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12 Best Ransomware Protection Solutions Compared (2026): Features & Pricing

GBHackers compares 12 ransomware protection solutions for 2026, recommending layered stacks of EDR prevention, managed detection, containment, and guaranteed recovery.

The editorial comparison argues no single product stops ransomware, recommending a layered strategy across prevention, early detection, blast-radius containment, and clean recovery. CrowdStrike and SentinelOne are named best-in-class EDR, Huntress and Sophos MDR for managed 24/7 coverage, ColorTokens for microsegmentation containment, and Rubrik and Acronis for guaranteed recovery. The guide notes ransomware is now professionalized with double extortion and encryption sprints measured in minutes.

GBHackersupdated · 1d agofirst · 6d agoIndustry 8 sources1

Ransomware incidents in Japan in the first half of 2026: Investigation of The Gentlemen’s infrastructure and evidence of Qilin's AI use

Cisco Talos reports 90 ransomware incidents hit Japanese organizations in H1 2026, led by The Gentlemen, with Qilin using AI for efficiency.

Cisco Talos observed 90 ransomware incidents against Japanese organizations from January to July 2026, up about 4.7% year over year, with manufacturing accounting for 34% of victims. The Gentlemen was the most active group with 14 incidents; its leak-site listings grew from 48 in January to 105 in July. Qilin and SafePay followed with seven incidents each, and Talos notes Qilin is leveraging AI to improve operational efficiency.

Cisco Talosupdated · 58m agofirst · 3h agoRansomware in the wild 2 sources

The true cost of a ransomware attack, with and without BCDR

Ransomware's true cost averages $5.08 million per incident versus a $139,875 median ransom, and mature BCDR strategies with immutable backups cut downtime and recovery expenses.

IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 puts the average ransomware incident at $5.08 million, far above the $139,875 median ransom payment cited in Verizon's 2026 DBIR. Datto's State of BCDR Report 2025 found 60% of organizations believed they could recover within a day, but only 35% actually did. The Datto-sponsored piece argues mature BCDR with immutable WORM backups shortens downtime, citing a Techify case that restored 19 TB and returned a client to operations in under two hours without paying a ransom. It also flags compliance deadlines such as GDPR's 72-hour breach notification and the SEC's four-business-day disclosure rule.

BleepingComputer · 23h agoIndustry

Druva expands identity resilience with ransomware detectionnew

Druva launched Ransomware Detection and expanded Identity Resilience, using AI analysis of backup data to confirm ransomware impact and guide recovery.

Druva announced new Identity Resilience capabilities and launched Ransomware Detection, powered by a proprietary AI threat pipeline and Dru MetaGraph. The ransomware feature analyzes backup snapshots for patterns like ransom notes and mass file renaming, then validates findings with entropy, MIME type, and file integrity forensics. Dru MetaGraph maps identity activity across Microsoft Entra ID, Active Directory, and Okta, reconstructs attack paths with MITRE ATT&CK mapping, and generates pre-validated recovery plans tied to clean snapshots.

Help Net Security · 58m agoTools

Conti Ransomware Hacker Sentenced After Group Attacked Over 1,000 Victims Worldwide

Ukrainian national Oleksii Lytvynenko sentenced to four years in US prison for his role in Conti ransomware attacks on 1,000+ victims.

Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko, 44, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for working as a developer and intruder in the Conti ransomware operation, coding a malware loader and handling data stolen from 12 victims. Conti compromised over 1,000 victims across 47 US states and 31 foreign countries between 2020 and 2022, generating more than $150 million in ransoms. He was arrested in County Cork, Ireland in July 2023 and extradited to the US. The sentencing is part of a wider US investigation into the Conti and TrickBot ecosystem.

Cyber Security Newsupdated · 5d agofirst · 6d agoPolicy & legal 7 sources

Ransomware Attacks on Manufacturers Surge as Supply Chain Risk Growsnew

Black Kite reports manufacturing ransomware incidents up 40% in 2026, with new gang The Gentlemen responsible for 12% of attacks.

Black Kite's 2026 Manufacturing & Distribution Ransomware Report counted 1,183 disclosed incidents in the first seven months of 2026, a 40% year-over-year increase, led by Qilin, The Gentlemen, Akira, DragonForce, and INC Ransom. The Gentlemen, first observed in September 2025, claimed 142 manufacturing victims and was behind 12% of this year's attacks. European targeting grew 85%, with Germany (77), Italy (57), UK (43), and France (40) as top victims. The report cites the Jaguar Land Rover attack, estimated by the UK Cyber Monitoring Centre at £1.9 billion in impact with 4,000 announced job cuts, as the most economically damaging cyberattack in UK history.

SecurityWeek · 58m agoRansomware in the wild 2 sources

Conti Hacker Who Built Malware and Attacked Victims Gets Four-Year Sentence

Ukrainian lawyer and Conti malware developer Oleksii Lytvynenko was sentenced to four years in U.S. prison for wire fraud conspiracy tied to Conti ransomware.

Lytvynenko, 44, admitted coding a loader for Conti and holding stolen data from eight U.S. and four overseas victims; prosecutors linked his actions to attacks on at least 12 companies. Conti infected more than 1,000 organizations across 47 U.S. states and 31 countries between 2020 and 2022, with victim payouts exceeding $150 million. Arrested in County Cork in July 2023 with Cobalt Strike running and an active Rocket.Chat session over Tor, forensic evidence showed his ransomware activity continued after Conti's 2022 collapse.

Security Affairs · 4d agoPolicy & legal

Three Threat Groups Target Russian Enterprises With Backdoors, Ransomware, and Wipers

Kaspersky details NightEagle, Hacking Cat, and Toy Ghouls targeting Russian enterprises with Exchange backdoors, Gorilla RAT, and destructive Monkey ransomware.

Kaspersky reports three threat clusters targeting Russian enterprises: NightEagle (APT-Q-95), the pro-Ukrainian hacktivist group Hacking Cat, and Toy Ghouls. NightEagle uses compromised VPN credentials and the GhostContainer modular backdoor to fully compromise Microsoft Exchange servers, chaining CVE-2020-0688 exploitation, BlueKeep (CVE-2019-0708), Active Directory vulnerabilities, and DCSync to seize domain controllers. Hacking Cat exploits Exchange flaws including CVE-2021-26855 and CVE-2026-42897 to deliver the Gorilla RAT and multiple Monkey ransomware variants written in Rust, .NET, C++, and Golang targeting Windows, Linux, and VMware ESXi, with some variants acting as wipers that never store the encryption key.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 5h agofirst · 22h agoThreat actor in the wild 5 sourcesCVE-2020-0688CVE-2019-0708CVE-2021-26855+1 CVEs2

CISA: Critical VMware RCE flaw now exploited by ransomware gangs

CISA warns ransomware gangs now exploit critical VMware vCenter syslog RCE CVE-2026-59310, already KEV-listed after APT compromises across 47 countries.

Broadcom patched critical directory traversal flaw CVE-2026-59310 in the vCenter Syslog server on July 29, warning of unauthenticated remote code execution. QUIRSO subsequently found 361 compromised IPs across 47 countries after a suspected APT deployed a reverse SSH tool for persistence and remote access. CISA added the flaw to its KEV catalog with a three-day patch deadline for federal agencies, and over the weekend updated it to flag active abuse by ransomware gangs. Shadowserver tracks over 450 exposed vCenter servers, and CISA has tagged 26 VMware vulnerabilities as exploited in the wild over five years, nine abused by ransomware.

BleepingComputer · 2d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-59310CVE-2025-60710CVE-2025-22225+2 CVEs1

Attackers Exploit Critical Cisco FMC Flaw to deploy Qilin ransomware

Three threat groups, including Qilin ransomware operators, exploit critical Cisco FMC flaws CVE-2026-20079 and CVE-2026-20316 for root access, credential theft, and ransomware.

Cisco Talos identified three post-compromise clusters exploiting recently patched Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center flaws. UAT-12197 deploys JSP web shells and harvests credentials; UAT-11823 (with Sandworm-overlapping tooling) installs Cyclops Blink for persistence; UAT-11988 (Qilin) uses static credentials, extensive reconnaissance, SOCKS5 proxies, reverse-SSH tunnels, AV killers, and ransomware deployment. CISA added CVE-2026-20079 to the KEV catalog with a September 12, 2026 patch deadline for federal agencies; Cisco urges immediate hotfix application.

Security Affairsupdated · 3d agofirst · 6d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 6 sourcesCVE-2026-20079CVE-2026-203165· 2 reads

Mantax OTAX Android Ransomware Spies on Users, Steals OTPs and Encrypts Files

New Android malware family Mantax OTAX combines ransomware, spyware, and OTP theft via sideloaded APKs, linked to Indonesian threat actors.

Researchers at zLabs and Zimperium analyzed Mantax OTAX, an aggressive Android malware strain distributed as sideloaded APKs through phishing and messaging lures on third-party file-sharing services. The malware requests device-administrator and Accessibility permissions to steal lock-screen PINs, intercept SMS one-time passwords, harvest contacts and history, capture screens via MediaProjection, and silently photograph victims, while encrypting files with AES and writing .enc files on Android 9 and older. Its C2 uses HTTPS at apimantax[.]otax[.]fun with the active domain fetched dynamically from a GitHub repository, and a newer version adds WebSocket communication, app blocking, video overlays, and text-to-speech harassment. A Firebase misconfiguration exposed extortion conversations and victim data, and Android 10+ Scoped Storage limits the encryption reach but not the surveillance capabilities.

GBHackersupdated · 6d agofirst · 6d agoMalware in the wild 8 sources1

Conti ransomware gang member sentenced to 4 years in prison

US court sentences Ukrainian Conti ransomware member Oleksii Lytvynenko to four years; the gang extorted over $150M from 1,000+ victims.

Ukrainian national Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko, 44, was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in Conti ransomware attacks between 2021 and 2022, after being arrested by Irish police in July 2023 and extradited to the US. He pleaded guilty in June 2026 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, admitting he controlled stolen data from 12 victims and helped develop a loader used in the gang's double extortion attacks. Per the DOJ, Conti attacked more than 1,000 victims across 47 US states and 31 foreign countries, with victim payouts exceeding $150 million as of January 2022. Conti shut down in 2022 and later split into groups including BlackCat, Black Basta, Hive and Quantum.

BleepingComputerupdated · 5d agofirst · 6d agoPolicy & legal 7 sources1

Cisco FMC flaws exploited by ransomware gang, state-sponsored hackers

Cisco Talos confirms ransomware and state-sponsored groups exploited CVE-2026-20079 and CVE-2026-20316 in Secure Firewall Management Center, deploying Qilin ransomware and Cyclops Blink.

Cisco Talos identified three threat clusters (UAT-12197, UAT-11823, UAT-11988) exploiting CVE-2026-20079, a CVSS 10.0 authentication bypass, and CVE-2026-20316, a CVSS 5.3 static-credential flaw, in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center. Qilin affiliates used static credentials for reconnaissance and deployed Qilin ransomware; a Sandworm-linked cluster deployed a Cyclops Blink backdoor via a malicious license.tmp file; a third cluster stole credentials through a JSP web shell. Cisco has released hotfixes and urges immediate installation, with broader patches expected next week.

BleepingComputerupdated · 3d agofirst · 6d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 6 sourcesCVE-2026-20079CVE-2026-203161

Swiss court sentences 52-year-old Ukrainian ransomware dev to nearly 13 years in the cooler

Zurich court sentences Ukrainian ransomware developer to 12 years, 9 months for LockerGoga, MegaCortex and Nefilim attacks including Stadler Rail.

Zurich District Court sentenced a 52-year-old Ukrainian to 12 years and 9 months for developing LockerGoga, MegaCortex, and Nefilim ransomware, plus a 10-year ban from Switzerland; the verdict can be appealed. The operations hit over 1,800 victims across 71 countries with losses of several hundred million Swiss francs, including Stadler Rail (2020, $6 million Nefilim demand), Meier Tobler, and Crealogix. Alleged mastermind Volodymyr Tymoshchuk, indicted in the US and tied to at least 250 companies including Norsk Hydro, remains at large with an $11 million FBI bounty.

The Register · Security · 1d agoPolicy & legal

Hackers Turn Windows Shadow Copies Into a Tool for Credential Theft and Ransomware

Attackers abuse Windows VSS shadow copies to delete recovery points before ransomware and to extract NTDS.dit/SAM credentials, demanding context-aware detection.

Threat actors are weaponizing the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) for two purposes: destroying local recovery points via vssadmin.exe, wmic.exe, diskshadow.exe, wbadmin.exe, and bcdedit.exe before encryption, and accessing static copies of locked files such as NTDS.dit and SAM for credential theft. Ransomware families tied to shadow-copy removal include Akira, Black Basta, BlackCat, Conti, LockBit, Qilin, RansomHub, REvil, Ryuk, and WannaCry. Huntress's analysis of the Nightmare-Eclipse tool showed the BlueHammer technique chaining a Windows Defender timing issue with a VSS snapshot to dump the SAM database and decrypt NT hashes. Defenders should correlate VSS operations with parent process, hive access, and subsequent encryption activity, and maintain immutable off-host backups.

GBHackers · 2d agoResearch in the wild1

Ukrainian Conti Ransomware Developer Sentenced to 4 Years in US Prison

A US court sentenced Ukrainian Oleksii Lytvynenko to four years in prison for developing malware loaders and handling stolen data for the Conti ransomware operation.

Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko, 44, was arrested in Ireland in 2023, extradited to the US in late 2025, and pleaded guilty to wire fraud in June 2026. He admitted joining the Conti gang in September 2021 and helping develop a malware loader, and investigators found victim data in his possession suggesting participation in actual attacks. The Conti operation is estimated to have received at least $150 million in ransoms from victims in more than 30 countries. The sentencing follows recent terms for Karakurt negotiator Deniss Zolotarjovs (8.5 years) and the Ransom Cartel administrator (16 years).

SecurityWeekupdated · 5d agofirst · 6d agoPolicy & legal 7 sources1

Harley-Davidson Alleged Breach – CL0P Ransomware Adds Motorcycle Maker to the List

CL0P ransomware group listed Harley-Davidson on its extortion leak site, claiming a compromise; the motorcycle maker has not confirmed any breach.

The CL0P ransomware operation added Harley-Davidson to its public extortion portal, a listing highlighted by the ransomNews monitoring account on September 10, 2026. Harley-Davidson has not confirmed any compromise, and the initial access method, affected business unit, timing, and volume of stolen data remain unknown, with no sample files or technical indicators published. The article stresses that leak-site listings alone do not confirm a breach and can serve as negotiation pressure in double-extortion schemes. If verified, stolen data could fuel downstream phishing, BEC, credential-stuffing, and invoice fraud targeting dealers, suppliers, and customers.

Cyber Security News · 6d agoRansomware

Conti ransomware crew member sentenced to four years in prison

Ukrainian national Oleksii Lytvynenko sentenced to four years in the US for his role in Conti ransomware attacks on at least 12 companies.

Oleksii Lytvynenko, 44, who pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison by the US Justice Department. He joined the Conti ransomware group in September 2021 as an intruder and malware developer, holding stolen data from 12 victims including eight US-based organizations, and prosecutors said co-conspirators extorted roughly $634,000 in Bitcoin from Tennessee victims including government entities. Conti attacked more than 1,000 organizations before disbanding in 2022, with members rebranding into Zeon, Black Basta, and Quantum/Royal/BlackSuit.

CyberScoopupdated · 5d agofirst · 6d agoPolicy & legal 7 sources1

Most Firms Unable to Recover Quickly from Ransomware

Fenix24's first State of Recoverability report finds only 0.5% of 800+ ransomware clients neared 24-48 hour recovery targets, with identity failures central.

Drawing on 500+ ransomware recoveries, Fenix24 found only four of 800+ clients (0.5%) came close to their own 24-48 hour recovery targets, and none reached full operations for weeks. 99.2% lacked a documented identity recovery plan, Active Directory typically fell first, and 94% tied backup systems to the compromised directory. In 38% of engagements backups survived but could not carry recovery; storage ran short in 82% of cases and 95% lacked meaningful MFA on critical infrastructure consoles.

Infosecurity Magazine · 1d agoResearch

New Android Ransomware Records Screens, Steals OTPs and Secretly Takes Photos of Victims

Zimperium uncovered Mantax Otax, an Android ransomware that encrypts files, records screens, steals OTPs, and secretly photographs victims.

Zimperium reported a new Android threat, Mantax Otax, that combines ransomware with surveillance: it encrypts files with AES and adds a .enc extension on Android 9 and older, while abusing MediaProjection for screenshots and MP4 screen recording and using hidden camera previews to photograph victims. The malware intercepts SMS one-time passwords, WhatsApp and Telegram data, and lock-screen PINs through Accessibility abuse and a fake system-lock overlay, and can negotiate ransoms via an on-screen chat. Malicious APKs are hosted on third-party file-sharing services, and researchers linked the activity to Indonesian threat actors, with C2 dynamically retrieved from a GitHub repository (apimantax[.]otax[.]fun). A second variant adds WebSocket communications, app blocking, full-screen overlays, and remote text-to-speech messages.

Cyber Security News · 6d agoRansomware 8 sources

Ukrainian hacker gets four years in US prison over Conti ransomware attacks

Oleksii Lytvynenko was sentenced to four years in the US for his role in Conti ransomware attacks against 1,000+ victims.

Ukrainian national Oleksii Lytvynenko, 44, was sentenced to four years in a US prison for his role in the Conti ransomware operation, having pleaded guilty in June. He worked as a hacker and developer for Conti, personally targeting at least a dozen companies and building a malware loader, and stolen data from eight US victims and four others overseas was found in his accounts. Between 2020 and 2022, Conti attacked organizations across 47 US states and 31 countries, with the FBI estimating victims paid more than $150 million in ransoms by January 2022. Lytvynenko was arrested in Cork, Ireland in July 2023 and extradited after several years in Irish custody; four other alleged Conti members were charged in a separate September 2023 indictment.

The Recordupdated · 5d agofirst · 6d agoPolicy & legal 7 sources1

Hackers Deploy New SloppyRAT via ClickFix to Enable Ransomware Lateral Movement

Zscaler discovered SloppyRAT, a ClickFix-delivered RAT that gives ransomware operators reconnaissance, remote execution, and SOCKS proxy pivoting for lateral movement.

Zscaler identified SloppyRAT in June 2026, linked to a ransomware-related threat actor. The infection chain starts with a ClickFix lure abusing finger.exe over TCP port 79, then uses curl.exe, IronPython, CastleLoader, and CastleRAT before reflectively loading SloppyRAT as a DLL in memory. The RAT supports HTTPS command-and-control, system inventory, file operations, Defender tampering, and a reverse SOCKS proxy, with evasion features including runtime code encryption, indirect syscalls, certificate pinning, and a possible EtherHiding blockchain fallback. Its persistence code is buggy and the malware appears under development, but the pre-encryption foothold gives defenders a window to stop intrusions.

Cyber Security News · 6d agoMalware in the wild 3 sources

Cisco FMC Flaws Exploited to Steal Credentials and Deploy Qilin Ransomware

Three threat clusters including a Sandworm-linked group and Qilin ransomware operators exploit Cisco FMC flaws CVE-2026-20079 and CVE-2026-20316.

Cisco Talos identified three clusters of post-compromise activity exploiting CVE-2026-20079 (CVSS 10.0, unauthenticated web-interface authentication bypass enabling root code execution) and CVE-2026-20316 (CVSS 5.3, low-privilege login exposing sensitive data) in Secure Firewall Management Center. UAT-12197 deployed JSP web shells and a JAR-based command executor to query internal databases for credentials; UAT-11823 used a Netcat reverse shell, configuration-harvesting scripts and a Cyclops Blink variant previously attributed to Russia's Sandworm; UAT-11988 used living-off-the-land FMC tooling for reconnaissance before deploying Qilin ransomware. CISA added CVE-2026-20079 to its KEV catalog, requiring FCEB agencies to patch by September 12, 2026; CVE-2026-20316 was added in late July 2026.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 3d agofirst · 6d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 6 sourcesCVE-2026-20079CVE-2026-20316

Hackers Deploy New SloppyRAT via ClickFix to Enable Ransomware Lateral Movement

Zscaler ThreatLabz reports SloppyRAT, a new Windows RAT delivered via ClickFix lures that supports reconnaissance, reverse SOCKS proxying, and lateral movement for ransomware affiliates.

Zscaler ThreatLabz first observed SloppyRAT in June 2026, delivered through multi-stage ClickFix chains that abuse finger.exe, a renamed curl.exe, and IronPython to load a reflective Python payload. The C++ implant implements 47 PowerShell-like commands via native APIs and direct syscalls, modifies Microsoft Defender settings, and establishes a reverse SOCKS proxy that lets operators pivot into internal networks. It is linked to CastleLoader and CastleRAT components and uses certificate-pinned HTTPS C2 with an EtherHiding fallback via Polygon JSON-RPC. Zscaler assesses it as an intrusion-enablement tool for ransomware operations, though flawed persistence logic suggests the family is still under development.

GBHackersupdated · 6d agofirst · 6d agoMalware in the wild 3 sources

Hackers Exploit Critical Cisco Firewall Flaw to Gain Root Access and Deploy Malware

State-sponsored and ransomware actors actively exploit critical Cisco FMC flaws CVE-2026-20079 (CVSS 10.0) and CVE-2026-20316 to gain root access and deploy ransomware.

Cisco Talos confirmed in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2026-20079 (CVSS 10.0, unauthenticated authentication bypass enabling root command execution) and CVE-2026-20316 (CVSS 5.3, hard-coded static credentials) in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center. Three activity clusters were identified: UAT-12197 dropping a JSP web shell and credential harvester; UAT-11823, assessed as Sandworm, deploying a Cyclops Blink variant; and UAT-11988, a Qilin ransomware affiliate chaining the flaws before deploying ransomware. CISA added both CVEs to the KEV catalog with a September 12 remediation deadline for federal agencies.

Cyber Security Newsupdated · 3d agofirst · 6d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 6 sourcesCVE-2026-20079CVE-2026-20316

Agentic Ransomware: From Human-Operated to AI-Operated Attacks

SOCRadar analyzes the shift from human-operated ransomware to agentic AI-driven attacks and what this transition means for defenders.

The article traces ransomware's evolution from operations requiring human involvement, such as affiliates navigating networks by hand, toward AI-agent-operated attacks. It argues agentic ransomware could automate stages historically dependent on human operators. The piece discusses implications for detection and defensive planning.

SOCRadar · 2d agoResearch

Canada: Nipigon hospital hit by ransomware attack

Nipigon District Memorial Hospital in Ontario, Canada confirmed a ransomware attack disrupted its IT systems, possibly affecting some patient services.

Nipigon District Memorial Hospital in Nipigon, Ontario announced that a ransomware attack affected its information technology systems. The hospital described the event as a 'cyber security incident' and warned that some patient services may be impacted while it responds. Nipigon Mayor Suzanne Kukko commented on the incident to local media. No threat actor was named and no data exposure or leak was confirmed at the time of disclosure.

DataBreaches.net · 14h agoRansomware in the wild

Ukrainian National Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Wire Fraud Conspiracy in Connection with Conti Ransomware

Ukrainian national Oleksii Lytvynenko sentenced to four years for wire fraud conspiracy deploying Conti ransomware that infected over 1,000 computers.

Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko, 44, a Ukrainian national, was sentenced to four years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to deploying the Conti ransomware variant. The US Department of Justice said the conspiracy infected the computers of more than 1,000 victims. The sentencing is an update to a previously reported case.

DataBreaches.net · 5d agoPolicy & legal 7 sources

Building a ransomware decision tree before the call comes in

Arctic Wolf's IR VP urges pre-deciding ransomware response choices on containment, negotiation authority, law enforcement engagement, and crisis communications.

A Help Net Security video features Kerri Shafer-Page, VP of Incident Response at Arctic Wolf, walking through a ransomware decision tree. She recommends settling four decision areas in advance: containment, extortion negotiation limits, law enforcement involvement, and communications. She frames paying as a business decision that can cost less than insurance retention and renewal hikes, and notes agencies may know the threat actor and help avoid sanctions issues.

Help Net Security · 6d agoIndustry

Hackers Use Fake GTA 6 Downloads to Deploy RATs, Infostealers and Data-Wiping Malware

Huntress tracked fake GTA 6 downloads distributing NJRAT, DCRAT, Mercurial Grabber, and Chaos ransomware used as a wiper against gamers.

Cybercriminals are pushing fake Grand Theft Auto VI downloads through poisoned search results, gaming forums, torrent sites, and social media, targeting players seeking a leaked build before release. Huntress analyzed a sample bundling NJRAT, DCRAT, Mercurial Grabber, and Chaos ransomware in one package; fake ISO files exceed 100GB largely with junk data, and Russian-language prompts suggest the operators target Russian-speaking gamers. Chaos ransomware acts as a wiper, overwriting files larger than 200MB with random data, deleting shadow copies for admin users, and disabling recovery options rather than offering genuine ransom payment paths.

Cyber Security News · 6d agoMalware in the wild

Payroll system of mosques, madrasahs hit by ransomware; staff details potentially compromised

Ransomware hit Avelogic's SmartHRMS payroll system serving Singapore mosques and madrasahs under MUIS, potentially exposing staff details.

The SmartHRMS human resources and payroll system used by mosques and madrasahs overseen by Singapore's Islamic Religious Council (MUIS) was hacked and held for ransom. The system is supplied by Singapore-based software vendor Avelogic, which posted a cybersecurity incident notice on its website. Staff details are potentially compromised, according to The Straits Times.

DataBreaches.net · 1d agoRansomware in the wild

Ransomware group claims attack on Missouri’s Cedar County Memorial Hospital after IT outage

Ransomware group claims attack on Cedar County Memorial Hospital in Missouri, forcing IT shutdown that disrupted EHRs and diverted emergency patients.

Cedar County Memorial Hospital in El Dorado Springs, Missouri shut down its IT networks on August 14 after a disruption left its electronic health record system, patient portal, and internet access unavailable. A ransomware group subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack. Diagnostic imaging was also disrupted, preventing transmission of images to radiologists, and the emergency department partially diverted trauma and critical patients.

DataBreaches.net · 2d agoRansomware

How Attackers Abuse VSS, and How Huntress Detects It

Huntress details how attackers abuse Windows Volume Shadow Copies for ransomware recovery sabotage and NTDS.dit credential theft, plus detection logic.

Huntress explains that attackers abuse VSS in three ways: deleting shadow copies to inhibit recovery before ransomware detonation, creating shadow copies to extract the NTDS.dit Active Directory database for offline credential theft, and manipulating shadow copy configuration. Because backup agents and RMM tools routinely create and delete shadow copies, raw events are too noisy to alert on alone. Huntress detections instead correlate VSS activity with lateral movement and credential harvesting over a time window, such as an observed sequence of PsExec spawning SYSTEM shells on a domain controller, vssadmin create shadow, a blocked deletion attempt, and DNS reconnaissance against another host.

Huntress · 3d agoResearch

SloppyRAT: A New Tool For Ransomware Attacks

Zscaler details SloppyRAT, a new DLL backdoor delivered via ClickFix lures that stages CastleLoader and CastleRAT ahead of ransomware attacks.

Zscaler ThreatLabz analyzed SloppyRAT, a DLL-based backdoor distributed via ClickFix lures that abuses finger.exe over TCP port 79 to download a batch script. The malware copies curl.exe to download IronPython 3.4.2 from GitHub and executes zlib-compressed Base64-encoded Python to deploy CastleLoader and CastleRAT, then reflectively loads SloppyRAT in memory. It hinders analysis using XOR stack-string obfuscation, a modified affine cipher with modulus 127, and 13 runtime-decrypted code blocks, while communicating with C2 over a reverse SOCKS channel.

Zscaler ThreatLabzupdated · 6d agofirst · 6d agoMalware in the wild 3 sources

Credential Theft: How Attackers Steal & Use Stolen Credentials

Huntress explains how attackers steal credentials through phishing, AitM, infostealers, and dumping, then use them for lateral movement, BEC, and ransomware.

Huntress published an educational overview of credential theft, citing that roughly 70% of confirmed data breaches begin with stolen credentials. It details acquisition methods including phishing, adversary-in-the-middle attacks that capture MFA session tokens, infostealers (nearly a quarter of threats Huntress observed in 2025), Mimikatz-based credential dumping, credential stuffing, and password spraying. The piece then covers post-theft actions such as lateral movement, privilege escalation, account takeover, business email compromise, and ransomware, and closes with behavioral detection guidance and layered prevention strategies.

Huntress · 6d agoResearch

Security Affairs newsletter Round 594 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

Weekly Security Affairs newsletter aggregates top stories including Cisco FMC exploitation, Qilin ransomware, Chrome zero-days, and Berlin leak.

Pierluigi Paganini's Security Affairs newsletter Round 594 (International Edition) rounds up the week's security headlines. Topics include attackers exploiting a critical Cisco FMC flaw to deploy Qilin ransomware, SonicWall mass exploitation linked to a UK council attack, multiple CISA KEV additions, Chrome zero-days used by four nation-state actors, a $320 million Liquid Network theft, and a Berlin ransomware data leak. It also covers AI security items such as agent sandbox failures and distillation campaigns by Chinese AI firms.

Security Affairs · 3d agoIndustry in the wildCVE-2026-42016CVE-2026-42018CVE-2026-82329+1 CVEs1

Week in review: Linux rootkit deployed on F5 BIG-IP APM devices, Cisco FMC bugs exploited

Weekly roundup: Cisco FMC and N-able N-central zero-days exploited in the wild, MikroTik RouterOS hijacks, Microsoft Patch Tuesday ships two exploited zero-days.

State-sponsored and financially-motivated attackers are actively exploiting CVE-2026-20079, a critical authentication bypass in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC), alongside CVE-2026-20316. N-able issued an emergency hotfix for CVE-2026-86218, a critical pre-auth RCE in the N-central RMM platform exploited in the wild. CERT Polska disclosed six RouterOS vulnerabilities being chained to hijack internet-exposed MikroTik devices. Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday shipped a record patch count including two zero-days, while roughly 67,000 Trezor customers faced phishing after a shipping-partner breach and researchers privately disclosed a zero-click WeChat worm to Tencent.

Help Net Security · 4d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-20079CVE-2026-20316CVE-2026-862182· 1 read

12 Best Server Security Solutions Compared (2026): Features & Pricing

GBHackers ranks 12 server security solutions for 2026, naming CrowdStrike and SentinelOne as server EDR leaders and Trend Micro Deep Security top for virtual patching.

The guide scores 12 server security platforms across five weighted criteria, with detection and response depth and Linux parity weighted 25% each. CrowdStrike and SentinelOne lead server EDR, Trend Micro Deep Security is highlighted for virtual patching of unpatchable estates, and Microsoft Defender for Servers is noted for Azure and hybrid economics. It is an editorial assessment comparing features and pricing models rather than a lab test.

GBHackersupdated · 1d agofirst · 6d agoIndustry 8 sources2

New Android malware encrypts files, steals data, and harasses victims

Zimperium details Mantax Otax, an Android malware combining ransomware, spyware, and harassment, spread via phishing APKs to Indonesian users.

Zimperium researchers report Mantax Otax is distributed through malicious APKs hosted outside Google Play via phishing and social engineering, then abuses Accessibility permissions for broad device control. It encrypts files with a C2-provided AES key on Android 9 and older, adds '.enc' extensions, and hosts ransom chats on Firebase; researchers exposed attacker chats via a Firebase misconfiguration. The malware steals lock-screen PINs, SMS one-time codes, contacts, WhatsApp and Telegram chats, and captures screens via MediaProjection, while version 2 adds jumpscare overlays and text-to-speech harassment. Google Play Protect already detects and blocks it on up-to-date devices via the App Defense Alliance.

BleepingComputerupdated · 6d agofirst · 6d agoMalware in the wild 8 sources

Hackers Abuse VSSAdmin to Extract NTDS.dit and Delete Windows Recovery Copies

Huntress details intruders using PsExec and VSSAdmin on domain controllers to steal NTDS.dit credentials and delete shadow copies before ransomware.

Huntress analysts identified attackers launching SYSTEM-level command shells via PsExec on a domain controller, then running 'vssadmin create shadow' to snapshot and copy the NTDS.dit Active Directory database. Shadow copies were later deleted to destroy local recovery options ahead of a likely ransomware stage. Huntress recommends correlating VSS creation/deletion events with remote execution, DNS enumeration, and lateral movement rather than alerting on any single VSS event.

Cyber Security News · 2d agoThreat actor in the wild