Threat Report H1 2023: Sextortion, usury and brute-force

In H1 2023, intrusion vectors were closing left and right. This forced many cybercriminals to search for alternative ways to compromise devices of their victims. While some of the attackers tried revisiting old routes such as brute-forcing MS SQL servers or distributing (AI-generated?) sextortion and text-based email messages, others kickstarted several Android apps running usury schemes. But there’s also good news. Emotet botnet went quiet after a month of dwindling and ineffective campaigning, and Redline stealer – a notorious malware-as-a-service – has been disrupted by ESET researchers and their friends at Flare systems. Of course, this podcast episode can only cover so much of the ESET Threat report. If you wish to learn about other topics it covers, visit WeLiveSecurity.

Discussed: Sextortion and text-based threats 1:46, brute force attacks on MS SQL servers 7:10, usury Android apps 9:20, Emotet activity 13:25, RedLine Stealer disruption 16:45.

Host: Aryeh Goretsky, ESET Distinguished Researcher

Guest: Ondrej Kubovic, Security Awareness Specialist

Read more @WeLiveSecurity.com and @ESETresearch on Twitter

ESET Threat Reports and ESET APT Activity Reports