An automated attack within the NuGet open source ecosystem for .NET developers has resulted in a flood of malicious packages containing links to phishing campaigns.
That's according to a
joint report on Wednesday from Checkmarx and Illustria, which, upon digging deeper, found that automated attacks are taking aim on a broad level, against users of the npm, NuGet, and PyPI software developer ecosystems. The attack vector in the NuGet ecosystem involves the use of automated processes to create a large number of packages with names and descriptions designed to lure those interested in hacking, cheats, and free resources. These contain links to phishing campaigns built to steal personal information or other sensitive data.
The scale of this attack is unique, according to the report, because it involves the creation of over 144,000 packages by the same threat actor — a significantly larger number of packages than is typically seen in such attacks, making it an especially large and significant event.
