Author: [email protected] (The Hacker News)

An advanced persistent threat (APT) known as WIRTE has been attributed to attacks targeting government and diplomatic entities across the Middle East with a previously undocumented malware suite dubbed AshTag since 2020. Palo Alto Networks is tracking the activity cluster under the name Ashen Lepus. Artifacts uploaded to the VirusTotal platform show that the threat … Read More “WIRTE Leverages AshenLoader Sideloading to Install the AshTag Espionage Backdoor  – The Hacker News” »

Google on Wednesday shipped security updates for its Chrome browser to address three security flaws, including one it said has come under active exploitation in the wild. The vulnerability, rated high in severity, is being tracked under the Chromium issue tracker ID “466192044.” Unlike other disclosures, Google has opted to keep information about the CVE … Read More “Chrome Targeted by Active In-the-Wild Exploit Tied to Undisclosed High-Severity Flaw  – The Hacker News” »

Cybersecurity researchers at Blackpoint Cyber discovered a new, evasive CastleLoader malware variant using Python and ClickFix social engineering to deliver RATs and info-stealers directly from memory.  – Read More  – Hackread – Cybersecurity News, Data Breaches, AI, and More 

A high-severity unpatched security vulnerability in Gogs has come under active exploitation, with more than 700 compromised instances accessible over the internet, according to new findings from Wiz. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2025-8110 (CVSS score: 8.7), is a case of file overwrite in the file update API of the Go-based self-hosted Git service. A fix … Read More “Unpatched Gogs Zero-Day Exploited Across 700+ Instances Amid Active Attacks  – The Hacker News” »

Just when you thought there couldn’t be another type of cyber thief, they develop new and devious methods to steal valuable information and finances. Over the last few yearsthere has been an uptick in “SIM pharm” crimes. This form of crime has encompassed avariety of scams including theft of banking credentials, impersonation, investment fraud,and online … Read More “SIM Pharm Cyber crime Escalates in South Africa  – Da Vinci Cybersecurity: Leading Cyber Security Services in South Africa.” »

Huntress is warning of a new actively exploited vulnerability in Gladinet’s CentreStack and Triofox products stemming from the use of hard-coded cryptographic keys that have affected nine organizations so far. “Threat actors can potentially abuse this as a way to access the web.config file, opening the door for deserialization and remote code execution,” security researcher … Read More “Active Attacks Exploit Gladinet’s Hard-Coded Keys for Unauthorized Access and Code Execution  – The Hacker News” »

On this week’s show we learn that AI really can be a stalker’s best friend, as we explore a strange tale that starts with a manatee-shaped mailbox on a millionaire’s lawn and ends with Grok happily doxxing real people, mapping out stalking “strategies,” and handing out revenge-porn tips. Then we go inside the Louvre heist, … Read More “Smashing Security podcast #447: Grok the stalker, the Louvre heist, and Microsoft 365 mayhem  – Graham Cluley” »

Security experts have observed a steady increase in malicious activity from a widening pool of attackers seeking to exploit React2Shell, a critical vulnerability disclosed last week in React Server Components. Authorities are also responding to heightened concern about the defect, with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency shortening the deadline for agencies to patch the … Read More “Attacks pinned to critical React2Shell defect surge, surpass 50 confirmed victims  – CyberScoop” »

Bitdefender researchers warn that the torrent for Leonardo DiCaprio’s One Battle After Another is a trap deploying Agent Tesla malware. Learn how the fileless LOTL attack targets unsuspecting Windows users.  – Read More  – Hackread – Cybersecurity News, Data Breaches, AI, and More 

As the Trump administration considers loosening restrictions on the sale of high-performance computer chips that power modern artificial intelligence systems to China, his Department of Justice continues to prosecute businesses and individuals who sell or divert these same technologies to companies based in China.  On Monday, federal prosecutors announced that it had secured a guilty … Read More “As White House moves to send AI chips to China, Trump’s DOJ prosecutes chip smugglers  – CyberScoop” »

React2Shell continues to witness heavy exploitation, with threat actors leveraging the maximum-severity security flaw in React Server Components (RSC) to deliver cryptocurrency miners and an array of previously undocumented malware families, according to new findings from Huntress. This includes a Linux backdoor called PeerBlight, a reverse proxy tunnel named CowTunnel, and a Go-based  – Read … Read More “React2Shell Exploitation Delivers Crypto Miners and New Malware Across Multiple Sectors  – The Hacker News” »

New research has uncovered exploitation primitives in the .NET Framework that could be leveraged against enterprise-grade applications to achieve remote code execution. WatchTowr Labs, which has codenamed the “invalid cast vulnerability” SOAPwn, said the issue impacts Barracuda Service Center RMM, Ivanti Endpoint Manager (EPM), and Umbraco 8. But the number of affected vendors is likely … Read More “.NET SOAPwn Flaw Opens Door for File Writes and Remote Code Execution via Rogue WSDL  – The Hacker News” »

Sysdig discovered North Korea-linked EtherRAT, a stealthy new backdoor using Ethereum smart contracts for C2 after exploiting the critical React2Shell vulnerability (CVE-2025-55182).  – Read More  – Hackread – Cybersecurity News, Data Breaches, AI, and More 

Three security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) Integrity and Data Encryption (IDE) protocol specification that could expose a local attacker to serious risks. The flaws impact PCIe Base Specification Revision 5.0 and onwards in the protocol mechanism introduced by the IDE Engineering Change Notice (ECN), according to the PCI … Read More “Three PCIe Encryption Weaknesses Expose PCIe 5.0+ Systems to Faulty Data Handling  – The Hacker News” »

The Justice Department has charged a Ukrainian national with conducting cyberattacks on critical infrastructure worldwide as part of two Russian state-sponsored hacking operations that targeted water systems, food processing facilities and government networks across the United States and allied nations. Victoria Eduardovna Dubranova, 33, was arraigned on a second indictment Tuesday after being extradited to … Read More “US charges hacker tied to Russian groups that targeted water systems and meat plants  – CyberScoop” »

Remember when a notorious ransomware gang hit the Irish Health Service back in May 2021? Four years on, and it seems victims who had their data exposed will finally receive compensation. Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.  – Read More  – Graham Cluley 

Cloud security is changing. Attackers are no longer just breaking down the door; they are finding unlocked windows in your configurations, your identities, and your code. Standard security tools often miss these threats because they look like normal activity. To stop them, you need to see exactly how these attacks happen in the real world. … Read More “Webinar: How Attackers Exploit Cloud Misconfigurations Across AWS, AI Models, and Kubernetes  – The Hacker News” »

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday added a security flaw impacting the WinRAR file archiver and compression utility to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-6218 (CVSS score: 7.8), is a path traversal bug that could enable code execution. However, for exploitation  … Read More “Warning: WinRAR Vulnerability CVE-2025-6218 Under Active Attack by Multiple Threat Groups  – The Hacker News” »

For decades, the United States government and private sector have worked tirelessly to secure cyberspace, yet our nation remains frighteningly vulnerable to a litany of cyberthreats posed by cybercriminals and foreign adversaries alike. Daily news reports of cyber intrusions ranging from criminal ransomware attacks to foreign state-sponsored intrusions into power, water, and other critical infrastructure systems … Read More “The ten key reforms that can close America’s cybersecurity gaps  – CyberScoop” »

Ukrainian national Victoria Dubranova is in U.S. custody, accused of supporting Russian hacker group NoName057 in cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. She has pleaded not guilty.  – Read More  – Hackread – Cybersecurity News, Data Breaches, AI, and More 

Microsoft closed out 2025 with patches for 56 security flaws in various products across the Windows platform, including one vulnerability that has been actively exploited in the wild. Of the 56 flaws, three are rated Critical, and 53 are rated Important in severity. Two other defects are listed as publicly known at the time of … Read More “Microsoft Issues Security Fixes for 56 Flaws, Including Active Exploit and Two Zero-Days  – The Hacker News” »

Portugal updates its cybercrime law (Decree Law 125/2025) to grant ethical hackers a ‘safe harbour’ from prosecution. Learn the strict rules researchers must follow, including immediate disclosure to the CNCS, and how other nations are following this trend.  – Read More  – Hackread – Cybersecurity News, Data Breaches, AI, and More 

Fortinet, Ivanti, and SAP have moved to address critical security flaws in their products that, if successfully exploited, could result in an authentication bypass and code execution. The Fortinet vulnerabilities affect FortiOS, FortiWeb, FortiProxy, and FortiSwitchManager and relate to a case of improper verification of a cryptographic signature. They are tracked as CVE-2025-59718 and  – … Read More “Fortinet, Ivanti, and SAP Issue Urgent Patches for Authentication and Code Execution Flaws  – The Hacker News” »

Microsoft today pushed updates to fix at least 56 security flaws in its Windows operating systems and supported software. This final Patch Tuesday of 2025 tackles one zero-day bug that is already being exploited, as well as two publicly disclosed vulnerabilities. Despite releasing a lower-than-normal number of security updates these past few months, Microsoft patched … Read More “Microsoft Patch Tuesday, December 2025 Edition  – Krebs on Security” »

Synthetic media, including AI-generated deepfake audio and video, has been increasingly leveraged by criminals, scammers and spies to deceive individuals and businesses. Sometimes they do so by imitating an employee’s CEO, urging them to transfer large sums of money or provide them access to work accounts. Other times this fake media is created by a … Read More “Organizations can now buy cyber insurance that covers deepfakes  – CyberScoop” »

Ad fraud networks use bots, deepfakes and spoofed traffic to drain PPC budgets. This report shows how fake clicks distort performance data.  – Read More  – Hackread – Cybersecurity News, Data Breaches, Tech, AI, Crypto and More 

Varonis threat analysts warn about Spiderman, a dangerous new kit that automates attacks against European banks and crypto customers, stealing a victim’s full identity profile.  – Read More  – Hackread – Cybersecurity News, Data Breaches, Tech, AI, Crypto and More 

Microsoft addressed 57 vulnerabilities affecting its various products for business operations and core systems, including one actively exploited zero-day, the company said in its latest monthly security update. The zero-day vulnerability — CVE-2025-62221 — affects the Windows Cloud Files Mini Filter Driver and has a CVSS rating of 7.8. Attackers could exploit the use-after-free defect … Read More “Microsoft’s last Patch Tuesday of 2025 addresses 57 defects, including one zero-day  – CyberScoop” »

Threat actors with ties to North Korea have likely become the latest to exploit the recently disclosed critical security React2Shell flaw in React Server Components (RSC) to deliver a previously undocumented remote access trojan dubbed EtherRAT. “EtherRAT leverages Ethereum smart contracts for command-and-control (C2) resolution, deploys five independent Linux persistence mechanisms, and  – Read More  … Read More “North Korea-linked Actors Exploit React2Shell to Deploy New EtherRAT Malware  – The Hacker News” »

It’s the final patch Tuesday of 2025, but that doesn’t make it any less exciting. Put aside your holiday planning for just a moment as we review the latest security offering from Adobe and Microsoft. If you’d rather watch the full video recap covering the entire release, you can check out the Patch Report webcast … Read More “The December 2025 Security Update Review  – Zero Day Initiative – Blog” »

Europol and Eurojust led a massive international police operation that successfully dismantled a crypto fraud network that laundered over €700M using deepfake ads.  – Read More  – Hackread – Cybersecurity News, Data Breaches, Tech, AI, Crypto and More 

Four distinct threat activity clusters have been observed leveraging a malware loader known as CastleLoader, strengthening the previous assessment that the tool is offered to other threat actors under a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) model. The threat actor behind CastleLoader has been assigned the name GrayBravo by Recorded Future’s Insikt Group, which was previously tracking it as … Read More “Four Threat Clusters Using CastleLoader as GrayBravo Expands Its Malware Service Infrastructure  – The Hacker News” »

In episode 80 of The AI Fix, your hosts look at DeepSeek 3.2 “Speciale”, the bargain-basement model that claims GPT-5-level brains at 10% of the price, Jensen Huang’s reassuring vision of a robot fashion industry, and a 75kg T-800 style humanoid that can do flying kicks because robot-marketing departments have clearly learned nothing from Terminator. … Read More “The AI Fix #80: DeepSeek’s cheap GPT-5 rival, Antigravity fails, and why being rude to AI makes it smarter  – Graham Cluley” »

When you spend half a million dollars in a single night at a nightclub, purchase exotic cars worth millions, and rent mansions under false names, you are risking drawing attention to yourself… Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.  – Read More  – Graham Cluley