Search: “Virtual Agent”

8 stories in the last 24h

Quantum-Harbor lab and QIQCBench (49 tasks) expose wide performance gaps across 17 frontier agentic systems in verified quantum engineering.

Researchers built Quantum-Harbor, a virtual laboratory providing a controlled execution environment where scientific AI agents interacting with quantum systems can have both actions and conclusions directly verified. QIQCBench contributes 49 expert-authored tasks spanning calibration and control, error correction and compilation, and sensing and networking. Across 17 frontier agentic systems, verified performance varied widely, exposing a substantial gap between demonstrated capability and reliable autonomous operation.

arXiv cs.AI / cs.LG / cs.CLSep 15, 16:46 UTC · 21h agoAI research1

Top 10 Best AWS Security Tools in 2026

Editorial roundup ranking the ten best AWS security tools of 2026, from native GuardDuty and Security Hub to CNAPPs like Wiz and Prisma Cloud.

The article recommends enabling AWS-native services first: GuardDuty for threat detection, Security Hub for posture aggregation, the free IAM Access Analyzer, plus CloudTrail logging and Config rules. It then reviews third-party platforms including Wiz, Palo Alto Prisma Cloud, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Trend Micro Cloud One, and Orca Security. It is an editorial vendor assessment with pricing described by model only, highlighting cross-account correlation and attack-path prioritization as third-party differentiators.

Cyber Security News09:57 UTC · 4h agoTools

$1 Million Sandbox Challenge Uncovers Linux Kernel Flaws

Vercel's $1M sandbox challenge surfaced two Linux kernel networking defects—one leaking host kernel memory, one crashing hosts—with CVEs pending.

Vercel ran a two-week, $1 million sandbox escape challenge (Aug 18–Sep 1) on its Firecracker-based microVM sandbox, receiving 1,285 reports and committing ~$325k in payouts (1 Critical, 7 High, 15 Medium, 49 Low validated so far). No attacker accessed real customer data. The most important filing found two independent Linux kernel networking stack defects—one leaks host kernel memory, the other deterministically crashes the host—with wide implications for cloud providers isolating workloads via the same kernel layer. Fixes are under private review with CVEs pending; Vercel also plans to open-source its agentic report-triage agent built on the Eve framework running Kimi K3.

SecurityWeekSep 15, 16:00 UTC · 22h agoVulnerability1

CISA and NIST Issue Guidance to Protect Cloud Identity Tokensnew

CISA and NIST published Interagency Report 8587 with voluntary guidance to harden cloud identity tokens against theft, forgery, and lateral movement.

CISA and NIST released NIST Interagency Report 8587 on September 15 with final voluntary guidance for federal agencies, cloud providers, and their customers on protecting SSO, federation, and API tokens. Requirements include one-hour maximum token lifetimes, 90-day signing key rotation for high-impact systems, hardware-backed key storage, explicit audience fields, and keeping tokens out of logs. The guidance was motivated by the 2020 ADFS compromise where forged SAML assertions bypassed MFA, and an incident where a leaked consumer signing key enabled token forgery and theft of 60,000+ emails from one agency. Nearly 250 public comments shaped the text, with input from Google, Microsoft, Okta, AWS, Oracle, IBM, HashiCorp, Wiz, and the OpenID Foundation via the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative.

Infosecurity Magazine14:00 UTC · 14m agoAdvisory

Top 10 Best Multi-Cloud Security Platforms in 2026

An editorial roundup of the ten best multi-cloud security platforms for 2026, split between CNAPPs (Wiz, Prisma Cloud) and cloud-networking security (Aviatrix).

The article frames multi-cloud security as two markets: CNAPP platforms (Wiz, Prisma Cloud, CrowdStrike, Orca, Defender) securing what runs in clouds, and cloud-networking-security platforms (Aviatrix) securing how clouds connect. It ranks ten platforms including Palo Alto Prisma Cloud for breadth, Wiz for correlation, Check Point CloudGuard, Fortinet, Aviatrix, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Trend Micro, and CrowdStrike. It flags the ~$32 billion Google–Wiz acquisition as raising cloud-neutrality questions buyers should address contractually.

Cyber Security News09:50 UTC · 4h agoTools

PAPERMILL Hackers Abuse Signed Notepad++ to Deploy VenomRAT in Tax Audit Attacks

PAPERMILL phishing campaign abuses a signed Notepad++ copy and tax-audit lures to deploy VenomRAT against targets in India.

JUMPSEC tracks PAPERMILL as an emerging cluster whose emails pass SPF, DKIM, and DMARC and deliver tax-audit themed disk images. The mounted image pairs a legitimately signed, renamed executable with a rogue libcurl.dll for DLL sideloading, then uses a Donut shellcode loader to run VenomRAT 6.0.3 in memory with hidden VNC, data-stealing, and file-grabbing capabilities. The loader includes anti-analysis checks and RunOnce persistence, and lures plus China-connected infrastructure overlap with the Silver Fox ecosystem, though attribution remains unconfirmed.

Cyber Security News12:23 UTC · 1h agoPhishing & fraud in the wild 2 sources

BambooToken Malware Uses MQTT to Control Windows and Linux Systems

Lumen uncovers BambooToken, a stealthy multi-platform malware using MQTT C2 and Tendyron DLL sideloading to compromise Asian and South American organizations.

Lumen Black Lotus Labs disclosed BambooToken, a previously undocumented malware family active since at least February 2023 that controls Windows and (since December 2025) Linux hosts via the MQTT protocol for C2. The malware sideloads a rogue OnKeyToken_KEB.dll via Tendyron's OnKey PKI token software, gathers host details, and uses a WMI-based plugin to enumerate installed antivirus products and exfiltrate them to C2 domains proxied through Cloudflare. A dozen compromised entities were detected across Asia and South America, and DLL sideloading plus SoftEther VPN usage suggests a China nexus.

The Hacker NewsSep 15, 15:23 UTC · 22h agoMalware in the wild 2 sources

12 Best Container Security Tools Compared (2026): Features & Pricing

GBHackers compares pricing and features of 12 container security platforms, from free Trivy, Falco, and SUSE NeuVector to commercial Sysdig, Wiz, and Aqua.

A procurement-focused comparison of twelve container security vendors including Sysdig, Wiz, Aqua Security, SUSE NeuVector, and CrowdStrike, centered on billable units (per node, workload, developer, or vCore) and pricing mechanics. The piece argues free open-source tools like Trivy, Falco, and NeuVector set a floor that commercial products must justify exceeding through enforcement and scale. It also notes rising container threats, including Kubernetes flaws exploited to jump from containers to cloud accounts and exposed container registries.

GBHackers09:46 UTC · 4h agoIndustry 13 sources