The PolySwarm Blog

Verticals Targeted: Diplomatic, Maritime, Financial, Telecom
Regions Targeted: Middle East
Related Families: Archer RAT / RUSTRIC

Executive Summary

A spear-phishing campaign linked to the Muddy Water APT group was observed deploying a new Rust-based implant called RustyWater against organizations in the Middle East. This evolution from legacy PowerShell and VBS tooling introduces enhanced modularity, anti-analysis features, and asynchronous command-and-control capabilities.

Verticals Targeted: Government, Academia
Regions Targeted: India
Related Families: None

Executive Summary

APT36, also known as Transparent Tribe, a Pakistan-aligned threat actor, has launched a targeted cyber espionage campaign against Indian governmental, academic, and strategic entities using sophisticated deception techniques. The operation delivers a multi-stage Remote Access Trojan (RAT) through a weaponized LNK file disguised as a PDF, enabling persistent access, surveillance, and data exfiltration with minimal detection risk. The campaign has targeted government, academic, and strategic entities in India.

Verticals Targeted: Defense Manufacturing, Telecommunications, Aerospace
Regions Targeted: Western Europe, Middle East
Related Families: MiniJunk, MiniBrowse

Executive Summary

Nimbus Manticore, an Iranian APT group, has intensified its cyberespionage campaign targeting defense, telecommunications, and aerospace sectors in Western Europe and the Middle East, deploying advanced malware such as MiniJunk and MiniBrowse via sophisticated spear-phishing and DLL sideloading techniques. The group’s focus on stealth, obfuscation, and resilient infrastructure underscores its alignment with IRGC strategic priorities.

Verticals Targeted: Cryptocurrency, Freelancers, Artists
Regions Targeted: United States, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Canada, others
Related Families: None

Verticals Targeted: Government
Regions Targeted: Not specified
Related Families: VOLDEMORT, DUSTTRAP

Executive Summary

Wicked Panda, a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor, deployed TOUGHPROGRESS malware, exploiting Google Calendar for stealthy command-and-control operations targeting government entities. This campaign underscores the group’s innovative abuse of cloud services to evade detection and maintain persistent access.