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A China-linked threat actor known as Lotus Blossom has been attributed with medium confidence to the recently discovered compromise of the infrastructure hosting Notepad++. The attack enabled the state-sponsored hacking group to deliver a previously undocumented backdoor codenamed Chrysalis to users of the open-source editor, according to new findings from Rapid7. The development comes shortly after Notepad++ maintainer Don Ho said that a compromise at the hosting provider level allowed threat actors to hijack update traffic starting June 2025 and selectively redirect such requests from certain users to malicious servers to serve a tampered update by exploiting insufficient update verification controls that existed in older versions of the utility. The weakness was plugged in December 2025 with the release of version 8.8.9. It has since emerged that the hosting provider for the software was breached to perform targeted traffic redirections until December 2, 2025, when the atta...

Media organizations and high-profile experts in North Korean affairs have been at the receiving end of a new campaign orchestrated by a threat actor known as  ScarCruft  in December 2023. "ScarCruft has been experimenting with new infection chains, including the use of a technical threat research report as a decoy, likely targeting consumers of threat intelligence like cybersecurity professionals," SentinelOne researchers Aleksandar Milenkoski and Tom Hegel  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. The North Korea-linked adversary, also known by the name APT37, InkySquid, RedEyes, Ricochet Chollima, and Ruby Sleet, is  assessed  to be part of the Ministry of State Security (MSS), placing it apart from Lazarus Group and Kimsuky, which are elements within the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB). The group is  known  for its targeting of governments and defectors, leveraging  spear-phishing lures  to deliver  RokRAT and othe...

Cyber threats are no longer coming from just malware or exploits. They’re showing up inside the tools, platforms, and ecosystems organizations use every day. As companies connect AI, cloud apps, developer tools, and communication systems, attackers are following those same paths. A clear pattern this week: attackers are abusing trust. Trusted updates, trusted marketplaces, trusted apps, even trusted AI workflows. Instead of breaking security controls head-on, they’re slipping into places that already have access. This recap brings together those signals — showing how modern attacks are blending technology abuse, ecosystem manipulation, and large-scale targeting into a single, expanding threat surface. ⚡ Threat of the Week OpenClaw announces VirusTotal Partnership — OpenClaw has announced a partnership with Google's VirusTotal malware scanning platform to scan skills that are being uploaded to ClawHub as part of a defense-in-depth approach to improve the security of the agen...

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...

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...

A new  malvertising campaign  has been found to employ fake sites that masquerade as legitimate Windows news portal to propagate a malicious installer for a popular system profiling tool called CPU-Z. "This incident is a part of a larger malvertising campaign that targets other utilities like Notepad++, Citrix, and VNC Viewer as seen in its infrastructure (domain names) and cloaking templates used to avoid detection," Malwarebytes' Jérôme Segura  said . While malvertising campaigns are known to set up replica sites advertising widely-used software, the latest activity marks a deviation in that the website mimics WindowsReport[.]com. The goal is to trick unsuspecting users searching for CPU-Z on search engines like Google by serving malicious ads that, when clicked, redirect them to the fake portal (workspace-app[.]online). At the same time, users who are not the intended victims of the campaign are served an innocuous blog with different articles, a technique known a...

In cybersecurity, precision matters—and there’s little room for error. A small mistake, missed setting, or quiet misconfiguration can quickly lead to much bigger problems. The signs we’re seeing this week highlight deeper issues behind what might look like routine incidents: outdated tools, slow response to risks, and the ongoing gap between compliance and real security. For anyone responsible for protecting systems, the key isn’t just reacting to alerts—it’s recognizing the larger patterns and hidden weak spots they reveal. Here’s a breakdown of what’s unfolding across the cybersecurity world this week. ⚡ Threat of the Week NCA Arrests for Alleged Scattered Spider Members — The U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) announced that four people have been arrested in connection with cyber attacks targeting major retailers Marks & Spencer, Co-op, and Harrods. The arrested individuals include two men aged 19, a third aged 17, and a 20-year-old woman. They were apprehended in the West...

The financially motivated threat actor known as FIN7 has been observed using multiple pseudonyms across several underground forums to likely advertise a security dodging tool known to be used by ransomware groups like AvosLocker, Black Basta, BlackCat, LockBit, and Trigona. "AvNeutralizer (aka AuKill ), a highly specialized tool developed by FIN7 to tamper with security solutions, has been marketed in the criminal underground and used by multiple ransomware groups," cybersecurity company SentinelOne said in a report shared with The Hacker News. FIN7, an e-crime group of Russian and Ukrainian origin, has been a persistent threat since at least 2012, shifting gears from its initial targeting of point-of-sale (PoS) terminals to acting as a ransomware affiliate for now-defunct gangs such as REvil and Conti, before launching its own ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) programs DarkSide and BlackMatter. The threat actor, which is also tracked under the names Carbanak, Carbon Spide...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new ransomware family called Osiris that targeted a major food service franchisee operator in Southeast Asia in November 2025. The attack leveraged a malicious driver called POORTRY as part of a known technique referred to as bring your own vulnerable driver (BYOVD) to disarm security software, the Symantec and Carbon Black Threat Hunter Team said. It's worth noting that Osiris is assessed to be a brand-new ransomware strain, sharing no similarities with another variant of the same name that emerged in December 2016 as an iteration of the Locky ransomware. It's currently not known who the developers of the locker are, or if it's advertised as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS). However, the Broadcom-owned cybersecurity division said it identified clues that suggest the threat actors who deployed the ransomware may have been previously associated with INC ransomware (aka Warble). "A wide range of living off...

If this had been a security drill, someone would’ve said it went too far. But it wasn’t a drill—it was real. The access? Everything looked normal. The tools? Easy to find. The detection? Came too late. This is how attacks happen now—quiet, convincing, and fast. Defenders aren’t just chasing hackers anymore—they’re struggling to trust what their systems are telling them. The problem isn’t too few alerts. It’s too many, with no clear meaning. One thing is clear: if your defense still waits for obvious signs, you’re not protecting anything. You’re just watching it happen. This recap highlights the moments that mattered—and why they’re worth your attention. ⚡ Threat of the Week APT41 Exploits Google Calendar for Command-and-Control — The Chinese state-sponsored threat actor known as APT41 deployed a malware called TOUGHPROGRESS that uses Google Calendar for command-and-control (C2). Google said it observed the spear-phishing attacks in October 2024 and that the malware was hosted on...

This week showed just how fast things can go wrong when no one’s watching. Some attacks were silent and sneaky. Others used tools we trust every day — like AI, VPNs, or app stores — to cause damage without setting off alarms. It’s not just about hacking anymore. Criminals are building systems to make money, spy, or spread malware like it’s a business. And in some cases, they’re using the same apps and services that businesses rely on — flipping the script without anyone noticing at first. The scary part? Some threats weren’t even bugs — just clever use of features we all take for granted. And by the time people figured it out, the damage was done. Let’s look at what really happened, why it matters, and what we should all be thinking about now. ⚡ Threat of the Week Silently Patched Fortinet Flaw Comes Under Attack — A vulnerability that was patched by Fortinet in FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) has been exploited in the wild since early October 2025 by threat actors to c...

Every week, the cyber world reminds us that silence doesn’t mean safety. Attacks often begin quietly — one unpatched flaw, one overlooked credential, one backup left unencrypted. By the time alarms sound, the damage is done. This week’s edition looks at how attackers are changing the game — linking different flaws, working together across borders, and even turning trusted tools into weapons. From major software bugs to AI abuse and new phishing tricks, each story shows how fast the threat landscape is shifting and why security needs to move just as quickly. ⚡ Threat of the Week Dozens of Orgs Impacted by Exploitation of Oracle EBS Flaw — Dozens of organizations may have been impacted following the zero-day exploitation of a security flaw in Oracle's E-Business Suite (EBS) software since August 9, 2025, according to Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) and Mandiant. The activity, which bears some hallmarks associated with the Cl0p ransomware crew, is assessed to have fashio...