ransomware | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

A law enforcement operation coordinated by INTERPOL has led to the recovery of $3 million and the arrest of 574 suspects by authorities from 19 countries, amidst a continued crackdown on cybercrime networks in Africa. The coordinated effort, named Operation Sentinel, took place between October 27 and November 27, 2025, and mainly focused on business email compromise (BEC), digital extortion, and ransomware on the continent. Participating nations included Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Over the course of the initiative, more than 6,000 malicious links were taken down and six distinct ransomware variants were decrypted. The names of the ransomware families were not disclosed. The investigated incidents were linked to estimated financial losses exceeding $21 million, INTERPOL added. Multiple suspects have been arr...

Cyber threats last week showed how attackers no longer need big hacks to cause big damage. They're going after the everyday tools we trust most — firewalls, browser add-ons, and even smart TVs — turning small cracks into serious breaches. The real danger now isn't just one major attack, but hundreds of quiet ones using the software and devices already inside our networks. Each trusted system can become an entry point if it's left unpatched or overlooked. Here's a clear look at the week's biggest risks, from exploited network flaws to new global campaigns and fast-moving vulnerabilities. ⚡ Threat of the Week Flaws in Multiple Network Security Products Come Under Attack — Over the past week, Fortinet , SonicWall , Cisco , and WatchGuard said vulnerabilities in their products have been exploited by threat actors in real-world attacks. Cisco said attacks exploiting CVE-2025-20393, a critical flaw in AsyncOS, have been abused by a China-nexus advanced persistent threat (APT) actor cod...

Authorities in Nigeria have announced the arrest of three "high-profile internet fraud suspects" who are alleged to have been involved in phishing attacks targeting major corporations, including the main developer behind the RaccoonO365 phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) scheme. The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF–NCCC) said investigations conducted in collaboration with Microsoft and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led to the identification of Okitipi Samuel, also known as Moses Felix, as the principal suspect and developer of the phishing infrastructure. "Investigations reveal that he operated a Telegram channel through which phishing links were sold in exchange for cryptocurrency and hosted fraudulent login portals on Cloudflare using stolen or fraudulently obtained email credentials," the NPF said in a post shared on social media. In addition, laptops, mobile devices, and other digital equipment linked to the operation have been se...

This week's ThreatsDay Bulletin tracks how attackers keep reshaping old tools and finding new angles in familiar systems. Small changes in tactics are stacking up fast, and each one hints at where the next big breach could come from. From shifting infrastructures to clever social hooks, the week's activity shows just how fluid the threat landscape has become. Here's the full rundown of what moved in the cyber world this week.

The threat actor linked to Operation ForumTroll has been attributed to a fresh set of phishing attacks targeting individuals within Russia, according to Kaspersky. The Russian cybersecurity vendor said it detected the new activity in October 2025. The origins of the threat actor are presently unknown. "While the spring cyberattacks focused on organizations, the fall campaign honed in on specific individuals: scholars in the field of political science, international relations, and global economics, working at major Russian universities and research institutions," security researcher Georgy Kucherin said . Operation ForumTroll refers to a series of sophisticated phishing attacks exploiting a then-zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome (CVE-2025-2783) to deliver the LeetAgent backdoor and a spyware implant known as Dante. The latest attack wave also commences with emails that claimed to be from eLibrary, a Russian scientific electronic library, with the messages sent f...

If you use a smartphone, browse the web, or unzip files on your computer, you are in the crosshairs this week. Hackers are currently exploiting critical flaws in the daily software we all rely on—and in some cases, they started attacking before a fix was even ready. Below, we list the urgent updates you need to install right now to stop these active threats. ⚡ Threat of the Week Apple and Google Release Fixes for Actively Exploited Flaws — Apple released security updates for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, visionOS, and Safari web browser to address two zero-days that the company said have been exploited in highly targeted attacks. CVE-2025-14174 has been described as a memory corruption issue, while the second, CVE-2025-43529, is a use-after-free bug. They can both be exploited using maliciously crafted web content to execute arbitrary code. CVE-2025-14174 was also addressed by Google in its Chrome browser since it resides in its open-source Almost Native Graphics Layer Engi...

The pro-Russian hacktivist group known as CyberVolk (aka GLORIAMIST) has resurfaced with a new ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) offering called VolkLocker that suffers from implementation lapses in test artifacts, allowing users to decrypt files without paying an extortion fee. According to SentinelOne, VolkLocker (aka CyberVolk 2.x) emerged in August 2025 and is capable of targeting both Windows and Linux systems. It's written in Golang. "Operators building new VolkLocker payloads must provide a bitcoin address, Telegram bot token ID, Telegram chat ID, encryption deadline, desired file extension, and self-destruct options," security researcher Jim Walter said in a report published last week. Once launched, the ransomware attempts to escalate privileges, performs reconnaissance and system enumeration, including checking local MAC address prefixes against known virtualization vendors like Oracle and VMware. In the next stage, it lists all available drives and determin...

This week's cyber stories show how fast the online world can turn risky. Hackers are sneaking malware into movie downloads, browser add-ons, and even software updates people trust. Tech giants and governments are racing to plug new holes while arguing over privacy and control. And researchers keep uncovering just how much of our digital life is still wide open. The new Threatsday Bulletin brings it all together—big hacks, quiet exploits, bold arrests, and smart discoveries that explain where cyber threats are headed next. It's your quick, plain-spoken look at the week's biggest security moves before they become tomorrow's headlines. Maritime IoT under siege Mirai-Based Broadside Botnet Exploits TBK DVR Flaw A new Mirai botnet variant dubbed Broadside has been exploiting a critical-severity vulnerability in TBK DVR ( CVE-2024-3721 ) in attacks targeting the maritime logistics sector. "Unlike previous Mirai variants, Broadside e...

The threat actor known as Storm-0249 is likely shifting from its role as an initial access broker to adopt a combination of more advanced tactics like domain spoofing, DLL side-loading, and fileless PowerShell execution to facilitate ransomware attacks. "These methods allow them to bypass defenses, infiltrate networks, maintain persistence, and operate undetected, raising serious concerns for security teams," ReliaQuest said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Storm-0249 is the moniker assigned by Microsoft to an initial access broker that has sold footholds into organizations to other cybercrime groups, including ransomware and extortion actors like Storm-0501 . It was first highlighted by the tech giant in September 2024. Then, earlier this year, Microsoft also revealed details of a phishing campaign mounted by the threat actor that used tax-related themes to target users in the U.S. ahead of the tax filing season and infect them with Latrodectus and the BruteR...

Canadian organizations have emerged as the focus of a targeted cyber campaign orchestrated by a threat activity cluster known as STAC6565 . Cybersecurity company Sophos said it investigated almost 40 intrusions linked to the threat actor between February 2024 and August 2025. The campaign is assessed with high confidence to share overlaps with a hacking group known as Gold Blade , which is also tracked under the names Earth Kapre, RedCurl, and Red Wolf. The financially motivated threat actor is believed to be active since late 2018 , initially targeting entities in Russia, before expanding its focus to entities in Canada, Germany, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, Ukraine, the U.K., and the U.S. The group has a history of using phishing emails to conduct commercial espionage. However, recent attack waves have found RedCurl to have engaged in ransomware attacks using a bespoke malware strain dubbed QWCrypt . One of the notable tools in the threat actor's arsenal is RedLoader, which s...

It's been a week of chaos in code and calm in headlines. A bug that broke the internet's favorite framework, hackers chasing AI tools, fake apps stealing cash, and record-breaking cyberattacks — all within days. If you blink, you'll miss how fast the threat map is changing. New flaws are being found, published, and exploited in hours instead of weeks. AI-powered tools meant to help developers are quickly becoming new attack surfaces. Criminal groups are recycling old tricks with fresh disguises — fake apps, fake alerts, and fake trust. Meanwhile, defenders are racing to patch systems, block massive DDoS waves, and uncover spy campaigns hiding quietly inside networks. The fight is constant, the pace relentless. For a deeper look at these stories, plus new cybersecurity tools and upcoming expert webinars, check out the full ThreatsDay Bulletin. ⚡ Threat of the Week Max Severity React Flaw Comes Under Attack — A critical security flaw impacting React Server Components (RSC) has ...

Think your Wi-Fi is safe? Your coding tools? Or even your favorite financial apps? This week proves again how hackers, companies, and governments are all locked in a nonstop race to outsmart each other. Here's a quick rundown of the latest cyber stories that show how fast the game keeps changing. DeFi exploit drains funds Critical yETH Exploit Used to Steal $9M A critical exploit targeting Yearn Finance's yETH pool on Ethereum has been exploited by unknown threat actors, resulting in the theft of approximately $9 million from the protocol. The attack is said to have abused a flaw in how the protocol manages its internal accounting, stemming from the fact that a cache containing calculated values to save on gas fees was never cleared when the pool was completely emptied. "The attacker achieved this by minting an astronomical number of tokens – 235 septillion yETH (a 41-digit number) – while depositing only 16 wei, worth approxim...

Hackers aren't kicking down the door anymore. They just use the same tools we use every day — code packages, cloud accounts, email, chat, phones, and "trusted" partners — and turn them against us. One bad download can leak your keys. One weak vendor can expose many customers at once. One guest invite, one link on a phone, one bug in a common tool, and suddenly your mail, chats, repos, and servers are in play. Every story below is a reminder that your "safe" tools might be the real weak spot. ⚡ Threat of the Week Shai-Hulud Returns with More Aggression — The npm registry was targeted a second time by a self-replicating worm that went by the moniker "Sha1-Hulud: The Second Coming," affecting over 800 packages and 27,000 GitHub repositories. Like in the previous iteration, the main objective was to steal sensitive data like API keys, cloud credentials, and npm and GitHub authentication information, and facilitate deeper supply chain compromise in a worm-like fashion. Th...

Hackers have been busy again this week. From fake voice calls and AI-powered malware to huge money-laundering busts and new scams, there's a lot happening in the cyber world. Criminals are getting creative — using smart tricks to steal data, sound real, and hide in plain sight. But they're not the only ones moving fast. Governments and security teams are fighting back, shutting down fake networks, banning risky projects, and tightening digital defenses. Here's a quick look at what's making waves this week — the biggest hacks, the new threats, and the wins worth knowing about. Mirai-based malware resurfaces with new IoT campaign ShadowV2 Botnet Continues to Target IoT Devices The threat actors behind the Mirai-based ShadowV2 botnet have been observed infecting IoT devices across industries and continents. The campaign is said to have been active only during the Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage in late October 2025. It's assessed ...

Gainsight has disclosed that the recent suspicious activity targeting its applications has affected more customers than previously thought. The company said Salesforce initially provided a list of 3 impacted customers and that it has "expanded to a larger list" as of November 21, 2025. It did not reveal the exact number of customers who were impacted, but its CEO, Chuck Ganapathi, said "we presently know of only a handful of customers who had their data affected." The development comes as Salesforce warned of detected "unusual activity" related to Gainsight-published applications connected to the platform, prompting the company to revoke all access and refresh tokens associated with them. The breach has been claimed by a notorious cybercrime group known as ShinyHunters (aka Bling Libra). A number of other precautionary steps have been enacted to contain the incident. This includes Zendesk, Gong.io, and HubSpot temporarily suspending their Gainsight...

South Korea's financial sector has been targeted by what has been described as a sophisticated supply chain attack that led to the deployment of Qilin ransomware. "This operation combined the capabilities of a major Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) group, Qilin, with potential involvement from North Korean state-affiliated actors (Moonstone Sleet), leveraging Managed Service Provider (MSP) compromise as the initial access vector," Bitdefender said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Qilin has emerged as one of the most active ransomware operations this year, with the RaaS crew exhibiting "explosive growth" in the month of October 2025 by claiming over 180 victims . The group is responsible for 29% of all ransomware attacks, per data from NCC Group . The Romanian cybersecurity company said it decided to dig deeper after uncovering an unusual spike in ransomware victims from South Korea in September 2025, when it became the second-most affected countr...