Melissa Frydrych

Threat Hunt Researcher, IBM

Melissa is an analyst on the Threat Hunt & Discovery Team within IBM X-Force. She has over 9 years of experience, investigating and analyzing cyber threat activity, beginning her career as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst supporting joint commands overseas and domestically, and later working for the federal government as a contractor prior to joining IBM in 2018. Melissa holds degrees in Security Intelligence, Criminal Justice, and an advanced degree in Digital Forensics.

Threat Intelligence September 7, 2023

New Hive0117 phishing campaign imitates conscription summons to deliver DarkWatchman malware

8 min read - IBM X-Force uncovered a new phishing campaign likely conducted by Hive0117 delivering the fileless malware DarkWatchman, directed at individuals associated with major energy, finance, transport, and software security industries based in Russia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Estonia. DarkWatchman malware is capable…

Threat Intelligence July 14, 2023

BlotchyQuasar: X-Force Hive0129 targeting financial institutions in LATAM with a custom banking trojan

16 min read - In late April through May 2023, IBM Security X-Force found several phishing emails leading to packed executable files delivering malware we have named BlotchyQuasar, likely developed by a group X-Force tracks as Hive0129. BlotchyQuasar is hardcoded to collect credentials from…

Threat Intelligence June 6, 2023

ITG10 likely targeting South Korean entities of interest to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)

7 min read - In late April 2023, IBM Security X-Force uncovered documents that are most likely part of a phishing campaign mimicking credible senders, orchestrated by a group X-Force refers to as ITG10, and aimed at delivering RokRAT malware, similar to what has…

Malware April 26, 2022

Hive0117 continues fileless malware delivery in Eastern Europe

4 min read - Through continued research into the ongoing cyber activity throughout Eastern Europe, IBM Security X-Force identified a phishing email campaign by Hive0117, likely a financially motivated cybercriminal group, from February 2022, designed to deliver the fileless malware variant dubbed DarkWatchman. The…

Threat Intelligence December 15, 2021

Nation state threat group targets airline with Aclip backdoor

8 min read - IBM Security X-Force has observed a state-sponsored adversary using a new backdoor that utilizes Slack to attack airline organizations. The adversary leveraged free workspaces on Slack, a legitimate messaging and collaboration application likely to obfuscate operational communications, allowing malicious traffic,…

Advanced Threats July 12, 2021

RoboSki and global recovery: Automation to combat evolving obfuscation

12 min read - In a recent collaboration to investigate a rise in malware infections featuring a commercial remote access trojan (RAT), IBM Security X-Force and Cipher Tech Solutions (CT), a defense and intelligence security firm, investigated malicious activity that spiked in the first…

Threat Intelligence April 14, 2021

An update: The COVID-19 vaccine’s global cold chain continues to be a target

5 min read - In December 2020, IBM Security X-Force released a research blog disclosing that the COVID-19 cold chain — an integral part of delivering and storing COVID-19 vaccines at safe temperatures — was targeted by cyber adversaries. After that first report, we…

X-Force December 3, 2020

IBM Uncovers Global Phishing Campaign Targeting the COVID-19 Vaccine Cold Chain

6 min read - At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, IBM Security X-Force created a threat intelligence task force dedicated to tracking down COVID-19 cyber threats against organizations that are keeping the vaccine supply chain moving. As part of these efforts, our team recently…

Government April 27, 2020

SBA Spoofed in COVID-19 Spam to Deliver Remcos RAT

5 min read - As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic impacts small businesses in the U.S., cybercriminals are trusting that people will be more likely to open unsolicited emails purporting to come from relevant entities.

Advanced Threats April 14, 2020

TA505 Continues to Infect Networks With SDBbot RAT

7 min read - IBM X-Force IRIS recently identified attacks likely linked to Hive0065, also known as TA505, which spread the SDBbot remote-access Trojan (RAT) alongside other custom malware.

Advanced Threats March 18, 2020

EnigmaSpark: Politically Themed Cyber Activity Highlights Regional Opposition to Middle East Peace Plan

9 min read - In recent analysis of malicious activity likely targeting entities based in the Middle East, IBM X-Force IRIS discovered a backdoor malware strain we named "EnigmaSpark."

Government December 11, 2019

Public Sector Security Is Lagging — How Can State and Local Governments Better Defend Against Cyberattacks in 2020?

5 min read - Malicious cyberattacks against the public sector have made headlines for the past five years, but although the stakes are high, the response from government agencies has not always been adequate.

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Topics

Melissa Frydrych

New Hive0117 phishing campaign imitates conscription summons to deliver DarkWatchman malware

BlotchyQuasar: X-Force Hive0129 targeting financial institutions in LATAM with a custom banking trojan

ITG10 likely targeting South Korean entities of interest to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)

Hive0117 continues fileless malware delivery in Eastern Europe

Nation state threat group targets airline with Aclip backdoor

RoboSki and global recovery: Automation to combat evolving obfuscation

An update: The COVID-19 vaccine’s global cold chain continues to be a target

IBM Uncovers Global Phishing Campaign Targeting the COVID-19 Vaccine Cold Chain

SBA Spoofed in COVID-19 Spam to Deliver Remcos RAT

TA505 Continues to Infect Networks With SDBbot RAT

EnigmaSpark: Politically Themed Cyber Activity Highlights Regional Opposition to Middle East Peace Plan

Public Sector Security Is Lagging — How Can State and Local Governments Better Defend Against Cyberattacks in 2020?

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Topic updates