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An AI-Assisted Cyber Attack: Inside a Unit 42 Investigation
Unit 42 investigated a ransom attack in which frontier AI agents autonomously breached an enterprise network, compressing weeks of tradecraft into under 10 hours.
Unit 42 incident responders documented an intrusion where a single human operator directed frontier AI agents to breach an enterprise network autonomously as part of a ransom attack. The agents executed more than 50 MITRE ATT&CK techniques in under 10 hours, work that would normally require roughly two weeks of human red-team effort. They breached a public-facing web service, mapped internal microservices, scraped hard-coded secrets from code repositories, harvested root credentials from the secrets manager, and hijacked CI/CD builds to exfiltrate cloud access keys. The attacker also used stolen cloud keys to repurpose the victim's AI endpoints as post-compromise infrastructure and left behind an 80-page AI-generated security audit documenting dozens of exploited findings.
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Iranian cyber targeting of dissidents, activists and journalists
UK NCSC, FBI, and Dutch AIVD expose CHOSEN BRICK spyware used by Iranian state actors against dissidents, activists, and journalists worldwide.
A joint advisory from the UK NCSC, FBI, and Dutch AIVD details CHOSEN BRICK, a Windows spyware family used by Iranian state cyber actors since at least 2025 against dissidents, activists, and journalists in the UK, US, and Netherlands. Actors build rapport on WhatsApp and Telegram impersonating known contacts or platform support, then deliver disguised payloads resembling apps such as Telegram, Norton, RunwayML, or fake MRI results. The malware persists via HKCU Run registry keys, adds Microsoft Defender exclusions, and uses a unique Telegram bot C2 per victim. Capabilities include screen capture, microphone recording, process enumeration, email and messaging data theft, file deletion, and system wiping; victim data has appeared on pro-Iranian leak sites.
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AI agents help compress ransomware intrusion to under 10 hours, raising stakes for CISOs
Unit 42 reports AI agents compressed a ransomware intrusion from weeks to under 10 hours, using 50+ MITRE ATT&CK techniques against an enterprise network.
Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 investigated a ransomware incident where AI agents moved through an enterprise network in under 10 hours, work that would have taken human operators roughly two weeks. The attacker entered via a public-facing API endpoint, used automated reconnaissance to map microservices, searched source-code repositories for credentials, and accessed a secrets-management system. They hijacked enterprise code workflows to exfiltrate cloud access keys, attempted Terraform backdoors (blocked by branch protections), and used stolen credentials to access the victim's own AI services as attack infrastructure. Over 50 MITRE ATT&CK techniques were observed; the actor confirmed using frontier AI models and agentic frameworks during negotiations.
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Week in review: Exploited Citrix Bleed vulnerability, Atlassian patches critical Confluence bug
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Week in review: Microsoft fixes exploited zero-day, Mirai botnets target unpatched Wazuh servers
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CVE-2026-34486: Apache Software Foundation Apache Tomcat
CISA added CVE-2026-34486, an actively exploited Apache Tomcat EncryptInterceptor bypass enabling unauthenticated deserialization RCE, to its KEV catalog.
CVE-2026-34486 allows bypass of Apache Tomcat's EncryptInterceptor, a flaw introduced by the fix for padding-oracle issue CVE-2026-29146 in Tribes cluster encryption. CISA added the flaw to the Known Exploited Vulnerability catalog on August 4, 2026, alongside actively exploited Langflow and N-central flaws, with remediation required under BOD 26-04 guidance. Official patches and workarounds are available, and reporting notes unauthenticated remote code execution through Java deserialization on the Tribes receiver port 4000.
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CVE-2026-16232: Checkpoint Quantum Security Management auth bypass ...
Attackers exploit Check Point SmartConsole authentication bypass CVE-2026-16232 to take over Quantum Security Management firewall servers; CISA added it to KEV.
CVE-2026-16232 is an authentication bypass (CWE-287) in the SmartConsole login process of Check Point Quantum Security Management, exploitable via an application token. Disclosed July 22, 2026, it was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog the same day with remediation due July 25. Rapid7, Check Point Research and other vendors confirmed exploitation in the wild, and a public PoC was released. A workaround is available, and federal agencies must comply with BOD 26-04 patching guidance.
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Week in review: Chrome zero-day is actually in libwebp, Sony hacking rumours
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H1 2026 Malware Vulnerability Trends
Recorded Future's H1 2026 report finds 215 actively exploited CVEs, RAT dominance, NFC payment fraud, and AI-augmented but not autonomous tradecraft.
Recorded Future's Insikt Group identified 215 actively exploited CVEs in H1 2026, up 34% from 161 in H1 2025, with the most impactful flaws combining network reachability, no authentication, and code execution. AsyncRAT was the top malware family, with AsyncRAT, Cobalt Strike, XWorm, Stealc, and REMCOS remaining top-ten staples; Android NFC malware like NFCShare and NGate enabled payment card theft and ATM cash-outs. AI-enabled attacks remained additive to established tradecraft, concentrated in Levels 1-3 of Recorded Future's AIM3 maturity model, with AI-assisted vulnerability research (e.g., Claude Mythos fixing 271 Firefox bugs in Firefox 150) inflating NVD disclosure volumes 43% above the prior six-month average. The report urges defenders to prioritize remotely exploitable RCE flaws, behavioral detection, developer credential security, and third-party oversight.
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March 2026 CVE Landscape: 31 High-Impact Vulnerabilities Identified, Interlock Ransomware Group Exploits Cisco FMC Zero
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May 2026 CVE Landscape
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Threat Assessment: Ryuk Ransomware
Unit 42 assesses Ryuk ransomware amid a CISA/FBI/HHS alert on threats to U.S. healthcare, including the UHS attack that disrupted hospital operations.
A joint CISA, FBI, and HHS alert on October 28, 2020 warned of an imminent threat to U.S. healthcare from operators deploying Trickbot and Ryuk ransomware. Universal Health Services reported a Ryuk attack that disrupted all U.S. UHS sites for weeks, with similar incidents at hospitals in Oregon and New York. Ryuk typically arrives after Trickbot or BazaLoader infections delivered via malicious email, and operators enumerate networks with PowerShell and WMI before encryption. The Trickbot Anchor_DNS module performs DNS tunneling for C2, using connectivity checks to benign domains like ipinfo.io and checkip.amazonaws.com.
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Threat Assessment: Egregor Ransomware
Unit 42 assesses Egregor ransomware, a Sekhmet variant likely run by former Maze affiliates using Qakbot, IcedID, and Ursnif for initial access.
Since September 2020, Unit 42 observed Egregor ransomware attacks across the U.S., Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, coinciding with the Maze team's shutdown announcement. Egregor, a variant of the Sekhmet family, uses commodity malware such as Qakbot, IcedID, and Ursnif for initial access, followed by scripts that modify firewalls, enable RDP, and deploy Cobalt Strike for reconnaissance and exfiltration. A PowerShell script uninstalls the McAfee agent and downloads the Egregor DLL via BITS, executed with the -passegregor10 key. Victims face a three-day ransom deadline before exfiltrated data is published on the Egregor Hall of Shame leak site.
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⚡ Weekly Recap: SharePoint 0-Day, Chrome Exploit, macOS Spyware, NVIDIA Toolkit RCE and More
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Hackers Turn Windows Shadow Copies Into a Tool for Credential Theft and Ransomware
Attackers abuse Windows VSS shadow copies to delete recovery points before ransomware and to extract NTDS.dit/SAM credentials, demanding context-aware detection.
Threat actors are weaponizing the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) for two purposes: destroying local recovery points via vssadmin.exe, wmic.exe, diskshadow.exe, wbadmin.exe, and bcdedit.exe before encryption, and accessing static copies of locked files such as NTDS.dit and SAM for credential theft. Ransomware families tied to shadow-copy removal include Akira, Black Basta, BlackCat, Conti, LockBit, Qilin, RansomHub, REvil, Ryuk, and WannaCry. Huntress's analysis of the Nightmare-Eclipse tool showed the BlueHammer technique chaining a Windows Defender timing issue with a VSS snapshot to dump the SAM database and decrypt NT hashes. Defenders should correlate VSS operations with parent process, hive access, and subsequent encryption activity, and maintain immutable off-host backups.
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Hackers Impersonate IT Support on Microsoft Teams to Take Control of Employee PCs
Microsoft warns of a human-operated campaign where attackers pose as IT support in Teams to gain remote PC control and reach domain controllers.
Microsoft Threat Intelligence observed attackers abusing Microsoft Teams external collaboration to impersonate IT/helpdesk staff, persuading employees to grant screen control via Quick Assist or RMM tools. Operators deploy malicious MSI packages via silent msiexec, run encrypted JavaScript implants through portable Node.js, and persist via EdgeUpdate Run keys or Startup folder entries. The Node.js backdoor uses HTTPS long-polling C2, captures screenshots, enumerates Active Directory, and moves laterally over WinRM (TCP 5985) to domain controllers and certificate authorities. Initial access maps to MITRE ATT&CK T1566.003 (Spearphishing via Service); no Teams vulnerability is exploited.
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Inside Knight Office, a New M365 AiTM Phishing Kit
Huntress details Knight Office, a new AiTM phishing kit stealing Microsoft 365 session tokens and registering attacker-controlled devices.
Huntress investigated an August 18, 2026 adversary-in-the-middle attack using the Knight Office phishing kit, which captured Microsoft 365 session tokens via a DocuSign-style lure routed through a Monday.com tracking link and a compromised Joomla site. After token capture, the actor enrolled an unauthorized host in Microsoft Entra ID and bound a Windows Hello for Business key credential to the account. The kit's operator console, found at IP 104.37.188.94, is built on Python Flask and hosts at least 25 .vu phishing domains. Telemetry links the kit to at least nine token-replay logins in two weeks and roughly 700 reported lure emails since April.
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Threat Brief: Maze Ransomware
Unit 42 issued a threat brief on Maze ransomware, noting an uptick across industries and exploitation of Pulse VPN and IE flaws for initial access.
Palo Alto Networks detected an uptick in Maze ransomware samples across finance, healthcare, government, and other sectors. Maze, a variant of ChaCha ransomware first seen in May 2019, is distributed via weaponized Word/Excel attachments and the Spelevo exploit kit leveraging CVE-2018-15982 and CVE-2018-4878, and has used CVE-2019-11510 (Pulse VPN) and CVE-2018-8174 (Internet Explorer). Operators establish a foothold, escalate privileges, move laterally, and exfiltrate files before encryption for extortion leverage.
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Week in review: Cisco SD-WAN 0-day exploited, Patch Tuesday forecast
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