APT36 Suspected in PATCHCORD Espionage Campaign Using Google Sheets C2
Acronis uncovered PATCHCORD, a stealthy backdoor targeting Afghan telecom and South Asian infrastructure via fake VPN tools and Google Sheets C2. Researchers at Acronis just documented an espionage operation that reads like it was built by someone with genuinely good taste in disguises. Their Threat Research Unit report tracks a previously undocumented backdoor called PATCHCORD, […]
Researchers at Acronis just documented an espionage operation that reads like it was built by someone with genuinely good taste in disguises. Their Threat Research Unit report tracks a previously undocumented backdoor called PATCHCORD, hitting Afghan telecom providers and South Asian critical infrastructure through fake VPN installers and management tools branded to look exactly like the real thing.
“Acronis Threat Research Unit (TRU) has identified an ongoing campaign delivering a previously undocumented custom backdoor against Afghan telecom providers and South Asian critical infrastructure organizations. The backdoor, tracked as PATCHCORD, is a compiled C/C++ implant delivered through sector-specific lures, including fake VPN installers impersonating Afghan Telecom (AFTEL) and telecom management tools.” reads the Acronis’s report. “Infrastructure pivoting uncovered SHEETCORD, a Go-based implant that builds on PATCHCORD’s capabilities while abusing Google Sheets for C2 communication. The malware was actively distributed through a domain impersonating India’s National Informatics Centre (NIC).”
Related breach coverage
- Fake Conferences, OAuth and WhatsApp: Inside Russia’s New Espionage Tactics2026-08-21
Google tracks three Russia-linked espionage clusters using phishing and legitimate authentication tools to target researchers, diplomats and defense staff. Google’s Threat Intelligence Group tracked three separate suspected Russia-linked cyber espionage clusters. All three focus on the same thing: abusing authentication features that are supposed to protect accounts to access them instead. Threat actors target researchers, […]
- Chinese Hackers Use AI Agents in Multi-Country Cyber Campaign2026-09-04
Hunt.io uncovered a Chinese-speaking campaign using AI agents to automate cyberattacks against Asian government, education and industrial targets. Threat intelligence firm Hunt.io just documented a second, separate China-linked campaign wiring commercial AI models directly into live cyberespionage operations, this time hitting Taiwan’s Kuomintang Party archives, Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, government and education systems in […]
- Russian APT BlueDelta Uses HOOKEDGE to Target Defense and Diplomatic Organizations2026-08-28
BlueDelta (APT28) uses webhook.site and Microsoft Edge to hide HOOKEDGE espionage traffic targeting European governments. Recorded Future’s Insikt Group documented a campaign by BlueDelta, the Russian GRU-linked group that overlaps with the group APT28, running an entire espionage operation against European government targets using webhook.site, a service built for developers to test HTTP requests, as […]
- China’s ‘SilkParasite’ espionage operation targeting Central Asia with AI-assisted malware2026-08-20
Suspected military-grade hackers based in China used artificial intelligence to develop malware in a campaign to penetrate Central Asian governments.