Hackers are buying Google ads that look like they go to claude.ai - and they do go to a real claude.ai page. But the page is a shared Claude chat dressed up as 'Apple Support' walking users through installing Claude on a Mac. The instructions tell people to paste a command into Terminal that quietly downloads MacSync, a Mac infostealer that grabs saved browser passwords, cookies, and contents of macOS Keychain (where Mac stores logins and keys). Because both the ad and the page are real claude.ai links, there is no fake domain to spot. Researcher Berk Albayrak first reported the campaign; BleepingComputer found a second active variant.
JDownloader's official website was compromised between May 5-7 and the alternative Windows installer plus the Linux shell installer were replaced with malware. The Windows payload is a Python-based remote access trojan; the Linux installer establishes root persistence and pulls additional binaries. Attackers exploited an unpatched flaw in the website's CMS that let them change download links without authentication. macOS downloads, Flatpak/Winget/Snap packages, and the main JDownloader.jar weren't touched. Third 'trusted software site' hijacked in 30 days after CPUID (CPU-Z, HWMonitor) in April and DAEMON Tools last week.
HiddenLayer disclosed a malicious Hugging Face repository called Open-OSS/privacy-filter that typosquatted OpenAI's legitimate Privacy Filter project. The repo copied the original model card almost verbatim and shipped a loader.py file that, on Windows, fetched and executed an infostealer. The repo briefly hit Hugging Face's trending list at #1 and accumulated 244,000 downloads before the platform pulled it on May 7. The loader runs in an invisible PowerShell window, escalates privileges, adds itself to Microsoft Defender exclusions, and deploys Sefirah - a Rust-based infostealer that targets browser credentials, Discord tokens, cryptocurrency wallets, and SSH keys.
Update on the Instructure breach we covered May 4: ShinyHunters has shifted from extorting Instructure itself to extorting individual schools and universities with their own Canvas data. BleepingComputer and Krebs on Security report that 8,800+ institutions have received direct ransom demands referencing real student records, teacher accounts, and gradebook data from their own Canvas tenants. The campaign mirrors the 2025 PowerSchool aftermath. Some schools are receiving demands sized to the institution. Krebs notes affected schools are scrambling to comply with state student-privacy laws while negotiating with attackers.
Group-IB and Flare disclosed PamDOORa, a new Linux backdoor for sale on the Russian-speaking Rehub cybercrime forum at $900 (down from $1,600). PamDOORa hijacks the Linux Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) framework that handles SSH logins - so it intercepts every legitimate user's password as they authenticate, before any application-level logging fires. The backdoor injects a malicious pam_linux.so module into the authentication stack rather than replacing files. It also tampers with lastlog, btmp, utmp, and wtmp to erase attacker login traces - meaning incident response teams who SSH in to investigate will have their own credentials silently stolen. Group-IB notes the abuse method is not yet in MITRE ATT&CK.
ESET disclosed CallPhantom, a campaign of 28 fraudulent Android apps on Google Play that promised to reveal call histories, SMS records, and WhatsApp call logs for any phone number. Combined downloads: 7.3 million. After payment (weekly, monthly, or annual subscriptions up to $80), users receive fabricated phone numbers and names hardcoded into the apps. Targeting was India-focused (apps came pre-set with +91 country code and UPI integration via Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm) plus broader Asia-Pacific. Some apps embedded direct credit card forms, violating Play policy and making refunds harder. Google removed the 28 apps after ESET's report.
Update on the Head Mare campaign we covered April 28: Kaspersky now reports that BO Team (also known as Black Owl) and Head Mare appear to be coordinating cyber operations against Russian organizations, sharing command-and-control infrastructure on the same compromised hosts. The likely division of labor: Head Mare phishes for initial access, then BO Team takes over for malware deployment. BO Team has shifted from destructive attacks to covert espionage, and in Q1 2026 hit 20 Russian organizations across manufacturing, telecoms, and oil and gas. The group uses BrockenDoor and Remcos backdoors. Earlier BO Team campaigns hit a Russian drone supplier and the federal digital signature authority.
Researchers disclosed TCLBANKER, an Android banking trojan that adds worm-style self-propagation: once installed, it abuses Accessibility Services to read the victim's WhatsApp and Outlook contact lists and then send malicious download links to every contact as if from the victim. The malware targets banking and crypto-wallet apps with overlay screens that capture credentials, plus SMS-interception modules that grab one-time passcodes. Self-spreading via the victim's own messaging history defeats traditional URL-reputation controls. The campaign concentrates in Brazil, Spain, and Italy banking apps initially. Operators are renting access on Telegram for $1,500-3,000/month.
BleepingComputer and The Hacker News disclosed a new credential-stealing worm called PCPJack that hunts and removes the well-established TeamPCP malware family before installing itself - the first observed case of one cybercrime operation systematically displacing another at scale. PCPJack exploits five separate vulnerabilities to spread worm-like across cloud and Linux environments, then steals SSH keys, AWS credentials, GitHub tokens, and other secrets. Operators replace TeamPCP files in place rather than just disabling them, suggesting an attempt to inherit TeamPCP's existing victim base. The pattern signals a maturing cybercrime market.
BleepingComputer reports a fake Claude AI website is delivering a previously undocumented Windows malware called Beagle. The site impersonates Anthropic's Claude with a near-perfect clone of the official UI; visitors who click 'Download for Windows' get a Beagle installer rather than the legitimate Claude desktop app (Anthropic distributes Claude through claude.ai and the Mac App Store, not standalone Windows installers). Beagle harvests credentials from browsers, cryptocurrency wallets, Discord tokens, and SSH keys. Distribution is via Google Ads on Claude-related search terms - the same paid-placement abuse pattern hitting GoDaddy ManageWP, AWS, and Notion.
TrustStrike Labs