PlugX Spear-Phishing Targets Gov & Aviation Sectors

A sophisticated spear-phishing campaign is targeting governmental and aviation sectors in one region using the PlugX malware family. The attack begins with emails leading to a fake verification page, which then delivers a malicious archive containing a Windows shortcut file. This shortcut triggers a multi-stage infection process involving PowerShell scripts and DLL sideloading to execute the final payload. While a decoy document is displayed to the victim, the malware establishes a connection to a command-and-control server for espionage purposes. The tactics, including the use of cloud-hosted infrastructure and specific malware tools, strongly link the campaign to state-sponsored threat actors.

Latest mentioned: 10-07
Earliest mentioned: 10-06