Recent Defense Sector Cyber Attacks

New Zealand’s intelligence service says a China-linked organization tried to install space ground infrastructure in New Zealand that could collect militarily useful intelligence, using a local partner that likely didn’t understand the capability or who would receive the data. The same assessment…

A North Korea-linked threat group used fake recruiter outreach on LinkedIn to target defense and aerospace companies across multiple countries. The victims were tricked into opening a trojanized PDF viewer or a malicious archive, which led to backdoor installation and deeper system compromise.

Check Point says North Korea’s Lazarus Group targeted defense and aerospace professionals using convincing fake job offers that led victims to download trojanized PDF software. The campaign used a Windows zero-day (now patched as CVE-2026-68820) to gain full control and hide from security tools,…

Researchers tied North Korea’s Lazarus Group to a real-world campaign that approaches professionals with convincing fake recruiter outreach and job offers. Victims are tricked into opening a malicious PDF or installing a fake PDF viewer from lookalike websites, which then installs backdoors and can…

North Korea’s Lazarus group targeted defense and aerospace staff using fraudulent job offers and fake websites, then deployed malware that pulled down and ran a Windows zero-day exploit. The campaign also used websites impersonating Enveil to distribute a trojanized PDF viewer that delivered a new…

North Korea-linked Lazarus Group ran a “Dream Job” campaign targeting people applying for defense and aerospace jobs by posing as recruiters on LinkedIn and other platforms. Victims were sent malicious PDF files; opening them enabled a backdoor and then an exploit for a Windows zero-day…

Researchers say the North Korea-linked Lazarus group ran “Operation Dream Job,” posing as recruiters and sending fake job offers to lure targets into downloading trojanized PDF tools and opening booby-trapped PDFs. The campaign focused largely on defense-related organizations and used both a…

Check Point and Microsoft report North Korea’s Lazarus Group used a long-running “Dream Job” social engineering campaign to target defense-sector job seekers with fake employer sites and trojanized documents/software. Victims were lured into opening malicious PDFs or installing a modified PDF…

Researchers describe a real, ongoing Lazarus-linked campaign where targets are lured with attractive job offers and tricked into downloading a PDF viewer and “job description” documents. Opening the files installs backdoors and, in at least one wave, attackers used a Windows zero-day to gain deep…

Investigators say an online game, “Drone Battle: Ukraine,” is being used as a lure to draw young people into a broader recruitment pipeline connected to Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone. The campaign reportedly uses social media, influencers, esports, and promises like scholarships and travel…

IEH Corporation disclosed that a phishing email tricked an employee into entering Microsoft 365 credentials on a fake login page, giving an attacker access to the employee’s mailbox. The compromised inbox contained emails and attachments including engineering documents and potentially…

A US defense and aerospace parts supplier reported that an attacker got into its Microsoft 365 environment after an employee clicked what looked like a legitimate Microsoft file-sharing link. The link led to a fake login page that captured the employee’s credentials, potentially exposing sensitive…

The roundup describes real social-engineering incidents: a phishing email that led an employee to enter credentials on a fake Microsoft 365 login page, and a wave of voice-phishing attempts against major hedge funds using voice-mimicking technology. Both incidents show practical lures that can be…

IEH Corporation disclosed that an attacker got into its Microsoft 365 email environment after an employee clicked what looked like a legitimate Microsoft file-sharing link from a supposed new business contact. The fake link led to a phony login page that captured the employee’s credentials, letting…

South Korean agencies and AhnLab warn that tools tied to North Korea’s Lazarus Group appear to be shared with the Gunra ransomware operation targeting South Korean organizations. The campaign used compromised legitimate websites (watering-hole attacks) and spearphishing emails, including messages…

Researchers reported a real TA488 campaign where a specially crafted email exploits an Outlook Web Access (OWA) flaw and runs malicious JavaScript as soon as the user opens the message. The attack relies on normal-looking business topics to get people to quickly view the email, and then uses…

Proofpoint reports a Russian-linked espionage group is using booby-trapped emails that infect users simply when they open the message in Outlook Web Access (OWA) on on‑premises Exchange. The attack runs malicious JavaScript inside the victim’s logged-in mail session and installs a stealthy…

Researchers report Mirage Kitten (an espionage-focused threat group) targeted organizations in the Middle East and Africa using highly tailored spear‑phishing. The lures included recruitment-themed messages impersonating trusted brands/hiring sites and fake videoconferencing pages that redirected…

A Russia-aligned espionage group sent specially crafted HTML emails that could compromise vulnerable Zimbra webmail servers just by being opened or previewed, no link clicks or attachments needed. The exploit ran JavaScript inside the email body to steal mailbox data and credentials, then set up…

CERT-UA reports a real phishing campaign linked to Russia-aligned actor UAC-0099 targeting Ukrainian organizations. Victims receive an email with an image attachment that leads (via a link shortener) to a file-sharing download, where a disguised script installs a trojanized Notepad++ plugin and…