WIRTE Leverages AshenLoader Sideloading to Install the AshTag Espionage Backdoor

An advanced persistent threat (APT) known as WIRTE has been attributed to attacks targeting government and diplomatic entities across the Middle East with a previously undocumented malware suite dubbed AshTag since 2020. Palo Alto Networks is tracking the activity cluster under the name Ashen Lepus. Artifacts uploaded to the VirusTotal platform show that the threat actor has trained its sights