Chinese group said to use HackingTeam tools to spread ransomware, cryptominers

A sophisticated Chinese cybercrime group is using old, leaked computer code from a notorious cyber-arms dealer known as HackingTeam to breach thousands of companies, mostly based in Asia, according to new research by Israel cybersecurity firm Intezer. The latest observation shows how HackingTeam’s breach in 2015, when its wares leaked online for anyone to copy, is still having effects on global security. HackingTeam claims that it only sells its “lawful intercept” product to governments and law enforcement agencies, but prior investigations have shown the extent to which these tools are often abused by authoritarian regimes to target otherwise innocent dissidents. The 2015 leak provided these powerful capabilities to a wide array of people, including apparently cybercriminals. Intezer explained in a blog post published Tuesday that researchers first noticed a series of unique remote access trojans, cryptominers and ransomware variants for Windows, Linux and Android platforms while monitoring public data feeds. In addition, the group appears […]

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