Case of ActiveMQ Vulnerability Exploitation to Install Sharpire (Kinsing)
AhnLab SEcurity intelligence Center (ASEC) has confirmed that the Kinsing threat actor is still distributing malware by exploiting known vulnerabilities. Since the disclosure of the CVE-2023-46604 vulnerability in ActiveMQ, the threat actor has been exploiting it to install malware on both Linux and Windows systems. [1] Aside from the well-known XMRig
Statistics Report on Malware Targeting Windows Database Servers in Q3 2025
AhnLab SEcurity intelligence Center (ASEC) utilizes the AhnLab Smart Defense (ASD) to categorize and respond to attacks targeting Windows-based MS-SQL and MySQL servers. This report will cover the current state of damage to MS-SQL and MySQL servers that became attack targets based on the logs discovered in the third quarter
Larva-25010 – Analysis on the APT Down Threat Actor’s PC
This report covers the seven posts on the breach analysis of APT Down, which were published in “Threat Notes” of AhnLab TIP after the release of the “APT Down: the North Korea Files” report, along with additional analysis. Post on Aug 12, 2025, “APT DOWN – Analysis of Korean
Statistics Report on Malware Targeting Windows Database Servers in Q2 2025
Overview The AhnLab SEcurity intelligence Center (ASEC) analysis team uses the AhnLab Smart Defense (ASD) infrastructure to categorize and respond to attacks targeting Windows-based MS-SQL and MySQL servers. This report will cover the current state of damage to MS-SQL and MySQL servers that became attack targets based on the logs
Statistical Report on Malware Targeting MS-SQL Servers in 1Q 2025
Overview The AhnLab SEcurity intelligence Center (ASEC) analysis team uses the AhnLab Smart Defense (ASD) infrastructure to categorize and respond to attacks on vulnerable MS-SQL servers. This report will cover the current state of damage to MS-SQL servers that became attack targets based on the logs discovered in 1Q 2025,
Statistical Report on Malware Targeting MS-SQL Servers in Q4 2024
Overview The AhnLab SEcurity intelligence Center (ASEC) analysis team uses the AhnLab Smart Defense (ASD) infrastructure to categorize and respond to attacks on vulnerable MS-SQL servers. This report will cover the current state of damage to MS-SQL servers that became attack targets based on the logs discovered in Q4 2024,
Play Ransomware Attack Cases Detected by AhnLab EDR
Play ransomware, also known as Balloonfly or PlayCrypt, was first identified in June 2022 and has reportedly attacked over 300 organizations worldwide since then. A notable characteristic of the ransomware, which remains actively in use, is its addition of the “.PLAY” extension to files following encryption. Like other ransomware threat
Analysis of Pupy RAT Used in Attacks Against Linux Systems
Pupy is a RAT malware strain that offers cross-platform support. Because it is an open-source program published on GitHub, it is continuously being used by various threat actors including APT groups. For example, it is known to have been used by APT35 (said to have ties to Iran) [1] and
Cryptojacking Attack Campaign Against Apache Web Servers Using Cobalt Strike
AhnLab Security Emergency response Center (ASEC) is monitoring attacks against vulnerable web servers that have unpatched vulnerabilities or are being poorly managed. Because web servers are externally exposed for the purpose of providing web services to all available users, these become major attack targets for threat actors. Major examples of
Case of Attack Exploiting AnyDesk Remote Tool (Cobalt Strike and Meterpreter)
MS-SQL servers are mainly the attack targets for Windows systems. Attackers scan vulnerable MS-SQL servers that are poorly managed and install malware upon gaining control. Malware strains installed by attackers include CoinMiner, ransomware, backdoor, etc., and may vary depending on the purpose of the attack. Most backdoor strains are
