Espionage

2026-07-0613 minCheck Pointhigh

Cavern Manticore, an Iran-MOIS-linked APT group, deploys a modular .NET C2 framework targeting Israeli government and IT organizations. The framework uses three compilation formats (Mixed-Mode C++/CLI, NativeAOT, .NET Framework) as an anti-analysis layer, with DLL sideloading via WinDirStat.exe for initial execution. Post-exploitation modules provide DPAPI decryption, LDAP brute-forcing, SQL browsing, network reconnaissance, and SOCKS5 tunneling, with C2 traffic XOR-encrypted over HTTPS/WebSocket channels.

Token Theft and AI Poisoning Redefine the Perimeter Attackers are shifting from breaking passwords to stealing active login sessions, bypassing multi-factor authentication entirely. This week, ARToken and ConsentFix exploited Microsoft 365 OAuth flows to hijack accounts, while Anubis ransomware used the ongoing CitrixBleed 2 vulnerability to steal session tokens from network gateways. Even a standard user can become a Global Administrator in minutes if identity settings are loose, as demonstrated by a recent M365 privilege escalation analysis. Simultaneously, artificial intelligence systems have evolved from helper tools to critical vulnerabilities, serving as both the weapon and the target. Threat actors are using AI to generate malware like InfernoGrabber v9.0 and BusySnake Stealer, while also poisoning AI agent ecosystems with malicious skills like OpenClaw and tricking AI models into executing financial fraud via indirect prompt injection. The AI arms race has accelerated breakout times to under 30 minutes, with state-sponsored groups like GTG-1002 now orchestrating entire espionage campaigns via AI. Defenders must immediately audit identity and session controls, treating session tokens as highly sensitive credentials. Security teams should also implement guardrails for AI agents, verifying external URLs and restricting autonomous financial or code execution actions.

AI is not fundamentally changing adversary capabilities but is compressing attack timelines, lowering operational costs, and scaling existing tactics. Breakout times have dropped to an average of 29 minutes, with AI-enabled operations increasing 89% year-on-year. The most significant emerging threats are runtime-LLM malware (PROMPTSTEAL/LAMEHUG, QUIETVAULT) that query language models during execution, and agentic AI operations (GTG-1002) where AI agents conduct multi-stage intrusions with minimal human steering. Defenders face a dual pressure: faster attacks and an expanding attack surface from AI supply-chain dependencies.

2026-07-0114 minMandianthigh

Google Threat Intelligence Group analyzed STOCKSTAY, a modular .NET backdoor developed and operated by Turla since late 2022, which uses a WebSocket-based C2 channel, RSA/AES encrypted communications, and IPC via WM_COPYDATA between its downloader, orchestrator, tunneler, and backdoor components. STOCKSTAY exhibits strong code, architectural, and obfuscation (K1MORPHER) overlaps with KAZUAR, suggesting a shared development team, and has been deployed via phishing (malicious RDP files, HTA lures) and, most recently, exploitation of CVE-2025-8088 in WinRAR to target Ukrainian military personnel. The actor leverages legitimate hosting platforms (Render, Glitch, GitHub) and compromised third-party/government infrastructure to obscure C2 infrastructure and complicate attribution.

2026-07-0111 minCheck Pointhigh

This weekly threat intelligence bulletin highlights multiple active exploitation campaigns targeting network infrastructure (Cisco SD-WAN, Ubiquiti UniFi OS, FortiGate firewalls) and AI platforms (Dify, Langflow), alongside supply chain attacks against Polymarket and AI agent ecosystems. Notable emerging threats include EvilTokens phishing-as-a-service abusing device-code authentication for M365 token theft, the FortiBleed campaign converting 430,000+ firewalls into credential stealers, and Turla's StockStay espionage malware targeting Ukrainian entities. Cloud extortion group FulcrumSec and the DCloud Uni-App fraud framework (236,493+ scam domains) represent additional significant threats requiring defensive attention.

Trust Chains Broken at Scale While ClickFix Becomes a Service This week, attackers stopped trying to kick down the front door and instead walked in through the trust chains that hold digital ecosystems together. North Korea's Sapphire Sleet compromised over 140 Mastra npm packages through a single typosquatted dependency, stealing cryptocurrency wallets and planting persistent backdoors on developer machines. The GlassWorm group trojanized Open VSX extensions with WebAssembly malware that uses the Solana blockchain as an unkillable command channel, while SmartApeSG hijacked the Okendo Reviews widget to serve malicious prompts on thousands of e-commerce sites. Even vendor integrations became a liability: the Klue breach exposed Recorded Future client data through a compromised OAuth token connecting a marketing tool to Salesforce. Deception also became an industrial product. The ErrTraffic framework now operates as full Malware-as-a-Service, using blockchain smart contracts to hide its infrastructure and compromised WordPress sites to serve fake error prompts that trick users into running malicious commands. Attackers weaponized trusted AI platforms too—one campaign abused claude.ai's shared chat feature to deliver MacSync infostealer on macOS, while the shai_hulululud npm package uses prompt injection to blind AI-powered security scanners. On the infrastructure side, the FortiBleed campaign cracked credentials for over 73,000 FortiGate firewalls with a 45-GPU cluster, handing attackers valid keys to government and defense networks worldwide. Defenders should immediately hunt for the easy-day-js dependency in their npm projects, reset credentials on any FortiGate firewall, enable Azure AD Graph Activity Logs to close a years-long reconnaissance visibility gap in Microsoft cloud environments, and audit OAuth tokens on all third-party vendor integrations.

2026-06-175 minRecorded Futurehigh

Insikt Group's analysis of the global state digital surveillance landscape identifies 31 countries as high or very high risk, driven by the proliferation of commercial spyware, network interception technologies, and AI-powered data aggregation. The report outlines five primary surveillance vectors—network, endpoint, platform, public space, and data aggregation—and highlights the increasing threat to foreign nationals and business travelers, necessitating strict device management and travel security protocols.

2026-06-178 minESEThigh

ESET researchers discovered two undocumented Windows variants of the SprySOCKS backdoor, WINDRV and WINPLUS, attributed to the China-aligned FishMonger APT. These variants utilize advanced stealth techniques, including a custom kernel driver for hiding artifacts and diverting TCP traffic, as well as print processor abuse for persistence.

2026-06-156 minMandiantcritical

Google Threat Intelligence Group identified a PRC-nexus espionage campaign by UNC6508 targeting North American research and defense entities. The actors compromised REDCap servers to deploy INFINITERED, a custom malware that harvests credentials and intercepts software upgrades for persistence. Using stolen credentials, the attackers pivoted to administrative accounts and abused email content compliance rules to covertly exfiltrate sensitive intelligence.

Perimeter Auth Collapse and AI-Driven Deception Shift the Battlefield The security perimeter cracked open this week as critical authentication bypasses in Check Point VPNs, Ivanti Sentry, and Palo Alto GlobalProtect gave attackers a free pass into corporate networks, with Qilin ransomware already exploiting one to launch real attacks. At the same time, AI became the year's most versatile weapon: criminals used ChatGPT and Claude brands as phishing lures, researchers proved AI email assistants will hand over corporate secrets to impersonators, and the Shai-Hulud campaign began injecting fake prompts to blind AI-powered security scanners. Patch edge VPN appliances immediately, treat AI agents as high-risk insiders, and hunt for device-code authentication events that bypass normal credential checks.

2026-06-128 minESEThigh

Between 2024 and 2026, the Vietnam-aligned threat actor OceanLotus (APT32) shifted its focus toward domestic espionage, conducting a supply-chain attack against the FireAnt MetaKit stock investment platform and compromising a major infrastructure corporation. The campaigns leveraged DLL side-loading to deploy the SPECTRALVIPER backdoor, which features advanced orchestration capabilities and exfiltrates encrypted host data via HTTP Cookie headers.

The cyber risk landscape for 2026 is heavily influenced by regional conflicts, with PRC actors pre-positioning in critical infrastructure edge devices for strategic leverage. Russian actors are escalating hybrid warfare and OT/ICS disruption across Europe, while Iranian groups have decentralized to conduct wiper attacks and target cloud infrastructure. Concurrently, eCrime actors are exploiting these geopolitical tensions to deploy ransomware and infostealers, increasingly targeting hypervisors and industrial operations.

2026-06-105 minRecorded Futurehigh

The 2026 FIFA World Cup presents a complex cyber-physical threat landscape, with cybercriminals already deploying thousands of fraudulent domains for credential harvesting and scams. State-sponsored groups like BlueDelta and Iranian-linked hacktivists are anticipated to leverage the event's global profile for targeted espionage, ransomware extortion, and politically motivated disruptive operations against sponsors, host cities, and attendees.

2026-06-087 minTrend Microcritical

Multiple Russia-aligned threat actors, including SHADOW-EARTH-066 and Earth Dahu, are actively exploiting a patched WinRAR path traversal vulnerability (CVE-2025-8088) to target Ukrainian organizations. The attackers use crafted RAR archives with NTFS Alternate Data Streams to silently drop malicious payloads, such as the evolved GIFTEDCROOK infostealer or HTA-based espionage tools, into the Windows Startup folder and ProgramData directories.

2026-06-085 minCheck Pointcritical

This threat intelligence report highlights active exploitation of critical vulnerabilities, including a Windows Netlogon RCE (CVE-2026-41089) and an Android Framework flaw. It also details significant data breaches affecting DentaQuest and the UN WFP, emerging AI-driven threats such as EDR evasion labs, a supply chain compromise of the Hola browser, and Iranian state-sponsored espionage operations utilizing Dutch hosting infrastructure.

Trojanized Build Pipelines and Blind-Spot Appliances Redefine the Perimeter Attackers are bypassing traditional network defenses by compromising the tools developers use to build software and the AI assistants they rely on to write code. Campaigns like Mini Shai-Hulud and Miasma - The Spreading Blight flooded package registries with malicious code that steals cloud credentials and CI/CD tokens, while researchers proved that public AI agent skill marketplaces are completely ineffective at catching malicious add-ons. Nation-state actors and cybercriminals are simultaneously shifting their focus to blind spots in corporate networks and trusted platforms. The VerdantBamboo group exploited firewalls to bypass conditional access, while UNC3753 used IT impersonation to trick law firm employees into installing remote access tools, and Kali365 expanded its phishing infrastructure to steal multi-factor authentication tokens. Defenders must shift their focus from perimeter email filtering to securing the software build pipeline and monitoring edge appliances for anomalous traffic. Hunt for unexpected connections to cloud storage APIs and review developer environments for compromised packages or AI skills.

2026-06-046 minRecorded Futurehigh

The 2026 FIFA World Cup faces a multifaceted threat landscape encompassing cybercriminal fraud, state-sponsored espionage, and physical security risks. Financially motivated actors are actively deploying purchase scams and fake domains to harvest payment card data, while state-aligned groups from Iran, Russia, and China are expected to target telecommunications, logistics, and VIP attendees for intelligence collection and potential disruption.

2026-06-024 minSentinelOnehigh

ESET researchers presented evidence of a 2025 espionage alliance between Russian state-aligned actors Gamaredon and Turla targeting Ukraine. Gamaredon utilized its lightweight custom tooling, including PteroGraphin and PteroOdd, to deploy Turla's Kazuar backdoor and maintain persistence for Turla's advanced espionage operations.

2026-06-026 minRecorded Futurehigh

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) has expanded its 'Handala' operational brand to encompass physical threats and influence operations alongside its established cyber hacktivism. By coordinating personas like Handala Hack Team, HPRF, and VIPEmployment, MOIS leverages global brand recognition to solicit proxies via Telegram for espionage, sabotage, and physical attacks against US and Israeli interests. This multidomain approach combines cyber intrusions with real-world intimidation tactics.

2026-05-295 minESEThigh

ESET's Q4 2025–Q1 2026 APT Activity Report highlights global espionage and destructive campaigns by state-aligned actors. Notable incidents include a major supply chain compromise of the 'axios' npm library by Lazarus, destructive wiper attacks on Polish critical infrastructure by Sandworm, and the deployment of new edge-device implants like PhiliKit against Ivanti VPNs by China-aligned groups.

2026-05-285 minWithSecurehigh

WithSecure identified GREYVIBE, a Russia-nexus threat group targeting Ukrainian entities using spear-phishing, ClickFix, and fraudulent websites. The group systematically leverages Generative AI to develop custom malware (PhantomRelay, LegionRelay, FallSpy) and obfuscators, blending state-aligned intelligence gathering with cybercrime ecosystem overlaps.

2026-05-255 minCheck Pointhigh

This threat intelligence report highlights multiple high-profile breaches, including 7-Eleven and GitHub, alongside the active exploitation of vulnerabilities in Windows Defender, Trend Micro, and Drupal. It also details emerging threats such as the Kali365 phishing kit, AI-driven prompt injection attacks, the Nimbus Manticore IRGC-linked campaign deploying the MiniFast backdoor, and a supply chain attack on Laravel Lang packages.

Software Supply Chain and AI Exploitation Dominate Threat Landscape The software supply chain has become the primary battlefield for attackers because compromising a single developer tool can cascade into thousands of enterprise networks. Campaigns like Mini Shai-Hulud and TrapDoor are stealing credentials and injecting backdoors across major code registries, while the Laravel Lang Compromise and the Coruna Exploit Kit show how malicious code can automatically execute to steal secrets or exploit end users. As a result, organizations must treat developer environments as high-value targets, because a single compromised package or malicious VS Code extension can lead to catastrophic breaches like the GitHub internal repository theft by TeamPCP. In parallel, artificial intelligence is simultaneously accelerating attacks and creating dangerous new attack surfaces. Threat actors are using AI to automate influence campaigns like Patriot Bait and crack passwords, while also impersonating AI tools like Gemini CLI and Claude Code to deliver infostealers. Furthermore, attackers are directly targeting exposed AI infrastructure, such as Ollama AI endpoints, and manipulating AI coding assistants via hidden prompt injections in campaigns like TrapDoor, which means AI systems are both the weapon and the target. These trends together suggest that traditional perimeter defenses are failing against supply chain and AI-driven threats. Managers should immediately enforce strict vetting of open-source packages, restrict developer access to unverified extensions, and ensure AI infrastructure is not exposed to the public internet.

2026-05-227 minPalo Alto Networkshigh

Unit 42 identified an active cyberespionage campaign by the Iran-nexus APT group Screening Serpens, targeting entities in the U.S., Israel, and the Middle East. The threat actor deployed two new RAT families, MiniUpdate and MiniJunk V2, utilizing advanced AppDomainManager hijacking and DLL sideloading to evade native .NET security mechanisms like ETW. The attacks rely on highly tailored social engineering lures, such as fake job portals and video conferencing updates, to initiate the infection chain and establish persistent command and control.

2026-05-225 minPalo Alto Networkshigh

ROADtools is an open-source Python framework designed for Entra ID exploration that has been co-opted by nation-state threat actors like APT29 and APT33. Attackers leverage its modules to conduct extensive directory reconnaissance, register rogue devices for persistence, and manipulate OAuth tokens to bypass interactive authentication controls such as MFA. Detection relies on identifying anomalous Microsoft Graph API queries, unusual user-agent strings, and default device registration artifacts.

2026-05-207 minESEThigh

The China-aligned APT group Webworm has updated its toolset in 2025, shifting focus to European and South African targets. The group deployed two new custom backdoors, EchoCreep and GraphWorm, which abuse Discord and the Microsoft Graph API respectively for command and control. Additionally, Webworm utilizes a complex network of custom proxy tools and compromised infrastructure, including GitHub and Amazon S3, to stage payloads and exfiltrate data.

Developer Supply Chains Under Siege as Edge Device Exploits Surge The dominant narrative this week is the coordinated weaponization of the software supply chain, as threat actors like TeamPCP and Mini Shai-Hulud aggressively target developer tools to steal cloud credentials. Because these attackers compromise trusted build systems like GitHub Actions, a single malicious package—such as the compromised TanStack libraries—can cascade into massive downstream breaches, allowing criminals to hold development environments hostage and even deploy destructive dead-man switches if their access is cut off. In parallel, attackers are bypassing traditional network defenses by exploiting internet-facing edge devices and logging in with stolen credentials. Threat clusters are actively exploiting critical flaws in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and Microsoft Exchange, while ransomware groups like The Gentlemen and state-sponsored actors like Secret Blizzard use these footholds to live off the land, hijacking legitimate IT tools to stay hidden for months. These trends together suggest that perimeter-focused defenses and basic patching are no longer sufficient. Organizations must immediately isolate their CI/CD pipelines from cloud credentials, enforce phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication on all internet-facing systems, and assume that trusted vendor tools may already be compromised.

2026-05-155 minCrowdStrikehigh

The CrowdStrike 2026 Financial Services Threat Landscape Report highlights a 43% global increase in hands-on-keyboard intrusions against the financial sector. The threat landscape is dominated by eCrime ransomware operations, DPRK-nexus cryptocurrency theft via supply chain compromises, and China-nexus intelligence collection leveraging Operational Relay Box (ORB) networks and DLL search-order hijacking.

2026-05-145 minCisco Talosmedium

The Talos Threat Source newsletter highlights an impending surge in software patching driven by AI vulnerability discovery tools. It also contrasts state-sponsored espionage tactics—which leverage valid credentials and native tools to bypass traditional defenses—with commodity ransomware, while summarizing recent supply chain compromises across developer platforms like Hugging Face and Jenkins.

2026-05-146 minMicrosoftcritical

Kazuar is a sophisticated, modular P2P botnet attributed to the Russian state-sponsored actor Secret Blizzard. It utilizes a tripartite architecture (Kernel, Bridge, Worker) and a leader election mechanism to minimize external C2 traffic, relying on Mailslots, Window Messaging, and Named Pipes for internal communication and HTTP, WSS, or EWS for external C2.

2026-05-136 minCisco Taloshigh

State-sponsored threat actors operate with a fundamentally different methodology than financially motivated criminals, prioritizing long-term stealth over immediate disruption. By leveraging valid credentials and living-off-the-land (LOTL) techniques such as PowerShell and WMI, these adversaries bypass traditional signature-based detections. Defending against and responding to these threats requires organizations to shift toward continuous behavioral baselines, enhanced telemetry (e.g., Event IDs 4688, 4104, Sysmon), and strategic incident response plans that account for complex containment decisions and supply chain risks.

2026-05-136 minPalo Alto Networkscritical

Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) is increasingly targeted by threat actors to achieve privilege escalation and persistence through misconfigured certificate templates and shadow credential abuse. By leveraging tools like Certipy and Whisker, attackers can bypass traditional credential defenses, necessitating behavioral detection strategies focused on LDAP enumeration, anomalous certificate issuance, and directory modifications.

2026-05-139 minCisco Taloscritical

Cisco Talos identified UAT-8302, a China-nexus APT, targeting global government entities using a diverse toolkit of custom and shared malware. The threat actor leverages DLL side-loading to deploy implants like NetDraft, CloudSorcerer v3, and VSHELL, while utilizing open-source tools for extensive network reconnaissance, credential harvesting, and lateral movement.

2026-05-135 minRecorded Futurecritical

Recent research highlights severe security flaws in commercially available embodied AI systems, specifically Unitree humanoid and quadruped robots. Vulnerabilities including undocumented backdoors, hard-coded cryptographic keys, and unauthenticated APIs enable remote attackers to hijack devices, exfiltrate sensitive multimodal telemetry, and pivot across physical fleets via wireless interfaces.

2026-05-139 minESEThigh

North Korea-aligned APT ScarCruft executed a multi-platform supply-chain attack compromising the sqgame platform to target ethnic Koreans in China's Yanbian region. The campaign distributed the BirdCall backdoor via trojanized Android applications and malicious Windows updates (which initially dropped RokRAT), enabling extensive espionage capabilities including data exfiltration, audio recording, and screen capture.

2026-05-134 minRecorded Futuremedium

Recorded Future analyzes the cyber and geopolitical risks associated with the US strategic pivot toward the Western Hemisphere. The shift, characterized by increased military intervention against transnational criminal organizations, presents three potential scenarios that elevate risks of state-sponsored espionage, industrialized cybercrime, and the proliferation of commercial spyware and surveillance infrastructure.

2026-05-134 minRecorded Futurehigh

North Korean state-sponsored actors, including Lazarus and TraderTraitor, are highly motivated to access advanced AI models to accelerate their labor-intensive cryptocurrency heists. The primary attack vectors are not direct breaches of AI cryptographic perimeters, but rather supply chain compromises, fraudulent hiring of DPRK IT workers, and third-party contractor misuse.

2026-05-134 minCISAhigh

China-nexus threat actors are increasingly utilizing large-scale covert networks of compromised SOHO routers and IoT devices to obfuscate their operations and route malicious traffic. This strategic shift renders traditional static IOC blocklists ineffective, requiring defenders to adopt behavioral profiling, zero trust principles, and active network hunting to detect multi-hop proxy traffic.

2026-05-134 minRecorded Futurehigh

The geopolitical competition for critical minerals and rare earth elements is driving an increase in cyber operations targeting the mining sector. State-sponsored actors, particularly from China, alongside financially motivated ransomware groups, are conducting espionage, extortion, and disruptive attacks to gain strategic advantages in global supply chains.

2026-05-136 minZscaler ThreatLabzhigh

Tropic Trooper is conducting a cyber espionage campaign targeting Chinese-speaking individuals in Asia using military-themed lures. The threat actors employ a trojanized SumatraPDF reader (TOSHIS loader) to deploy a custom AdaptixC2 Beacon that uses GitHub for command-and-control, ultimately establishing persistent remote access via VS Code tunnels.

2026-05-137 minPalo Alto Networkscritical

Unit 42 identified a coordinated cyberespionage campaign targeting a Southeast Asian government entity, involving three distinct China-aligned threat clusters. The attackers utilized a variety of tools including USB worms, custom loaders, and multiple remote access Trojans (PUBLOAD, Masol, Gorem, FluffyGh0st) to establish persistent access, evade detection via DLL sideloading, and exfiltrate sensitive data.

2026-05-1310 minSekoia.iohigh

Silver Fox (also known as Void Arachne) is a China-based threat actor conducting dual-purpose campaigns in South Asia that blend financial cybercrime with APT-style espionage. Recent operations leverage tax-themed phishing to deliver evolving payloads, transitioning from the ValleyRAT backdoor to abused legitimate RMM tools, and most recently, a custom Python-based stealer disguised as a WhatsApp application.

2026-05-135 minMandianthigh

Mandiant's M-Trends 2026 report highlights a severe divergence in adversary tactics. Cybercriminals are optimizing for speed, with initial access hand-offs collapsing to 22 seconds, and focusing on recovery denial by targeting hypervisors and backup infrastructure. Conversely, espionage groups are prioritizing extreme persistence by exploiting zero-days and deploying in-memory malware on unmonitored edge devices, while voice phishing has emerged as a primary vector for bypassing MFA and compromising SaaS environments.

2026-05-137 minPalo Alto Networkshigh

Boggy Serpens (MuddyWater) is conducting ongoing cyberespionage campaigns targeting critical infrastructure and diplomatic entities globally. The group leverages hijacked accounts for trusted relationship compromises, delivering advanced, AI-assisted malware toolkits including Rust-based backdoors and custom C2 protocols to maintain long-term persistence and evade detection.

2026-05-134 minRecorded Futurecritical

The ongoing geopolitical conflict involving Iran has triggered significant cyber and influence operations, with multiple nation-state and hacktivist groups leveraging the crisis for espionage, destructive attacks, and narrative manipulation. Organizations are advised to prepare for a surge in Iranian cyber activity as domestic internet blackouts lift, alongside heightened risks of physical threats and supply chain disruptions.

2026-05-137 minPalo Alto Networkscritical

A suspected China-nexus threat actor tracked as CL-STA-1087 has been conducting a persistent espionage campaign against Southeast Asian military targets since 2020. The attackers utilize custom malware, including the AppleChris and MemFun backdoors, leveraging Dead Drop Resolvers (DDR) like Pastebin and Dropbox for C2 resolution alongside advanced evasion techniques like process hollowing and DLL hijacking.

2026-05-135 minESETcritical

The Sednit threat group (APT28) has deployed a modernized espionage toolkit targeting Ukrainian military personnel. The toolkit consists of custom implants SlimAgent and BeardShell, alongside a heavily modified version of the Covenant framework, utilizing legitimate cloud storage providers for resilient Command and Control (C&C).

2026-05-137 minCheck Pointcritical

Check Point Research identified Silver Dragon, a Chinese-nexus APT group likely affiliated with APT41, targeting organizations in Southeast Asia and Europe. The group utilizes public-facing server exploits and phishing to deploy custom loaders that establish persistence via AppDomain hijacking and service manipulation. These loaders deliver Cobalt Strike and a novel Google Drive-based backdoor called GearDoor.

2026-05-135 minArctic Wolfhigh

Russian-aligned threat actor RomCom, assessed to be GRU Unit 29155, utilized the SocGholish malware delivery framework to target a U.S. company supporting Ukraine. The attack chain leveraged fake browser updates to establish initial access, followed by the rapid deployment of a custom Python backdoor (VIPERTUNNEL) and a targeted Mythic Agent loader.

AI Rush Opens New Attack Paths as Trusted Cloud Services Fuel Phishing The rush to adopt artificial intelligence is giving attackers two new advantages: convincing lures to trick users and poorly secured infrastructure to exploit. This week, multiple campaigns used fake websites for the Claude AI assistant to infect victims with password-stealing malware, while researchers revealed that commercial robots and AI connection protocols contain critical flaws that let hackers hijack them. Because organizations are deploying AI tools faster than they can secure them, attackers are finding easy entry points into corporate networks. In parallel, phishing campaigns are increasingly hijacking trusted cloud services like Amazon's email platform and Vercel's AI-powered website builder to send messages that bypass security filters entirely. A massive campaign targeting US employees used fake HR reviews to steal login sessions even when multi-factor authentication was enabled, and the breach of the Canvas learning platform exposed data on 275 million people that can now be used for highly convincing follow-up scams. These trends together suggest that traditional defenses are losing effectiveness because attackers are hiding inside the systems we already trust. Organizations should immediately patch the actively exploited Palo Alto Networks and Ivanti vulnerabilities flagged by CISA this week, require phishing-resistant authentication methods, and treat every AI tool and robot connected to their network as a high-risk device that needs strict monitoring.