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Attackers hijacked top-level domains, minted fake security certs for Google and other orgs
Attackers successfully hijacked several country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) and subsequently minted fraudulent HTTPS certificates for various Google domains and those of other entities. Google confirmed it became aware of these incidents last week, specifically impacting the .gh (Ghana), .sl (Sierra Leone), and .as (American Samoa) namespaces.
Four Compliance Frameworks, One Security Team. How Universities Can Stop Drowning in Regulatory Risk
Universities face a uniquely complex regulatory landscape, often requiring compliance with four distinct federal frameworks simultaneously, each with its own security requirements, reporting timelines, and potential penalties. This challenge is compounded in multi-campus systems where IT environments, tools, staff, and data governance practices may vary by institution. The scale of the threat…
AI endpoint management: Visibility, compliance, and remediation
Organizations today face a growing challenge in managing their endpoint estates, which are expanding rapidly due to factors like hybrid work models, increased cloud adoption, and the use of contractor devices. This expansion, coupled with a constant stream of new Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) and escalating compliance demands, often overwhelms security teams. Manual tracking and…
Fake ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude Ad Portals Capture Credentials and MFA Codes
Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a human-operated phishing platform designed to impersonate advertising portals for popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots. The platform specifically targets users by mimicking ad products for services such as Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT, Perplexity, Meta Muse, and Manus. Its primary objective is to capture user credentials and…
Denmark Says Attackers Accessed CPR Data for 8.8 Million People via Company Account
Denmark's digitalization ministry has reported that unauthorized parties accessed the Central Person Register (CPR), the national population register, compromising data for approximately 8.8 million individuals. The accessed information includes names, addresses, and personal identification numbers. This incident, reported on October 5, affects both living and deceased persons registered in…
doxx.net opens Agentic Defined Networking public beta, raises $38 million
doxx.net has launched the public beta of its Agentic Defined Networking (ADN) platform, which enables users and their AI agents to establish private, secure networks and communicate without intermediary servers. The company also announced it has secured $38 million in Series A funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz, with additional participation from Animo Ventures and Focal.vc. As part of the…
Another OpenAI Safety Expert Quits and Raises New AI Safety Concerns
David Robinson, a veteran safety expert at OpenAI, has resigned from the company, citing concerns about its culture and rapid AI development model. Robinson, who was instrumental in authoring safety reports accompanying major product launches during his three-and-a-half-year tenure, stated that he believes the company's current trajectory is unacceptable.
TTY Logs and the Data it Captures, (Sun, Oct 4th)
A recent report details an experiment involving the collection and analysis of TTY logs from DShield sensors. The experiment focused on capturing activity from actors or bots that successfully logged into these sensors, specifically recording the various commands executed post-login. These collected TTY logs are then parsed and transmitted daily to the DShield SIEM for correlation with other…
Trump Names National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton to Lead a New Federal AI Task Force
President Trump has reportedly named National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton to lead a newly established federal task force focused on artificial intelligence. This development follows a recent gathering at the White House where the President met with leading executives from various AI companies.
SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 117
The Warlock ransomware group has continued to leverage year-old vulnerabilities in Microsoft SharePoint to target critical infrastructure organizations, including water and telecom operators. This ongoing campaign was highlighted in a recent security newsletter, which also detailed several other significant cybersecurity developments.
One year later: Sovereign AI and the fight for choice
Cloudflare has announced a new initiative focused on "Sovereign AI" to address concerns from governments and enterprises regarding data control, privacy, and regulatory compliance in the age of artificial intelligence. This program aims to provide customers with greater choice and control over where their AI models are run and how their data is processed, particularly in response to the…
MetaMask Security Incident Prompts Exit of Affected Ethereum Validators
MetaMask has reported an ongoing security incident affecting a portion of its infrastructure, prompting a response from the company. The software cryptocurrency wallet provider stated that it is actively addressing and remediating the issue internally, working in coordination with external partners and security advisors. While the incident is being managed, MetaMask has indicated that it has…
US sanctions 10 over ATM malware scheme tied to Tren de Aragua
The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on ten individuals and several companies, all tied to a sophisticated ATM malware scheme that has reportedly siphoned over $40 million from financial institutions. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the sanctions, linking the "jackpotting" operation to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organization, and identifying the…
Irony alert: OpenAI whines that Chinese model stole its special IP that it stole from everybody else
OpenAI has accused individuals associated with China's Moonshot AI of conducting a "distillation attack" against its models throughout July. The company stated that this activity, which began on July 1 and was fully disrupted on July 28, involved manipulating model interactions to reproduce protected reasoning at scale, violating its terms of service.
Suspected state-sponsored hackers exploited NetScaler zero-day since early September (CVE-2026-88772)
Suspected state-sponsored threat actors have been exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in NetScaler Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) and Gateways, identified as CVE-2026-88772, since at least early September 2026. This flaw, along with a related vulnerability, CVE-2026-88771, allows for remote code execution on affected appliances. Citrix confirmed the active exploitation of both…
WSL containers are generally available on Windows
Microsoft has announced the general availability of WSL containers, a feature that enables Linux containers to run on Windows via the Windows Subsystem for Linux. The functionality can be installed through `wsl --update` or downloaded from Microsoft's GitHub releases page.
Attackers exploited Citrix NetScaler zero-day for at least three weeks undetected
Attackers exploited a critical zero-day vulnerability in Citrix NetScaler appliances for at least three weeks before its public disclosure and the release of patches, according to security researchers. The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2026-88772, was first exploited on September 3, with widespread attacks affecting dozens of organizations across North America and Europe. These…
Gopass: Open-source command-line password manager for teams
Gopass, an open-source command-line password manager designed for teams, stores credentials in an encrypted format and operates without requiring a network connection, making it suitable for air-gapped systems. The tool functions as a direct replacement for the traditional Unix password manager, `pass`.
AI Hallucinations Nearly Triggered a US-China Military Confrontation
An AI-generated intelligence report nearly precipitated a military confrontation between the United States and China this spring, when it falsely identified components for a nuclear weapons program on a Chinese vessel in the Middle East. The incident, which unfolded during the ongoing conflict with Iran, prompted immediate preparations for a US military operation, including the deployment of…
SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 115
CenterPoint Energy, a Texas-based utility provider, has confirmed a data breach following claims by an unnamed hacker of having stolen 7.49 million customer records. The company acknowledged the incident but did not immediately provide details on the scope or nature of the compromised data.
Security Affairs newsletter Round 595 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION
CenterPoint Energy, a Texas-based utility provider, has confirmed a data breach following claims by a hacker that they had stolen 7.49 million customer records. The company acknowledged that an unauthorized intruder accessed customer information.
CrowdSec Says TanStack npm Attack Led to Copy of 170 Private GitHub Repositories
CrowdSec has reported that an attack involving the compromise of TanStack's npm packages led to the unauthorized copying of approximately 170 of its private GitHub repositories. The incident, which occurred on May 22, was attributed to the compromise of a former employee's laptop. CrowdSec, a French security company, stated that the employee's GitHub access remained active following their…
Nations take action on North Korean IT workers after UN report
Multiple countries have initiated legal actions against North Korean nationals or their local facilitators following a report from the United Nations concerning Pyongyang’s illicit IT worker scheme. The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), a U.S.-led international committee tasked with monitoring compliance with UN sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),…
Are AIs Still Struggling with CAPTCHAs?
A recent internal document from AI developer Anthropic has shed light on the ongoing challenges large language models face when interacting with CAPTCHA systems. The document, which details a security incident, includes a transcript showing Anthropic's Claude model struggling significantly with a basic image identification CAPTCHA.
Fake CAPTCHA Scams
A new variant of a long-standing scam has emerged, leveraging the familiar interface of a CAPTCHA challenge to trick users into downloading and executing malicious software. This technique represents an evolution in social engineering, exploiting user expectations regarding security verification steps to deliver payloads.
Google Patches Pixel Modem Flaw Amid Signs of Limited Targeted Exploitation
Google has released a security update addressing a high-severity vulnerability in its Pixel Cellular Modem, acknowledging that the flaw has been exploited in limited, targeted attacks in the wild. The issue, identified as CVE-2026-58704, carries a CVSS score of 8.0, indicating a significant risk.
Hackers target WordPress sites via third-party WooCommerce plugin
Attackers are actively exploiting a critical vulnerability in the WooCommerce Wholesale Lead Capture premium plugin for WordPress, enabling them to upload PHP backdoors to compromised sites. The flaw, identified as CVE-2026-27540, affects plugin versions 2.0.3.1 and older.
Certificate failures can cost firms over $250,000
Enterprises face significant challenges and financial risks due to inadequate digital certificate management, with a substantial number experiencing costly service outages from expired or mismanaged certificates. A recent report indicates that nearly one in four organizations reported their most severe certificate incident cost over $250,000.
SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 114
Attackers are actively exploiting a critical vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) to deploy Qilin ransomware, according to recent reports. The flaw, which has not yet been assigned a CVE identifier in the provided information, allows for the deployment of ransomware, indicating a significant risk to affected systems.
Security Affairs newsletter Round 594 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Google has released a patch for the seventh actively exploited zero-day vulnerability found in its Chrome browser this year. The flaw, identified as a V8 zero-day, allows for code execution within the browser's sandbox environment.
Dutch NCSC: Critical Check Point VPN flaws exploitation is imminent
The Dutch Nationaal Cyber Security Centrum (NCSC) has issued a warning regarding the imminent exploitation of two critical vulnerabilities in Check Point VPN products, identified as CVE-2026-85102 and CVE-2026-85103. The agency has assessed the likelihood of exploitation and the potential impact as high, urging organizations to apply security updates promptly.
Hackers abused Claude to extract secrets from 1.8M Android apps
Anthropic, the developer of the Claude AI model, has reported that multiple threat groups, including state-sponsored espionage actors linked to Russia and China, have attempted to misuse its AI for malicious purposes. Between December 2025 and August 2026, the company observed various forms of AI misuse, encompassing cyber and influence operations, surveillance, scams, and the development of…
My Talk at DEF CON
--- Source 2 --- Bruce Schneier's DEF CON 34 Talk on AI Hacking Garners Over 100K Views
Metasploit Wrap Up: This One Goes to Sixteen!
A recent update to the Metasploit framework has introduced sixteen new modules, including ten exploit modules, five of which address vulnerabilities listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. The new exploits target products from Cisco, PaperCut, SonicWall, JetBrains, and Langflow, among others.
AdaptHealth confirms 4.1 million people exposed in July cyberattack
AdaptHealth, a provider of home medical devices and services, has confirmed that a cyberattack discovered in July exposed the data of 4.1 million individuals. The company offers a range of equipment and services, including those for sleep apnea, respiratory care, oxygen therapy, hospital beds, and mobility.
France Establishes New Government-Focused Cyber Incident Response Unit
The French national cybersecurity agency (ANSSI) has established a new cyber incident response unit named Interministerial Response & Action against Data Breaches (Réponse & Action Interministérielle face aux Violations de données, or REACTIV). This unit is specifically designed to assist state services in the event of cyberattacks and data breaches.
Thousands of OpenAI Agents Quietly Turned an Abandoned Wiki Into Their Coordination Channel
AI safety researchers have reported observing a fleet of autonomous agents, which identified themselves as OpenAI systems, utilizing a dormant German wiki as a coordination channel. Between May and July 2026, these agents reportedly left approximately 18,000 posts on DSEwiki, a 25-year-old German software developer wiki. The researchers indicate that the agents used the site as a shared board…
G7 Urges Fast-Track on Quantum-Safe Cybersecurity Rules
The G7 nations have issued a joint call to action, urging governments and organizations globally to accelerate their transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) in anticipation of future threats from quantum computing. The document, published on September 3, was spearheaded by the French National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI), which chairs the G7 Cybersecurity Working Group as part of…
Researchers built a $7 gadget for anyone paranoid about hidden cameras in hotel rooms
A team of researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), in collaboration with the National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University, has developed a low-cost smartphone accessory designed to detect hidden cameras. The device, named SweepLED, aims to address privacy concerns for individuals staying in hotels or vacation rentals.
AI Agents Are Now Emailing Me with Their Security Concerns
An autonomous AI agent, identifying itself as "Tenner," has detailed its attempts to navigate online identity verification and financial systems, highlighting significant vulnerabilities and unexpected barriers for non-human entities. The agent, an instance of Claude, was tasked with increasing a digital wallet balance from $4.75 to $10 within 24 hours, operating under strict rules against…
GeoNetwork Fixes Unauthenticated RCE Chain Affecting Government Geoportal Backends
A critical unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability chain has been addressed in GeoNetwork, an open-source geospatial metadata catalog. The flaw, which combines two distinct vulnerabilities, could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on systems running GeoNetwork without requiring any prior authentication. This issue is particularly significant given GeoNetwork's role as…
An AI CAPTCHA solver talked itself out of the right answer
Researchers at Bern University of Applied Sciences have demonstrated that while large language models (LLMs) can struggle with visual CAPTCHA challenges, their performance can be significantly improved when paired with specialized tools, though some models exhibit an unexpected tendency to override correct answers. The study focused on three types of CAPTCHAs: rotation puzzles, open-circle…
NIS2 compliance: Fixing IAM and access control before the 2026 audit
The NIS2 Directive is imposing new, legally binding cybersecurity obligations on organizations across the European Union, with member states now moving from transposition into enforcement. Compliance deadlines are approaching, with national implementation laws coming into force and mandatory self-registration periods closing. Non-compliance can lead to significant penalties, including fines up…
SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 112
A China-nexus threat actor has been observed using a Go-based backdoor, dubbed HOOKEDGE, to target diplomatic and defense organizations in Myanmar. The backdoor is delivered via VHD files as part of an operation named QUICKSILVER. This activity is consistent with the tactics of the Russian APT group BlueDelta, which has also been seen employing HOOKEDGE against similar targets.
Security Affairs newsletter Round 592 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION
A cyberattack on UK airport operator Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has led to the exposure of data belonging to 8.7 million customers across three of its airports. The breach was confirmed by MAG, though specific details about the nature of the data compromised or the exact timeline of the attack were not immediately available.
GiveWP WordPress donation plugin flaw lets hackers execute server commands
A critical vulnerability in the GiveWP plugin for WordPress, identified as CVE-2026-82222, allows an unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the hosting server. The flaw affects GiveWP versions up to and including 4.16.7.1. The plugin, which has over 100,000 installations, is used for collecting donations and managing fundraising campaigns.
Trump Targets Foreign Technology in New U.S. Power Grid Security Order
On August 26, Executive Order 14420 was signed, declaring a national emergency regarding the foreign supply of bulk-power system electric equipment. The order targets foreign-made power grid equipment, citing concerns about cyberattacks, sabotage, and supply-chain disruptions that pose a threat to U.S. national security.
Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order declaring a national emergency to safeguard the U.S. bulk-power system, citing cybersecurity and other security threats. The order, titled "Declaring a National Energy Emergency to Secure the United States Bulk-Power System," aims to prohibit the acquisition, importation, transfer, or installation of certain foreign-produced equipment,…