Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has identified a sophisticated campaign attributed to UNC6508, a People’s Republic of China (PRC)-nexus threat actor, targeting institutions in the North American academic, medical, and military research community. While remaining undetected for over a year,…
Tag: Threat Intelligence
ShinyHunters Targets Education Sector with Oracle PeopleSoft Exploit
Introduction Mandiant and Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) have identified an active compromise and extortion campaign attributed to UNC6240 (ShinyHunters) targeting Oracle PeopleSoft application infrastructure. The activity was observed between May 27, 2026, and June 9, 2026 and is consistent…
Seeking Counsel: Ongoing Targeted Campaign Against US Law Firms
Written by: Chad Reams, Tufail Ahmed, Keith Knapp, Ashley Frazer, Tyler McLellan Introduction From January through May 2026, Mandiant identified a financially motivated data theft extortion campaign executed by the threat cluster UNC3753 (also tracked as “Luna Moth,” “Chatty Spider,”…
Exploitation of KnowledgeDeliver via ViewState Deserialization Vulnerability
Written by: Takahiro Sugiyama, Peter Revelant, Mathew Potaczek Introduction In late 2025, Mandiant responded to a security incident involving a compromised web server running KnowledgeDeliver. KnowledgeDeliver is a Learning Management System (LMS) developed by Digital Knowledge commonly used in Japan.…
2 PhaaS 2 Furious: The Evolution of Chinese-language Phishing Services
Written by: Jamie Collier While Russian-speaking threat actors have historically dominated the phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) landscape, a rival ecosystem is rapidly growing within the Chinese-language underground. Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) analyzed a dozen current PhaaS offerings in the Chinese underground,…
Welcome to BlackFile: Inside a Vishing Extortion Operation
Written by: Austin Larsen, Tyler McLellan, Genevieve Stark, Dan Ebreo Introduction Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has continued to track an expansive extortion campaign by UNC6671, a threat actor operating under the “BlackFile” brand, that targets organizations via sophisticated voice…
GTIG AI Threat Tracker: Adversaries Leverage AI for Vulnerability Exploitation, Augmented Operations, and Initial Access
Executive Summary Since our February 2026 report on AI-related threat activity, Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has continued to track a maturing transition from nascent AI-enabled operations to the industrial-scale application of generative models within adversarial workflows. This report, based…
Snow Flurries: How UNC6692 Employed Social Engineering to Deploy a Custom Malware Suite
Written by: JP Glab, Tufail Ahmed, Josh Kelley, Muhammad Umair Introduction Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) identified a multistage intrusion campaign by a newly tracked threat group, UNC6692, that leveraged persistent social engineering, a custom modular malware suite, and deft…
Defending Your Enterprise When AI Models Can Find Vulnerabilities Faster Than Ever
Introduction Advances in AI model-powered exploitation have demonstrated that general-purpose AI models can excel at vulnerability discovery, even without being purpose-built for the task. Eventually, capabilities such as these will be integrated directly into the development cycle, and code will…
The German Cyber Criminal Überfall: Shifts in Europe’s Data Leak Landscape
Written by: Jamie Collier, Robin Grunewald Germany has reclaimed its position as a primary focus for cyber extortion in Europe. While data leak site (DLS) posts rose almost 50% globally in 2025, Google Threat Intelligence (GTI) data shows that the…
vSphere and BRICKSTORM Malware: A Defender’s Guide
Written by: Stuart Carrera Introduction Building on recent BRICKSTORM research from Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), this post explores the evolving threats facing virtualized environments. These operations directly target the VMware vSphere ecosystem, specifically the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) and…
North Korea-Nexus Threat Actor Compromises Widely Used Axios NPM Package in Supply Chain Attack
Written by: Austin Larsen, Dima Lenz, Adrian Hernandez, Tyler McLellan, Christopher Gardner, Ashley Zaya, Michael Rudden Introduction Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) is tracking an active software supply chain attack targeting the popular Node Package Manager (NPM) package “axios.” Between…
M-Trends 2026: Data, Insights, and Strategies From the Frontlines
Every year, the cyber threat landscape forces defenders to adapt to evolving adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). In 2025, Mandiant observed a clear divergence in adversary pacing that closely aligns with the trends we have been documenting for defenders…
The Proliferation of DarkSword: iOS Exploit Chain Adopted by Multiple Threat Actors
Introduction Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has identified a new iOS full-chain exploit that leveraged multiple zero-day vulnerabilities to fully compromise devices. Based on toolmarks in recovered payloads, we believe the exploit chain to be called DarkSword. Since at least…
Ransomware Under Pressure: Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures in a Shifting Threat Landscape
Written by: Bavi Sadayappan, Zach Riddle, Ioana Teaca, Kimberly Goody, Genevieve Stark Introduction Since 2018, when many financially motivated threat actors began shifting their monetization strategy to post-compromise ransomware deployments, ransomware has become one of the most pervasive threats to…
Proactive Preparation and Hardening Against Destructive Attacks: 2026 Edition
Written by: Matthew McWhirt, Bhavesh Dhake, Emilio Oropeza, Gautam Krishnan, Stuart Carrera, Greg Blaum, Michael Rudden Background Threat actors leverage destructive malware to destroy data, eliminate evidence of malicious activity, or manipulate systems in a way that renders them inoperable.…
Look What You Made Us Patch: 2025 Zero-Days in Review
Written by: Casey Charrier, James Sadowski, Zander Work, Clement Lecigne, Benoît Sevens, Fred Plan Executive Summary Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) tracked 90 zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in-the-wild in 2025. Although that volume of zero-days is lower than the record high…
Coruna: The Mysterious Journey of a Powerful iOS Exploit Kit
Introduction Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has identified a new and powerful exploit kit targeting Apple iPhone models running iOS version 13.0 (released in September 2019) up to version 17.2.1 (released in December 2023). The exploit kit, named “Coruna” by…
Exposing the Undercurrent: Disrupting the GRIDTIDE Global Cyber Espionage Campaign
Introduction Last week, Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), Mandiant, and partners took action to disrupt a global espionage campaign targeting telecommunications and government organizations in dozens of nations across four continents. The threat actor, UNC2814, is a suspected People’s Republic…
From BRICKSTORM to GRIMBOLT: UNC6201 Exploiting a Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines Zero-Day
Written by: Peter Ukhanov, Daniel Sislo, Nick Harbour, John Scarbrough, Fernando Tomlinson, Jr., Rich Reece Introduction Mandiant and Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) have identified the zero-day exploitation of a high-risk vulnerability in Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines, tracked as…