CRESCENTHARVEST Campaign Targets Iran Protest Supporters With RAT Malware
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new campaign dubbed CRESCENTHARVEST , likely targeting supporters of Iran's ongoing protests to conduct information theft and long-term espionage. The Acronis Threat Research Unit (TRU) said it observed the activity after January 9, with the attacks designed to deliver a malicious payload that serves as a remote access trojan (RAT) and information stealer to execute commands, log keystrokes, and exfiltrate sensitive data. It's currently not known if any of the attacks were successful . "The campaign exploits recent geopolitical developments to lure victims into opening malicious .LNK files disguised as protest-related images or videos," researchers Subhajeet Singha, Eliad Kimhy, and Darrel Virtusio said in a report published this week. "These files are bundled with authentic media and a Farsi-language report providing updates from 'the rebellious cities of Iran.' This pro- protest framing appears ...