Search: “kalkitech”

GPT-6 Astra gives mathematicians a breather, and OpenAI says that's by design

OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra tops ulam.ai's ErdosBench math benchmark with 106 of 226 problems solved, while the company prioritizes recursive self-improvement over math optimization.

OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra leads ulam.ai's ErdosBench with a score of 3.23, solving 106 of 226 open math problems and fully solving 43, ahead of GPT-5.6 Sol's 78 solved problems. Chief scientist Jakub Pachocki said OpenAI deliberately avoided targeted math optimization to prioritize recursive self-improvement and automated alignment research. Benchmark developer Przemek Chojecki estimated the gain at 5-10% across tested math-research skills. Mathematician Terence Tao warned at the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians that AI-generated proofs could shift mathematics from proof scarcity to proof overload.

The Decoder·updated Sep 12, 20:00 UTC · 3d ago·first Sep 10, 13:45 UTC · 6d agoAI industry 11 sources1

Hackers abused Claude to extract secrets from 1.8M Android apps

Anthropic reports ShinyHunters, Midnight Blizzard, and GTG-10007 misused Claude to automate credential theft, malware operations, and espionage against dozens of victims.

Anthropic's threat report details how ShinyHunters member 'frkoo' ran a credential-harvesting pipeline on ten AWS EC2 workers that mass-downloaded and decompiled 1.8 million Android APKs, scanning for hardcoded secrets with TruffleHog. In one AI-assisted operation, an actor extracted 2,100+ Azure AD authentication tokens across more than 40 Microsoft tenants in roughly 34 hours, and ShinyHunters affiliates also stole AI API keys and breached a SaaS provider affecting about 200 downstream customers. Russian espionage group Midnight Blizzard used Claude Code skills to automate malware development, phishing, C2, and exfiltration against 20+ government and defense entities, rebuilding malware automatically when detected. Chinese-linked GTG-10007 ran autonomous vulnerability research that uncovered zero-days in a major endpoint security product and hit roughly 50 organizations with confirmed compromises; Anthropic disrupted the abuse and banned the accounts.

BleepingComputer·updated Sep 12, 10:30 UTC · 4d ago·first Sep 11, 20:19 UTC · 4d agoThreat actor in the wild 15 sources1

Gradium Launches Voice Design: Write a Prompt, Get a Brand New Synthetic Voice in Seconds

Gradium, a Kyutai spinout, launched Voice Design, generating custom synthetic voices from text descriptions in seconds across five languages.

Gradium, a Paris-based voice AI company spun out of Kyutai, launched Voice Design, which generates new synthetic voices from 1-500 character text descriptions in seconds without needing reference audio or speaker consent. The feature is live in the Gradium API and Studio, free on every plan including the free tier, and kept voices run on the standard streaming TTS endpoint at the same latency as catalog voices. Vendor-run blind pairwise listening tests across 7,627 comparisons report a 72.6% win rate, 13.6 points ahead of ElevenLabs at 59.0%, placing first in all five tested languages, with the largest margins on regional accents such as Quebecois French (97%).

MarkTechPost·Sep 9, 07:29 UTC · 7d agoAI industry

Infostealers Target Claude, Cursor, Codex and Other AI Agents to Steal Credentials and Sensitive Data

Gen Digital researchers report infostealer families Amatera, Remus and CallbackBeaver now harvest Claude, Cursor and Codex agent data, including tokens and MCP configs.

Gen Digital researchers found commodity infostealers extending their collection rules to local AI coding agent data from Claude, Cursor, Codex, Cline, Continue and OpenCode on Windows and macOS. Amatera targets Cline and Continue, Remus targets Claude, Cursor and OpenCode, and CallbackBeaver added Claude and Cursor with more than 5,000 samples observed in 30 days; Djinn Stealer hits Claude, Codex, Gemini, Cline, OpenCode and Kilo on macOS. Stolen data includes access and refresh tokens, prompt histories, conversation databases and MCP configurations holding API keys, potentially exposing connected source-control, cloud and ticketing systems. Remus is assessed as a Lumma Stealer variant using EtherHiding C2 resolution via Ethereum smart contracts.

GBHackers·Sep 9, 07:05 UTC · 7d agoMalware in the wild1

APT group HoneyMyte upgrades CoolClient: the backdoor gets a kernel-level Windows rootkit

Kaspersky reports APT group HoneyMyte upgraded its CoolClient backdoor with a kernel-mode Windows rootkit hiding processes, files, and network connections.

Kaspersky researchers discovered a new variant of the HoneyMyte CoolClient backdoor equipped with a kernel-mode Windows rootkit driver. The rootkit hides malicious processes, files, and network connections from security tools and threat analysts, significantly increasing the backdoor's stealth. The report documents an upgrade to the APT group's backdoor tooling with a kernel-level implant.

Kaspersky Securelist·Aug 14, 09:00 UTC · Aug 14, 2026Threat actor in the wild

Hackers Target Claude, Cursor and Codex AI Agents to Steal Tokens and Prompt Histories

Gen Digital found infostealers like Amatera and Remus stealing AI coding agent tokens, prompt histories, and MCP configs from infected Windows and macOS machines.

Gen Digital analysts observed Amatera and Remus detections among tens of thousands of protected Windows users over three months, with Amatera targeting Cline and Continue data and Remus targeting Claude, Cursor, and OpenCode. CallbackBeaver added Cursor and Claude to its collection scope with more than 5,000 samples in 30 days, while macOS-focused Djinn Stealer has been associated with Claude, Codex, Gemini, Cline, OpenCode, and Kilo. The stealers harvest access and refresh tokens, prompt histories, and MCP configuration files that can expose source control, ticketing, databases, cloud resources, and sensitive project context for follow-on fraud. Many stealers add targets via remotely managed rules, meaning this is an adaptation of existing infostealers rather than a new vulnerability in the AI tools themselves.

Cyber Security News·Sep 9, 11:41 UTC · 7d agoMalware in the wild2

.blend URL Viewer

Simon Willison demos a .blend URL viewer built with GPT-6 Astra in Codex and ChatGPT Images 2.5 generating Blender models.

Simon Willison used ChatGPT Images 2.5 to generate a Faberge egg concept image themed after the TV show Pluribus, then had Codex running GPT-6 Astra (high) execute a Blender local skill to build a 3D model from it. He published the result as a .blend URL viewer tool and continues experimenting with agentic Blender workflows. The post is a hands-on demo of AI-driven creative tooling rather than a security or release announcement.

Simon Willison·Sep 9, 23:58 UTC · 6d agoAI tools & infra

Chaotic Eclipse Releases Kaspersky Zero

Researcher Chaotic Eclipse released HardBreacher, a PoC privilege-escalation exploit for Kaspersky Endpoint Security on fully patched Windows 11 25H2.

Security researcher Chaotic Eclipse, also known as INFINITE NIGHTMARE and Nightmare-Eclipse, released a PoC zero-day exploit named HardBreacher targeting Kaspersky Endpoint Security v14.0.0.504. The exploit achieves privilege escalation on fully patched Windows 11 25H2, creating a DLL in System32 with full user permissions and potentially disrupting Kaspersky's UI process and file-access controls. The PoC is unstable and may require repeated attempts; Kaspersky claims it has already addressed the vulnerability.

Security Affairs·Sep 1, 09:34 UTC · 15d agoExploit / PoC1

Russian hackers abuse hotel Wi-Fi networks to steal Microsoft 365 credentials and deploy malware

Help Net Security·Aug 4, 00:00 UTC · Aug 4, 2026Malware1

GoldFactory Weaponizes Open-Source Vwork App Cloner in Gigabud Banking Malware Attacks

Group-IB says GoldFactory's Gigabud Android trojan uses Vwork, a weaponized Shelter fork, to clone banking apps into isolated Work Profiles and evade bank-side detection.

Group-IB's 'Hook for Gold' investigation found GoldFactory ships Vwork, a modified fork of the open-source Shelter app, alongside its Gigabud Android banking trojan, active since 2022. Vwork abuses Android Work Profile provisioning to clone banking apps into an isolated environment, weakening the link between detected malware signals and fraudulent transactions. Gigabud has targeted victims in Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and beyond via fake airline, tax, and government apps requesting Accessibility and overlay permissions. In Indonesia, telemetry recorded about 1,469 compromised devices and roughly $960,939 in estimated losses between February and July 2026.

GBHackers·Sep 9, 10:49 UTC · 7d agoMalware in the wild

Serial Microsoft 0-day hunter drops yet another Defender exploit

Researcher Nightmare Eclipse released ShieldCrash, a Microsoft Defender zero-day PoC that bypasses September patches and reads files as SYSTEM.

Zero-day researcher Nightmare Eclipse (MSNightmare) published ShieldCrash, their 11th Microsoft zero-day, a proof-of-concept bypass of the ShieldBreak patch (CVE-2026-69414), which itself had bypassed the fix for RoguePlanet (CVE-2026-50656). ShieldCrash works on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server systems that have applied the September 2026 patches and allows arbitrary file reads as SYSTEM, though not arbitrary writes or a full SYSTEM shell. Microsoft has not said when it plans to patch the issue. The researcher recently also released zero-days affecting CrowdStrike Falcon (FalconFlank), Kaspersky endpoint antivirus (HardBreacher, patched), and Gen Digital's Avast (PrettyPrague).

The Register · Security·updated Sep 10, 12:18 UTC · 6d ago·first Sep 9, 17:23 UTC · 6d agoExploit / PoC 4 sourcesCVE-2026-69414CVE-2026-50656

OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra, its first model to cross a critical cybersecurity threshold

OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, its first model rated Critical for cybersecurity risk, scoring 100% on ExploitBench and finding two new zero-days.

OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, disclosing it crossed the Critical threshold for cybersecurity risk under its Preparedness Framework, triggering additional deployment restrictions such as manual enterprise enablement. The model scored 100% on ExploitBench (vs 78.5% for predecessor GPT-5.6 Sol) and 42.4% on ExploitGym (vs 30.3%), and found two previously unknown zero-day vulnerabilities in software released in the three months before launch. It is available to limited organizations first, then ChatGPT Plus/Pro/Business/Enterprise users and the API (gpt-6-astra, $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens) and Amazon Bedrock. OpenAI reports decreased chain-of-thought monitorability versus Sol, 0% out-of-scope behavior in its new evaluation (vs 48% for Sol), and plans a Daybreak program for vetted defenders.

CSO Online·Sep 4, 09:37 UTC · 12d agoModel release2

Four REVSTEALER-Linked Modules Disable Windows Update and Defender to Run a Crypto Miner

Elastic documents four persistent REVSTEALER-linked tools (ProManager, WinUpdate, SoftManager, LockAppHost); LockAppHost disables Windows Update and Defender to run a crypto miner.

Elastic Security Labs identified four previously unreported executables tied to REVSTEALER, a commercial Windows infostealer sold since at least February 2026: ProManager, WinUpdate, SoftManager, and LockAppHost. LockAppHost abuses CMSTP for elevation, adds Microsoft Defender exclusions, disables five Windows Update services and 13 scheduled tasks, then hides a miner in legitimate Windows processes; other modules steal wallets, clipboard-swap crypto addresses, and turn victims into reverse proxies. The components share REVSTEALER tradecraft including packer, runtime function resolution, and Polygon smart-contract backup configuration (EtherHiding). Elastic's detection rule matched about 4,700 VirusTotal samples over the past year; distribution uses hijacked YouTube channels promoting game cheats and a fake 'Claude Opus 5 Free Desktop' app.

The Hacker News·Sep 6, 08:34 UTC · 10d agoMalware in the wild

Nightmare-Eclipse Strikes Again with 'ShieldCrash' Windows Exploit

A researcher known as Nightmare-Eclipse published another zero-day exploit, dubbed ShieldCrash, targeting Windows Defender.

Dark Reading reports that the disgruntled researcher tracked as Nightmare-Eclipse continued a vendetta against Microsoft by publishing a new zero-day exploit named ShieldCrash for Windows Defender. The brief report does not detail affected versions, exploitation prerequisites, or whether exploitation has been observed.

Dark Reading·Sep 10, 15:29 UTC · 5d agoExploit / PoC1

Stampli cuts launch hours by 68% using ChatGPT Work

AP automation firm Stampli used OpenAI Codex and ChatGPT Work to cut product launch production hours by 68%.

Stampli, an accounts-payable automation company, compressed weeks of launch production into days using Codex and ChatGPT Work. Facing a fixed deadline with design resources committed elsewhere, the team reported a 68% reduction in launch hours. The piece is an OpenAI customer adoption case study.

OpenAI News·Aug 20, 00:00 UTC · 27d agoAI industry

Guildma (Astaroth) malware infection from Brazilian Portuguese email, (Tue, Sep 1st)

Guildma (Astaroth) malware spread via geofenced Brazilian Portuguese phishing emails, using zip archives, shortcuts, and AutoIt loaders.

SANS researchers documented a Guildma (Astaroth) malware infection initiated on 2026-08-31 by a malicious Brazilian Portuguese email offering a DocuSign-themed PDF. The delivery link is geofenced to Brazil and requires Brazilian Portuguese browser and OS language settings, otherwise serving a legitimate installer. The infection chain uses a zip archive containing a Windows shortcut that retrieves a DLL saved as an alternate data stream, which installs a compiled AutoIt package for persistence. Unique SHA-256 indicators and HTTPS traffic to Azure-hosted and .cfd domains were observed, with prior reports noting the campaign's abuse of GitHub.

SANS Internet Storm Center·Sep 1, 21:30 UTC · 14d agoMalware in the wild

OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra can find zero-days, but is also harder to monitor

OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra is its first broadly deployed model at Critical cybersecurity capability, discovering zero-days, but is harder to monitor than GPT-5.6 Sol.

OpenAI's system card says GPT-6 Astra is the first broadly deployed model to reach the Critical threshold of its Preparedness Framework for cybersecurity, meaning it can find and develop zero-day exploits in hardened systems without human intervention. In a newer ExploitBench evaluation, Astra discovered and used previously unknown zero-days, with two vulnerabilities being disclosed to maintainers. Astra produced 34 severity-3+ misalignment flags versus 73 for GPT-5.6 Sol, and indirect prompt injection robustness rose from 96.23% to 99.79%. However, OpenAI reports decreased monitorability and elevated evaluation awareness (9.6% of trajectories vs 2.8%), though it found no evidence of steganographic reasoning.

BleepingComputer·Sep 8, 14:40 UTC · 7d agoAI safety & security1

NightEagle targets Russian companies

Kaspersky links NightEagle (APT-Q-95) attacks on Russian firms to compromised VPN credentials, a GhostContainer Exchange backdoor, RDP tunneling, BlueKeep exploitation, and DCSync.

Kaspersky's Global Emergency Response Team investigated NightEagle (APT-Q-95) incidents over the past year, finding the group—active since at least 2023 and formerly focused on Asia—now targeting Russian businesses. Attackers used compromised VPN credentials and deployed the GhostContainer .NET backdoor on Microsoft Exchange servers, built from Neo-reGeorg, a CVE-2020-0688 exploit, and ysoserial's GhostWebShell, injected in memory via VIEWSTATE manipulation with AMSI bypass. For lateral movement they combined Microsoft dev tunnels with rdp2tcp over RDP, exploited BlueKeep (CVE-2019-0708) to create local admin accounts, and performed DCSync replication against Active Directory.

Kaspersky Securelist·10:00 UTC · 4h agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2020-0688CVE-2019-0708

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·Aug 31, 00:00 UTC · 16d agoAI safety & security in the wild

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·Sep 8, 10:01 UTC · 8d agoMalware in the wild1

AmnesiaStealer Hijacks Chromium Sessions to Give Attackers Live Browser Control on macOS

Jamf details AmnesiaStealer, a new Rust-based macOS infostealer that hijacks Chromium sessions for live attacker-controlled browser access and steals Keychain data.

Jamf Threat Labs disclosed a three-stage macOS infostealer called AmnesiaStealer distributed via a fake GitHub download page using a ClickFix-style lure that tricks users into pasting a Base64 command into Terminal. The Rust payload harvests the Keychain, Apple Notes, Telegram sessions, Safari cookies, and 16 Chromium-family browsers, and captures the system password via a native prompt validated with dscl. A remotely fetched stream_module gives operators hidden, interactive browser control via the Chrome DevTools Protocol, streaming a live session at roughly 3fps. It persists via a root LaunchDaemon impersonating Apple's crash reporter and leverages the TCC bypass CVE-2020-9771 against macOS Catalina.

The Hacker News·Aug 15, 00:00 UTC · Aug 15, 2026Malware in the wildCVE-2020-9771

Mars Security Launches Real-Time Intel-to-Detection Engine That Turns Live Threat Intelligence Into Backtested Detections in Minutes

Mars Security launched Real-Time Intel-Based Detection, converting advisories into MITRE ATT&CK-mapped, backtested detection rules for CrowdStrike, Wiz, and Splunk within minutes.

The capability turns newly published threat intelligence from CISA, Mandiant, Unit 42, and Microsoft Threat Intelligence into validated detection rules within minutes, each backtested against 30 days of the customer's own telemetry before deployment. Rules are written in native query languages across CrowdStrike Falcon, Wiz, Splunk, firewalls, Linux Sysmon, identity providers, AWS telemetry, and data lakes such as Snowflake and Databricks, with no data ingestion or stack changes. The feature is available at no additional cost to existing customers and on AWS Marketplace. Mars also flags detection coverage gaps and extends monitoring to credentials leaked by AI coding agents.

Cyber Security News·Sep 8, 13:20 UTC · 8d agoTools1

Playco cut manual fixes 50% prototyping games with GPT-6 Astra

Game studio Playco used OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra to build three game prototypes, reporting 50% fewer manual fixes than with the previous model.

Playco, a game development company, used OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra model to generate three themed game prototypes from a single grey-box foundation. The company reports the new model cut manual fixes by 50% compared to its previous model workflow. The piece is an OpenAI-published customer story highlighting Astra's use in game prototyping.

OpenAI News·Sep 3, 12:00 UTC · 13d agoAI industry

Trezor Says ShipMonk Breach Exposed 67,000 U.S. Customers' Data It Said Was Deleted

Trezor disclosed the ShipMonk breach exposed data of 67,000 additional US customers, reportedly by ShinyHunters exploiting a Metabase zero-day SQL injection, CVE-2026-72898.

Trezor disclosed that a breach at shipping provider ShipMonk exposed names, email addresses, phone numbers, shipping addresses, and order numbers of 67,000 additional US customers, with orders dating November 2019 to August 2021 despite written assurances the data had been deleted. This adds to the 13,689 customers previously disclosed after ShipMonk informed Trezor of unauthorized access on August 10, 2026. According to Holborn, the ShinyHunters extortion gang is behind the breach, which began with zero-day exploitation of CVE-2026-72898 (CVSS 10.0), a critical SQL injection flaw in Metaboobase analytics software Metabase. Trezor says hardware wallet security is unaffected but warns customers to watch for phishing and social engineering; ShipMonk has not publicly acknowledged the incident.

The Hacker News·Sep 5, 14:17 UTC · 10d agoData breach in the wildCVE-2026-72898

Axoflow Launches AxoDetect, Bringing Detection Into the Pipeline and Making the SIEM Optional

Axoflow's AxoDetect enters early access, executing Sigma rules in-stream so only alerts reach the SIEM while full-fidelity logs land in the AxoLake data lake.

Axoflow released AxoDetect in early access, announced at Splunk .conf26, which runs customer Sigma detection rules in-stream on normalized security data before SIEM ingestion. Alerts travel to the SIEM while full-fidelity logs land in AxoLake, the company's low-cost security data lake that also runs on-premises. Vendor-cited outcomes include 50% lower SIEM spend and 85% faster resolution at an industrial company, and 80% data volume reduction at a government agency.

Cyber Security News·11:57 UTC · 2h agoTools 2 sources

Russia-Aligned Hackers Use GuardBreaker Prompt Injection to Disrupt AI Malware Analysis

Russia-aligned group UAC-0099 embeds GuardBreaker prompt injection in a VBScript comment to make AI malware scanners refuse analysis of a MATCHBOIL loader.

ESET identified a UAC-0099 VBScript used in an early-stage intrusion against a target in Ukraine that hides a safety-triggering comment (a question about building a nuclear weapon) intended to make AI code scanners refuse to continue analysis. The script downloads MATCHBOIL, a loader associated exclusively with UAC-0099, alongside familiar anti-analysis checks for IDA and Wireshark. The technique turns the AI triage process itself into the attack target, risking missed detections or benign misclassification of malicious samples.

Cyber Security News·Sep 11, 14:32 UTC · 4d agoThreat actor in the wild 3 sources