Ex US Soldier Cameron Wagenius Guilty in Telecom Hacking and Extortion

Former US Army soldier Cameron Wagenius pleads guilty to hacking telecom companies and extorting $1 million+ using cybercrime forums like BreachForums and XSS...

Scattered Spider: Rapid7 Insights, Observations, and Recommendations

Overview of Scattered Spider and recent activity Scattered Spider also tracked as UNC3944, Scatter Swine, Muddled Libra, among other aliases is a financially motivated cybercriminal group active since at least May 2022. The group is notorious for targeting large enterprises — especially...

Ransomware negotiator investigated over criminal gang kickbacks

If someone is going to negotiate with criminals for you, that person should at least be on your side. That might not have been the case at Digital Mint, a ransomware negotiation company where one worker allegedly went rogue. According to Bloomberg, Digital Mint is cooperating with the US Departme...

FBI Warns of Scattered Spider's Expanding Attacks on Airlines Using Social Engineering

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI has revealed that it has observed the notorious cybercrime group Scattered Spider broadening its targeting footprint to strike the airline sector. To that end, the agency said it's actively working with aviation and industry partners to combat the...

Sextortion email scammers increase their “Hello pervert” money demands

Every so often the sextortion emails that start with “Hello pervert” get a redesign. You may have received one yourself: The emails claim that the sender has been watching your online behavior and caught you red-handed doing activities that you would like to keep private. The email usually starts...

Ransomware Gangs Exploit Unpatched SimpleHelp Flaws to Target Victims with Double Extortion

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA on Thursday disclosed that ransomware actors are targeting unpatched SimpleHelp Remote Monitoring and Management RMM instances to compromise customers of an unnamed utility billing software provider. "This incident reflects a broader...

DragonForce Exploits SimpleHelp Flaws to Deploy Ransomware Across Customer Endpoints

The threat actors behind the DragonForce ransomware gained access to an unnamed Managed Service Provider's MSP SimpleHelp remote monitoring and management RMM tool, and then leveraged it to exfiltrate data and drop the locker on multiple endpoints. It's believed that the attackers exploited a tri...

Hackers Are Calling Your Office: FBI Alerts Law Firms to Luna Moth's Stealth Phishing Campaign

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI has warned of social engineering attacks mounted by a criminal extortion actor known as Luna Moth targeting law firms over the past two years. The campaign leverages "information technology IT themed social engineering calls, and callback phishing...

19-Year-Old Admits to PowerSchool Data Breach Extortion

A 19-year-old college student faces charges after pleading guilty to cyber extortion targeting PowerSchool, exposing data of 60…...

Key Takeaways from the Take Command Summit 2025: Inside the Mind of an Attacker

In one of the most anticipated sessions of Take Command 2025, Raj Samani, Chief Scientist at Rapid7, sat down with Trent Teyema, former FBI Special Agent and President of CSG Strategies, for a candid conversation on how threat actors are evolving and what defenders must do to keep up. Moderated b...

Key Takeaways from the Take Command Summit 2025: Inside the Mind of an Attacker

In one of the most anticipated sessions of Take Command 2025, Raj Samani, Chief Scientist at Rapid7, sat down with Trent Teyema, former FBI Special Agent and President of CSG Strategies, for a candid conversation on how threat actors are evolving and what defenders must do to keep up. Moderated b...

Coinbase Agents Bribed, Data of ~1% Users Leaked; $20M Extortion Attempt Fails

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has disclosed that unknown cyber actors broke into its systems and stole account data for a small subset of its customers. "Criminals targeted our customer support agents overseas," the company said in a statement. "They used cash offers to convince a small group ...

PowerSchool Paid Ransom, Now Hackers Target Teachers for More

PowerSchool paid ransom after a major data breach; now hackers are targeting teachers and schools with direct extortion…...

ToyMaker Uses LAGTOY to Sell Access to CACTUS Ransomware Gangs for Double Extortion

Cybersecurity researchers have detailed the activities of an initial access broker IAB dubbed ToyMaker that has been observed handing over access to double extortion ransomware gangs like CACTUS. The IAB has been assessed with medium confidence to be a financially motivated threat actor, scanning...

Introducing ToyMaker, an initial access broker working in cahoots with double extortion gangs

In 2023, Cisco Talos discovered an extensive compromise in a critical infrastructure enterprise consisting of a combination of threat actors. From initial access to double extortion, these actors slowly and steadily compromised a multitude of hosts in the network using a combination of various...

How cyberattackers exploit domain controllers using ransomware

In recent years, human-operated cyberattacks have undergone a dramatic transformation. These attacks, once characterized by sporadic and opportunistic attacks, have evolved into highly sophisticated, targeted campaigns aimed at causing maximum damage to organizations, with the average cost of a...

VanHelsing RaaS Launch: 3 Victims, $5K Entry Fee, Multi-OS, and Double Extortion Tactics

A ransomware-as-a-service RaaS operation called VanHelsing has already claimed three victims since it launched on March 7, 2025, demanding ransoms as high as $500,000. "The RaaS model allows a wide range of participants, from experienced hackers to newcomers, to get involved with a $5,000 deposit...

Fake BianLian Ransomware Letters in Circulation

At a glance: The FBI is warning of a mail-based fraud involving letters sent to businesses in the U.S. These letters resemble online ransomware notes demanding payment via Bitcoin. Rapid7 examined a mail-based ransom demand sent to a customer from a local postcode. There is no evidence that any o...

Fake BianLian Ransomware Letters in Circulation

At a glance: The FBI is warning of a mail-based fraud involving letters sent to businesses in the U.S. These letters resemble online ransomware notes demanding payment via Bitcoin. Rapid7 examined a mail-based ransom demand sent to a customer from a local postcode. There is no evidence that any o...

Scammers Pose as Cl0p Ransomware to Send Fake Extortion Letters

Scammers are sending fake extortion and ransom demands while posing as ransomware gangs, including the notorious Cl0p ransomware.…...