North Korean Lazarus Group Uses Windows Zero
Check Point links Lazarus Group's Operation Dream Job to a new Windows zero-day, CVE-2026-68820, targeting defense workers with fake Lockheed Martin job offers.
Check Point Research documented a new wave of Operation Dream Job, a North Korean Lazarus Group campaign targeting defense and aerospace professionals in France, Germany, Brazil, and India with fake Lockheed Martin job offers. The attacks chain a previously unknown Windows privilege escalation flaw in AFD.sys, CVE-2026-68820, which Microsoft patched on August 11, 2026, to deploy the MISTPEN downloader, ForestTiger backdoor, and updated FudModule 3.1 kernel rootkit. Check Point also discovered a new Troy backdoor DLL with 17 operator commands and a RelayShell PHP webshell deployed on compromised Roundcube and WordPress servers used as command relays, some infected via CVE-2025-49113 or leaked credentials. Defenders are urged to apply the August 2026 Patch Tuesday update and review Check Point's indicators of compromise.
Cybersecurity jobs available right now: June 16, 2026
Help Net Security rounds up cybersecurity job openings at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Siemens Energy, and other firms across the US, Europe, India, and Israel.
Help Net Security's June 16, 2026 roundup lists cybersecurity job openings including Android vulnerability researcher, application security engineer, vulnerability management specialist, DevSecOps engineer, and OT/ICS consultant. Employers include Byteria, Millennium, Nava, Siemens Energy, Lockheed Martin, Enterprise Products, Audubon Companies, Boeing, and General Dynamics across the US, Ireland, Germany, India, Israel, and the UK.
Cybersecurity jobs available right now: June 9, 2026
Help Net Security lists open cybersecurity roles at firms like Lockheed Martin, ByteDance, Nordic Semiconductor, and General Motors across AppSec, cloud, and compliance.
A June 2026 roundup aggregates cybersecurity openings spanning application security, cloud security, compliance, reverse engineering, and deepfake forensics across the US, UK, Israel, Ireland, Norway, Singapore, India, and Canada. Most listed positions are marked as no longer accepting applications.
GitLab urges users to patch max severity path traversal flaw
GitLab urges self-managed users to immediately patch a maximum-severity path traversal flaw (CVE-2023-2825) enabling unauthenticated arbitrary file reads.
GitLab released patches in CE/EE versions 19.3.2, 19.2.6, and 19.1 for CVE-2023-2825, a maximum-severity path traversal vulnerability that lets unauthenticated attackers read arbitrary files from vulnerable servers under certain conditions. The flaw, reported by researcher s3ntago via HackerOne, stems from improper path confinement and missing authentication enforcement in the repository commits API. GitLab also patched CVE-2026-87719, an insecure deserialization flaw in the GraphQL subscription serializer affecting Enterprise Edition users with Duo Chat access, which could expose credentials and Advanced Search configurations. GitLab.com and Dedicated customers are already protected; the platform has over 30 million registered users and is used by more than 50% of Fortune 100 companies.
New CISO appointments 2026
Companies including Mistral AI, Trellix, Marriott, and ANZ appointed new CISOs in July-September 2026 amid high security-leadership turnover.
CSO Online's rolling column tracks senior security appointments, noting many companies are hiring a CSO/CISO for the first time. Notable moves include Thomas Coudray leaving Ledger to become Mistral AI's CISO, David Soto joining Trellix from Amazon, and Daniel Dubowski becoming Marriott International's SVP and CISO. Other appointments span ANZ, Gigamon, Axonius, Tricentis, Remitly, Allied Universal, and the State of California.
Cybersecurity jobs available right now: June 30, 2026
Help Net Security lists cybersecurity job openings across the US, UAE, France, Israel, Japan, Ireland, India, and Canada at major employers.
The roundup includes roles such as AI Offensive Security Engineer at AGAPI, Cloud Security Engineer at Spotify, IAM Engineer at Proton, DFIR in Israel, and a Senior Inspector overseeing NIS2 and AI regulation compliance in Ireland. Most listings were marked as no longer accepting applications, with a few still open including DFIR at Cye, IAM Engineer at Proton, and Detection Engineering at Saronic. The list covers employers across finance, infrastructure, and technology sectors.
Lazarus Exploits Windows Zero-Day to Gain SYSTEM Access and Deploy Backdoor
Lazarus exploits Windows AFD.sys zero-day CVE-2026-68820 in Operation Dream Job to deploy Troy backdoor at defense firms.
Check Point attributes Operation Dream Job attacks to Lazarus Group exploiting CVE-2026-68820 (CVSS 7.0), a privilege escalation flaw in Windows AFD.sys patched in August 2026 Patch Tuesday. The campaign targets defense and aerospace firms in France, Germany, Brazil, and India via trojanized PDF viewers and DLL side-loading, deploying backdoors Troy, ForestTiger, and the FudModule 3.1 kernel rootkit. Attackers also compromise WordPress, SharePoint, and Roundcube servers as C2, using CVE-2025-49113 and the RelayShell PHP web shell.
CISA gives federal agencies two weeks to patch Microsoft bug exploited in DPRK campaign
CISA orders federal agencies to patch exploited Windows Winsock zero-day CVE-2026-68820 by August 25, used by Lazarus in Operation Dream Job.
CISA ordered federal agencies to patch Windows Winsock vulnerability CVE-2026-68820, rated 7/10, by August 25 after confirming exploitation; no workaround exists and a restart is required. Check Point found Lazarus Group hackers impersonated Lockheed Martin and Enveil recruiters on LinkedIn, sent malicious PDFs enabling long-term remote access, then used the zero-day to escalate from limited access to full system control. Targets spanned defense sectors including surveillance, drones and robotics in France, Germany, Brazil and India, as part of Operation Dream Job tracked since 2020.
Lazarus hackers pair fake job offers with Windows zero-day exploit
Lazarus' Operation Dream Job targets the defense sector with fake job offers, a Windows LPE zero-day (CVE-2026-68820), and new Troy and RelayShell backdoors.
Check Point documented two parallel infection chains in Lazarus' Operation Dream Job: a digitally signed PDF viewer with DLL sideloading delivering the MISTPEN in-memory downloader, and a trojanized SecurityPDF viewer, distributed via fake Enveil websites, installing the newly documented Troy backdoor. A component exploits CVE-2026-68820, a local privilege escalation zero-day in the Windows AFD.sys driver used since at least early July, which Microsoft patched on August 11, 2026, enabling deployment of the FudModule kernel-mode rootkit. Lazarus also compromised Roundcube webmail servers vulnerable to CVE-2025-49113 to deploy the RelayShell PHP web shell and relay C2 traffic, targeting defense-sector organizations primarily in Western Europe and India. Separately, CERT-UA documented Sandworm's UAC-0145 using fake job offers against IT professionals since May 2026.