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Threat actors are continuing to upload malicious packages to the npm registry so as to tamper with already-installed local versions of legitimate libraries and execute malicious code in what's seen as a sneakier attempt to stage a software supply chain attack. The newly discovered package, named pdf-to-office , masquerades as a utility for converting PDF files to Microsoft Word documents. But, in reality, it harbors features to inject malicious code into cryptocurrency wallet software associated with Atomic Wallet and Exodus. "Effectively, a victim who tried to send crypto funds to another crypto wallet would have the intended wallet destination address swapped out for one belonging to the malicious actor," ReversingLabs researcher Lucija Valentić said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The npm package in question was first published on March 24, 2025, and has received three updates since then but not before the previous versions were likely removed by the a...

Overview of the PlayPraetor Masquerading Party Variants CTM360 has now identified a much larger extent of the ongoing Play Praetor campaign. What started with 6000+ URLs of a very specific banking attack has now grown to 16,000+ with multiple variants. This research is ongoing, and much more is expected to be discovered in the coming days.  As before, all the newly discovered play impersonations are mimicking legitimate app listings, deceiving users into installing malicious Android applications or exposing sensitive personal information. While these incidents initially appeared to be isolated, further investigation has revealed a globally coordinated campaign that poses a significant threat to the integrity of the Play Store ecosystem. Evolution of the Threat This report expands on the earlier research into PlayPraetor, highlighting the discovery of five newly identified variants. These variants reveal the campaign’s increasing sophistication in terms of attack techniques, ...

AI agents have rapidly evolved from experimental technology to essential business tools. The OWASP framework explicitly recognizes that Non-Human Identities play a key role in agentic AI security. Their analysis highlights how these autonomous software entities can make decisions, chain complex actions together, and operate continuously without human intervention. They're no longer just tools, but an integral and significant part of your organization's workforce. Consider this reality: Today's AI agents can analyze customer data, generate reports, manage system resources, and even deploy code, all without a human clicking a single button. This shift represents both tremendous opportunity and unprecedented risk. AI Agents are only as secure as their NHIs Here's what security leaders are not necessarily considering: AI agents don't operate in isolation . To function, they need access to data, systems, and resources. This highly privileged, often overlooked acces...

The Russia-linked threat actor known as Gamaredon (aka Shuckworm) has been attributed to a cyber attack targeting a foreign military mission based in Ukraine with an aim to deliver an updated version of a known malware called GammaSteel. The group targeted the military mission of a Western country, per the Symantec Threat Hunter team, with first signs of the malicious activity detected on February 26, 2025. "The initial infection vector used by the attackers appears to have been an infected removable drive," the Broadcom-owned threat intelligence division said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The attack started with the creation of a Windows Registry value under the UserAssist key, followed by launching "mshta.exe" using "explorer.exe" to initiate a multi-stage infection chain and launch two files. The first file, named "NTUSER.DAT.TMContainer00000000000000000001.regtrans-ms," is used to establish communications with a command-and...

Law enforcement authorities have announced that they tracked down the customers of the SmokeLoader malware and detained at least five individuals. "In a coordinated series of actions , customers of the Smokeloader pay-per-install botnet, operated by the actor known as 'Superstar,' faced consequences such as arrests, house searches, arrest warrants or 'knock and talks,'" Europol said in a statement. Superstar is alleged to have run a pay-per-install service that enabled its customers to gain unauthorized access to victim machines, using the loader as a conduit to deploy next-stage payloads of their choice. According to the European law enforcement agency, the access afforded by the botnet was used for various purposes such as keylogging, webcam access, ransomware deployment, and cryptocurrency mining. The latest action, part of an ongoing coordinated exercise called Operation Endgame , which led to the dismantling of online infrastructure associated with...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of an artificial intelligence (AI) powered platform called AkiraBot that's used to spam website chats, comment sections, and contact forms to promote dubious search engine optimization (SEO) services such as Akira and ServicewrapGO. "AkiraBot has targeted more than 400,000 websites and successfully spammed at least 80,000 websites since September 2024," SentinelOne researchers Alex Delamotte and Jim Walter said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "The bot uses OpenAI to generate custom outreach messages based on the purpose of the website." Targets of the activity include contact forms and chat widgets present in small to medium-sized business websites, with the framework sharing spam content generated using OpenAI's large language models (LLMs). What makes the "sprawling" Python-based tool stand apart is its ability to craft content such that it can bypass spam filters. It's believe...