Malware Delivery via Deceptive Lures: Malvertising, Fake Recruitment Repos, and Phishing Dropping RATs
Multiple reports detail social-engineering-driven malware delivery that results in remote access trojans (RATs) and credential theft. Infoblox described observing an affiliate push-notification ad network after exploiting misconfigured DNS delegations (“Sitting Ducks”/lame name server delegation) to take over abandoned threat-actor domains, allowing collection of ~57M logs over two weeks and visibility into widespread scams and brand impersonation delivered via push ads. Nextron Systems separately reported recurring malvertising chains where “free converter” tools (e.g., document/image converters) downloaded from ads on legitimate sites function as advertised while covertly installing persistent RATs, with common artifacts such as Windows Mark-of-the-Web (ZoneId=3) indicating internet origin.
Other activity in the set reflects different initial-access lures but the same general outcome—RAT-style access and data theft. Fortinet analyzed a phishing campaign using a fake Vietnam shipping document: a Word attachment leads to an RTF stage that exploits an RTF-related vulnerability, then uses VBScript/PowerShell to load a fileless .NET module, ultimately downloading and injecting a Remcos variant (including process hollowing) to provide full remote control. Separately, reporting on North Korea’s “Contagious Interview” campaign described fake recruiter outreach (e.g., via LinkedIn) that tricks developers into opening malicious code repositories; execution can be triggered via a hidden VS Code tasks configuration, server-side logic hooks, or a malicious npm dependency to steal credentials/crypto wallets and establish persistence—this is thematically similar (social engineering leading to remote access) but is a distinct operation from the malvertising/push-ad and Remcos phishing activity.
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