Explore cybersecurity trends, news and insights from the experts at Black Lotus Labs, the threat research and operations arm of Lumen.
Executive Summary Revision June 7, 2024: As this story has developed, we have received feedback from a vendor/partner. While we observed a drop in activity associated with multiple router models based on scan data, we assess that ActionTec routers were […]
Executive Summary: The Black Lotus Labs team at Lumen Technologies is tracking a malware platform we’ve named Cuttlefish, that targets networking equipment, specifically enterprise-grade small office/home office (SOHO) routers. This malware is modular, designed primarily to steal authentication material found […]
Executive Summary The Black Lotus Labs team at Lumen Technologies has identified a multi-year campaign targeting end-of-life (EoL) small home/small office (SOHO) routers and IoT devices, associated with an updated version of “TheMoon” malware. TheMoon, which emerged in 2014, has […]
Executive Summary On December 13, 2023, Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs reported our findings on the KV-botnet, a covert data transfer network used by state-sponsored actors based in China to conduct espionage and intelligence activities targeting U.S. critical infrastructure. Around the […]
Executive Summary The Black Lotus Labs team at Lumen Technologies is tracking a small office/home office (SOHO) router botnet that forms a covert data transfer network for advanced threat actors. We are calling this the KV-botnet, based upon artifacts in […]
Executive Summary The Black Lotus Labs team has discovered a highly unique piece of malware designed to compromise the security of the extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) functionality in the Linux kernel of container-based operating systems, like CoreOS. eBPF is […]
Executive Summary In March 2023, Lumen Black Lotus Labs reported on a complex campaign called “HiatusRAT” that infected over 100 edge networking devices globally. The campaign leveraged edge routers, or “living on the edge” access, to passively collect traffic and […]
Executive Summary Lumen Black Lotus Labs® identified another multi-year campaign involving compromised routers across the globe. This is a complex operation that infects small-office/home-office (SOHO) routers, deploying a Linux-based Remote Access Trojan (RAT) we’ve dubbed “AVrecon.” Apart from a single […]
Executive Summary Qakbot (aka Pinkslipbot, Qbot) has persisted as a banking trojan – then a potent malware/ransomware distribution network – for well over a decade, its origins going back as far as 2007. As a ransomware botnet, Qakbot is usually […]
Executive Summary Just nine months after discovering ZuoRAT – a novel malware targeting small office/home office (SOHO) routers – Lumen Black Lotus Labs® identified another, never-before-seen campaign involving compromised routers. This is a complex campaign we are calling “Hiatus”. It […]
