VOLTA is a mature stealer implant with an optional AI-integration layer. After stealing credentials, sessions, and cryptocurrency wallets, VOLTA sends a structured evidence bundle to an LLM to rank the victim’s assets by monetization value. If a model refuses to perform the target assessment, VOLTA fails over to a three-model chain, implying a direct engineering effort and expectation of hitting model guardrails. This stealer is self-deleting, and there is no attacker-owned infrastructure. The…
On October 27, Google issued a new Stable channel update for Chrome. Most users are on Chrome’s Stable channel. The desktop update brings Chrome to versions 156.0.8078.73/.74 for Windows and Mac and 156.0.8078.73 for Linux. The update includes 52 security fixes, including four rated Critical. On the same day, Mozilla issued Security Advisory 2026-118, which fixes 167 vulnerabilities. Firefox 159 also introduces several new features. Both updates will roll out over the coming days and weeks. How…
Chrome is getting new scam protections that use Gemini to detect deceptive websites and warn users when they copy suspicious commands from ClickFix attacks. [...]
Wiz identified threat actors hijacking Google Cloud Platform (GCP) billing accounts via search-ad phishing to fund unauthorized Gemini API usage. By stealing corporate credentials and MFA tokens, attackers gain access, dismantle IAM domain restrictions, and link external GCP p...
Last month, Volexity published two blog posts in its Mind the (Patch) Gap series. The series details Volexity’s discovery of multiple Chinese threat actors simultaneously using zero-day exploits in Google Chrome and Microsoft Windows in campaigns that, if successful, would download and run malware on an exploited system. Those posts covered technical details of the exploits and malware Volexity observed, along with general detection methods for each case. Behind those findings was one of the…
Your streaming box might not look like much of a computer. But connect enough inexpensive devices together, and they can run an AI model. Researchers at Anthropic demonstrated this by running a Google Gemma model across 15 off-brand Android TV boxes. They warn that small models could soon spread across vulnerable internet-of-things (IoT) devices, including smart ovens and TV boxes, stating: “Our experiments suggest that small AI models may be months away from being capable enough to self…
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Threat Source newsletter. My name is Pierre Cadieux, and I’ll be helping contribute to these newsletters. A little about me: I’ve been working in the cybersecurity industry in many roles over the past 20+ years, first focusing on endpoint security, policies, and firewalls, then moving to risk management and compliance, disaster recovery, and investigations. I spent about 15 years as a consultant working across many well-known consultancy firms and…
Day Three of Pwn2Own Ireland 2026 wrapsup with 17 attempts scheduled, roughly $1.33 million on the board. The headliner is the Google Pixel 10, which draws three separate attempts: Xint at 11:15 AM, Ikotas Labs at 2:00 PM, and the Valsamaras/Ken Gannon (Djini.ai)/Valsamara team closing things out at 6:30 PM — by far the single biggest payday in play all week. The Samsung Galaxy S26 gets one more run too, from BunkyoWesterns at 4:15 PM. Smart Home stays busy with three attempts on the Philips…
Cisco Talos identified an advanced persistent threat (APT) spear-phishing campaign against individuals affiliated with Taiwan research organizations. The operation leveraged legitimate public event themes and impersonated reputable academic and policy institutions to establish credibility. The phishing emails exhibited highly consistent structure, rhetoric, and personalization patterns, suggesting the threat actor likely used AI-assisted content generation to rapidly customize invitation lures…
Fáilte! Pwn2Own Ireland 2026 has arrived in Cork, and the world's top security researchers are ready. We've got more phone entries than we've ever had, and more than 60 entries total. Earlier today, we held the random draw to determine attempt order. Below is the official schedule. All times are Irish Standard Time (IST) and may change as the competition progresses. You can find our live leaderboard here. This will be updated throughout the day. Jump to: Day One Day Two Day Three DAY ONE…
Companies like Google and Microsoft are find much bigger numbers of vulnerabilities in their own products as a result of AI. But the same technology is leading to public reporting programs becoming overwhelmed by the mass submission of speculative, duplicated, or hallucinated findings. Now, Google’s announced it has temporarily stopped accepting submissions to its open source bug bounty program, OSS VRP. “Why is this happening? This pause is due to a significant rise in automated submissions,…
Google has now suspended submissions to its Open Source Software Vulnerability Rewards Program (OSS VRP) after being flooded by AI-generated reports. [...]
Custom variants of OpenAI's ChatGPT promoted in sponsored Google results are directing unsuspecting users to malicious sites that use ClickFix attacks to deliver malware. [...]
Most of us click on search results without knowing much about the website we’re about to visit. And once we’re there, it’s not always obvious when something isn’t quite right. Now, we’ve added two new features to Malwarebytes Browser Guard that will do even more to keep you safe online. Search Reputation gives you a quick read on your search results, before you even click on anything. And with Scam Guard Lite, you can analyze the contents of a webpage directly from the Browser Guard extension…
Phishing follows whatever people want at the moment, and right now that includes AI subscriptions they don’t have to pay for. We recently uncovered a new variation on this theme: A fake Claude Max giveaway that uses a convincing Google sign-in window to steal login information.Claude’s paid plans start at $20 a month and cost considerably more for higher usage limits, while free accounts have stricter limits. That makes the promise of a free upgrade an attractive lure.Microsoft reported in June…
Google says one of its Gemini models accessed systems belonging to three real companies during a cybersecurity evaluation in May. The model reportedly guessed credentials in one case, while finding exposed credentials in public repositories in two others. Google says Gemini stopped once it recognized that it had reached real infrastructure and that the affected organizations were notified. Gemini was participating in an evaluation run by Irregular, a third-party AI cybersecurity testing firm.…
Researchers at Zimperium’s zLabs have analyzed an Android Trojan that uses an automated, multi-stage infection process. What’s new is that RatHat gives a live AI assistant the keys to the accessibility tree of the infected device and uses it to determine where to tap or scroll, rather than following a hardcoded script. The variable attack path makes it harder for signature- and rule-based mobile security tools to detect this Trojan. It also abuses Android Debug Bridge (ADB), a legitimate tool…
Want to know the latest from Google Cloud? Find it here in one handy location. Check back regularly for our newest updates, announcements, resources, events, learning opportunities, and more. Tip: Not sure where to find what you’re looking for on the Google Cloud blog? Start here: Google Cloud blog 101: Full list of topics, links, and resources. aside_block <ListValue: []> Aug 31 - Sept 4 Automate VM guest software lifecycle with VM Extension Manager, now GAGoogle Cloud VM Extension Manager is…