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Cybersecurity researchers have flagged the tactical similarities between the threat actors behind the RomCom RAT and a cluster that has been observed delivering a loader dubbed TransferLoader . Enterprise security firm Proofpoint is tracking the activity associated with TransferLoader to a group dubbed UNK_GreenSec and the RomCom RAT actors under the moniker TA829 . The latter is also known by the names CIGAR, Nebulous Mantis, Storm-0978, Tropical Scorpius, UAC-0180, UAT-5647, UNC2596, and Void Rabisu. The company said it discovered UNK_GreenSec as part of its investigation into TA829, describing it as using an "unusual amount of similar infrastructure, delivery tactics, landing pages, and email lure themes." TA829 is something of an unusual hacking group in the threat landscape given its ability to conduct both espionage as well as financially motivated attacks. The Russia-aligned hybrid group has also been linked to the zero-day exploitation of security flaws in Mozil...

A new study of integrated development environments (IDEs) like Microsoft Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, IntelliJ IDEA, and Cursor has revealed weaknesses in how they handle the extension verification process, ultimately enabling attackers to execute malicious code on developer machines. "We discovered that flawed verification checks in Visual Studio Code allow publishers to add functionality to extensions while maintaining the verified icon," OX Security researchers Nir Zadok and Moshe Siman Tov Bustan said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "This results in the potential for malicious extensions to appear verified and approved, creating a false sense of trust." Specifically, the analysis found that Visual Studio Code sends an HTTP POST request to the domain "marketplace.visualstudio[.]com" to determine if an extension is verified or otherwise. The exploitation method essentially involves creating a malicious extension with the same verifia...

Despite years of investment in Zero Trust, SSE, and endpoint protection, many enterprises are still leaving one critical layer exposed: the browser. It's where 85% of modern work now happens. It's also where copy/paste actions, unsanctioned GenAI usage, rogue extensions, and personal devices create a risk surface that most security stacks weren't designed to handle. For security leaders who know this blind spot exists but lack a roadmap to fix it, a new framework may help. The Secure Enterprise Browser Maturity Guide: Safeguarding the Last Mile of Enterprise Risk , authored by cybersecurity researcher Francis Odum, offers a pragmatic model to help CISOs and security teams assess, prioritize, and operationalize browser-layer security. It introduces a clear progression from basic visibility to real-time enforcement and ecosystem integration, built around real-world threats, organizational realities, and evolving user behavior. Why the Browser Has Become the Security Blind Spot Over ...

SaaS Adoption is Skyrocketing, Resilience Hasn't Kept Pace SaaS platforms have revolutionized how businesses operate. They simplify collaboration, accelerate deployment, and reduce the overhead of managing infrastructure. But with their rise comes a subtle, dangerous assumption: that the convenience of SaaS extends to resilience. It doesn't. These platforms weren't built with full-scale data protection in mind . Most follow a shared responsibility model — wherein the provider ensures uptime and application security, but the data inside is your responsibility. In a world of hybrid architectures, global teams, and relentless cyber threats, that responsibility is harder than ever to manage. Modern organizations are being stretched across: Hybrid and multi-cloud environments with decentralized data sprawl Complex integration layers between IaaS, SaaS, and legacy systems Expanding regulatory pressure with steeper penalties for noncompliance Escalating ransomware threats and inside...

Google has released security updates to address a vulnerability in its Chrome browser for which an exploit exists in the wild. The zero-day vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-6554 (CVSS score: N/A), has been described as a type confusing flaw in the V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine. "Type confusion in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 138.0.7204.96 allowed a remote attacker to perform arbitrary read/write via a crafted HTML page," according to a description of the bug on the NIST's National Vulnerability Database (NVD). Type confusion vulnerabilities can have severe consequences as they can be exploited to trigger unexpected software behavior, resulting in the execution of arbitrary code and program crashes. Zero-day bugs like this are especially risky because attackers often start using them before a fix is available. In real-world attacks, these flaws can let hackers install spyware, launch drive-by downloads, or quietly run harmful code — sometimes just by getting...

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Monday announced sweeping actions targeting the North Korean information technology (IT) worker scheme, leading to the arrest of one individual and the seizure of 29 financial accounts, 21 fraudulent websites, and nearly 200 computers. The coordinated action saw searches of 21 known or suspected "laptop farms" between June 10 and 17, 2025, across 14 states in the U.S. that were put to use by North Korean IT workers to remotely connect to victim networks via company-provided laptop computers.  "The North Korean actors were assisted by individuals in the United States, China, United Arab Emirates, and Taiwan, and successfully obtained employment with more than 100 U.S. companies," the DoJ said . The North Korean IT worker scheme has become one of the crucial cogs in the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK) revenue generation machine in a manner that bypasses international sanctions. The fraudulent operation...

Microsoft has said that it's ending support for passwords in its Authenticator app starting August 1, 2025. Microsoft's move is part of a much larger shift away from traditional password-based logins. The company said the changes are also meant to streamline autofill within its two-factor authentication (2FA) app, making the experience simpler and more secure. Over the past few years, Microsoft has been pushing for a passwordless future using technologies like passkeys , Windows Hello, and FIDO2-based authentication. These methods offer better protection against phishing and password reuse, which are still major attack vectors. While it may feel like a hassle at first, this change is actually aimed at reducing your risk in the long run. "Starting July 2025, the autofill feature in Authenticator will stop working, and from August 2025, passwords will no longer be accessible in Authenticator," Microsoft said in a support document for Authenticator. It's worth noti...

U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have issued a joint advisory warning of potential cyber attacks from Iranian state-sponsored or affiliated threat actors.  "Over the past several months, there has been increasing activity from hacktivists and Iranian government-affiliated actors, which is expected to escalate due to recent events," the agencies said . "These cyber actors often exploit targets of opportunity based on the use of unpatched or outdated software with known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures or the use of default or common passwords on internet-connected accounts and devices." There is currently no evidence of a coordinated campaign of malicious cyber activity in the U.S. that can be attributed to Iran, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), and the National Security Agency (NSA) noted. Emphasizing the need for "incr...

Europol on Monday announced the takedown of a cryptocurrency investment fraud ring that laundered €460 million ($540 million) from more than 5,000 victims across the world. The international effort, codenamed Operation Borrelli, was carried out by the Spanish Guardia Civil, along with support from law enforcement authorities from Estonia, France, and the United States. Europol said the investigation into the syndicate started in 2023. In addition, the five alleged suspects behind the cryptocurrency scam were arrested on June 25, 2025. Three of the arrests took place in the Canary Islands, while two others were apprehended from Madrid. "To carry out their fraudulent activities, the leaders of the criminal network allegedly used a net of associates spread around the world to raise funds through cash withdrawals, bank transfers, and crypto-transfers," Europol said . These types of scams often follow a pattern known as cryptocurrency confidence or romance baiting (formerly ...

The threat actor known as Blind Eagle has been attributed with high confidence to the use of the Russian bulletproof hosting service Proton66 . Trustwave SpiderLabs, in a report published last week, said it was able to make this connection by pivoting from Proton66-linked digital assets, leading to the discovery of an active threat cluster that leverages Visual Basic Script (VBS) files as its initial attack vector and installs off-the-shelf remote access trojans (RATS). Many threat actors rely on bulletpro While Visual Basic Script (VBS) might seem outdated, it's still a of hosting providers like Proton66 because these services intentionally ignore abuse reports and legal takedown requests. This makes it easier for attackers to run phishing sites, command-and-control servers, and malware delivery systems without interruption. The cybersecurity company said it identified a set of domains with a similar naming pattern (e.g., gfast.duckdns[.]org, njfast.duckdns[.]org) beginning i...

Identity-based attacks are on the rise. Attacks in which malicious actors assume the identity of an entity to easily gain access to resources and sensitive data have been increasing in number and frequency over the last few years. Some recent reports estimate that 83% of attacks involve compromised secrets . According to reports such as the Verizon DBIR , attackers are more commonly using stolen credentials to gain their initial foothold, rather than exploiting a vulnerability or misconfiguration. Attackers are not just after human identities that they can assume, though. More commonly, they are after Non-Human Identities (NHIs), which outnumber human identities in the enterprise by at least 50 to one . Unlike humans, machines have no good way to achieve multi-factor authentication, and we, for the most part, have been relying on credentials alone, in the form of API keys, bearer tokens, and JWTs.  Traditionally, identity and access management (IAM) has been built on the idea of...

Ever wonder what happens when attackers don't break the rules—they just follow them better than we do? When systems work exactly as they're built to, but that "by design" behavior quietly opens the door to risk? This week brings stories that make you stop and rethink what's truly under control. It's not always about a broken firewall or missed patch—it's about the small choices, default settings, and shortcuts that feel harmless until they're not. The real surprise? Sometimes the threat doesn't come from outside—it's baked right into how things are set up. Dive in to see what's quietly shaping today's security challenges. ⚡ Threat of the Week FBI Warns of Scattered Spider's on Airlines — The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned of a new set of attacks mounted by the notorious cybercrime group Scattered Spider targeting the airline sector using sophisticated social engineering techniques to obtain initial access. Cybersecurity vendors Palo Alto Networks Unit 4...

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has revealed that it has observed the notorious cybercrime group Scattered Spider broadening its targeting footprint to strike the airline sector. To that end, the agency said it's actively working with aviation and industry partners to combat the activity and help victims. "These actors rely on social engineering techniques, often impersonating employees or contractors to deceive IT help desks into granting access," the FBI said in a post on X. "These techniques frequently involve methods to bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA), such as convincing help desk services to add unauthorized MFA devices to compromised accounts." Scattered Spider attacks are also known to target third-party IT providers to obtain access to large organizations, putting trusted vendors and contractors at risk of potential attacks. The attacks typically pave the way for data theft, extortion, and ransomware. In a statement shared ...