Rapid7 disclosed an Iranian state-sponsored intrusion that disguised itself as a Chaos ransomware attack to mask the real goal: cyber-espionage. The threat actor (assessed with moderate confidence as MuddyWater, linked to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security) initiated chat requests through Microsoft Teams, walked employees into screen-sharing sessions, then captured credentials and manipulated MFA prompts. Some victims were asked to type their passwords into local text files during the call. Persistence came from a custom backdoor (Game.exe) deployed alongside DWAgent, AnyDesk, and RDP. The fake ransomware note and Chaos leak-portal entry concealed the espionage.
Microsoft disclosed Monday that a phishing campaign between April 14 and 16 hit 35,000+ users across 13,000+ organizations in 26 countries (92% in the US). Lures impersonated internal HR with subjects like 'Internal case log issued under conduct policy.' Each email had a PDF attachment with a 'Review Case Materials' link that walked victims through Cloudflare CAPTCHAs and a final adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) Microsoft sign-in page. AiTM proxies the real Microsoft login and captures session tokens after MFA - so traditional MFA is bypassed. Healthcare (19%), financial services (18%), and professional services (11%) were the most-targeted sectors.
Push Security disclosed ConsentFix v3, a new attack that lets criminals take over Microsoft 365 accounts even if the victim has MFA and phishing-resistant passkeys turned on. The trick: instead of stealing a password, the attacker tricks the user into pasting a Microsoft authorization URL into a phishing page during what looks like a routine login. That URL contains a one-time code that the attacker exchanges for permanent access tokens. v3 automates the whole attack with Cloudflare Pages phishing sites, Pipedream webhook automation, and tenant fingerprinting that customizes the lure to each target organization's branding.
The FBI Atlanta Field Office and Indonesian authorities have dismantled the W3LL global phishing platform and arrested its alleged developer. W3LL sold a sophisticated phishing kit designed specifically for bypassing multi-factor authentication on Microsoft 365 accounts using adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) techniques. The platform operated as a phishing-as-a-service ecosystem with its own marketplace, support channels, and licensing model, enabling thousands of business email compromise campaigns targeting corporate Microsoft 365 environments. This is described as the first coordinated international law enforcement action against this platform. Group-IB previously estimated W3LL's tools had been used to compromise over 8,000 Microsoft 365 business accounts.
A new phishing-as-a-service kit called EvilTokens is being sold on Telegram, turning OAuth device code phishing against Microsoft accounts into a turnkey attack. Victims receive emails with PDFs or HTML files containing QR codes or links to pages impersonating Adobe, DocuSign, or SharePoint. The kit captures Microsoft authentication tokens in real time - bypassing MFA - and gives attackers persistent access for business email compromise. The developer says Gmail and Okta support is coming next.
A new phishing campaign is hijacking TikTok for Business accounts using adversary-in-the-middle (AITM) reverse proxy pages - meaning it captures credentials, session cookies, and MFA codes in real time. Victims land on cloned TikTok or Google Careers pages after clicking links that redirect through legitimate Google Storage URLs. The real kicker: most users log in via Google SSO, so one compromise gives attackers both TikTok and Google accounts.