Muddling Meerkat Linked to Domain Spoofing in Global Spam Scams

Infoblox cybersecurity researchers investigating the mysterious activities of ‘Muddling Meerkat’ unexpectedly uncovered widespread use of domain spoofing in malicious spam campaigns.

SUMMARY

• Infoblox discovered widespread domain spoofing in spam campaigns while investigating ‘Muddling Meerkat.’

• Collaboration with the cybersecurity community linked Muddling Meerkat’s DNS activities to spam distribution.

• Researchers identified multiple spam campaigns through abuse reports and domain analysis.

• Techniques included phishing with QR codes, impersonating brands, extortion, and mysterious financial spam.

• The findings show domain spoofing remains highly effective, bypassing current security measures.

In its latest report, cybersecurity firm Infoblox has revealed how scammers use domain spoofing in spam campaigns, a discovery made through a collaboration between the cybersecurity and networking community on research about the Chinese Great Firewall.

This research project was initially aimed at understanding the activities of a threat actor known as a Muddling Meerkat. Muddling Meerkat is known for conducting strange DNS operations involving fake ...