New movements by the cybercriminal group “FamousSparrow,” an APT (prolonged and stealthy cyberattack) where an intruder gains access to a network and remains hidden for a period of time to steal data or spy, have been revealed, reported ESET, a leading company in proactive threat detection. This time, ESET discovered that the group has deployed a new backdoor — hidden code in a program or system that allows unauthorized access and bypasses security — targeting several Latin American countries, at least since August 2025.

“We believe this geographic focus is not accidental and likely reflects China’s response to various recent US initiatives in the region. In fact, Donald Trump’s second presidential term has seen an aggressive reassertion of US interests in Latin America, which puts several strategic investments that China has developed on the continent over the last decade in sectors such as energy, mining, and telecommunications at risk. We suspect that FamousSparrow’s activities aim to help China better monitor and anticipate the reactions of local governments to current US pressure,” commented the ESET research team.

FamousSparrow is a Chinese-linked cyberespionage group believed to have been active since at least 2019. Initially known for targeting hotels worldwide, it has also targeted governments, international organizations, trade associations, engineering firms, and law firms.

Currently, the group appears to be focusing on high-profile targets in Latin America. This trend reportedly began in July 2025 and has continued with the arrival of a new backdoor dubbed SparroWocky by ESET. In fact, between mid-2025 and 2026, 90% of the group’s targets recorded in ESET telemetry were located in the region.

Prolonged and stealthy cyberattack

ESET observed the deployment of the new backdoor against government entities in Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. This is an unusual case among the Chinese-linked APT groups that the research team had been monitoring, as their operations were typically spread across different regions of the world over extended periods.

While ESET states that it is still unclear whether the group’s apparent focus on Latin America is due to a formal geographic mandate or a temporary priority driven by current geopolitical circumstances, some cases seem to support the latter hypothesis. For example, one of the Panamanian entities identified by ESET as a target is directly involved in the trade dispute surrounding two major ports in the canal area, which until recently were operated by a Chinese-based company.

Given that the concession granted to that company was legally questioned by the Panamanian government at the beginning of 2025, ESET comments that it could be likely that the FamousSparrowgroup operation sought to obtain advance and privileged information about the intentions of local authorities regarding this matter.

Regarding the novelty of this discovery by ESET is the identification of SparroWocky, a new custom backdoor developed in C++, which incorporates more sophisticated evasion techniques to go unnoticed. This backdoor with extensive capabilities manipulates low-level structures in memory and modifies code at runtime to evade detection.

Additionally, it has the ability to load and run Beacon Object Files (BOF), a special type of executable file supported by numerous network teaming and penetration testing tools. The backdoor allows FamousSparrow to have the development capabilities necessary to integrate code from open source projects directly into its own custom backdoor.

ESET invites you to learn more about computer security and this finding by visiting: https://www.welivesecurity.com/es/investigaciones/famoussparrow-america-latina-sparrowocky/.

To obtain other useful preventive data, it is also available in Venezuela: https://www.eset.com/ve/, and its social networks @eset_ve. Also Instagram (@esetla) and Facebook (ESET).

With information and reference images provided by ESET and Comstat Rowland

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Japan announced on Wednesday, August 26, a plan to diversify its crude oil sources in order to reduce its dependence on the Strait of Hormuz. The plan includes working with Middle Eastern countries to build pipelines.

According to the Nikkei business daily, “the energy measures include subsidies for companies that purchase crude oil and refined products such as naphtha without passing through the Strait of Hormuz, to offset the increased transportation costs.”

The Japanese government’s search makes more sense than ever, considering that 90 % of its crude oil imports come from the Middle East.

In this regard, the archipelago is currently exploring alternative routes to obtain crude oil, including loading tankers at the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or the port of Yanbu in Saudi Arabia, as well as considering other sources such as the United States, Algeria, and Peru.

“Under the direction of the state-owned Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), the plan also includes undisclosed financial aid to fund the construction of pipelines in the Middle East.”

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The governments of Peru and Mexico announced on Friday, August 7, the resumption of their diplomatic relations, after a suspension of approximately nine months, according to a statement from their foreign ministries.

Both nations reaffirmed their commitment to international law and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Foreign Minister Carlos Espá emphasized that “the government of Peru respects the principles of international law, such as the aforementioned Caracas Convention, and always acts in the national interest.”

She emphasized that this process to resume bilateral relations is possible thanks to “ongoing coordination and communication with the Mexican Foreign Ministry” and thanked the Brazilian Foreign Ministry for its support, “which assumed representation of the interests of the Mexican Embassy in Peru after the rupture of diplomatic relations, as well as the professionalism of Peruvian diplomacy.”

The President of Peru, Keiko Fujimori, expressed her satisfaction with this step between the two countries and stated: “We are very pleased that Peru and Mexico have restored their diplomatic relations. We are sister nations, friends, with a long history of friendship.”

📄Comunicado Conjunto: Restablecimiento de Relaciones Diplomáticas con México.

👉 https://t.co/yFcJUDRV5c pic.twitter.com/eAnVC0RIU5

— Cancillería Perú🇵🇪 (@CancilleriaPeru) August 7, 2026

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The governments of Peru and Venezuela announced that they will gradually resume bilateral relations, which were suspended in 2024.

 

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This announcement, made by the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, comes amid the transfer of government that will take place today, with the inauguration of the right-wing Keiko Fujimori.

📄 Reactivación de relaciones consulares entre Perú y Venezuela.

👉https://t.co/QTZhmpO8Vf pic.twitter.com/u71NjtTKtO

— Cancillería Perú🇵🇪 (@CancilleriaPeru) July 24, 2026

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Peru sent 14.5 tons of humanitarian aid to Venezuela, including food, supplies, and household goods, as assistance to those affected by the recent earthquakes in the country.

The shipment was made via a Peruvian Air Force plane, bringing items such as rice, noodles, vegetable oil, bottled water, as well as tents, warm clothing, supplies, and household goods.

Luis Vásquez, head of the National Institute of Civil Defense, indicated that 50 tents, each with the capacity to shelter five people, were dispatched. He added that “the aid being sent is in accordance with a procedure, whereby it is made available to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that they can report on the support provided to Venezuela. We are fully prepared to dedicate all our resources to help.”

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This Sunday, April 12, the electoral process will take place in Peru to choose the new president, vice president, senators, representatives, and representatives to the Latin American Parliament, with 27,325,432 registered voters.

In the general elections for the next five years, according to Bloomberg Linea, Keiko Fujimori leads in voter intention with 15 %; followed by comedian Carlos Álvarez with 8 %; in third place is Rafael López Aliaga with 7 %; and finally, businessman and journalist Carlos Belmont with 6 %.

Through its website, the Jurado Nacional Electoral has published all the relevant regulations for these elections and the schedule, which shows April 12 for the first round and June 7 for the second round.

More information about this electoral process and what to expect for the next presidential term in the South American nation can be found on the official website of the Government of Peru: https://www.gob.pe/.

 

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Una publicación compartida por Parlamento Andino (@parlamentoandino)

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Last week, the Andean Community convened a virtual meeting between authorities from Ecuador and Colombia in Lima, Peru, to discuss security along their shared border. Both countries reaffirmed their commitment to combating transnational crime.

Colombia and Ecuador issued a joint statement, published on the official accounts of the Andean Community (CAN) and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which the respective Deputy Foreign Ministers of Colombia, Juana Castro, and Ecuador, Alejandro Dávalos, addressed the topics discussed: border security and control, trade, transportation, energy, and judicial cooperation.

According to the Secretary General of the Andean Community, Gonzalo Gutiérrez, “during the meeting, the delegations expressed the need to continue working with a high level of commitment from both countries to make firm and concrete progress on border security.”

Despite trade tensions between the two nations, the authorities also agreed to “strengthen strategies to combat illicit drug trafficking, illegal mining, migrant smuggling, contraband, and other forms of transnational organized crime.”

Colombia and Ecuador will also address issues such as trade, transportation, energy, hydrocarbons, and the necessary conditions for state presence and control along their shared border, in addition to strengthening judicial cooperation, in accordance with current international instruments.

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Credential theft is a threat that has been plaguing the world for over a decade. In Latin America, it is growing steadily in tandem with digitalization and the rise in online fraud. Last year alone, more than 2.6 million credentials were compromised in the region, according to a 2025 SOCRadar report.

This material is of educational interest to both advanced and frequent users, as well as basic and occasional users, and we should pay attention to it. It may be useful to archive and preserve it. Keep in mind that all countries and internet users have some degree of vulnerability and are therefore at risk. No one is immune to this risk; we must act preventively to reduce or mitigate it.

ESET, a leading company in proactive threat detection, warns that access to an email account allows attackers to access banking services, corporate platforms, financial information, and even medical records.

The ways cybercriminals obtain user passwords vary in difficulty and technical expertise. ESET categorizes them into three methodologies: those that exploit social engineering techniques, those that use malware, and those that result from an attack on the organization that should be protecting them.

What methodologies do hackers use?

1.Social Engineering Techniques:

This method falsely uses the names of public entities or well-known companies to lower suspicion and increase the effectiveness of attacks. The most common method is sending emails or messaging applications in which the attacker impersonates a legitimate entity to deceive the victim and persuade them to voluntarily hand over their login credentials.

These messages share a common characteristic: they appeal to urgency and simulate a notification of a problem requiring immediate action: account issues, a rejected payment, problems with a reservation, among countless other excuses. They often contain a malicious link to sites that mimic legitimate ones to steal victims’ sensitive data, such as passwords and usernames.

Another form phishing takes is through fake websites that rank highly in search engine results like Google with sponsored ads, because the attacker pays for visibility to impersonate real pages. In these scenarios, even cautious people can be tricked into clicking on a seemingly legitimate result that replicates the visual identity of banks, email platforms, cloud services, or reputable companies.

2.Distribution of specific malware:

Another common way to steal passwords is through the use of malware, which activates once the user’s device has been compromised. In these cases, ESET explains, there is no specific deception or alert message; instead, the theft occurs in the background, often without the victim noticing.

Infostealers, keyloggers, and spyware all share the common characteristic of continuously collecting sensitive information, including passwords stored in browsers, autofill data, application credentials, and active sessions. The impact of these types of malware is not limited to a single account, as the malicious program continues to collect credentials as long as the user uses the infected device, ESET points out.

Within this same ecosystem, banking Trojans emerge, specifically targeting login credentials for bank accounts and financial platforms. Through fake windows, they capture data the moment the user enters it. This type of threat, not new to the region, exceeded 650,000 unique detections in 2025, 110,000 of which belonged to a single family: Guildma.

3.Attacks on organizations:

Another significant source of credential theft is incidents where an organization’s databases are exposed due to a weakness or failure in its systems. In the most critical scenarios, leaks include complete credentials, either in plain text or with weak security mechanisms, allowing attackers to reuse them immediately. However, even when passwords are not directly exposed, leaked emails or usernames remain valuable to malicious actors. This information is then used as the basis for credential stuffing or brute-force attacks, exploiting the reuse of passwords across different services.

Once a database is compromised, the information can circulate for years in underground forums and be reused in different contexts and against multiple platforms. In this way, a single breach in one organization ends up amplifying the risk for other companies and for users themselves, even long after the original incident has been fixed.

“There are also brute-force threats. These consist of automatically trying multiple username and password combinations until successful access is achieved, without needing to deceive the user or compromise their device beforehand. They typically rely on lists of common passwords or credentials leaked in previous incidents, taking advantage of password reuse and the lack of additional authentication controls. When exposed services lack mechanisms to limit login attempts or adequate monitoring, this type of attack remains effective, especially against remote access, web applications, and corporate services published on the internet,” comments Martina López, Cybersecurity Researcher at ESET Latin America.

It is advisable to combine and add best practices with preventative measures

Credential theft by cybercriminals can occur through various vectors. The ESET research team maintains that prevention does not depend on taking a single measure, but rather on a combination of practices:

• Use unique and strong passwords for each service, since credential stuffing is common among cyberattackers using credentials that are sold commercially.
• Enable multifactor authentication whenever possible, as this mechanism complements and strengthens the passwords you use.
• Be wary of unexpected messages and avoid downloading files or clicking on suspicious links, as malware and phishing remain the most common ways credentials are stolen.
• Store passwords in password managers and avoid saving them in plain text or on shared devices.
• Keep systems and applications updated to patch any vulnerabilities.
• Review unusual access and activity on your accounts, either by keeping login alerts enabled or by checking the privacy or access settings of your applications.

In the event that a password has already been stolen, ESET emphasizes that reaction time makes the difference between an isolated incident and a major problem. Therefore, they recommend:

• Change the affected passwords and any others where the same credentials were used.
• Close active sessions on the affected account and revoke recent access in services and applications where possible.
• Check for unauthorized changes to accounts and monitor for future changes to messages, settings, payments, and other data.
• Use a security tool on potentially affected devices to remove any malicious code.

“While password theft is not a new problem, it continues to grow and adapt to new technologies, along with our increasingly complex digital lives. In this context, digital literacy and best practices become essential to protect our identity, information, and devices at both the individual and corporate levels. Staying informed is vital to staying ahead of the latest cybersecurity trends,” concludes López from ESET.

ESET invites you to learn more about cybersecurity by visiting: https://www.welivesecurity.com/es/.

For other useful preventative information, also available in Venezuela at:  https://www.eset.com/ve/, and on their social media channels @eset_ve. Also on Instagram (@esetla) and Facebook (ESET).

Information and images provided by ESET and Comstat Rowland

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During 2025, remittances from Venezuela to countries such as Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador have increased, particularly in USDT, according to a recent statement by Richard Ujueta, president of the Venezuelan Chamber of Electronic Commerce (Cavecom-e).

The executive indicated that, according to official figures, there has been an increase in cryptocurrency remittances sent to these countries. He also highlighted that “90 % of remittances entering Venezuela are in USDT.”

Ujueta specified that, with respect to the Binance exchange, there are “more than 5,000,000 users; 20% of the population is currently using cryptocurrencies.”

The executive maintained that cryptocurrencies are an alternative for citizens in the country, highlighting the increase in the adoption of digital assets, adding that “e-commerce has been an important lifeline for the Venezuelan economy.”

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Peruvian Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela announced the severing of diplomatic relations with Mexico on Monday, October 3, during a press conference in Lima.

The official indicated that the measure is a response to the political asylum granted to former Prime Minister Betssy Chávez, allegedly involved in the failed coup attempt by former President Pedro Castillo in December 2022.

 

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Peru’s official statement reads: “The unacceptable position taken by Mexico since December 2022 has remained unchanged, despite the Peruvian government’s repeated demands for respect for its sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention in its internal affairs.”

They consider this an “unfriendly” act, in addition to various forms of “unacceptable interference by the Mexican government in Peru.”

M.Pino

With information from www.gob.pe, news agencies, and social media

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