Ransomware protection for MSPs: A 6-point checklist for faster recovery
Ransomware resilience requires more than backups or endpoint detection alone. Acronis outlines six capabilities MSPs should test across client environments, from reducing exposure and detecting attacks to preserving recovery points and restoring operations quickly. [...]
Stronger Security Drives Ransomware Groups to Recruit From Within
Some security researchers have observed an uptick in insider-assisted ransomware attacks, but malicious insiders pose other threats that cost companies millions.
Berlin confirms data theft after Rhysida ransomware attack claims
Berlin's city administration has confirmed that cybercriminals are attempting to extort the city after the Rhysida ransomware gang listed it on their data leak site. [...]
Aurora Ransomware Operators Use Cursor AI in Attacks Against 10 Targets
Threat actors associated with Aurora (aka Aur0ra) ransomware have been observed using SpaceX's artificial intelligence (AI)-powered coding assistant Cursor to break into target networks, according to findings from CloudSEK and Gambit Security. The two independent analyses are based on exposed infrastructure associated with the Russian-speaking cybercrime group, leading to the…
Android 17 Adds OS-Wide ECH to Hide Website Visits From Network Providers
Google on Thursday announced new network security protections in Android 17 to bolster connection privacy, address cellular vulnerabilities, and safeguard the privacy of users' home networks. Topping the list is support for Encrypted Client Hello (ECH), a privacy standard that prevents networks from eavesdropping on which websites a user is visiting. "This new privacy standard…
Tricky 'SynkLoader' Multitool May Herald Ransomware
An advanced, multilingual malware family brings back a trick from yesteryear — screen hijacking — for effective password theft, along with a slew of novel features.
South Korean startup platform breach exposes key management failures
A breach at South Korea's government-backed startup platform exposed encrypted personal data after an encryption key was included in an API. Penta Security explains why encryption keys must be securely managed and kept separate from the data they protect. [...]
WordlistLoader Delivers Amatera via ClickFix, SynkLoader Phishes Windows Passwords
Cybersecurity researchers have flagged two new malware families called WordlistLoader and SynkLoader that's used to deliver next-stage payloads and likely sell access to ransomware groups. According to findings from Gen Digital, WordlistLoader is being used to deliver Amatera Stealer (aka ACR Stealer or AcridRain Stealer) via ClearFake campaigns, which employ the ClickFix (aka…
Encrypted Prompts Bypass AI Safety Guardrails in Grok and Gemini
Researchers say the new ‘Cryptographic Context Injection’ technique conceals malicious instructions until they are decrypted inside a trusted execution environment. The post Encrypted Prompts Bypass AI Safety Guardrails in Grok and Gemini appeared first on SecurityWeek .
Hardware Makers Implement Post-Quantum Cryptography as Security Threats Near
The coming threat of super-powerful computers capable of cracking today’s algorithms requires upgrading encryption now. Tech companies have begun building defenses.
Rogue ransomware affiliate poses as recovery firm to steal payments
A suspected ransomware affiliate is posing as a ransomware recovery service called "Ransom Busters," contacting the victims before the attacks become public and claiming to be able to provide decryption keys and delete stolen data for a fee. [...]
CISA: Medusa ransomware hit over 500 critical infrastructure orgs
The FBI said Tuesday that the Medusa ransomware gang has breached more than 500 critical infrastructure organizations in the United States since June 2021. [...]
Clop created custom web shell for Windchill data theft attacks
A custom Java web shell likely linked to the Clop ransomware gang was designed specifically for PTC Windchill and FlexPLM servers, with built-in features to decrypt credentials, enumerate file repositories, and steal files. [...]
Ransom Busters Claims It Hacked Ransomware Servers, Asks Victims for Up to $60,000
A ransomware affiliate calling itself Ransom Busters has been spotted proactively sending emails to victim organizations and claims to delete stolen data from ransomware groups' servers in exchange for a fee ranging from $20,000 to $60,000. "In these messages, the third-party offers to help the victim recover from ransomware attack. This immediately stands out as anomalous,"…
'Ransom Busters': Ransomware Actor Poses as Incident-Recovery Service
A ransomware affiliate appears to be sidling up to victims with offers of aid, masking its true intention of diverting ransom payments.
Philips and GE investigating Clop ransomware data theft claims
Tech giants General Electric (GE) and Philips have also confirmed they're investigating claims that the Clop ransomware gang breached their systems and stole data. [...]
Shell investigates 'potential incident' after Clop data theft claims
Oil giant Shell has confirmed it is investigating a potential security incident after the Clop ransomware gang claimed it stole 89GB of data. [...]
Akira hackers disable EDR with Safe Mode, steal data but fail to encrypt
An Akira ransomware affiliate disabled the endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution on a compromised system by restarting the machine into Safe Mode with Networking. [...]
Ransomware Hits Colombian Justice Ministry Days Before Presidential Transition
Attackers continue to target critical infrastructure and government-linked organizations in the country, mirroring the increased activity across Latin America.
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google API Flaw Let Weaker AI Models Decode Stronger Models' Reasoning
A newly disclosed flaw in the way OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google carried hidden AI reasoning between API calls let researchers recover internal reasoning and secrets from session logs, including API keys and passwords. The weakness affected encrypted reasoning objects used by the providers' reasoning APIs, where a block created in one session could be replayed into another and,…
DeadLock ransomware uses blockchain to resist infrastructure takedown
The DeadLock ransomware operation is using a decentralized infrastructure that relies on blockchain-backed services to protect its communication with victims and data-leak activity. [...]
Mozilla Revokes Firefox and Thunderbird Linux Signing Key After Key Lands in Private Repo
Mozilla has scrapped the cryptographic key behind Firefox and Thunderbird downloads for Linux after an unencrypted copy of it was committed by mistake to one of the company's own private code repositories. That key is how a user, or a Linux distribution packaging the browser, confirms a downloaded Firefox tarball came from Mozilla and was not tampered with. That decision…
US and South Korea warn of Gunra ransomware targeting govt agencies
U.S. federal agencies and South Korea's National Policy Agency warned government and critical infrastructure organizations worldwide to secure their systems against Gunra ransomware attacks. [...]
New StormEncryptor ransomware used by former Medusa affiliate
A financially motivated threat actor previously associated with the Medusa ransomware operation is now deploying a new ransomware strain called StormEncryptor. [...]
China-Linked Hackers Deploy New StormEncryptor Ransomware, Likely via N-central Flaw
Microsoft has disclosed that Storm-1175, a financially motivated threat actor linked to China, has deployed a previously undocumented ransomware strain called StormEncryptor. The use of StormEncryptor marks a shift from the adversary's previous use of Medusa ransomware, the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Team said. "StormEncryptor is written in C++ and appends the file name…
Python Now Has a Post-Quantum Encryption Library
This is good : Post-quantum cryptography is now one pip-install away for the entire Python ecosystem. With funding from the Sovereign Tech Agency , we implemented support for ML-KEM, the NIST-standard key-establishment primitive, and ML-DSA, the NIST-standard digital-signature primitive, in pyca/cryptography. Remember, the reason to do this now is because there’s no…
Ransom Cartel Creator Gets 16 Years in Prison for Operating Ransomware-as-a-Service
A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, sentenced Maksim Silnikau to 16 years in prison on August 5 for creating and running Ransom Cartel, the ransomware-as-a-service operation he stood up in 2021. Between 2021 and 2023, Ransom Cartel conspirators attacked at least 18 companies, including firms in California, New York and Nebraska, and others abroad, according to the Justice…
Ransom Cartel ransomware creator sentenced to 16 years in prison
Maksim Silnikau, the creator and administrator of the Ransom Cartel ransomware operation, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in ransomware attacks against at least 18 companies worldwide. [...]
River Bank Says Hackers Deleted Data Stolen in Ransomware Attack
The bank holding company was hacked in June, but the investigation into the incident continues. The post River Bank Says Hackers Deleted Data Stolen in Ransomware Attack appeared first on SecurityWeek .
HollowFrame Loader Deploys Matryoshka Backdoor in Spear-Phishing Attack on Law Firm
Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a previously undocumented Go-based loader framework called HollowFrame and a Rust-based malware family tracked as Matryoshka. According to Blackpoint Cyber, the intrusion sequence begins with a spear-phishing message containing a link to an encrypted archive, which holds a Windows Shortcut (LNK). Executing the file triggers a…
ESET tracks rise in malicious AI skills and adaptable malware
Attackers are adapting established techniques to AI platforms, emerging technologies, and changing user behavior. ESET's new threat report examines the rise of malicious AI skills, AI-assisted malware, ClickFix attacks, record quishing activity, and ransomware tools designed to disable security software. [...]
Microsoft Teams vishing attacks lead to Chaos ransomware attacks
Threat actors are impersonating IT support staff in Microsoft Teams calls to gain remote access to corporate devices and deploy Chaos ransomware in attacks targeting North American organizations. [...]
Coca-Cola confirms data theft in Fairlife ransomware attack
The Coca-Cola Company has confirmed that hackers stole data from its dairy subsidiary, Fairlife, during a ransomware attack earlier this month. [...]
Coca-Cola Confirms Data Breach After Fairlife Ransomware Attack
The Anubis cybercrime group has taken credit for the attack and is threatening to leak data. The post Coca-Cola Confirms Data Breach After Fairlife Ransomware Attack appeared first on SecurityWeek .
DevMan RaaS Portal Centralizes Payload Builds, Victim Management, and Affiliate Payouts
The operators of the DevMan ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) scheme are maintaining a dedicated web platform that offers affiliates the ability to build payloads, oversee earnings, and manage various aspects related to victims. Swiss cybersecurity company PRODAFT is tracking the centrally administered RaaS operation under the name Funky Mantis. "The portal combined build…
Clop ransomware targets Windchill, FlexPLM in data theft attacks
The Clop ransomware gang (also tracked as Cl0p) is targeting Internet-exposed PTC Windchill and FlexPLM instances in a new data theft extortion campaign. [...]
Chaos Ransomware Uses msaRAT to Route C2 Traffic Through Headless Chrome and Edge
The Chaos ransomware group ran its command-and-control through the victim's own browser. Cisco Talos on Thursday detailed msaRAT, the Rust implant behind it, found on a compromised Windows machine ahead of the encryptor. The implant never opens an outbound connection of its own.
End-to-End Encryption and “Going Dark”
New paper: “ Encryption and Globalization 15 Years Later: End-to-End Encryption and the Third Round of the ‘Going Dark’ Debate “: Abstract : This Article updates and expands on 2012 research on encryption and globalization, analyzing what the authors call “Round 3” of the Going Dark Debate: the current controversies over end-to-end…
New msaRAT malware uses Chrome, Edge browsers to route C2 traffic
The Chaos ransomware gang is using a new backdoor dubbed msaRAT that hides command-and-control (C2) communication by routing it through the Chrome or Edge browsers. [...]
Ransomware Attack Puts a Chill on Japanese Frozen-Food Chain
A cyberattack on a food and logistics firm disrupts the supply of frozen food to thousands of clients, including major franchises like Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Swiss rail giant Stadler rejects $12.3M ransom demand after cyberattack
Swiss rail vehicle manufacturer Stadler Rail says the Everest ransomware gang demanded about $12.3 million after breaching a data exchange platform shared with one of its suppliers. [...]
How enterprise GenAI can amplify ransomware risk — and how to contain it
Enterprise AI can accelerate ransomware attacks when AI assistants and agents inherit excessive permissions or compromised identities. Acronis explains how identity controls, governance, and least-privilege access help reduce AI-enabled ransomware risk while supporting secure AI adoption. [...]
Ransomware Is Accelerating, but It's Not Because of AI
Researchers pointed to fragmentation of the ransomware ecosystem, the emergence of new attackers, and expansion of attacks on less defended organizations.
JadePuffer agentic attacks now target AI model data with ransomware
The JadePuffer autonomous AI agent has upgraded with custom malware called EncForge that focuses on encrypting AI assets, such as training datasets, vector databases, and model checkpoints. [...]
Details of Alan Turing’s Voice Encryption System
Really interesting piece of cryptographic history : In November 2023, a large cache of his wartime papers—nicknamed the “Bayley papers”—was auctioned in London for almost half a million U.S. dollars. The previously unknown cache contains many sheets in Turing’s own handwriting, telling of his top-secret “Delilah” engineering project…
Armenia Detains Russian Tourist on U.S. Warrant for REvil Hacker, Lawyers Say Wrong Man
Armenia has held a Russian tourist named Aleksandr Ermakov in a detention center since June 28, on a U.S. extradition request for a REvil ransomware suspect named Aleksandr Ermakov. His wife, Maria Yurova, told REN TV that border officers pulled him out of the departure hall at Yerevan's Zvartnots airport, held up a phone with a photo of him off his VKontakte page, and walked…
Coca-Cola says Fairlife ransomware attack halts US dairy production
The Coca-Cola Company disclosed today that a ransomware attack impacting its Fairlife dairy subsidiary has disrupted operations, temporarily suspending production of Fairlife products across the United States. [...]
ThreatsDay: Game Cheat Spyware, 24-Hour Ransomware, Chrome Sync Stalking + 12 More Stories
A lot of this week’s trouble starts with something that looks close enough. A familiar repo. A useful installer.
New Spirals ransomware encrypts victim network in under 24 hours
A new ransomware actor called Spirals completed a corporate intrusion, from initial access to data theft and encryption, in less than 24 hours. [...]
US charges alleged operators of Russian bulletproof hosting service
U.S. federal prosecutors have unsealed charges against three Russian nationals, accusing them of providing bulletproof hosting (BPH) services to ransomware gangs that caused over $62 million in damages to victims worldwide. [...]
US sanctions VPN, malware providers for enabling ransomware attacks
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two individuals and one entity for enabling ransomware attacks against U.S. organizations.
U.S. Sanctions First VPN Service and Malware Cryptor Seller Over Ransomware Support
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated two individuals and a VPN service provider for enabling ransomware actors' and other cybercriminals' malicious activities, including ransomware attacks against Americans. The VPN, named First VPN Service (1VPNS), has been accused of offering its tools to ransomware groups, along with its…
⚡ Weekly Recap: ShareFile Threat, Citrix Bleed 2 Ransomware, AI Coding Attacks, and More
Somewhere right now, a security tool is quietly finding bugs faster than any human can fix them. That's supposed to be the good news. The catch is that the attackers have the same tools, pointed the other way, and they don't file tickets.
Ryuk ransomware member pleads guilty in the US, faces 15 years in prison
A 34-year-old Armenian man has pleaded guilty to hacking U.S. companies and deploying the infamous Ryuk ransomware to encrypt their systems. [...]
New MODBEACON RAT Uses gRPC Streaming for Encrypted C2 Traffic
The China-linked cybercrime group known as Silver Fox has been attributed to a new Rust-based remote access trojan (RAR) called MODBEACON. Chinese cybersecurity company QiAnXin said that while the threat cluster may appear like a low-sophistication, high-activity operation that propagates malware via counterfeit installers using SEO poisoning techniques, it belies their true…
Study of 281 Free Android VPN Apps Finds Traffic Leaks, Unencrypted Data, and Tracking
Researchers ran 281 of the most popular free VPN apps on the Google Play Store through a new testing system and found that many fail at the basics people install a VPN for, i.e., keeping their traffic private and secure. The apps flagged with at least one problem have been installed more than 2.4 billion times. The problems are basic, not sophisticated.
Former ransomware negotiator gets 4 years for BlackCat attacks
A former employee of cybersecurity incident response company DigitalMint was sentenced to 70 months in prison for targeting U.S. companies in BlackCat (ALPHV) ransomware attacks. [...]
Ransomware Negotiator Gets 70 Months in Prison for Aiding BlackCat Attacks
A 41-year-old former ransomware negotiator has been sentenced to nearly six years (i.e., 70 months) in prison in the U.S. for their role in conspiring with the now-defunct BlackCat ransomware operators to extort multiple victims and working with two other cybersecurity professionals to target additional victims in 2023. In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors described…
New GigaWiper Windows Backdoor Bundles Disk Wiping, Fake Ransomware, and Spyware
Microsoft has taken apart a destructive Windows backdoor it calls GigaWiper. What stands out is how it is built: not one tool but three older destructive programs bolted into one, offered as commands the operator can choose from. Each is a different way to break a machine: wipe the whole disk, overwrite the Windows drive, or run fake "ransomware" that scrambles files with a…
GodDamn Ransomware Uses PoisonX Driver to Disable Endpoint Defenses
Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new ransomware family called GodDamn that employs the PoisonX kernel driver to neutralize security software as part of its defense evasion strategy. According to a new report published by the Threat Hunter Team from Symantec, the ransomware was first publicly spotted in the wild on May 21, 2026. It's assessed to be a rebrand of the…
'GodDamn' Ransomware Uses BYOVD to Smite US Companies
Microsoft signed a malicious kernel driver, and now it's being used to kill security software in ransomware attacks.