-->
#1 Trusted Cybersecurity News Platform
Followed by 5.70+ million
The Hacker News Logo
Get the Latest News
cybersecurity

Search results for Hack unit | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

The NSA Hack — What, When, Where, How, Who & Why?

The NSA Hack — What, When, Where, How, Who & Why?

Aug 17, 2016
You might have heard about the recent ongoing drama of NSA hack that has sparked a larger debate on the Internet concerning abilities of US intelligence agencies as well as their own security. Saturday morning the news broke that a mysterious group of hackers calling themselves "The Shadow Brokers" claimed it hacked an NSA-linked group and released some NSA hacking tools with a promise to sell more private "cyber weapons" to the highest bidder. The group dumped a bunch of private hacking tools from " Equation Group " – an elite cyber attack unit linked to the NSA – on GitHub and Tumblr. The Shadow Brokers hacking group has published the leaked data in two parts; one includes many hacking tools designed to inject malware into various servers and another encrypted file containing the "best files" that they made available for sale for 1 Million Bitcoins. However, GitHub deleted the files from its page, not due to any government pressur...
Iran-Linked Hackers Breach FBI Director’s Personal Email, Hit Stryker With Wiper Attack

Iran-Linked Hackers Breach FBI Director’s Personal Email, Hit Stryker With Wiper Attack

Mar 28, 2026 Hacktivism / Critical Infrastructure
Threat actors with ties to Iran successfully broke into the personal email account of Kash Patel, the director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and leaked a cache of photos and other documents to the internet. Handala Hack Team , which carried out the breach, said on its website that Patel "will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims." In a statement shared with Reuters, the FBI confirmed Patel's emails had been targeted, and noted necessary steps have been taken to "mitigate ​potential risks associated with this activity." The agency also said the published data was "historical in nature and involves no government information." The leak includes emails from ​2010 and 2019 allegedly sent by Patel. Handala Hack is assessed to be a pro-Iranian, pro-Palestinian hacktivist persona adopted by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security ( MOIS ). It's tracked by the cybersecurity community under the m...
Crypto Developers Targeted by Python Malware Disguised as Coding Challenges

Crypto Developers Targeted by Python Malware Disguised as Coding Challenges

Apr 15, 2025 Malware / Threat Intelligence
The North Korea-linked threat actor assessed to be behind the massive Bybit hack in February 2025 has been linked to a malicious campaign that targets developers to deliver new stealer malware under the guise of a coding assignment. The activity has been attributed by Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 to a hacking group it tracks as Slow Pisces , which is also known as Jade Sleet, PUKCHONG, TraderTraitor, and UNC4899. "Slow Pisces engaged with cryptocurrency developers on LinkedIn, posing as potential employers and sending malware disguised as coding challenges," security researcher Prashil Pattni said . "These challenges require developers to run a compromised project, infecting their systems using malware we have named RN Loader and RN Stealer." Slow Pisces has a history of targeting developers, typically in the cryptocurrency sector, by approaching them on LinkedIn as part of a supposed job opportunity and enticing them into opening a PDF document that details the ...
cyber security

Take the AI Sprawl CISO Survey. Get fast track to BlackHat swag

websiteRecoAI Security / SaaS Security
Answer questions on AI sprawl. First access to the peer benchmark report.
cyber security

Zscaler ThreatLabz 2026 VPN Risk Report with Cybersecurity Insiders

websiteZscalerAI Security / Network Security
VPN Risk Report reveals attackers using AI to move at machine speed, leaving legacy VPNs exposed.
Microsoft: Iranian Nation-State Group Sanctioned by U.S. Behind Charlie Hebdo Hack

Microsoft: Iranian Nation-State Group Sanctioned by U.S. Behind Charlie Hebdo Hack

Feb 06, 2023 Hacktivist / Cyber Attack
An Iranian nation-state group sanctioned by the U.S. government has been attributed to the hack of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in early January 2023. Microsoft, which disclosed details of the incident, is tracking the activity cluster under its chemical element-themed moniker  NEPTUNIUM , which is an Iran-based company known as Emennet Pasargad. In January 2022, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)  tied  the state-backed cyber unit to a sophisticated influence campaign carried out to  interfere  with the 2020 presidential elections. Two Iranian nationals have been indicted for their role in the disinformation and threat campaign. Microsoft's disclosure comes after a "hacktivist" group named Holy Souls (now identified as NEPTUNIUM) claimed to be in possession of the personal information of more than 200,000 Charlie Hebdo customers, including their full names, telephone numbers, and home and email addresses. The breach, which allow...
US Identifies 6 Russian Government Officials Involved In DNC Hack

US Identifies 6 Russian Government Officials Involved In DNC Hack

Nov 03, 2017
The United States Department of Justice has reportedly gathered enough evidence to charge at least six Russian government officials for allegedly playing a role in hacking DNC systems and leaking information during the 2016 presidential race. Earlier this year, US intelligence agencies concluded that the Russian government was behind the hack and expose of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails in order to influence the 2016 presidential election in Donald Trump's favour. Now, citing people familiar with the investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that United States federal prosecutors could bring charges against the alleged unnamed Russian officials early next year. The US federal intelligence investigators also believe that "dozens" of other Russian officials may have also participated in the DNC hack, which was allegedly ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. However, both Putin and Russian government officials ha...
12 Russian Intelligence Agents Indicted For Hacking DNC Emails

12 Russian Intelligence Agents Indicted For Hacking DNC Emails

Jul 15, 2018
The US Justice Department has announced criminal indictments against 12 Russian intelligence officers tied to the hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the 2016 US presidential election campaign. The charges were drawn up as part of the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election by Robert Mueller, the Special Counsel, and former FBI director. The indictments against 12 Russian military officers were announced by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein during a DoJ press conference on Friday—just 3 days before the Russian leader Vladimir Putin is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump. All 12 Russian officers are members of the country's GRU military intelligence unit and are accused of carrying out "large-scale cyber operations" to hack into DNC network and steal Democrats' emails to influence the 2016 presidential election. Here's the list of all 12 defendants: Viktor Borisovich Netyksho Boris...
Ninth Grade Students Hack into ATM Machine during School Lunch Break

Ninth Grade Students Hack into ATM Machine during School Lunch Break

Jun 12, 2014
When I was in school, I used to play outdoor games like basketball and badminton. When I was in college, I started taking more interest in playing computer games rather going out. But nowadays, children have completely changed their hobbies to programming, hacking, bug bounties in such a ways that just in half an hour of lunch break between classes they hacked ATM machine . A pair of ninth grade students, Caleb Turon and Matthew Hewlett , both 14 year old broke into a Bank of Montreal ATM during their lunch hours between classes by following an old ATM operators manual found online. The duo used the online manual to access the operator mode of the ATM machine in Winnipeg. They didn’t use the accessed data to steal any amount from the ATM, rather they simply broke into the ATM machine and printed off information including users’ transaction data, surcharge profits and the total cash held in the unit. HOW THEY HACKED INTO ATM MACHINE? Turon and Hewlett were not expectin...
Two British Men Arrested For Hacking Microsoft

Two British Men Arrested For Hacking Microsoft

Jun 23, 2017
British police have arrested two men in the UK conspiring to hack into the computer networks of US tech giant Microsoft with plans to steal customers’ data from the software giant. The suspects — 22-year-old from Sleaford and a 25-year-old from Bracknell — were arrested by the detectives from the Britain's South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) Thursday morning (22 June 2017). The UK authorities arrested them from their home in Lincolnshire and Bracknell and seized a number of devices after searching their home. While it is still unclear what systems were targeted, SEROCU believes the suspects are part of a larger international group that involved breaking into the Microsoft's network between January 2017 and March 2017 to scoop up the customer information. "This group is spread around the world and therefore the investigation is being coordinated with our various partners," Rob Bryant, detective sergeant SEROCU's Cyber Crime Unit said while ...
Hackers Find A Way To Disable Car Airbags System

Hackers Find A Way To Disable Car Airbags System

Oct 24, 2015
Car Hacking is a hot topic today. Today, many automobiles companies are offering vehicles that run on the mostly drive-by-wire system, which means that a majority of car's functions are electronically controlled, from instrument cluster to steering, brakes, and accelerator. No doubt these auto-control systems makes your driving experience better, but at the same time they also increase the risk of getting hacked. Previously researchers demonstrated how hackers can remotely hijack your car to control its steering, brakes and transmission. And Now… According to a team of security researchers, Hackers can successfully disable car's airbags – as well as other functions – by exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in third-party software that is commonly used by car mechanics. The team, including András Szijj and Levente Buttyán of CrySyS Lab, and Zsolt Szalay of Budapest University, demonstrated the hack on an Audi TT car sold by Volkswagen, and said any ...
10 Things You Need To Know About 'Wikileaks CIA Leak'

10 Things You Need To Know About 'Wikileaks CIA Leak'

Mar 08, 2017
Yesterday WikiLeaks published thousands of documents revealing top CIA hacking secrets , including the agency's ability to break into iPhones, Android phones, smart TVs, and Microsoft, Mac and Linux operating systems. It dubbed the first release as Vault 7 . Vault 7 is just the first part of leak series “ Year Zero ” that WikiLeaks will be releasing in coming days. Vault 7 is all about a covert global hacking operation being run by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). According to the whistleblower organization, the CIA did not inform the companies about the security issues of their products; instead held on to security bugs in software and devices, including iPhones, Android phones, and Samsung TVs, that millions of people around the world rely on. One leaked document suggested that the CIA was even looking for tools to remotely control smart cars and trucks, allowing the agency to cause "accidents" which would effectively be "nearly undetectable assas...
SolarWinds Hackers Target Think Tanks With New 'NativeZone' Backdoor

SolarWinds Hackers Target Think Tanks With New 'NativeZone' Backdoor

May 28, 2021
Microsoft on Thursday disclosed that the threat actor behind the  SolarWinds supply chain hack  returned to the threat landscape to target government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organizations located across 24 countries, including the U.S. Some of the entities that were singled out include the U.S. Atlantic Council, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Action Center (ANTAC), the EU DisinfoLab, and the Government of Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs. "This wave of attacks targeted approximately 3,000 email accounts at more than 150 different organizations," Tom Burt, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President for Customer Security and Trust,  said . "At least a quarter of the targeted organizations were involved in international development, humanitarian, and human rights work." Microsoft attributed the ongoing intrusions to the Russian threat actor it tracks as Nobeliu...
TalkTalk Telecom Ordered to Pay Record £400,000 Fine Over 2015 Data Breach

TalkTalk Telecom Ordered to Pay Record £400,000 Fine Over 2015 Data Breach

Oct 05, 2016
TalkTalk, one of the biggest UK-based Telecoms company with 4 million customers, has been issued with a record £400,000 ($510,000) fine for failings to implement the most basic security measures to prevent the hack that made global headlines last year. The penalty has been imposed by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over the high-profile cyber attack occurred in the company last October, which allowed hackers to steal the personal data of its 156,959 customers "with ease." The ICO said on Wednesday that TalkTalk, which offers TV, phone and broadband services, could have prevented the cyber attack if the company had implemented even basic security measures to protect its customers’ data. The hacked data of 156,959 customers included full names, postal addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers, email addresses and TalkTalk accounts information. The hacker also had even access to bank account details and sort codes in almost 16,000 cases. "When i...
SolarWinds Hack — New Evidence Suggests Potential Links to Chinese Hackers

SolarWinds Hack — New Evidence Suggests Potential Links to Chinese Hackers

Mar 09, 2021
A malicious web shell deployed on Windows systems by leveraging a previously undisclosed zero-day in SolarWinds' Orion network monitoring software may have been the work of a possible Chinese threat group. In a  report  published by Secureworks on Monday, the cybersecurity firm attributed the intrusions to a threat actor it calls Spiral. Back on December 22, 2020, Microsoft  disclosed  that a second espionage group may have been abusing the IT infrastructure provider's Orion software to drop a persistent backdoor called Supernova on target systems. The findings were also corroborated by cybersecurity firms Palo Alto Networks'  Unit 42  threat intelligence team and  GuidePoint Security , both of whom described Supernova as a .NET web shell implemented by modifying an "app_web_logoimagehandler.ashx.b6031896.dll" module of the SolarWinds Orion application. The alterations were made possible not by breaching the SolarWinds app update infrastructure b...
Two Chinese APT Groups Ramp Up Cyber Espionage Against ASEAN Countries

Two Chinese APT Groups Ramp Up Cyber Espionage Against ASEAN Countries

Mar 27, 2024 Cyber Espionage / Vulnerability
Two China-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) groups have been observed targeting entities and member countries affiliated with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as part of a cyber espionage campaign over the past three months. This includes the threat actor known as  Mustang Panda , which has been recently linked to  cyber attacks against Myanmar  as well as other Asian countries with a variant of the PlugX (aka Korplug) backdoor dubbed  DOPLUGS . Mustang Panda, also called Camaro Dragon, Earth Preta, and Stately Taurus, is believed to have targeted entities in Myanmar, the Philippines, Japan and Singapore, targeting them with phishing emails designed to deliver two malware packages. "Threat actors created malware for these packages on March 4-5, 2024, coinciding with the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit (March 4-6, 2024)," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. One of the malware package is a ZIP...
⚡ Top Stories This Week
Expert Insights Articles Videos
Cybersecurity Resources