Cybercrime | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced fresh sanctions on Iranian cyber actors as part of what it called an "unprecedented, whole-of-government, economic campaign" against the nation and its enablers. "We are launching an economic onslaught against Iran's financial connections around the globe. Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone," said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. The action, codenamed Operation Economic Outcast, aims to cut the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the financial "lifelines" that support the "leading state sponsor of terror." To that end, the sanctions designate nearly 60 Iran-linked entities, individuals, and vessels across nuclear, missile, oil, and cyber networks, including the digital assets sector. Specifically, the sanctions take aim at a malicious cyber group affiliated with Iran...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new campaign that uses a cluster of 24 npm packages as free phishing infrastructure for redirecting to ClickFix-style fake CAPTCHA pages. "While the malware is simply a single HTML page inside the npm package, and while downloading it wouldn't do harm, the threat actor’s use of npm isn't to infect developers who install it, but to use the registry and its mirrors as a safe, validated storage for the malware," OX Security researchers Moshe Siman Tov Bustan and Vitalii Chepurko said . The list of npm packages, some of which are still available for download, is below - bgzxcuite2 prezdentkxheiw egair0810 mnteckets airdzticket egypt0811 passport811 vxhjkseuiaqkb ndmushdkeqe ndmxchdjxn2 ndmfguyhoxc3 mjsdqwocvn m2fcsfyjkuxb m3fdfocdoewn @worrisome/reutil testdgdbcsd tesgfvbncsdbcv mndsxcusiwlk1 mn2adskhweox mn3sadkoiewu mn4xcouzvhus mbxcnsuwgs1 s...

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a new campaign that employs FTP banners as dead drop resolvers ( DDRs ) to deliver two previously unreported remote access trojans (RATs) tracked as E4del and PINHOLE . While threat actors are known to abuse legitimate services to point to additional command-and-control (C2) infrastructure and blend in with regular network traffic, the development marks the first time this unusual technique has been spotted in the wild. An FTP banner is a welcome message or text string that an FTP server sends to a client immediately upon connection. The mechanism allows "malware stagers to fetch commands directly from the protocol's initial response," SOCRadar said in a technical report. The modus operandi was first highlighted by the MalwareHunterTeam early last month.  However, it's worth noting that the method is a lot less stealthy than traditional web-based DDRs, as security controls are likely to flag FTP connections ...

Cybersecurity researchers have found that several websites are still actively distributing a malware family known as Weedhack to gamers by masquerading as Minecraft clients. McAfee Labs said it detected and blocked more than 6,300 attempts to access malicious sites, adding that it found lookalike gaming websites designed to mimic legitimate projects, including branding, feature lists, FAQs, installation guides, developer credits, and links to genuine GitHub repositories. Notably, one of the sites has been built using Lovable , an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered website builder, highlighting how readily available tools can further lower the barrier and make it easier to launch convincing new malicious sites. Weedhack was first documented by the cybersecurity company back in June 2026, detailing its use of SEO poisoning and YouTube to redirect traffic to the bogus domains. The attack triggers a multi-stage sequence that culminates in the deployment of JAR payloads that can ...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a Chinese-speaking cybercrime group dubbed UAT-10147 that's targeting Windows and Linux web servers globally across the education, media, technology, and gaming sectors. The vast majority of the targets are located in Brazil, Bolivia, China, Canada, and Vietnam. Details of the threat activity came to light following the discovery of an open directory hosted at "139.180.197[.]150," which was observed communicating with one of the compromised machines. "The actor leveraged publicly disclosed vulnerabilities to gain initial access at scale," Cisco Talos said in a two-part report published last week. The actor employed a mixture of open-source offensive frameworks, including Metasploit , ysoserial , PentestGPT , DeepAudit, and multiple privilege escalation exploits to automate intrusion operations and establish persistence." UAT-10147 has been described as a threat actor that conducts search engine op...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a set of trojanized npm packages that masquerade as working calendar and streak utilities but are engineered to stealthily deliver an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Linux implant dubbed RedC2 4.0. "When the module loads, it locates the bundled binary, marks it executable, and launches it as a detached background process," TrendAI, Trend Micro's enterprise cybersecurity business, said in a report published Thursday. "No install hook function call is needed; a single import anywhere in the dependency graph, even a transitive one, is enough to execute the payload." The list of identified packages is below - streak-metrics-math@1.0.0,1.0.1 kit-map-vim@1.0.0 streak-map-cache@1.0.0 streak-map-kit@1.0.0 map-streak-kit@1.0.0 streak-cache-map@1.0.0 streak-calc-metrics@1.0.0 streak-calc-math@1.0.0 streak-math-abz@1.0.0 streak-metricsaz@1.0.0 streak-math-metrics@1.0.0 streak-metrica...

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new malware family that's specifically designed to infect Android-based vehicle head unit firmware developed by DoFun. Kaspersky, which discovered the threat in June 2026, said the end goal of the malware is to serve a multi-stage downloader to enable ad fraud and creation of a proxy botnet. "The malware spread through the built-in updaters of Android-based automotive head unit firmware," security researcher Dmitry Kalinin said. "This is the first documented case of malware found on a car head unit with an infection chain specific to that type of device." The activity has been attributed with high confidence to the MoYu Group , which was outed by the HUMAN Satori Threat Intelligence and Research team last year as part of a broader ad fraud and residential proxy scheme dubbed BADBOX. In July 2025, Google filed a lawsuit against 25 unnamed individuals or entities in China for allegedly operating the BADBOX botnet a...

A lot of this week’s trouble starts with something trusted doing exactly what it was allowed to do. Signed drivers get turned against defenses. Legitimate apps help malware blend in. A weak header check opens a path to code execution. Elsewhere, exposed systems, old bugs, odd hiding tricks, and AI-assisted exploit research keep lowering the effort needed to cause damage. Nothing here needs much decoration. The small gaps are doing enough work already. The threats change every week. Subscribe, and we’ll alert you when each new ThreatsDay Bulletin is out.

A new Android threat codenamed Manic has been observed actively targeting Ukrainian banks, government and identity services, and messaging applications, as well as Russian and European financial institutions, global fintech and cryptocurrency services, and military-focused communications. "Manic sits at the intersection of Android banking malware and mobile spyware, combining financial-fraud capabilities with broader surveillance and device-control features," ThreatFabric said in a technical report shared with The Hacker News. The malware, besides targeting sensitive applications and enabling extensive device takeover, introduces a novel Wi‑Fi mesh technique that makes it possible for the infected devices to relay data through nearby compromised devices with internet access. It's distributed via phishing sites and dropper apps impersonating utilities. The Dutch security company said the malware family's activity dates back to February 2026, when the first dom...

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on an updated version of ToxicPanda (aka TgToxic) that comes with "significant enhancements," including a set of 167 remote commands and expands its targeting footprint globally. Zimperium zLabs, in a Wednesday report , said the Android malware also features a PIN harvesting workflow targeting more than 140 banking and cryptocurrency applications. ToxicPanda is known to be active in the wild since at least July 2022. "By abusing the Android accessibility service, threat actors can steal every UI element on the screen, alongside an overlay-based credential theft mechanism targeting 349 financial institutions [across 16 countries], compared to the previous version, which targeted only 16 banking applications, the latest iteration demonstrates a significant expansion in targeting scope and capabilities," security researcher Vishnu Pratapagiri said. The new version also fleshes out some of the previously unimplemented c...

A set of 40 Mozilla Firefox extensions has been found to engage in cryptocurrency wallet theft by masquerading as OKX, Rabby Wallet, TronLink, and other Web3 products. According to the Socket Threat Research team, the extensions are part of a broader set of 77 browser add-ons that share source code and infrastructure overlaps. The campaign, dubbed Offside Wallet Theft Factory , is believed to have been active since March 2026. The activity has not been attributed to any known threat actor or group. "Extension-level analysis confirms 40 as malicious," security researcher Kirill Boychenko said . "Another 37 form a coordinated multi-sport score-shell operation. Their analyzed builds contain no confirmed credential- or wallet-stealing payloads, but their deceptive functionality, shared publishing artifacts, and version histories indicate malicious intent." Among those 40 extensions, seven use threat actor-controlled Supabase projects as remote switches to server ...

Cybersecurity researchers at Hunt.io have disclosed details of a campaign that they say compromised more than 14,530 Dahua devices between June 17 and July 22, 2026, using credential attacks, two authentication-bypass flaws, and a peer-to-peer (P2P) relay technique. The activity, codenamed Operation CameraSwarm , was reconstructed from a 407 MB exposed working directory containing 2,616 files across 234 subdirectories, including tooling, logs, shell history, and campaign records, with the researchers saying confirmed compromises were concentrated in Ukraine and Russia. The researchers said 1,923 cameras were configured with a persistent account during the operation and 283 were reached through the P2P path. Users of affected Dahua products are advised to install the corresponding fix software or newer firmware, while ITRES Labs recommends disabling P2P where it is not required and checking firmware against the vendor's download site. "The relay establishes the route w...

Most email defenses still do the job they did a decade ago. Scan the message, look for something malicious, block it. That worked when the danger sat in the payload, a bad link or an attachment. It stopped working when the danger moved into the message's intent, and it is failing now that the sender is no longer a person. From Bad Content to Bad Intent to AI on Both Sides Phishing 1.0 was bad content. Malicious links, infected attachments, spam. Secure email gateways were built for this. Scan the message, match the signature, drop the bad stuff. That era is largely handled. Phishing 2.0 is bad intent. Business email compromise, executive impersonation, fake invoices, wire fraud. There is no malicious payload to scan, only social engineering that reads as a normal request from a person you trust. Gateways are blind to it because there is nothing in the content to flag. Behavioral analysis is the only thing that catches it, which is why some of us have spent the better part ...

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a global cybercrime operation that abuses thousands of hacked WordPress websites as infrastructure to disseminate malware, commandeer infected hosts, store stolen documents, screenshots, and activity logs created to track the status of the activity. "The operation doesn't rely on a single piece of malware, but on a whole toolkit of criminal software working together – some components encrypt files, others silently steal documents or lock the screen, and another acts as a live chat between the attackers and their victims," Check Point Research's Jaromír Hořejší said . The large-scale campaign is being tracked by the cybersecurity company under the moniker StopAndProtect after discovering a ransomware family of the same name in mid-May 2026. The infection chain begins with a ClickFix social engineering attack, resulting in the execution of a PowerShell command that leads to the deployment of additional .NET downloaders and l...

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," GuidePoint Research and Intelligence Team (GRIT) said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "While cybersecurity firms commonly reach out to ransomware victims to offer consulting or recovery services, it is generally done only after the attack becomes public knowledge." The cybersecurity company said it has responded to several recent ransomware incidents involving the threat actor, who is believed to be an affiliate with employment across multiple ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operations. In emails sent to the victims, Ransom Busters is seen requesting contact with their CEO o...

SafePal has disclosed that an authorization flaw in an order-tracking plug-in exposed the names, email addresses, shipping addresses, phone numbers, and purchase details of approximately 39,798 customers. The hardware wallet maker said all affected customers were notified individually by email on August 16 from security@safepal.com, with the subject line "[Important] Your SafePal Order Information Has Been Affected." The exposed records did not include wallet credentials or financial information, according to SafePal, which said it has found no evidence that the incident itself compromised access to SafePal wallets or funds. "This incident did not involve your seed phrase, private keys, wallet password, or other wallet credentials, bank account information, payment card numbers, or government-issued identification numbers," SafePal said . Under certain conditions, the flaw allowed unauthorized access to another customer's order information, the company ...

Threat actors are acquiring expired domains to inherit website traffic and reputation to redirect victims to scams and malware on a large scale. DNS threat intelligence firm Infoblox has given the name dropcatch domains to those that get a second chance, where an expired domain becomes available for registration and is then snapped up by another party. During the first half of 2026, 50,400 dropcatch domains were re-registered each day in the generic top-level domains (gTLDs) like ".com" alone, a figure that jumps to around 65,000 when country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) are taken into consideration. These account for nearly 20% of all daily gTLD and ccTLD registrations, meaning one out of five newly registered domains is a dropcatch domain. "These domains can be particularly interesting, even dangerous, because they inherit reputation and sometimes connections from their previous life," Infoblox said in an exhaustive three-part report shared with The Ha...

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a large-scale, global recruitment-themed phishing campaign that uses fake interview scheduling pages and Browser-in-the-Browser (BitB) windows to steal Google and Facebook credentials and, in more advanced cases, relay multi-factor authentication (MFA) prompts in real time. CTM360, which detailed the activity in a new report titled RecruitTrap , said it identified more than 3,000+ phishing URLs over two months. The campaign impersonated real recruiters and recruitment processes associated with more than 50 organizations across 14 sectors . Marketing professionals accounted for the majority of observed targets. The focus on marketing roles appears deliberate. Compromised marketing accounts can provide access to advertising platforms, corporate social media profiles, customer data, email, and other business-critical services. Read the full report here: https://www.ctm360.com/reports/recruittrap-browser-in-the-browser-bitb-recruitment-scam...

A new White House memo signed by U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed the National Coordination Center (NCC) to establish a program that would allow private sector companies to take advantage of their "innovative capabilities" to break into foreign Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and disrupt them. "By partnering with vetted United States companies subject to the direction and oversight of the Federal Government, we will enhance our ability to counter TCO threats and combat transnational cybercrime, fraud, and other predatory schemes against American citizens," the memo reads . To that end, the NCC has been tasked with setting up a program within 60 days that allows authorized companies to conduct two types of operations against TCOs upon obtaining approval: cyber surveillance operations, which can access sensitive data without authorization from the owner or operator, and cyber effects operations, which can result in disruption, denial, degrad...

Some weeks have one big security story. Others bring many smaller updates that are easy to miss but still matter. This week has plenty of them, covering cloud services, AI tools, malware, data breaches, scams, and new attack methods. The latest ThreatsDay Bulletin puts all of these short updates in one place, so you can quickly catch up on what happened, what changed, and what security teams should know. The threats change every week. Subscribe, and we’ll alert you when each new ThreatsDay Bulletin is out.