Research Saturday 8.22.26
Ep 438 | 8.22.26

A RAT in the spreadsheet.

Show Notes

Today we are joined by ⁠Aaron Beardslee⁠, Manager of Threat Research at ⁠Securonix⁠, discussing "Analyzing SHEET#CREEP: SHEETCREEP is up again with different config obfuscation." Securonix researchers have identified an evolved version of the SHEETCREEP espionage campaign, using a diplomatic-themed ISO phishing lure to deliver a C# remote access trojan targeting Indian diplomatic interests.

The malware abuses the Google Sheets API as a stealthy command-and-control channel, with researchers identifying 91 active victim tabs, including a high-confidence target in Pakistan. The campaign, assessed with moderate confidence as linked to Pakistan-aligned APT36, has added XOR-obfuscated configurations and other anti-analysis techniques to evade detection and maintain persistent access.

The research and executive brief can be found here: