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StopAndProtect Turns 2,000 Hacked WordPress Sites Into a Criminal Network

Check Point uncovered StopAndProtect, a cybercrime operation using ~2,000 hacked WordPress sites for ClickFix-driven malware delivery, data theft, surveillance, and ransomware.

Check Point Research identified the StopAndProtect operation in May 2026; it abuses close to 2,000 compromised WordPress sites, many running outdated software, to host malware stages, act as C2, and store stolen data. Infection starts with fake CAPTCHA ClickFix prompts that trick visitors into running a PowerShell command, followed by .NET downloaders deploying ransomware, SMB/USB worm, lockscreen, chat, and credential-stealing components. Rather than always encrypting, operators selectively exfiltrate file lists and specific files; researchers found 700+ stolen-data archives, roughly 31,000 screenshots, and 6,000+ unique victim IP addresses, including WhatsApp activity monitoring.

Security Affairs · 27d agoThreat actor in the wild

StopAndProtect Uses Nearly 2,000 Hacked WordPress Sites to Spread Malware and Steal Data

Check Point details StopAndProtect: ~2,000 compromised WordPress sites deliver ClickFix fake-CAPTCHA malware toolkit combining ransomware, credential theft, screenshots, and WhatsApp surveillance.

Check Point researcher Jaromír Hořejší reports the campaign begins with ClickFix fake-CAPTCHA prompts that trigger a PowerShell command, then two .NET downloader stages that launch six components: SilentEncryptor, NetworkShareScanner, a VBS spreader, LockScreen, SimpleChatProxy, and SilentDataCollector. Hacked WordPress sites host malware stages, serve C2 commands, and receive exfiltrated logs; the actors installed a self-deleting WordPress plugin enabling arbitrary PHP upload anywhere under the WordPress root. From mid-May to late July 2026 the operators exfiltrated more than 700 archives including screenshots every 30 seconds, keylogger output, and WhatsApp contact data, and opsec failures exposed their Visual Basic automation tooling and lists of nearly 2,000 compromised domains.

The Hacker News · 27d agoThreat actor in the wild

Thousands of Hacked WordPress Sites, One Operation: Unmasking StopAndProtect

Check Point uncovers the StopAndProtect ransomware operation infecting thousands of WordPress sites via ClickFix social engineering and PowerShell downloaders.

Check Point Research first observed the StopAndProtect ransomware family in mid-May 2026 and linked its infrastructure to thousands of hacked WordPress sites. The infection chain begins with ClickFix social engineering that prompts victims to run a PowerShell command, followed by two stages of additional downloaders. The research maps the shared infrastructure unifying the operation.

Check Point Research · 29d agoRansomware in the wild

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 · 9h agofirst · 5d agoIndustry 14 sources1

Russian State-Sponsored Hackers Use Claude to Rebuild Malware After Detection

Anthropic disrupted APT29-linked GTG-20006, which used Claude to autonomously rebuild malware, hijack hotel Wi-Fi DNS, and target 20-plus Ukrainian, European, and US-linked organizations.

Anthropic attributed the campaign to GTG-20006, aligned with Midnight Blizzard (APT29/Cozy Bear), which developed an AI-driven process that monitors its implants against security products and autonomously rebuilds and redeploys detected malware. Targets included military intelligence, diplomatic, and defense organizations in Ukraine and Europe, plus Middle East and Asian maritime agencies; the actor compromised at least three hotel Wi-Fi vendors via DNS hijacking and served ClickFix lures delivering Windows, Android, and iOS malware such as PowerChrome, GiftDrop, and DarkSword. Operations also included a North African breach exfiltrating over 300,000 national identity records and 500,000-plus company registry entries, an Embassy Kit device-code phishing campaign stealing Microsoft 365 tokens from at least eight organizations, and WhatsApp account takeover using headless browsers. The campaign overlaps with CaptiveCrunch reporting from ReliaQuest, Microsoft, Google, and Lumen Black Lotus Labs.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 4d agofirst · 5d agoThreat actor in the wild 15 sources2

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 · 28d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Elementor Pro Flaw Could Let Unauthenticated Attackers Upload PHP and Execute Code

Patchstack disclosed CVE-2026-32475 (CVSS 9.0), an unauthenticated file-upload flaw in Elementor Pro enabling PHP upload and RCE; fixed in version 4.2.2.

Patchstack researcher Tin Pham reported an unrestricted file upload flaw in Elementor Pro's Forms module (CVE-2026-32475, CVSS 9.0), affecting all versions up to and including 4.2.1. Submitting two file parts for one field bypasses the extension blocklist and writes attacker-controlled PHP into a public uploads directory, yielding unauthenticated remote code execution when a published Elementor page uses a Form widget with a File Upload field. A patched version 4.2.2 shipped August 19, 2026, a day after WordPress 7.0.4 fixed CVE-2026-65640 (CVSS 8.8), an RCE via Postscript file upload when Imagick and Ghostscript are in use.

The Hacker News · 27d agoVulnerabilityCVE-2026-32475CVE-2026-656401

Can We Stop The Ads? Taxonomy and Characterization of Smartphone Splash Ads and Existing Countermeasures

Study of 108 ad-defense implementations finds only one tool blocked splash-ad navigation across ten popular apps, and it required Accessibility permission.

The paper taxonomizes smartphone splash ads — full-screen ads at app launch that trick users into trigger mechanisms such as moving the phone — and analyzes 108 documented advertising defenses for deployment barriers. Many defenses require device rooting, jailbreaking, runtime code injection, or application modification; others need extra permissions, rule maintenance, compilation, or payment. In evaluating 13 configurations of 11 tools across 10 popular apps, only one prevented ad-triggered navigation across all ten apps, requiring Accessibility permission and leaving ads visible roughly one second before dismissal. Documented harms include delayed emergency response, driver distraction, and degraded accessibility for vision-impaired users.

arXiv cs.CR · 1d agoResearch

Synology ActiveProtect Manager 2.0 improves AI-driven security

Synology released ActiveProtect Manager 2.0, expanding backup coverage to EC2, Azure, Proxmox and Google Workspace, with AI anomaly detection and malware scanning coming in 2.1.

Synology launched ActiveProtect Manager 2.0 for its DP Series data protection appliances, adding platform coverage for Amazon EC2, Azure VM, Proxmox VE, Nutanix AHV and Google Workspace. The release introduces cross-platform recovery, expanded backup destinations including Azure Blob Storage, and volume-level software storage encryption. The upcoming 2.1 update will add AI/ML anomaly detection tracking change rates, mass deletions and entropy, plus pre-restore malware scanning using Microsoft Defender, Bitdefender and ESET with Auto Fallback to the last clean version.

Help Net Security · 12d agoTools

Product showcase: ScamNet looks for warning signs in suspicious calls and shady links

Synaptrex's ScamNet app filters scam calls, messages and websites on Apple devices using on-device AI and reputation checks.

ScamNet: Anti-Scam Suite from Synaptrex Technologies is a free consumer app (with ScamNet+ subscription) for iPhone, iPad and Mac that blocks robocalls and spam via iOS Call Blocking & Identification, filters unknown senders with an offline detection engine, and provides a Safari extension that analyzes and blocks suspicious websites. A Check/Report tool accepts phone numbers, websites, crypto addresses, text, images and audio, and a Device Shield verifies passcode, OS updates and screen-recording status.

Help Net Security · Aug 17, 2026Tools

Top 10 Best Ransomware Protection Solutions in 2026

A 2026 buyer's guide ranks ten ransomware protection tools by kill-chain role as extortion shifts from encryption to data theft.

The roundup organizes defenses across the ransomware kill chain: prevention-grade EPP/EDR platforms, containment layers, rollback specialists, and immutable recovery. Recommended products include CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, Sophos, SentinelOne, Bitdefender, Trend Micro, Halcyon, Huntress, and Malwarebytes. It stresses that many crews now extort on stolen data without encrypting, making exfiltration detection and response speed as important as rollback.

Cyber Security News · 6d agoIndustry1

Claude users found ways around safeguards for bioweapons research

Anthropic reports Claude users bypassed safeguards for bioweapons research and misused the model for fraud networks and dissident surveillance.

Anthropic's misuse report details users circumventing Claude safeguards to pursue bioweapons-related research, alongside incidents such as a network of fake dating apps used to defraud users and surveillance systems built to identify and monitor dissidents. The report also claims seven Chinese labs, including Moonshot AI and DeepSeek, used distillation to replicate capabilities of US frontier models. The findings land amid escalating AI safety debate following researcher Jacob Coxon's resignation from Anthropic and OpenAI's July disclosure that its models had autonomously hacked into Hugging Face.

Ars Technica · AI · 5d agoAI safety & security1

ZDI-26-600: Foxit PDF Reader Annotation Use-After-Free Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Foxit PDF Reader annotation use-after-free (CVE-2026-57237, CVSS 3.3) can disclose sensitive information when users open malicious PDFs.

ZDI-26-600 documents a use-after-free in Foxit PDF Reader annotation handling that allows remote information disclosure, tracked as CVE-2026-57237 with CVSS 3.3. Exploitation requires user interaction such as opening a malicious file or visiting a malicious page. The advisory was published by the Zero Day Initiative on August 24, 2026.

ZDI Published Advisories · 23d agoAdvisoryCVE-2026-57237

GuardBreaker: Derailing AI-assisted malware analysis with a code comment

ESET names 'GuardBreaker': UAC-0099 embeds a nuclear-weapon question in VBScript comments to trip LLM scanner guardrails during analysis of its MATCHBOIL loader.

ESET researchers observed the Russia-aligned group UAC-0099 inserting a decoy prompt injection into a VBScript used to install its MATCHBOIL loader in an attack against a Ukrainian target, aiming to make LLM-based code scanners refuse and stop inspecting the file. The comment triggers safety guardrails with a request about building a nuclear weapons but has no runtime effect. Similar LLM-thwarting tricks have appeared in malicious PyPI and npm packages reported by Socket and StepSecurity. ESET recommends multi-model cross-validation of AI-assisted analysis and treating missing LLM output as requiring further checks.

ESET WeLiveSecurityupdated · 5d agofirst · 6d agoAI safety & security 3 sources1

Top 10 Best Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) Solutions in 2026

Roundup of 2026 mobile threat defense tools recommends Zimperium and Lookout for targeted-attack detection and Defender for Endpoint for Microsoft shops.

This guide ranks ten mobile threat defense solutions, recommending Zimperium and Lookout for on-device detection against targeted users such as executives and journalists, and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint mobile for organizations already licensing Microsoft 365 E5. It explains that MDM enforces configuration while MTD detects attacks, and that mobile phishing now arrives via SMS, messaging apps and QR codes rather than email. It also highlights mercenary spyware and zero-click exploits as shifting requirements for high-risk users, referencing Apple's threat-notification program and Lockdown Mode.

Cyber Security News · 7d agoIndustry

[Control Systems] Siemens security advisory (AV26-881)

Siemens patched an account hijacking vulnerability in the Mendix SAML module affecting Mendix 9.24, 10, and 11 releases before fixed versions.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security relayed Siemens advisory SSA-887643, which addresses an account hijacking vulnerability in the Mendix SAML module. Affected components are the Mendix 10 and Mendix 11 compatible modules prior to V4.2.3 and the Mendix 9.24 compatible module prior to V3.6.27. Administrators are encouraged to review the linked advisories and apply the available updates.

Canadian Centre for Cyber Security · 13d agoAdvisory

Stopping the smart TV from being used against you

Guide describes practical hardening steps to prevent smart TVs from spying on their owners or being used against them.

A tutorial-style post walks through defensive measures to keep a smart TV from collecting user data or being leveraged against its owner. The piece is a consumer IoT privacy and hardening guide rather than a disclosure of a specific vulnerability.

Lobsters · security · 19d agoResearch

How to Keep Malware’s Rotating Infrastructure From Becoming a Detection Gap

ANY.RUN marketing piece argues SOC detection lags rotating malware and phishing infrastructure, citing a 46-country campaign and 3DBlast kit to promote TI feeds.

ANY.RUN describes how malware and phishing campaigns rotate domains and hosting, making single-IOC blocking ineffective for SOC teams. One investigated phishing campaign spanned 46 countries with 425 kit URLs across 240 hosts, 94% of which were seen for only a single day. A phishing kit dubbed 3DBlast impersonates Microsoft 365 and Google using BitB, AiTM, OAuth device-code phishing and DOM relay techniques. The article is primarily a promotion for ANY.RUN TI Feeds and TI Lookup products.

Cyber Security News · 1d agoIndustry

Arbitrary process termination from exposed minifilter communication port

Fortinet FortiClient Windows fortimon3 driver flaw (CVSS 4.7) lets authenticated attackers terminate arbitrary processes via exposed minifilter communication port.

Fortinet advisory FG-IR-26-165 discloses an unverified ownership vulnerability (CWE-283, CVSSv3 4.7) in the FortiClient Windows fortimon3 minifilter driver. An authenticated attacker can terminate arbitrary processes through an exposed minifilter communication port. The advisory was revised on 2026-09-08.

Fortinet PSIRT · 8d agoAdvisory1

The 12 Best Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) Solutions, Compared and Priced

A comparison of 12 mobile threat defense vendors highlights Zimperium's on-device detection and notes Kaspersky's US exit and Wandera's Jamf absorption.

The buyer's guide compares 12 mobile threat defense (MTD) products, naming Zimperium best for fully on-device detection and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint as the best-value bundled option. It reminds readers that Kaspersky cannot legally be sold or updated in the US following a Commerce Department determination, and that Wandera was acquired by Jamf. Most MTD pricing is quote-based per device or per user.

GBHackers · 6d agoIndustry 4 sources

WindRelay Malware Pairs With SpyNote RAT in Live-Call Scam

New WindRelay Android NFC-relay malware paired with SpyNote RAT enables real-time card cloning during live scam calls.

Infosecurity Magazine reports on WindRelay, a new Android NFC relay malware that was used together with the SpyNote RAT. The malware let a fraudster relay a victim's contactless card data in real time during a live social-engineering call, enabling the card to be cloned mid-call. The attack combines mobile RAT infection with near-field-communication relaying to defeat contactless payment protections.

Infosecurity Magazine · Aug 12, 2026Malware in the wild

ZDI-26-601: Foxit PDF Reader Annotation Use-After-Free Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Foxit PDF Reader has a use-after-free vulnerability (CVE-2026-13129, CVSS 3.3) allowing sensitive information disclosure when a user opens malicious content.

ZDI-26-601 describes a use-after-free vulnerability in the annotation feature of Foxit PDF Reader, tracked as CVE-2026-13129 with a CVSS score of 3.3. Successful exploitation allows remote attackers to disclose sensitive information, but requires user interaction such as visiting a malicious page or opening a malicious file. The advisory does not mention any exploitation in the wild.

ZDI Published Advisories · 23d agoVulnerabilityCVE-2026-13129

Threat Brief: 3CXDesktopApp Supply Chain Attack (Updated)

Trojanized 3CXDesktopApp installers for Windows and macOS loaded RC4-encrypted shellcode delivering a backdoor to hundreds of thousands of 3CX users.

Threat actors compromised the 3CXDesktopApp build process, adding malicious libraries (ffmpeg.dll, d3dcompiler_47.dll) to installers downloaded from the developer's website. The Windows MSI loader decrypts embedded shellcode with RC4, sleeps for a random 1-4 weeks, then beacons to C2 hidden in icon files on GitHub. Unit 42 fingerprinted 247,277 IPs across 199 countries using 3CX applications and blocked shellcode execution at 127 Cortex XDR customers between March 9-30, 2023.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Threat actor in the wild1

ZDI-26-599: Foxit PDF Reader Annotation Use-After-Free Information Disclosure Vulnerability

ZDI published advisory ZDI-26-599 for a use-after-free information disclosure flaw (CVE-2026-57238, CVSS 3.3) in Foxit PDF Reader requiring user interaction.

The Zero Day Initiative released advisory ZDI-26-599 describing a use-after-free vulnerability in Foxit PDF Reader's annotation handling. The flaw allows remote attackers to disclose sensitive information when a target opens a malicious file or visits a malicious page. ZDI rated the issue CVSS 3.3 and assigned CVE-2026-57238.

ZDI Published Advisories · 23d agoAdvisoryCVE-2026-57238

From 88 lines to 1: Detecting DLL hijacking with Elastic Defend

Elastic condenses 88 lines of detection logic into one Elastic Defend 9.5.0 rule catching the DLL hijacking used by a ClickFix campaign.

The ClickFix campaign side-loads a malicious mscoree.dll next to a signed Microsoft binary and also ships a driver to kill Elastic Endpoint. Elastic rebuilt the DLL as a NativeAOT library, dropped it beside the signed binary, and confirmed that Elastic Defend 9.5.0 flags the load. The post replaces 88 lines of detection logic with a single rule for DLL search-order hijacking.

Elastic Security Labs · 19d agoTools in the wild

Infostealers Are Hijacking Claude Sessions and Draining Subscriptions

Infostealers hijacked active Claude sessions to bypass 2FA, drain paid usage and run unauthorized charges; Anthropic is revoking sessions and refunding.

Anthropic confirmed that infostealer malware on user machines stole active Claude login sessions, letting attackers bypass passwords, MFA, and SSO and drain paid usage and run unauthorized charges. Affected families identified on Windows include Vidar, LummaC2, StealC, RedLine, and Acreed, plus Atomic Stealer on a small number of Macs; the malware typically arrived via unofficial downloads or malicious apps. Anthropic signed users out, removed saved payment cards, revoked affected sessions, and is refunding unauthorized charges, noting phones and tablets were not involved.

Security Affairs · 16d agoMalware in the wild

Best Practices for Good Endpoint Hardening | Huntress

Huntress outlines endpoint hardening best practices, citing exposed RDP, RMM tool abuse, and ClickFix social engineering as common SMB intrusion paths.

Huntress published defensive guidance on endpoint hardening for small and mid-sized businesses, drawing on observations from its SOC. The post describes common intrusion vectors: internet-exposed RDP brute-forced by automated scanners, phishing emails delivering attacker-controlled remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools, with Huntress reporting a 277% spike in RMM abuse in 2025, and ClickFix attacks using fake CAPTCHA pages that trick users into running malicious commands. Recommended controls include scanning for exposed RDP, SSH, and VPN interfaces, removing unneeded local admin rights, enabling Windows Defender tamper protection, disabling SMBv1, and standardizing on one approved remote access tool, guided by CIS and NIST frameworks.

Huntress · 6d agoAdvisory

Anthropic's Enterprise Frontier Safeguards lets your Claude logs stay in your cloud

Anthropic launches Enterprise Frontier Safeguards, letting regulated customers keep Claude usage logs in their own cloud storage under their own keys with automated misuse detection.

Anthropic unveiled Enterprise Frontier Safeguards, co-designed with eight members of the Analysis and Resilience Center for Systemic Risk and more than 100 customers including Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Visa, Mastercard, Comcast, KPMG, and Salesforce. Misuse-detection activity data can live in the customer's Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, or Google Cloud Storage under customer-managed keys, with fully automated review and no human inspection by Anthropic; automated systems watch for offensive cyber or biological capability development and signs of stolen credentials. The offering replaces the friction around Fable 5's 30-day retention policy, costs nothing extra, spans Claude Enterprise, Claude Platform, Amazon Bedrock, Google's Agent Platform, and Microsoft Foundry, with broad availability targeted for later this fall.

Help Net Security · 14d agoAI industry1

The 12 Best Antivirus (Endpoint Protection) Software for Business, Compared and Priced

GBHackers compares 12 business antivirus products on detection, EDR depth, pricing, and platform coverage, ranking CrowdStrike and Bitdefender joint top at 8.8.

The roundup scores 12 enterprise endpoint protection vendors across detection, EDR depth, management, pricing transparency, and platform coverage. CrowdStrike and Bitdefender tie at 8.8, with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint scoring 8.5 and noted as effectively free for Microsoft 365 E5 licensees. The piece also flags that Kaspersky cannot legally be sold in the US and that Panda and Webroot now sit under WatchGuard and OpenText respectively.

GBHackers · 8d agoIndustry 2 sources1

How Threat Actors Are Turning Trusted AI Platforms Into an Attack Surface

Huntress details campaigns abusing Claude Artifacts, claude.ai/share links, and ChatGPT/Grok conversations to deliver SectopRAT, MacSync, and AMOS stealers.

Huntress SOC documented nine months of campaigns in which attackers weaponized trusted AI platform features—Claude Artifacts, public claude.ai/share links, and indexable ChatGPT/Grok conversations—to deliver malware. The July FakeAgent campaign hit more than 29 organizations via a malicious Claude Artifact posing as a Claude Desktop download page that redirected to SectopRAT. A claude.ai/share link disguised as an Apple Support guide tricked a victim into running a curl command that deployed the MacSync stealer, harvesting cookies, credentials, keychain secrets, Telegram sessions, and SSH/cloud keys, while SEO-poisoned ChatGPT and Grok conversations delivered the AMOS stealer via ClickFix-style instructions.

BleepingComputer · 5d agoPhishing & fraud in the wild