⚡ Weekly Recap: VMware Exploits, Windows 0-Day, MCP Attacks, Browser Hijacks and More

The expensive attacks are not always the clever ones. This week had plenty of proof. Exposed services got hit, old bugs found fresh use, browser sessions became attack paths, and supply-chain problems kept spreading farther than the original compromise. A lot of it came down to access that was...

Suspected China-Nexus Actor Exploits VMware vCenter Flaw, Deploys Babuk-Derived Ransomware

Cybersecurity researchers have attributed the exploitation of a newly patched security flaw in Broadcom VMware vCenter to a suspected China-nexus advanced persistent threat APT. The attacks involve the exploitation of CVE-2026-59310 CVSS score: 9.8, a severe directory-traversal vulnerability in t...

Kaseya VSA 2017 ConnectWise ManagedITSync - Remote Code Execution

ConnectWise ManagedITSync integration through 2017 for Kaseya VSA is vulnerable to unauthenticated remote commands that allow full direct access to the Kaseya VSA database. If the ManagedIT.asmx page is available via the Kaseya VSA web interface, anyone with access to the page is able to run...

DeadLock Ransomware Uses Polygon Smart Contracts to Make Extortion Infra Harder to Disrupt

The ransomware group known as DeadLock has been observed using decentralized infrastructure to facilitate victim communications and data leak operations in a bid to improve operational resilience. "Its recovery ecosystem combines the Session messaging network with blockchain-backed services that...

Gunra Ransomware Exploits Fortinet FortiOS, FortiProxy Flaws to Breach Networks

Cybersecurity and intelligence agencies from South Korea and the U.S. warned of Gunra ransomware attacks targeting critical infrastructure sectors and organizations across the world. Targets of these attacks include healthcare and public health, financial services, government services and...

IR Trends Q2 2026: Phishing and weaponized remote management tools drive attack chains

Phishing was the primary means of gaining initial access this quarter, appearing in over half of all Cisco Talos Incident Response Talos IR engagements - an increase from approximately a third of engagements last quarter. Attackers continued to innovate their delivery methods to evade defenses,...

DevMan RaaS Portal Centralizes Payload Builds, Victim Management, and Affiliate Payouts

The operators of the DevMan ransomware-as-a-service RaaS scheme are maintaining a dedicated web platform that offers affiliates the ability to build payloads, oversee earnings, and manage various aspects related to victims. Swiss cybersecurity company PRODAFT is tracking the centrally administere...

Qilin Ransomware Attackers Exploit PAN-OS Authentication Bypass for Initial Access

Threat actors have been observed exploiting a now-patched high-severity Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS vulnerability as an entry point to deploy Qilin aka Agenda ransomware on victim environments. Arctic Wolf Labs said it investigated multiple intrusions in June 2026 that began with the exploitation o...

New ENCFORGE Ransomware Targets AI Model Files in Langflow RCE Attack

Researchers at Sysdig have linked a second attack on the same Langflow server to JADEPUFFER, the AI-agent-driven operator it first documented earlier this month. The same operator has now been spotted deploying ENCFORGE , a new compiled Go ransomware designed to encrypt model weights, vector...

U.S. Sanctions First VPN Service and Malware Cryptor Seller Over Ransomware Support

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC has designated two individuals and a VPN service provider for enabling ransomware actors' and other cybercriminals' malicious activities, including ransomware attacks against Americans. The VPN, named First VPN Service 1VPNS, ha...

Cybersecurity Negotiator Gets 70 Months for Helping BlackCat Extort Victims

Former ransomware negotiator Angelo Martino gets 70 months in prison for helping BlackCat extort US victims and misuse confidential client data in cyberattacks...

Ransomware Negotiator Gets 70 Months in Prison for Aiding BlackCat Attacks

A 41-year-old former ransomware negotiator has been sentenced to nearly six years i.e., 70 months in prison in the U.S. for their role in conspiring with the now-defunct BlackCat ransomware operators to extort multiple victims and working with two other cybersecurity professionals to target...

GigaWiper: Anatomy of a destructive backdoor assembled from multiple malware

In this article 1. A wiper inside a backdoor 2. Backdoor capabilities 3. How GigaWiper was assembled 4. Conclusion: Multiple destructive capabilities consolidated into a single implant 5. Defending against destructive threats 6. Microsoft Defender detections 7. Indicators of compromise In October...

GodDamn Ransomware Uses PoisonX Driver to Disable Endpoint Defenses

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new ransomware family called GodDamn that employs the PoisonX kernel driver to neutralize security software as part of its defense evasion strategy. According to a new report published by the Threat Hunter Team from Symantec, the ransomware was first...

H2O Vulnerable to Execution of Arbitrary Files

In h2oai/h2o-3 version 3.46.0, an endpoint exposing a custom EncryptionTool allows an attacker to encrypt any files on the target server with a key of their choosing. The chosen key can also be overwritten, resulting in ransomware-like behavior. This vulnerability makes it possible for an attacke...

New Avalon Malware Framework Packs CrownX Ransomware Capabilities

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a previously undocumented modular malware framework codenamed Avalon that's distributed by means of a multi-stage phishing chain capable of bypassing traditional security controls. Avalon combines credential collection, lateral movement, remote access,...

Ransomware Groups Turn to Citrix Bleed 2, BYOVD, and Supply Chain Credentials

Threat actors associated with the Anubis ransomware operation have been observed exploiting the Citrix Bleed 2 CVE-2025-5777 vulnerability to obtain initial access. "Although tactics differ between affiliates, common patterns emerged in tradecraft through use of legitimate Remote Management and...

ThreatsDay: AI Compute Hijacking, Apple Email Flaw, BlueHammer Ransomware + 14 Stories

This week’s security news is mostly about weak spots. Browsers, bots, sandboxes, AI systems, and email flows all show the same problem in different ways. Everything looks normal until someone tests a small gap and finds a way through. This is not one big break. It is small permissions, weak check...

AI Agent Exploits Langflow RCE to Automate Database Ransomware Attack

Security firm Sysdig says it has found what it believes is the first ransomware attack run from start to finish by an AI agent. Its Threat Research Team calls the operator JADEPUFFER and says a large language model handled the whole job: breaking in, stealing credentials, moving deeper into the...

FortiBleed Credential Theft Linked to INC and Lynx Ransomware Operations

The recently discovered financially-motivated FortiBleed campaign has been attributed to INC and Lynx ransomware operations, indicating that the verified, stolen credentials were intended for follow-on intrusions. "An operator tied to FortiBleed's infrastructure was found actively working...