McAfee reports it has discovered a new global campaign, dubbed “Operation Sharpshooter,” that is targeting nuclear, defense, energy, and financial companies (predominantly in the U.S.). The campaign masquerades as a legitimate industry job recruitment activity to gather information. McAfee observes that its discovery of this new, high-function implant is another example of how targeted attacks move in several steps, beginning with attempts to gain intelligence. The initial attack vector is a document that contains a weaponized macro to download the next stage, which runs in memory and gathers information. The victim’s data is sent to a control server for monitoring by the actors, who then determine the next steps. McAfee notes that at this point it has only observed what appears to be a first-stage reconnaissance operation, adding that there may be more to come.