Staff Threat Researcher at Proofpoint, is discussing their work on "I’d come running back to EU again: TA416 resumes European government espionage campaigns." China-linked threat group TA416 has resumed large-scale phishing and malware campaigns targeting European governments, diplomatic missions tied to the EU and NATO, and more recently Middle Eastern entities following the outbreak of conflict in Iran. The group has continually evolved its tactics between mid-2025 and early 2026, using techniques like fake Cloudflare verification pages, Microsoft OAuth redirect abuse, and malicious C# project files to deliver customized PlugX malware through spearphishing campaigns. Researchers say the renewed activity reflects shifting geopolitical priorities tied to EU-China tensions, the Russia-Ukraine war, and instability in the Middle East, while highlighting TA416’s ongoing focus on intelligence gathering against diplomatic networks.
TranscriptToday we are joined by Justin Albrecht, Principal Researcher at Lookout, discussing "Attackers Wielding DarkSword Threaten iOS Users." DarkSword is a highly sophisticated iOS exploit chain discovered by Lookout that targets iPhones (iOS 18.4–18.6.2), enabling near zero-click compromise and rapid theft of sensitive data, including credentials and cryptocurrency wallet information. Likely deployed by a Russia-linked threat actor (UNC6353) against Ukrainian users, it uses watering hole attacks on compromised websites and operates in a “hit-and-run” fashion—exfiltrating data within minutes before wiping traces. The campaign highlights a growing secondary market for advanced exploits, allowing financially motivated groups to access powerful tools once reserved for state actors, significantly expanding the mobile threat landscape.
TranscriptThis week, we are joined by Juliana Testa, Senior Security Engineer from 7AI, sharing their work on "Quish Splash - When the QR Code Is the Weapon: A Multi-Wave Phishing Campaign That Slipped Past Every Filter." A large-scale “quishing” campaign used QR codes embedded in image attachments to hide phishing URLs, allowing 28 out of 33 emails to bypass SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and Microsoft Defender and land directly in inboxes. Each recipient received a unique QR code and tracking ID, defeating traditional detection methods and enabling attackers to scale the campaign to over 1.6 million emails across multiple organizations while shifting execution to less-secure mobile devices. The attack was ultimately uncovered through AI-driven alerting combined with human analysis and threat hunting, highlighting a major blind spot in email security and the need for QR code inspection, mobile protections, and tighter auto-reply controls.
Today we are joined by Dr. Darren Williams, Founder and CEO of BlackFog, to discuss his team's work on "Steaelite RAT Enables Double Extortion Attacks from a Single Panel." A new remote access trojan, Steaelite, is being marketed on underground forums as an all-in-one platform that combines remote access, credential theft, surveillance, and ransomware deployment through a single browser-based dashboard. Unlike traditional cybercrime toolchains, it merges data exfiltration and ransomware capabilities into one interface, with automated credential harvesting beginning as soon as a victim is infected. The tool signals a growing shift toward streamlined “double extortion” attacks, where data theft and encryption happen within the same system—raising the stakes for defenders to stop threats before data is exfiltrated.
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