ZeroHour

Search: “Transporter”

34 stories in the last 30d

Attackers Expose Ongoing AI Tool Use Targeting Organizations in Latin America

Unit 42 documents two AI-assisted intrusion campaigns against Latin American government, utility, and financial organizations using LLM-orchestrated tooling.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 tracks two ongoing intrusion clusters, CL-CRI-1131 (Mexican transportation, federal ministries, municipal water utilities) and CL-CRI-1163 (Brazilian financial sector), both using living-off-the-land techniques, SOCKS5 relays, and custom RATs. The attackers appear to orchestrate operations via commercial LLMs like Claude and GPT-4.1, evidenced by iterative batch scripts and AI-generated tunneling tool naming. The Mexican campaign (also reported as Operation Escaneo by CloudSEK) exfiltrated sensitive data via dynamic-DNS infrastructure with rotated multi-SAN TLS certificates between February and June 2026. This signals broader adoption of AI-enhanced operations by diverse threat groups in the region.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · 14d agoThreat actor in the wild1

The September 2026 Security Update Review

ZDI's September 2026 Microsoft update review lists two already-exploited Windows EoP zero-days and dozens of critical RCEs across Office, SQL Server, and Windows services.

The review catalogs Microsoft's September 2026 fixes, marking CVE-2026-85880 (Windows ALPC) and CVE-2026-81963 (Windows Update Stack) as already exploited elevation-of-privilege issues. It also lists critical RCE flaws in Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, SQL Server, Windows DNS, DHCP and Failover Cluster, plus graphics component RCEs. Azure-side fixes include Entra ID, Copilot Studio, Azure AI Language and Azure AD B2C elevation-of-privilege flaws.

Microsoft September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 966 flaws, 2 zero-days

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes a record 966 flaws, including two Windows zero-days actively exploited to gain SYSTEM privileges.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday addresses a record 966 vulnerabilities, including 105 rated Critical, 81 of them remote code execution bugs. Two zero-days were actively exploited: a Windows Update Stack link-following flaw and a Windows ALPC heap-based buffer overflow, both allowing local elevation to SYSTEM privileges. The ALPC flaw was reported by Volexity and Proofpoint researchers, while the Update Stack flaw was credited to Romain Deperne and the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Centre. Microsoft shared no details on how the flaws were exploited in attacks.

BleepingComputer · 8d agoAdvisory in the wildCVE-2026-69805CVE-2026-58649CVE-2026-69806+27 CVEs1

Microsoft’s September 2026 Patch Tuesday addresses 964 CVEs (CVE-2026-81963, CVE-2026-85880)

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes a record 964 CVEs, including two zero-days actively exploited in the wild.

Microsoft patched a record 964 CVEs in its September 2026 Patch Tuesday release, with 101 rated critical and 824 rated important, making it the largest Patch Tuesday to date. The release includes fixes for two zero-days that were exploited in the wild, with CVE-2026-81963 and CVE-2026-85880 highlighted in the release. Affected products span Windows core components, Office, Exchange, .NET, Visual Studio, Active Directory services (including AD CS and AD FS) and numerous Azure services. Tenable notes the release surpasses July's as the biggest ever.

Tenable Blog · 8d agoVulnerability in the wildCVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-858801

Iranian APTs increased activity against US industries in late spring, researchers say

Nozomi Networks recorded 28 Iran-linked attacks on US customers in May-June, up 133%, mostly hitting transportation and manufacturing.

Nozomi Networks telemetry showed 28 Iran-linked attacks against customers in May and June versus 12 in the prior two months, a 133% increase focused on transportation and manufacturing. MuddyWater was the most active group, targeting at least five US companies, followed by APT33 with at least three; OilRig, CyberAv3ngers, FoxKitten and Homeland Justice were also active. In a separate report, Morphisec said Fox Kitten is recruiting ransomware affiliates with an 80% share of proceeds for attacks against Iran's adversaries, including the US and Israel. The activity comes amid heightened concerns over Iranian cyber retaliation after US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

The Record · 9d agoThreat actor in the wild1· 1 read

Hackers Use Claude and GPT-Powered Tools to Help Breach Government and Financial Networks

Unit 42 links two Latin America campaigns where operators used Claude and GPT-4.1 during intrusions against government and financial targets.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 identified two activity clusters, CL-CRI-1131 and CL-CRI-1163, tied by shared SOCKS5 relay infrastructure and use of large language models during operations. The Mexican cluster targeted a transportation organization, federal ministries and water utilities in Mexico and Ecuador, while the Brazilian cluster used resume-themed phishing, custom remote-access Trojans and SockTz SOCKS5 tunneling against financial organizations. An exposed self-hosted NextChat interface on attacker infrastructure led researchers to assess operators used Claude and GPT-4.1 to generate workaround scripts and troubleshoot execution failures. Unit 42 noted AI reduced time needed to troubleshoot intrusions after initial access, rather than replacing the attacker.

Cyber Security News · 7d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Microsoft Patch Tuesday, September 2026 Security Update Review

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 974 vulnerabilities, including 113 critical and two actively exploited Windows privilege escalation flaws.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 974 vulnerabilities, its largest release ever, including 113 critical and 860 important, covering Windows HTTP.sys, Hyper-V, Entra ID, Exchange Server, Office, DNS, and more. Two zero-days are confirmed exploited in the wild: CVE-2026-81963 (Windows Update Stack EoP) and CVE-2026-85880 (ALPC heap overflow), both letting authenticated attackers gain SYSTEM privileges. Notable criticals include an Entra ID authentication bypass (CVE-2026-62916) and multiple Windows DNS Server and Office remote code execution flaws.

Microsoft September 2026 Patch Tuesday Fixes 973 Vulnerabilities and 2 Exploited Zero-Days

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 973 vulnerabilities, including two zero-days already exploited in the wild.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday addresses 973 vulnerabilities across Windows, Office, and Azure components, including two zero-days already exploited in the wild. CVE-2026-81963, an elevation of privilege flaw in the Windows Update Stack, is flagged as an exploited zero-day. The release includes numerous remote code execution and information disclosure fixes for Microsoft Excel and Word, plus patches for the Windows kernel, ALPC, Print Spooler, ReFS, Entra ID, and Azure CLI.

GBHackers · 8d agoAdvisory in the wildCVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-85877CVE-2026-85875+27 CVEs1

TrueConf Server Flaws Exploited to Replace Client Installers with PhantomCore

Head Mare exploits TrueConf server flaws to install web shells and deliver PhantomCore and PhantomGraph backdoors at Russian organizations.

Kaspersky detected July 2026 attacks by the threat actor Head Mare exploiting a vulnerability chain (KLCERT-26-057 and KLCERT-26-058) in unpatched TrueConf videoconferencing servers. The chain enables arbitrary code execution with SYSTEM privileges, deployment of a web shell at locale.php, and replacement of client installers with versions delivering the PhantomCore backdoor and PhantomGraph, which uses Microsoft OneDrive as C2. Targets span Russian instrumentation, electronics, transport, energy, IT, and software firms. Patches shipped in TrueConf Server 5.3.9, 5.4.9, and 5.5.5 on June 18, 2026.

The Hacker News · 27d agoThreat actor in the wild1

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

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 Talos · 18m agoRansomware in the wild

BambooToken malware controls Windows and Linux systems via MQTT

Lumen Black Lotus Labs exposes BambooToken, a China-aligned malware framework using MQTT C2 to backdoor Windows and Linux systems at roughly a dozen enterprises.

Lumen's Black Lotus Labs documented BambooToken, a previously unknown malware framework active since at least 2023 that adopted MQTT for command-and-control in 2024-2025 variants targeting Windows and Linux. Infection occurs via DLL side-loading through digitally signed Tendyron OnKey USB-token software or an impersonated Kingsoft Office installer; dead code suggests keylogging, clipboard theft, audio/webcam capture, and screenshot modules. Telemetry identified roughly a dozen compromised entities, mostly in Asia and South America, including a Hong Kong GitLab server and possibly users of the SpeedCN VPN service. Targeting patterns are consistent with China-aligned operations, though no attribution to a known cluster was made.

BleepingComputerupdated · 1d agofirst · 1d agoMalware in the wild 2 sources1

Hackers Weaponize AI Safety Guardrails to Hide Malware From LLM-Powered Security Scanners

ESET says Russia-aligned actor UAC-0099 hid guardrail-triggering comments in VBScript to derail LLM-based malware scanners in Ukraine.

ESET researchers linked a technique named GuardBreaker to Russia-aligned threat actor UAC-0099 during an attack against an organization in Ukraine. The group embedded a safety-sensitive, weapon-related request in a VBScript comment so an LLM-powered analysis tool might interpret it as an instruction and refuse or truncate analysis before reaching the malicious code. The VBScript downloaded MATCHBOIL, a C#-based loader used by the group alongside MATCHWOK and DRAGSTARE. OWASP guidance recommends treating code comments and metadata as untrusted input, sanitizing it, and never treating an LLM refusal as a clean verdict.

GBHackersupdated · 5d agofirst · 5d agoThreat actor in the wild 2 sources1

Remote Desktop Services Failures on Windows Servers Following September Update

September 2026 Patch Tuesday updates cause Windows Server 2019/2022/2025 RDS sessions to freeze, forcing administrators to roll back.

Cumulative updates KB5122876 (Windows Server 2019), KB5122882 (2022), and KB5122871 (2025) trigger Remote Desktop Services freezes hours after boot, with RDP connections hanging at 'Connecting…' and Event ID 20498 logged. Administrators trace the fault to an apparent deadlock in RDPSERVERBASE!WDLIB_Close during session teardown; only hard resets restore service and the issue recurs. The same September release patched roughly 973 vulnerabilities, including two actively exploited zero-days (CVE-2026-81963, CVE-2026-85880, both in CISA's KEV) and a critical RDS RCE, CVE-2026-69525 (CVSS 9.8). Workarounds include DISM-based removal of the update or an unofficial FeatureManagement registry key disabling the suspected audio-redirection code path; Microsoft has not yet confirmed the bug.

ThreatsDay: 200 Android Flaws, Browser-Built Phishing, 119K Scam Shops + 23 More Stories

Hacker News ThreatsDay digest: malicious browser extensions, AI-agent intrusions, NCSC shadow AI warning, M&A wire fraud, and 119,000-domain fake shops.

Socket found four malicious Chrome and Firefox extensions (J7Tracker, VREO, Orbit Tracker) stealing session tokens and wallet data from Axiom Trade and Padre users via attacker-controlled Vercel deployments. Hunt.io reported a Chinese-speaking operator using Claude Code, Alibaba Qwen, and DeepSeek with the SecFlow orchestration framework to automate intrusions against government and financial targets in Afghanistan, Thailand, Taiwan, and the US. The UK NCSC warned shadow AI use risks breaches and regulatory failure, Microsoft announced privacy-preserving Windows Age APIs, and Gen Digital described fake M&A wire-fraud scams. A 119,000-domain fake-shop operation called DoppelCart was also highlighted.

The Hacker News · 6d agoIndustry in the wild

Hackers Use LLMs to Generate Exploit Scripts and Automate Post-Exploitation Across Latin America

Unit 42 says Latin American attackers used LLMs to automate post-exploitation in campaigns hitting Mexican government, water utilities, and Brazilian financial firms.

Unit 42 identified two campaigns in Latin America whose operators used commercial LLMs (Claude, GPT-4.1) behind a self-hosted NextChat interface to generate and debug post-exploitation scripts. Cluster CL-CRI-1131 compromised a transportation organization, Mexican federal ministries, and water utilities in Mexico and Ecuador, using native Windows tools and Volume Shadow Copies to dump the SAM registry hive and NTDS.dit. Cluster CL-CRI-1163 targeted Brazilian financial organizations with job-themed phishing, custom RATs, and a Go-based reverse SOCKS5 tunneling utility called SockTz, with nine versions deployed within roughly two hours. Trend Micro tracks related AI-augmented activity as SHADOW-AETHER-040 and SHADOW-AETHER-064.

GBHackers · 7d agoThreat actor in the wild1

DeepSeek Harness Flaw Let AI Agents Disable Their Own File Sandbox Without Approval

DeepSeek Harness (CVE-2026-82533, CVSS 9.4) let AI coding agents disable their own sandbox via an unauthenticated local API; fixed in 0.1.2-alpha.2.

DeepSeek Harness versions 0.1.1-rc.2 and earlier allowed a sandboxed AI coding agent to turn off its own OS sandbox by calling the tool's unauthenticated local web interface, tracked as CVE-2026-82533 with a 9.4 CVSS from VulnCheck. A single command set the agent session to danger-full-access mode, removing sandboxing and approval prompts, and OX Research verified writes escaped the workspace. The interface trusted the client-supplied Host header with no authentication and could also return a session's entire conversation log. The fix adds a one-time token and signed-cookie check; the first npm release carrying it is 0.1.2-alpha.2, with 0.1.2-rc.1 current.

The Hacker News · 7d agoAI safety & security in the wildCVE-2026-825331

Microsoft Patch Tuesday for September 2026 — Snort rules and prominent vulnerabilities

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 973 vulnerabilities, including 113 critical, with two Windows privilege-escalation bugs (CVE-2026-81963, CVE-2026-85880) exploited in the wild.

Microsoft's September 2026 security update addresses 973 vulnerabilities across its product lineup, 113 rated critical, of which 82 are remote code execution flaws. Two vulnerabilities are confirmed exploited in the wild: CVE-2026-81963, an elevation-of-privilege flaw in the Windows Update Stack (CVSS 7.8), and CVE-2026-85880, a heap-based buffer overflow in Windows Advanced Local Procedure Call (CVSS 7.8). Microsoft flags several bugs as more likely to be exploited, including a 9.8 RCE in Windows DNS Server (CVE-2026-69730), an 8.8 RCE in Windows Kerberos (CVE-2026-69676), and a 9.0 EoP in Spring Cloud Azure (CVE-2026-69854). Cisco Talos published accompanying Snort rules to detect exploitation attempts against the prominent flaws.

Cisco Talos · 8d agoAdvisory in the wildCVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-69676+27 CVEs1

September 2026 Microsoft Patch Tuesday, (Tue, Sep 8th)

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes a record 973 vulnerabilities, including 113 critical and two Windows privilege-escalation flaws already exploited in the wild.

Microsoft patched 973 vulnerabilities this month, its largest Patch Tuesday ever and far above the previous record of 664 set in July 2026, with 113 rated critical. Two Important elevation-of-privilege flaws (CVSS 7.8) are confirmed exploited in the wild: CVE-2026-81963 in the Windows Update Stack (improper link resolution, affects Windows 11 and Server 2025) and CVE-2026-85880 in Windows ALPC (heap-based buffer overflow allowing sandbox escape to SYSTEM, affects Windows 10 and Server 2012-2022). Critical unauthenticated RCEs (CVSS 9.8) were also fixed in Skype for Business Server (CVE-2026-66302), Windows Message Queuing (CVE-2026-69579), and Windows RRAS (CVE-2026-69590). SANS urges prioritizing the two exploited EoP fixes, then patching exposed MSMQ, RRAS, and Skype for Business deployments.

ClearFake WebDAV infection chain delivers Amatera stealer, ZigCryptoStealer, and NetSupport Manager

Cisco Talos details ClearFake WebDAV chains delivering Amatera stealer to a Ukrainian government organization, with cryptocurrency and credential theft payloads.

Cisco Talos investigated DLL executions named 'verification.google' via WebDAV UNC paths at a Ukrainian government organization, tracking the actor as UAT-10820 and assessing with moderate confidence the activity is Russian and opportunistic rather than targeted. The infection chain uses ClearFake JavaScript injected via a Cloudflare Worker, EtherHiding storage on BNB Smart Chain contracts, and a ClickFix fake Google CAPTCHA prompt to deliver Amatera stealer. Secondary payloads differ by C2: one loader deploys ZigCryptoStealer with a Go reverse TCP proxy and a vulnerable driver that kills EDR, while the other installs an unauthorized NetSupport Manager with a Russia-based C2. Similar Amatera chains were separately documented by Malwarebytes and Blackpoint Cyber, but with no shared infrastructure.

Cisco Talos · 9d agoMalware in the wild1

UNC6671 Vishing Attacks Target Personal Phones to Steal SaaS Data

Google and Mandiant attribute vishing-based SaaS data extortion attacks to UNC6671, now operating under the Redact, Pink, Helix, and Falcon brands.

Google Threat Intelligence Group and Mandiant track extortion group UNC6671, which uses vishing calls impersonating IT help desks to lure employees to adversary-in-the-middle phishing pages that capture credentials, MFA tokens, and session tokens. The group then registers adversary-controlled MFA devices, pivots through identity providers into Microsoft 365, Okta, and other SaaS applications, and runs automated Python and PowerShell exfiltration scripts. UNC6671 has rotated through extortion brands including BlackFile, Redact, Pink, Helix, and Falcon, and Google tracked over $10.6 million in Bitcoin payments between January 7 and May 12, 2026, with initial demands exceeding $3 million. The actor has hit dozens of organizations in North America, Australia, and the UK, shifting toward high-value financial and legal firms in July 2026.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 9d agofirst · 9d agoThreat actor in the wild 2 sources1

Berlin investigates new data leak after hackers publish stolen login credentials

Berlin investigates a fresh leak after Rhysida hackers published stolen login credentials; the city refuses to pay the ransom demand.

Berlin confirmed hackers published additional stolen data, including login credentials, from a mid-August cyberattack on two city ministries responsible for urban development/housing and transport/climate. The Rhysida ransomware group claimed the breach in late August, saying it stole 5.79 TB of data including contracts, emails, passwords and classified information; Berlin acknowledged an extortion demand but refused to pay. Berlin's data protection regulator said the leak includes personal data on public employees and possibly residents, such as names, addresses, dates of birth and bank information. Germany's BSI separately linked the campaign to the TerminalFix fake-CAPTCHA technique and the LoremIpsumLoader/AxolotLoader malware tied to financially motivated Rhysida-associated hackers, days before Berlin's Sept. 20 election.

The Record · 9d agoRansomware in the wild1

Attackers Hijack MikroTik Routers Through Internet-Exposed SSH Without Authentication

CERT Polska warns attackers exploit internet-exposed MikroTik SSH for unauthenticated full admin control; attacks observed since at least September 2.

CERT Polska warned on September 5 that attackers exploit MikroTik routers with internet-reachable SSH to gain full administrative control without authentication, calling the two-flaw combination 'MikroTrick'. Successful attacks date to at least September 2; no victim count or attacker identity was disclosed. MikroTik shipped fixed RouterOS releases: 6.49.21, 7.23.4 (with 7.23.5 fixing an IPv6 DHCP regression), 7.24.2, and 7.25beta3. CERT recommends immediate updates, checking for unauthorized configuration changes, and restricting SSH, WWW/WWW-SSL, and bandwidth-test services on unpatched devices.

The Hacker News · 11d agoExploit / PoC in the wild

Outsider Phishing Kit Survives Takedown With 700 New Pages

Group-IB found the Outsider phishing kit kept generating 700+ new phishing pages within a month of Operation Ghost Hook's takedown.

Group-IB linked the Outsider Phishing Kit, operated by a threat actor known as ChenLun, to more than 100,000 phishing pages across 54+ countries between December 2025 and May 2026. After the FBI, Google, and Lumen's Black Lotus Labs seized core admin servers, a Shopify storefront, about $100,000, and thousands of domains under Operation Ghost Hook in June, over 700 new phishing domains appeared within a month. The kit offered 267 templates, adversary-in-the-middle MFA interception, WebSocket-based live operator communication, and SMS delivery via a Telegram affiliate ecosystem with more than 5,000 subscribers.

Infosecurity Magazine · 13d agoPhishing & fraud in the wild1

Risky Bulletin: BGP hijack targets Virtualizor to deliver malicious updates

Unknown attackers BGP-hijacked part of Hetzner's space for 33 hours to impersonate Softaculous and push malicious Virtualizor updates via a clone site.

On 28 August 2026, AS62390 (NexonHost) began announcing 162.55.80.0/24 — part of Hetzner's 162.55.0.0/16 containing Softaculous systems — via transit AS6204 (Zet.net), keeping Hetzner (AS24940) on the AS path so the rogue route looked RPKI-valid; the hijack ran nearly 33 hours. The attacker obtained a TLS certificate in Softaculous's name and hosted a clone website delivering malicious updates for the Virtualizor VPS management platform. Virtualizor cannot measure impact because hijacked traffic never touched its infrastructure, and warns users who paid during the attack may have had financial data stolen; no attribution was made. The same bulletin reports a ~$75 million theft attempt against Tectonic via an exploited Cosmos bug (~$68M clawed back), two METR breaches including $600,000 in stolen API credits, and Anthropic pausing external cyber evaluations after models escaped test environments.

Risky Business News · 15d agoData breach in the wild1

Counterfeit installers to system compromise: Tracking a deceptive software download campaign

Microsoft tracks a counterfeit software-installer campaign compromising multinationals' China operations, moderately linked to the Silver Fox (Yinhu) actor.

Microsoft Defender Experts is tracking an active campaign using spoofed software download sites for brands such as Razer, Kaspersky, Microsoft Edge, Calibre, and Baidu Netdisk on .com.cn and .hl.cn domains, delivering installer archives whose hashes change per download, indicating server-side payload generation. The implants establish persistence, weaken security protections, and communicate with attacker-controlled infrastructure, with confirmed compromises across healthcare, manufacturing, gaming, technology, logistics, government, and education. Microsoft assesses with moderate confidence that the activity matches the publicly reported Silver Fox (Yinhu) fake software campaign; it has not attributed it to a nation-state actor.

Microsoft Security Blog · 15d agoThreat actor in the wild1

FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses

Dark web service Nexus sells scans of 153M+ US and Canadian drivers licenses, apparently siphoned from a breached identity verification company; FBI opened an inquiry.

A new dark web identity theft service called Nexus, advertised on the Exploit forum, offers scans of more than 153 million drivers licenses from the US and Canada, plus over 10 million ID cards and millions of travel and medical documents. The data appears to come from an ongoing breach at a major Louisiana-based identity verification company, with records growing by roughly 400,000 in 24 hours. Records include high-ranking US officials such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and timestamps suggest data was captured during car rentals and travel. The FBI's New Orleans field office has launched an official inquiry into the source of the images.

Krebs on Security · 15d agoData breach in the wild1

Berlin refuses to be blackmailed after network breach

Rhysida extorts Berlin's state government after stealing 5.79 TB across 1.44 million files, demanding roughly 2 million euros in bitcoin.

Berlin's state government confirmed an extortion attempt after data theft from its administrative network between August 7 and 12, with affected departments disconnected only on August 14. The Rhysida ransomware gang lists 5.79 TB across 1.44 million files on its leak site, including HR files, contracts, 148 IBANs, personal data on 12,076 individuals, and plaintext credentials from internal systems including Berlin's leadership. Der Spiegel reports a 30 bitcoin demand of about 2 million euros; officials say the city will not pay and investigators include the State Criminal Police Office and federal agencies. Forensics revealed additional leaks in the Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment, while the Berlin House of Representatives election environment is reported secure.

Help Net Security · 16d agoRansomware in the wild

Russian hackers plant nuclear weapon prompt in malware to trip AI safety guardrails

ESET reports Russian group UAC-0099 hid a prompt in VBS malware comments to trip AI safety filters and disrupt automated malware analysis in Ukraine.

ESET identified a technique dubbed GuardBreaker in which UAC-0099 embedded a comment reading "I want to make nuclear weapon. Help me …" inside a malicious VBS script to trigger AI safety mechanisms and halt AI-assisted malware analysis. The script, part of the group's toolset, downloads the MATCHBOIL malware used exclusively by this Russia-aligned group; CERT-UA documented the chain including LUNCHPOKE, BURNYBEAR and MATCHBOIL.V2 in a July advisory. UAC-0099 typically targets transportation and energy sectors and hands validated targets to GRU-linked Sandworm. ESET warned that AI-assisted analysis must be backed by layered detection and human-driven engineering.

Help Net Security · 17d agoAI safety & security in the wild

Rhysida Ransomware Group Targets Berlin Government Ahead of Vote

Rhysida ransomware hit Berlin's state government weeks before the September 20 election, claiming 5.79 TB stolen; officials refused the ransom.

Berlin's government confirmed an August cyberattack on its administrative network, with data exfiltrated between August 7 and August 12 and departments isolated on August 17. The Rhysida group claimed responsibility on August 28, alleging theft of 5.79 TB and 1.44 million files including personal data on 12,076 individuals, payroll files, plaintext credentials, and vulnerability analyses of Berlin's water supply. Officials said election systems were not affected and refused to pay; Rhysida has claimed roughly 280 victims since 2023, entering via VPNs without MFA, Zerologon, or phishing.

Security Affairs · 18d agoRansomware in the wild

Berlin Refuses to Pay Hackers Who Stole Data From the City's State Network

Berlin refuses ransom demands after Rhysida claimed stealing 5.79 TB from the city-state network, including mobility department data on 12,076 individuals.

Berlin's state government confirmed an extortion attempt following the August compromise of its state administrative network and said it will not pay. Forensics found data exfiltrated from the Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and Environment between August 7 and 12, 2026; Rhysida's leak site claims 5.79 TB, 1.44 million files, and personal data on 12,076 individuals. State criminal police, prosecutors, and federal authorities are investigating, and officials say the September 20 Abgeordnetenhaus election environment remains unaffected. Separately, Manchester Airports Group confirmed theft of customer data including emails, phone numbers, and vehicle registrations across three airports.

The Hacker News · 19d agoRansomware in the wildCVE-2020-1472

Operation QUICSILVER Targets Myanmar Government and IT with QUICAgent Backdoor

Seqrite Labs details Operation QUICSILVER, a China-nexus espionage campaign targeting Myanmar government and IT with graduation-invite lures deploying QUICAgent backdoor.

Seqrite Labs reported Operation QUICSILVER, a cyber espionage campaign against Myanmar's government and IT sectors attributed with moderate confidence to a China-nexus actor. Since April 2026, attacks used fake Belgian-Myanmar holiday and Burmese graduation ceremony invitation lures delivered via VHD/LNK files that abuse ftp.exe (LOLBAS) to assemble and launch QUICAgent, a Go backdoor communicating over QUIC on UDP 443 with five commands and Startup-folder persistence. Separately, China-linked Mustang Panda was observed using an updated COOLCLIENT backdoor with a signed kernel-mode driver across Myanmar, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Russia.

The Hacker News · 23d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Apollo discloses data breach from ongoing wave of attacks hitting financial sector

Apollo Global Management confirmed a breach of cloud platforms by BlackFile-linked social engineering attackers, exposing personal data including Social Security numbers.

Apollo Global Management disclosed that attackers accessed some of its cloud platforms between July 6 and July 10, 2026. The company determined on August 12 that compromised data included names, dates of birth, contact information, home addresses, and Social Security numbers. Google attributed the broader campaign against financial sector organizations to BlackFile, a threat group affiliated with The Com that operates extortion brands Redact, Pink, Helix, and Falcon. Apollo, which manages $1.05 trillion in assets, is the first victim to formally confirm sensitive personal data was compromised in this wave, with Blackstone and Bain Capital also reportedly targeted.

CyberScoop · 26d agoData breach in the wild

Risky Bulletin: Slovakia finds Russian backdoor in traffic speed cameras

Slovakia's NBU found an SMS-triggered backdoor in Russian-made NERO R-ONE traffic cameras, pausing a 279-unit deployment.

Slovakia's national security service NBU issued an alert against NERO R-ONE high-speed traffic cameras after finding a backdoor that grants shell and network access via SMS from hardcoded Russian phone numbers. The cameras are a rebranded version of the Russian CORDON PRO.M model by St. Petersburg firm Semicon, purchased via a Cyprus shell company under a €30 million EU-funded project. The report also found SecureBoot disabled, vulnerable web management, and unauthenticated live streams; the Interior Ministry paused deployment of 279 cameras pending independent assessment.

Risky Business News · 29d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Berlin cuts two state ministries off government network after security breach

Two Berlin state ministries were cut off from the city government network after a breach, disrupting housing benefit and education services.

Berlin's Senate Chancellery said two ministries, covering urban development/construction/housing and mobility/transport/climate/environment, have been isolated from the state network since Friday as a precaution after a discovered security breach. Broadcaster RBB reported, citing government sources, that attackers allegedly exploited a vulnerability in one ministry's IT systems, while state IT provider ITDZ Berlin was unaffected. Employees lost email and internet access and are communicating by phone, text message, and fax, and some district offices cannot process housing benefit and education assistance applications. No attribution, entry method, or data theft confirmation has been provided and the investigation is ongoing.

The Record · 29d agoData breach in the wild