Ransomware DataBreachToday.com

Don't Fall for Easy Social Engineering Traps, Advises Mandiant
The teenage hackers behind Scattered Spider tend to launch attacks in waves against specific sectors - and it may be the retail sector's turn. High street British mainstays Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Harrods have all felt a wave of incidents.

Homeland Security Secretary Accuses Cyber Agency of Failing to Stop China Hacks
U.S. President Donald Trump will "shortly" reveal a "grand cyber plan," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers Tuesday, even as the administration seeks to cut the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency budget by $500 million. "CISA’s mission is to hunt and harden," Noem said.

Startup Says It Cuts Software Vulnerability Volume, Helps Developers Avoid Overload
Backed by YL Ventures and Mayfield, Minimus says its new curated software containers reduce vulnerabilities by over 95%—freeing developers from excessive scanning and patching and reframing the traditional relationship between development and security teams.

Jury Slams NSO With $167M Verdict for WhatsApp Hack
Meta has secured a $167 million punitive damages verdict against Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group, with a U.S. jury finding the firm illegally used Pegasus malware to hack 1,400 WhatsApp accounts tied to diplomats, dissidents and journalists using encrypted messaging platforms.

Maine-Based Firm Already Facing Several Proposed Class Action Lawsuits in Breach
A Maine-based software supplier to medication infusion centers is notifying more than 118,000 individuals that their information was potentially stolen in a hack discovered in February. The firm is already facing at least five proposed federal class action lawsuits involving the data theft.

Hackers Bypass MFA to Steal Australians' Banking Credentials
Melbourne-based ANZ Bank will introduce passwordless authentication for digital banking services amid news that hackers have stolen the banking credentials of tens of thousands of Australians. Cybercriminals used infostealer malware to steal the credentials of more than 30,000 Australians.

Critics Say Public Benefit Corporation Model May Undermine AI Safety and Oversight
OpenAI’s nonprofit parent will retain control as its for-profit subsidiary becomes a public benefit corporation. While the company frames the change as mission-driven, critics fear it may strip the nonprofit of meaningful control and expose AGI development to uncontrolled commercial interests.

Hacker Breaches Government-Approved Messaging App Used by Top Trump Officials
A Signal clone messaging app apparently being used by top advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly went dark Monday following a reported hacking incident. TeleMessage said it temporarily suspended messaging services "out of an abundance of caution."

Ex-Interpol Director Craig Jones on How Geopolitics Affects Global Cybercrime
Geopolitical conflicts have affected intergovernmental cooperation. Craig Jones, immediate past director of cybercrime at Interpol, says geopolitical instability has pushed countries to shift their focus toward data sovereignty, scrutinizing data storage, access and regulations.

Phosphorus Cybersecurity's Phillip Wylie on Asset Inventory, Password Hygiene
Organizations inadvertently create cybersecurity gaps by trusting connected devices. Threat actors are shifting tactics to exploit IoT vulnerabilities when traditional attack vectors strengthen, said Phillip Wylie, xIoT security evangelist at Phosphorous Cybersecurity.

Fortinet Uncovers Long-Term Cyberespionage in Region
An Iranian state-sponsored threat group conducted a years-long cyberespionage campaign targeting a Middle East critical infrastructure provider, with its operational technology network a key target. The attackers focused reconnaissance activity and credential theft on the OT network.

Flattery Glitch Forces Rollback, Potential Procedural Overhaul
OpenAI faced an unexpected publiclity storm when its latest GPT-4o update turned ChatGPT into an overzealous cheerleader, lavishing praise on everything from risky life choices to dubious opinions. CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the issue, with OpenAI outlining changes to prevent a repeat performance.

National Cybersecurity Alliance's Lisa Plaggemier on Replacing Shrinking Public Funds
Lisa Plaggemier, executive director of the National Cybersecurity Alliance, urges nonprofits to embrace private-sector partnerships and creative outreach to protect vulnerable groups such as senior citizens as federal funding support wanes.

FBI's Cynthia Kaiser on How AI Is Helping to Evolve Cyberthreats
Artificial intelligence is changing the way people work, including cybercriminals and fraudsters. But instead of introducing new types of cybercrime, AI has enhanced existing criminal activities, said Cynthia Kaiser, deputy assistant director at the FBI.

Ex-National Cyber Director Emphasizes a Unified Approach to Cybersecurity
Public-private partnerships are of grave importance to tackle cyberthreats, given their ability to transcend geographical boundaries and affect individuals regardless of location, says Harry Coker, secretary of the Maryland Department of Commerce and former U.S. national cyber director.

Politecnico di Milano's Zanero on Evolving Malware Detection and Hardware Security
Machine learning excels at identifying repetitive patterns and anomalies, but human insight remains vital for understanding the broader context of cyberattacks - especially in cyber-physical ecosystems, said Stefano Zanero, professor at Politecnico di Milano.

SolarWinds CISO Tim Brown's Case Shows Personal, Legal and Health Risks for CISOs
CISOs face tremendous stress in dealing with regulatory scrutiny and legal exposure in the wake of a data breach. SolarWinds CISO Tim Brown shares the personal and professional impact of Securities and Exchange Commission charges against him after the 2020 SolarWinds supply chain attack.

ISC2 CISO Jon France on Why Quantum Resilience Falls Squarely Under the CISO
Quantum computing is at a tipping point, moving from theoretical math to deployable physics, said Jon France, CISO at ISC2. So, security teams need to start addressing the implementation of quantum-safe algorithms now, beginning with the five new safe algorithms released by NIST.

Google Cloud's Hultquist on How State Hackers Exploit Code and Corporate Hiring
John Hultquist, chief analyst at Google Threat Intelligence Group, Google Cloud, discussed how China and North Korea are transforming cyberattacks into organized, factory-like operations. Alongside zero-day exploits, North Korean IT operatives are quietly infiltrating Fortune 500 companies under false identities.

Rain Capital's Chenxi Wang Warns About AI's Emerging Role in Coding
AI can significantly accelerate code generation - helping developers go from idea to implementation in minutes - but AI-generated code is frequently based on insecure or flawed examples found in public code repositories, explains Chenxi Wang, founder and general partner at Rain Capital.