Search/Hackers Hid Vasilek Backdoor in VMware Tools During 2-Year Russian Healthcare Intrusion
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Hackers Hid Vasilek Backdoor in VMware Tools During 2-Year Russian Healthcare Intrusion

A Belarus-aligned hacktivist group spent nearly two years within the network of a Russian healthcare organization. According to a report published by Russian cybersecurity firm Solar, the activity has been attributed to a threat cluster dubbed Partisan Zmiy, which is also known as the Cyber Partisans. Known to be active since at least 2020, the group has a track record of striking industrial enterprises and government agencies in Russia and Belarus with a backdoor called Vasilek that uses Telegram for command-and-control (C2) and data exfiltration. Some of the attacks have also leveraged phishing lures to deliver an installer that simultaneously deploys the legitimate FortiClient VPN program on the system as well as an open-source program known as DNSCat2 that allows attackers to gain…

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Source
thehackernews.com
Published
Oct 21, 2026
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