Monthly

AI Attacked and Abused While Perimeter Authentication Collapses The month's defining shift was the emergence of AI as a two-sided battlefield: organizations deployed AI tools faster than they secured them, while attackers weaponized the same technology against defenders. Critical flaws in LangGraph allowed SQL injection chained to remote code execution, M365 Copilot could be turned into a one-click data exfiltration weapon via SearchLeak, and Langflow was exploited to deploy cryptominers. Meanwhile, the ongoing Shai-Hulud campaign injected prompts to blind AI malware scanners, macOS.Gaslight turned prompt injection against human analysts, and Russia's APT28 began experimenting with LLM-integrated malware. At the same time, perimeter authentication collapsed at scale: FortiBleed exposed credentials for over 73,000 FortiGate firewalls, CVE-2026-50751 let attackers bypass Check Point VPN authentication entirely, and ShinyHunters exploited an Oracle PeopleSoft zero-day across over 100 organizations. Supply chain attackers followed developers to their new AI tools, compromising the ecosystems where code is written and built. The Shai-Hulud/Miasma worm expanded from npm into PyPI and injected persistent backdoors into AI coding assistant configurations, while North Korea's Sapphire Sleet compromised over 140 Mastra npm packages to steal cryptocurrency wallets, and the ongoing GlassWorm campaign pivoted to WebAssembly malware in VS Code extensions using the Solana blockchain as command-and-control. Social engineering also industrialized: the ErrTraffic framework turned ClickFix deception into a Malware-as-a-Service operation with blockchain dead drops, and EvilTokens hid phishing flows inside browser-side encryption to defeat network scanners while hijacking Microsoft device-code authentication. Organizations should treat AI deployments as untrusted perimeter assets—restrict their network access, audit third-party skills and extensions, and assume prompt-injection attacks will target both automated scanners and human analysts. Every internet-facing VPN, firewall, and edge appliance should be patched immediately, with credentials rotated and phishing-resistant MFA enforced, because perimeter authentication failures now cascade directly into internal network compromise.

Developer Supply Chains Under Siege as Session Hijacking Bypasses MFA Attackers realized that instead of stealing one user's password, they can steal a developer's credentials and compromise the software everyone uses. This month, the TeamPCP group weaponized the open-source ecosystem by releasing the Mini Shai-Hulud worm, which automatically spreads across npm, PyPI, and Packagist to harvest CI/CD secrets. This culminated in a breach of GitHub's internal repositories via a malicious VS Code extension, proving that developer workstations are now the most valuable targets in the enterprise. While developers were being targeted at the source, traditional corporate users faced a collapse in authentication trust. Phishing campaigns like Tycoon 2FA and BlackFile shifted from simply stealing passwords to stealing active session tokens and registering persistent rogue devices. Because these techniques bypass multi-factor authentication entirely, a successful phish grants immediate and lasting access, rendering traditional MFA insufficient without additional session monitoring. Organizations must treat developer environments as high-value assets—restricting extension installations and securing CI/CD pipelines—and transition to phishing-resistant authentication (like FIDO2 keys) while implementing continuous session validation to detect hijacked accounts.

AI Weaponization Collapses Trust as Identity Becomes the Perimeter Attackers are using artificial intelligence to make phishing and social engineering dramatically cheaper and more convincing, as seen in BlueNoroff's AI-generated deepfake meetings targeting Web3 executives and the Bluekit phishing platform's built-in AI assistant that crafts lures on demand. Because these AI tools can generate convincing scams and steal session cookies to bypass multi-factor authentication, traditional email filters and basic MFA are no longer sufficient barriers. In parallel, attackers are shifting from hacking infrastructure to hijacking identity and trust systems—installing legitimate remote-access tools via phishing, exploiting API authentication flaws like BOLA, and harvesting credentials through malicious AI browser extensions that spy on users in real time. This identity-focused shift compounds with the persistent exploitation of older vulnerabilities; groups like SHADOW-EARTH-053 still use years-old ProxyLogon flaws on unpatched Exchange servers, while CISA confirms CVE-2026-32202 (Microsoft Windows) and CVE-2026-41940 (cPanel) are already being exploited in the wild. Because AI models like Claude Mythos can now autonomously chain these vulnerabilities into working exploits at machine speed, defenders cannot rely on manual patching cadences to stay safe. These trends together suggest that the real perimeter is no longer the firewall but the identity layer, and defending it requires phishing-resistant authentication, automated response, and rigorous vetting of developer pipelines and third-party trust. Watch for AI-accelerated exploitation of unpatched systems and invest in identity-centric, machine-speed defenses before the next wave of automated attacks outpaces your team's response.