Unit 42 discusses the supply chain attack targeting Axios. Learn about the full attack chain, from the dropper to forensic cleanup.
The post Threat Brief: Widespread Impact of the Axios Supply Chain Attack appeared first on Unit 42.
TeamPCP continues its string of supply chain attacks, and announces a partnership with Vect ransomware group.
The post Weaponizing the Protectors: TeamPCP’s Multi-Stage Supply Chain Attack on Security Infrastructure appeared first on Unit 42.
What do the words bakso, sate, and rendang bring to mind? For many, the answer is “nothing”; foodies will recognize them as Indonesian staples; while those who follow cybersecurity news will remember an attack on the Node Package Manager (npm) ecosystem — the tool that lets developers use prebuilt libraries instead of writing every line of code from scratch.
In mid-November, security researcher Paul McCarty reported the discovery of a spam campaign aimed at cluttering the npm registry. Of course, meaningless packages have appeared in the registry before, but in this case, tens of thousands of modules were found with no useful function. Their sole purpose was to inject completely unnecessary dependencies into projects.
The package names featured randomly inserted Indonesian dish names and culinary terms such as bakso, sate, and rendang, which is how the campaign earned the moniker “IndonesianFoods”. The scale was impressive: at the time of discovery, approximately 86 000 packages had been identified.
Below, we dive into how this happened, and what the attackers were actually after.
At first glance, the IndonesianFoods packages didn’t look like obvious junk. They featured standard structures, valid configuration files, and even well-formatted documentation. According to researchers at Endor Labs, this camouflage allowed the packages to persist in the npm registry for nearly two years.
It’s not as if the attackers were aggressively trying to insert their creations into external projects. Instead, they simply flooded the ecosystem with legitimate-looking code, waiting for someone to make a typo or accidentally pick their library from search results. It’s a bit unclear exactly what you’d have to be searching for to mistake a package name for an Indonesian dish, but the original research notes that at least 11 projects somehow managed to include these packages in their builds.
A small portion of these junk packages had a self-replication mechanism baked in: once installed, they would create and publish new packages to the npm registry every seven seconds. These new modules featured random names (also related to Indonesian cuisine) and version numbers — all published, as you’d expect, using the victim’s credentials.
Other malicious packages integrated with the TEA blockchain platform. The TEA project was designed to reward open-source creators with tokens in proportion to the popularity and usage of their code — theoretically operating on a “Proof of Contribution” model.
A significant portion of these packages contained no actual functionality at all, yet they often carried a dozen dependencies — which, as you might guess, pointed to other spam projects within the same campaign. Thus, if a victim mistakenly includes one of these malicious packages, it pulls in several others, some of which have their own dependencies. The result is a final project cluttered with a massive amount of redundant code.
There are two primary theories. The most obvious is that this entire elaborate spam campaign was designed to exploit the aforementioned TEA protocol. Essentially, without making any useful contribution to the open-source community, the attackers earn TEA tokens — which are standard digital assets that can be swapped for other cryptocurrencies on exchanges. By using a web of dependencies and self-replication mechanisms, the attackers pose as legitimate open-source developers to artificially inflate the significance and usage metrics of their packages. In the README files of certain packages, the attackers even boast about their earnings.
However, there’s a more chilling theory. For instance, researcher Garrett Calpouzos suggests that what we’re seeing is merely a proof of concept. The IndonesianFoods campaign could be road-testing a new malware delivery method intended to be sold later to other threat actors.
At first glance, the danger to software development organizations might not be obvious: sure, IndonesianFoods clutters the ecosystem, but it doesn’t seem to carry an immediate threat like ransomware or data breaches. However, redundant dependencies bloat code and waste developers’ system resources. Furthermore, junk packages published under your organization’s name can take a serious toll on your reputation within the developer community.
We also can’t dismiss Calpouzos’s theory. If those spam packages pulled into your software receive an update that introduces truly malicious functionality, they could become a threat not just to your organization, but to your users as well — evolving into a full-blown supply chain attack.
Spam packages don’t just wander into a project on their own; installing them requires a lapse in judgment from a developer. Therefore, we recommend regularly raising awareness among employees — even the tech-savvy ones — about modern cyberthreats. Our interactive training platform, KASAP (Kaspersky Automated Security Awareness Platform), can help with that.
Additionally, you can prevent infection by using a specialized solution for protecting containerized environments. It scans images and third-party dependencies, integrates into the build process, and monitors containers during runtime.
In this post, we examine the disruptive cyber activity targeting Stryker, potential links to the Handala persona, and what the incident signals about evolving threats to healthcare supply chains.
Table Of Contents
Over the past several years, destructive cyber operations have increasingly expanded beyond traditional critical infrastructure targets. State-linked actors have demonstrated a growing willingness to disrupt organizations that sit at key logistical and supply chain nodes, where a single intrusion can generate cascading operational impacts across entire sectors.
Healthcare supply chains are particularly exposed to this dynamic. Large medical technology providers, pharmaceutical distributors, and logistics partners often support hundreds or thousands of downstream healthcare providers, making them attractive targets for adversaries seeking to create disruption without directly attacking hospitals themselves.
On March 11th, medical technology company Stryker disclosed that a cyberattack had disrupted portions of its global network infrastructure, affecting Microsoft systems used across the organization. In public statements and regulatory filings, the company indicated that the incident impacted internal operations and that the full scope of the disruption and timeline for restoration remain under investigation. At the time of writing, the company stated it had not identified evidence of ransomware or conventional malware, suggesting the activity may involve alternative attack methods or infrastructure abuse.
Separately, reporting has noted that the Handala persona — a hacking group widely assessed to be linked to Iranian state actors — appeared on some company login pages during the incident, further raising questions about possible attribution.
Yesterday’s cyberattack against Stryker reflects several dynamics that Flashpoint analysts have been tracking across disruptive cyber operations. Flashpoint analysts are monitoring technical indicators and reporting associated with destructive activity targeting the organization and assessing potential links to threat actors previously associated with disruptive campaigns targeting Western organizations.
While the full scope of the incident remains unclear, the activity highlights several trends that threat intelligence teams are tracking closely.
Flashpoint analysts are monitoring indicators associated with the Handala threat persona in relation to the incident.
Handala has maintained an online presence that presents itself as a politically motivated hacktivist movement. However, based on targeting patterns, messaging, and operational behavior observed over the past year, Flashpoint assesses that the persona is likely linked to Iranian state actors rather than an independent hacktivist collective. In public Telegram posts and website manifestos monitored by Flashpoint analysts, Handala framed the Stryker attack as retaliation for recent kinetic strikes in the Middle East. By operating behind a persona styled as a grassroots, pro-Palestinian resistance movement, Iranian state-nexus actors are able to conduct destructive cyber operations against Western organizations while maintaining a degree of plausible deniability.
“From our perspective tracking Handala over the past year, the group has done an effective job presenting itself as a grassroots resistance movement. However, the tactics and targeting we observe are far more consistent with activity linked to Iranian state actors than with independent hacktivism. What makes the Stryker incident particularly concerning is the apparent use of enterprise management infrastructure — potentially weaponizing Microsoft Intune — to carry out destructive activity at scale.”
Kathryn Raines, Cyber Threat Intelligence Team Lead for Flashpoint National Security Solutions
Flashpoint analysts have previously documented how Iranian state-linked actors are increasingly integrating cyber operations into broader geopolitical and military campaigns. For additional context on this trend, see our recent analysis of how cyber activity is evolving alongside the current regional conflict.
Unlike financially motivated cybercriminal groups, Handala-associated activity has historically emphasized disruption, psychological impact, and geopolitical signaling. Operations attributed to the persona frequently align with periods of heightened geopolitical tension and often target organizations with symbolic or strategic value.
While attribution for the Stryker incident has not been definitively established, the activity is consistent with patterns previously associated with the persona.
Flashpoint analysts are reviewing indications that attackers may have leveraged enterprise device management infrastructure, including Microsoft Intune, to trigger wiping actions across managed devices. This method explains Stryker’s initial public statements indicating that “no evidence of malware or ransomware.” Because Intune is a trusted, native Microsoft administrative tool, an attacker weaponizing it to issue mass remote wipe commands would not trigger traditional endpoint detection and response (EDR) or antivirus alerts. To the victim’s security sensors, no malicious files are being dropped; therefore, the activity would appear to be a highly privileged IT administrator executing a standard, albeit catastrophic, compliance policy. This living off the land (LotL) approach represents a massive blind spot for traditional security architectures
If confirmed, this technique represents an evolution in destructive cyber operations.
Rather than relying exclusively on custom malware designed specifically for wiping systems, attackers may increasingly attempt to abuse legitimate administrative tools already embedded in enterprise environments. Compromise of a centralized management console could allow an adversary to execute commands across large numbers of endpoints simultaneously.
This approach can significantly expand the potential impact of a compromise while reducing the need for specialized destructive malware.
As a major provider of equipment used in surgical suites and emergency rooms, Stryker occupies an important position within the healthcare ecosystem. Disruption affecting organizations in this category can create second-order operational impacts across healthcare providers that depend on their products and services.
“The attack on Stryker highlights a troubling shift we’re increasingly seeing in destructive cyber operations. Rather than targeting hospitals or frontline healthcare providers directly, adversaries may focus on critical suppliers and logistics providers where disruption can cascade across the entire healthcare ecosystem. A single intrusion at a key node in the supply chain has the potential to create widespread operational impact far beyond the initial target.”
Josh Lefkowitz, CEO, Flashpoint
Flashpoint analysts have increasingly observed state-linked cyber activity targeting logistical nodes and supply chain providers, rather than only frontline institutions such as hospitals. From an operational perspective, this strategy allows adversaries to generate broader disruption while potentially avoiding the immediate scrutiny associated with direct attacks on healthcare facilities.
Flashpoint analysts continue to monitor developments related to this incident and are evaluating additional indicators as they emerge.
Several factors will shape the broader assessment of the activity in the coming days:
Incidents involving destructive cyber activity targeting critical supply chain organizations underscore the increasing intersection between geopolitical tensions, cyber operations, and operational resilience.
Flashpoint will continue to track this activity and provide updates as more information becomes available.
Understanding how adversaries operate — including the tradecraft used to weaponize enterprise infrastructure and target supply chain dependencies — is essential for defending critical organizations.
Flashpoint delivers actionable intelligence that helps security teams detect emerging threats, contextualize adversary activity, and respond faster to disruptive campaigns targeting critical sectors. Schedule a demo to learn more.
The post Destructive Activity Targeting Stryker Highlights Emerging Supply Chain Risks appeared first on Flashpoint.
Unit 42 reveals new infrastructure associated with the Notepad++ attack. This expands understanding of threat actor operations and malware delivery.
The post Nation-State Actors Exploit Notepad++ Supply Chain appeared first on Unit 42.
Hackers associated with the Chinese government used a Trojaned version of Notepad++ to deliver malware to selected users.
Notepad++ said that officials with the unnamed provider hosting the update infrastructure consulted with incident responders and found that it remained compromised until September 2. Even then, the attackers maintained credentials to the internal services until December 2, a capability that allowed them to continue redirecting selected update traffic to malicious servers. The threat actor “specifically targeted Notepad++ domain with the goal of exploiting insufficient update verification controls that existed in older versions of Notepad++.” Event logs indicate that the hackers tried to re-exploit one of the weaknesses after it was fixed but that the attempt failed.
Make sure you’re running at least version 8.9.1.
The company will use the latest capital to scale its go-to-market efforts and expand its platform’s capabilities.
The post RapidFort Raises $42M to Automate Software Supply Chain Security appeared first on SecurityWeek.
Hackers compromised a MicroWorld Technologies update server and fed a malicious file to eScan customers.
The post eScan Antivirus Delivers Malware in Supply Chain Attack appeared first on SecurityWeek.
The protections against NPM supply chain attacks could be bypassed, leading to arbitrary code execution.
The post ‘PackageGate’ Flaws Open JavaScript Ecosystem to Supply Chain Attacks appeared first on SecurityWeek.
Self-replicating worm “Shai-Hulud” has compromised hundreds of software packages in a supply chain attack targeting the npm ecosystem. We discuss scope and more.
The post "Shai-Hulud" Worm Compromises npm Ecosystem in Supply Chain Attack (Updated November 26) appeared first on Unit 42.
Login