Description

A latest threat intelligence report by EclecticIQ reveals the sophisticated strategies of Luna Moth, a financially motivated threat group also referred to as Silent Ransom Group, UNC3753, and Storm-0252. The Luna Moth threat group has ramped up its callback phishing attacks since March 2025, targeting United States legal, financial, and accounting firms. Instead of dropping malware in the form of attachments or links, these attacks occurred via socially engineered helpdesk calls. After being engaged, live operators who are masquerading as IT support staff trick victims into installing valid remote monitoring and management (RMM) software, they have direct access to corporate infrastructure without activating classical security controls. The attackers employ typosquatted domains like kobrekim-helpdesk[.]com and ciso-helpdesk[.]com to pose as trusted organizations, such as law firms and internal security teams, and raise the authenticity of the phishing lures. EclecticIQ further revealed that Luna Moth is exploiting tools like Reamaze, a live chat tool owned by GoDaddy, to place AI-powered chatbots on phishing pages. The bots mimic real IT interactions to lead victims into installing RMM tools like AnyDesk, TeamViewer, and ScreenConnect. After installation, the attackers gain hands-on-keyboard access and employ utilities such as WinSCP and Rclone for stealthy data exfiltration, facilitating data theft and extortion without the need to use ransomware. From April 2024 through April 2025, Luna Moth had successfully attacked 64 confirmed organizations in the United States, with some spillover in Canada, France, and Germany. The legal industry represented the largest percentage of victims at 40.28%, with 23.61% being in the financial services industry. The stolen information is leaked to a specific leak website, business-data-leaks[.]com, where Luna Moth extorts victims for $1 million to $8 million in ransoms. The shift by the group from ransomware encryption to clean data extortion is considered a strategic response after the 2022 collapse of Conti. With links to earlier BazarCall activities, Luna Moth's latest campaign is seen as part of an emerging trend toward high-reward, low-risk cyber extortion strategies.