Windows Malware Campaigns Abusing Trusted Tools and Cloud Hosting for Stealthy Execution
Multiple Windows-focused malware campaigns were reported leveraging trusted distribution and execution paths rather than exploiting software vulnerabilities. One campaign attributed to Larva-25012 disguised proxyware as legitimate Notepad++ installers distributed via fake cracked-software portals and deceptive ads, primarily impacting South Korea. The payloads were hosted on GitHub and delivered as MSI/ZIP packages containing legitimate components plus malicious DLLs, using DLL side-loading and process injection into Windows Explorer to deploy proxyware (e.g., Infatica and DigitalPulse) for proxyjacking—monetizing victims’ internet bandwidth by reselling access through their networks.
A separate multi-stage Windows malware operation used business-themed lures and weaponized archives containing LNK shortcuts to run hidden PowerShell with execution-policy bypass, pulling an obfuscated loader from GitHub and using legitimate services (e.g., Dropbox) to blend into normal traffic. Fortinet-reported tradecraft included persistence, decoy document generation, and beaconing via the Telegram Bot API, followed by defense evasion through abuse of Defendnot to disable Microsoft Defender before dropping follow-on payloads such as ransomware, banking trojans, and surveillance tooling. Additional reporting highlighted a broader trend of attackers abusing legitimate infrastructure and admin tooling (including RMM software after credential theft) to establish persistent access, while generic “common threats” content provided no incident-specific intelligence.
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