Written by: Aurora Blum, David Mainor, Rohit Nambiar, Omar ElAhdan, Matthew McWhirt, Will Silverstone, Bhavesh Dhake, Chris Busse Introduction Recent intrusions in which threat actors have been observed weaponizing agentic frameworks to execute highly-automated intrusions has put a spotlight on evolving adversarial use of LLMs. In our September 2026 report, Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) noted that forward leaning adversaries were beginning to transition from basic prompting to agentic…
In this article Stages of AI adoption by North Korean threat actors AI use across North Korean threat operations AI-assisted targeting and reconnaissance AI-assisted social engineering and identity deception AI-assisted software and tooling development AI-assisted operational scaling and analysis Mitigation and protection guidance Microsoft Defender detections As Microsoft Threat Intelligence continues to track how threat actors operationalize AI to increase the speed, efficiency, and…
Upozorňujeme na aktivně zneužívané zranitelnosti CVE-2026-88771 a CVE-2026-88772 v produktu Citrix Netscaler, které umožňují vzdálené spuštění kódu. Doporučujeme bezodkladně aktualizovat na verzi 14.1-73.37, 13.1-64.23, 14.1-73.37 FIPS nebo 13.1-37.279 a novější podle používané produktové řady. Dále doporučujeme prověřit indikátory kompromitace, jelikož aktualizace nemusí kompromitaci odstranit. Zranitelnosti Zranitelnost CVE-2026-88771 spočívá v nesprávném ověřování vstupů a umožňuje…
Introduction A couple of months ago, our research revealed a highly sophisticated infection chain and a complex .NET assembly-loading framework built on XAML markup, which strongly indicates a supply-chain attack targeting a custom Windows build used exclusively by government entities in Asia. The malicious framework has been labeled NetamLoader; at present, no attribution to any known APT group has been established. The sample came to light in the first half of 2026, when Kaspersky Security…
On September 25, 2026, Mandiant released a report regarding continued mass exploitation of CVE-2026-35273 by the ShinyHunters group. TrendAI’s Zero Day Initiative first reported this CVE to Oracle on June 10, 2026, following an investigation I conducted with Minh Giang and Lucas Miller of TrendAI Research. Although Oracle issued a patch under a single CVE, we reported three distinct vulnerabilities across multiple PeopleSoft components. We are coordinating with Oracle to assign separate CVEs…
AI is widening the attack surface of the critical infrastructure facilities and services that state, local, and education (SLED) organizations run. In the final post of our Cybersecurity Awareness Month series, we explain how a whole-of-state security approach can help SLED agencies protect their critical infrastructure. Key takeaways Because cyber attackers prey on under-resourced targets, they often go after SLED organizations, especially those that operate critical infrastructure, including…
A new UEFI bootkit named BlackX, deployed in an espionage campaign in early 2026, exploited the old Baton Drop vulnerability to bypass Secure Boot and load a malicious driver designed to interfere with security solutions from Kaspersky and Avast. [...]
In this article What’s happening What is ARTEX? Mitigation and protection guidance References Learn more As early as September 2026, Storm-0940, a China-state aligned actor, used the agentic AI penetration testing framework ARTEX to automate attacks targeting hundreds of organizations globally across a broad range of industries. Several of these Storm-0940 ARTEX-driven attacks have resulted in the actor obtaining privileged access to an organization’s cloud infrastructure – including multiple…
Our analysis an AI-powered espionage campaign targeting government Linux infrastructure with custom malware, web shells, and advanced credential theft. The post AI-Powered Espionage Campaign Targets Government Linux Infrastructure appeared first on Unit 42.
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Threat Source newsletter. I've been following a lot of (sometimes heated) threads and discussions lately about the current vulnerability landscape. I learned new words/phrases such as Summer of Hell (although I'm writing this with 1°C/34°F outside), Vulnpocalypse, Bugmageddon, Bugpocalypse, Breachpocalypse... Let's look at some numbers: We crossed the 70k mark, and it's only the end of September. This has never been seen before — I think we can agree this…
Photos you take with your phone and some digital cameras can contain hidden information, including where they were taken. You can strip that data out before sharing a photo with someone, which would help to protect your location. But the image itself may still give you away. A company called Graylark says its Raven AI tool can match an indoor photo to a specific property using visual clues alone. No GPS data or view out of the window required. We’ve seen this company before. Its tool, GeoSpy,…
This research was conducted jointly with Julian-Ferdinand Vögele of Recorded Future’s Insikt Group. Details of the joint research and presentation are available here. Cisco Talos identified UAT-6275 (TAG-193 by Recorded Future) activity targeting government organizations across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Recovered artifacts show additional interest in water resources and energy. This focus is consistent with intelligence collection and may reflect the regional effects of the…
The National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NÚKIB) is warning about targeted phishing campaigns aimed at users of the Signal messaging app. These activities are primarily linked to actors connected to the Russian Federation, and their goal is to gain access to victims’ communications by exploiting human error. Given the popularity of the Signal app among high-profile individuals and the occurrence of cyber incidents associated with it in the Czech Republic, NÚKIB is publishing an…
According to this year’s Microsoft Digital Defense Report, government agencies and services were the sector most impacted by cyber threats in 2026, accounting for 27% of observed activity, up from 17% in 2025. Governments are also the most frequently targeted sectors for nation-state activity. They are attractive targets because they hold sensitive information, operate essential services, and sit at the center of networks of agencies, contractors, technology providers, and critical…
Cisco Talos uncovered a cluster of activity we track as UAT-11587 targeting government and policy organizations across Asia, including in Taiwan, India, the Philippines, and Cambodia, to deliver a previously undocumented backdoor referred to as “Antino” in developer artifacts. Talos first observed UAT-11587 activity in September 2025. By July 2026, Talos had identified at least 16 affected or targeted institutional environments across eight Asian countries. Antino is a Rust-compiled Windows…
In this article Star Blizzard TTPs observed in 2026Defending against Star Blizzard and RedFlick-related activityMicrosoft Defender detectionsHunting queriesIndicators of compromise Since January 2026, Microsoft has observed Russian state threat actor Star Blizzard evolve their detection evasion capabilities through large-scale phishing campaigns, the use of accounts on compromised websites, and a novel malware delivery technique that Microsoft tracks as “RedFlick”. These changes represent a…
In this article Observed operators and targetingMalware packaging and distributionNeedyMantis architecture and capabilitiesMitigation and protection guidanceHunting queriesIndicators of compromise Microsoft Threat Intelligence has identified NeedyMantis, a modular post-compromise malware family observed in a limited number of targeted operations affecting telecommunications organizations, universities, medical nonprofits, intergovernmental organizations, and government contractors. Based on…
In this article Who is Storm-2570?Storm-2570 attack chain: From initial foothold to impactWhat Storm-2570 activity means for defendersMitigation and protection guidanceMicrosoft Defender detectionsHunting queries Activity associated with Storm-2570, a ransomware affiliate linked to multiple ransomware payloads, illustrates how tracking and responding to ransomware attacks by payload alone can obscure the affiliates carrying out intrusions and the recurring behaviors that defenders can use to…
On September 9, 2026, Volexity published a blog post detailing the simultaneous use of multiple chained zero-day exploits in Google Chrome (CVE-2026-85046, CVE-2026-87491) and Microsoft Windows (CVE-2026-85880) by two different Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) actors. Shortly after that blog post was published, Volexity discovered additional campaigns—this time from a third Chinese threat actor, tracked by Volexity under the alias UTA0565—that used the same chained exploits on September…
GreyNoise has been tracking malicious use of an IP address since early June 2026 due to its frequent use in scans and attacks against a variety of technologies. We detail a few of the more notable intrusions we observed including the theft of more than 18,000 sensitive records from a western government.
Flock Safety’s cameras are automated license plate readers (ALPRs) designed to help police find stolen cars or wanted suspects. A joint investigation by 404 Media and WIRED, based on data recovered from a physically removed Flock camera, found that its on-device software explicitly detects people as well as vehicles, bicycles, and license plates. Separately, Washington DC’s police union says the Metropolitan Police Department used Flock data to track officers under Internal Affairs…
Executive Summary Since the release of our May 2026 report detailing adversarial misuse of artificial intelligence (AI), Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has observed forward leaning adversaries transition from basic prompting to agentic AI workflows and AI-enabled automation. In these operations, human-in-the-loop latency is dramatically reduced, compressing the traditional window for defenders to respond. In Q2 2026, GTIG observed threat actors compromise a cloud resource, then plan,…
Cisco Talos began an investigation after observing a DLL named "verification.google" executing from WebDAV at a Ukrainian government organization. We assess with moderate confidence that the attacks are not targeted at a particular organization, but are a part of a cryptocurrency and credentials-stealing operation using the Amatera stealer as the primary payload. Pivoting around the similar WebDAV behavior led to a second loader named "pf.ch" and allowed us to reconstruct its earlier delivery…
Research by: Amit Yardeni Key Points A Chinese-speaking actor is now targeting Brazil. Check Point Research has uncovered a sustained campaign against Brazilian organizations, primarily government and educational institutions since mid-2025. We dubbed this group Gambling Goblin: a Chinese-speaking cybercrime cluster connected to a previously documented group, Earth Berberoka, that targeted gambling sites across Asia. It marks a shift from Brazil’s usual home-grown banking-trojan threats to a…
In this article Attack chain overviewCampaign scope and targetingMitigation and protection guidanceReferencesLearn more Microsoft Defender Experts is tracking an active malware campaign that uses counterfeit software-download websites to impersonate trusted vendors and distribute malicious installers. The campaign has targeted users looking to download popular software and has resulted in compromises across multiple organizations and industries, primarily affecting China-based operations of…
When quantum computers become generally available, they’ll be able to crack current public-key cryptographic algorithms, putting digitally stored and transmitted data at risk. But the threat already exists, as attackers use the "harvest now, decrypt later" tactic. Discover why building a comprehensive cryptographic inventory and executing a phased operational strategy are critical for protecting your data against quantum computing attacks.Key takeawaysQuantum computing risks are an operational…
You can’t patch everything. So what do you fix first? Findings in Q2 2026 have changed traditional answers.The latest Quarterly Threat Landscape Report from Rapid7 Labs shows vulnerability disclosures still surging while attackers use automation and AI-assisted tooling to compress the time between disclosure and exploitation. The gap that patch cycles were built to fill is closing. Speed and volume are overwhelming security teams that have relied on traditional patch cycles and reactive…
Tenable’s Research Special Operations (RSO) team has been tracking a cluster of agentic AI threat activity since late July 2026. The Taiwan autonomous AI cyber attack confirmed what the cluster data already showed: near-autonomous offensive AI has crossed from theoretical risk to operational reality.Key TakeawaysTaiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs confirmed a near-autonomous AI cyber attack in July 2026 in which autonomous agents mapped 21 connected government systems, compromised 85 accounts,…
In this article The CaptiveCrunch campaignStorm-2945 and Midnight BlizzardCaptiveCrunch tradecraft and toolingHow to protect against CaptiveCrunch activityMicrosoft Defender detections and hunting guidanceIndicators of compromise Since early May 2026, Microsoft Threat Intelligence has observed Storm-2945, a sub-cluster of Midnight Blizzard, conducting widespread but targeted traffic manipulation attacks involving hospitality sector networks served by captive portals worldwide. Despite some…
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Threat Source newsletter. For my fianceé’s 30th birthday, I took her on a weekend trip to Shenandoah National Park – a favorite of ours since we went to a wedding there several years back. We’ve done several incredible hikes over the years, but one in particular had always loomed over my head: Old Rag, a 9.3 mile circuit hike that’s largely considered the most difficult in Virginia. I've always been warned that at the beginning and end, you hate Old Rag.…
For years, the cyber security industry tracked AI as a force multiplier: something that made existing attack techniques faster, cheaper, and more accessible. That framing was accurate. But the Annual AI Security Report 2026 from Check Point Research documents a transition that goes further. AI has crossed from assistant to operator. Where it once helped attackers prepare, it now runs the operation. Key observed findings AI has crossed from development aid to live attack operator. It now does…
Note: SysAid was not compromised, and no SysAid vulnerability was involved. The attacker had already gained access to the victim environment and abused a legitimate software-deployment feature to deploy malware onto another machine within it. Key Points Check Point Research (CPR) tracks ‘Cavern Manticore’ as an Iran-nexus threat actor operating against Israeli targets, with a focus on the government and IT sectors. Cavern Manticore shares technical overlaps with other Iranian MOIS (Ministry of…
TrendAI™ Research has identified two emerging threat campaigns—SHADOW-AETHER-040 and SHADOW-AETHER-064—that use agentic AI to drive intrusion operations against government and financial organizations in Latin America, marking these among the first cases we have observed of AI agents executing attacks from initial access to data exfiltration.
This blog discusses the steganography, cloud abuse, and email-based backdoors used against the Ukrainian defense supply chain in the latest Pawn Storm campaign that TrendAI™ Research observed and analyzed.