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WhatsApp on Monday officially announced the start of global reservations of usernames with an aim to protect the privacy of more than three billion users on the messaging platform. The optional feature is designed to help users connect with someone on the service through usernames, as opposed to directly sharing their phone numbers. Username reservations will start rolling out starting today, enabling users to create and reserve a username before the feature becomes generally available later this year. "You choose your own, and it doesn't have to match your handle on any other app," the Meta-owned messaging app said in a statement shared with The Hacker News ahead of publication. "At its core, it's a privacy feature, not a social media handle – there's no directory to browse and no suggestions, so people need to know your exact username to contact you for the first time." As it goes without saying, choosing a username should be unique and can b...

Microsoft has found a malicious Chrome extension that posed as the AI search engine Perplexity and quietly logged what people searched for. It routed every query and every character typed into the address bar through an attacker-controlled server before redirecting users to real results. Microsoft says Google removed it from the store after responsible disclosure. The extension was called "Search for perplexity ai" (ID flkebkiofojicogddingbdmcmkpbplcd) and used a look-alike domain, perplexity-ai[.]online, to pass for the real service at perplexity.ai. Microsoft's Defender research team  says the point was to intercept searches and collect data. It found no proof of password theft, but far more access than a search box should ever need. Once installed, the extension sets itself as the browser's default search engine. When you searched, the query went first to perplexity-ai[.]online, where the attacker's server logged it with your browser headers, IP address,...

Apple on Monday released security updates for iOS, macOS, and the Safari web browser to address over three dozen flaws, including four vulnerabilities in WebKit that were discovered using artificial intelligence (AI) tools like Anthropic Claude and OpenAI Codex Security. The WebKit vulnerabilities are listed below - CVE-2026-43707 - A memory corruption issue that could result in an unexpected process crash when processing maliciously crafted web content. It was addressed with improved memory handling. CVE-2026-43716 - An unspecified issue that could result in an unexpected Safari crash when processing maliciously crafted web content. It was addressed with improved memory handling. CVE-2026-43745 - An out-of-bounds write issue that could result in an unexpected Safari crash when processing maliciously crafted web content. It was addressed with improved input validation. CVE-2026-43715 - A use-after-free issue that could result in memory corruption when processing m...

The China-aligned espionage group  Mustang Panda  is running two campaigns against the Indian government and hydropower targets, deploying new malware and turning a legitimate cloud service into its command channel. Acronis Threat Research Unit  found active compromises inside Indian government networks, including machines used by senior administrative staff, and worked with  CERT-In  on notification and cleanup. The malware abuses  Zoho WorkDrive , a cloud storage platform common in India's government sector, to pass commands and exfiltrate data. That is the whole idea: the traffic looks like ordinary cloud activity, so it hides inside the network it is stealing from. Acronis names three new tools. SHARDLOADER is a loader that runs by sideloading a malicious DLL through a legitimately signed binary, a Solid PDF Creator executable in one campaign, and a Citrix Receiver binary in the other. It deploys one of two implants. MINIRECON is a rewor...

This week was a reminder that attackers do not always need big tricks. One small mistake, one old access path, one missed patch, and suddenly the door is open. The noise is not all noise, either. Forums are talking, researchers are finding easy cracks, and defenders have more cleanup waiting. Here’s the full Monday recap. ⚡ Threat of the Week New DirtyClone Linux Kernel Flaw Lets Local Users Gain Root via Cloned Packets — Cybersecurity researchers detailed a new variant of the Dirty Frag Linux kernel flaw. Called DirtyClone (aka CVE-2026-43503), it allows local users to gain root privileges via cloned packets. The exploit works successfully on Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora systems with default namespace configurations. "Any local user on a server or device running a vulnerable kernel who holds or can acquire the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability (frequently obtainable via unprivileged user namespaces) [is exploitable]," JFrog said. "This poses the highest risk to multi-te...