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Americans Extorted at Least 5 Firms, Earning $1 Million From a Medical Device Maker
Two American cybersecurity professionals who moonlighted as BlackCat ransomware gang affiliates pleaded guilty to using the crypto-locking malware to extort at least five victims in the United States, including a medical device maker that paid a cryptocurrency ransom worth over $1 million.

3 Years in, Generative AI Has Created Fewer New Roles Than Expected
Three years after ChatGPT's public debut in November 2022, the promised artificial intelligence job revolution has arrived. It's just not what anyone anticipated. Research shows that demand for AI fluency jumped nearly sevenfold in two years.

Jason Rolleston: Unified Agent and AI Aim to Boost Midmarket Security Capabilities
Broadcom's integration of Symantec and Carbon Black promises a unified single-agent framework and AI-enhanced threat detection to help small and midmarket businesses defend against sophisticated cyberthreats with limited resources, said Jason Rolleston.

Patches Issued for MongoBleed as Ransomware Groups Target Flaw to Steal Data
Tens of thousands of internet-exposed MongoDB databases are at risk as attackers actively target a critical vulnerability in the software to steal sensitive data, with ransomware groups having joined the fray, researchers warn. MongoDB has issued patches and mitigation advice.

Attackers Continue to Hit Edge Devices and Wield Infostealers and Ransomware
As the year comes to a close, what's notable is how much doesn't seem to have fundamentally changed on the cyberattack front, across edge device targeting, breaches, ransomware and more. But the pace at which attacks unfold and defenders must respond, mitigate or triage seems to keep accelerating.

Use cases of AI in healthcare will continue to expand in 2026 - including for back-office automation, ambient exam room documentation, claims processing and clinical decision support - but so will critical privacy, security, legal and other risks, said attorney Wendell Bartnick of law firm Reed Smith.

AI Adoption Putting Hypervisors in Attackers Sights, Says Google Cloud's Jamie Collier
Hypervisors and virtualized infrastructure are drawing more cyberattacks, a trend that reflects organizations' expanded use of cloud services, containers and artificial intelligence-driven systems, said Jamie Collier, lead threat intelligence advisor for the EMEA region at Google Cloud.

Synthetic Entities, AI-Driven Scams, Stablecoin Misuse Pose Key Threats in 2026
Artificial intelligence-powered scams reached new heights in 2025. In the coming year, those threats will evolve further, with synthetic entities, stablecoin abuse and deepfakes driving fraud campaigns. Banks and lenders need better data, reporting and regulations to stay ahead of fraudsters.

Variant Likely in Beta Stage, Aikido Researcher Said
Hackers behind the Shai Hulud malicious npm JavaScript campaign are likely testing a new variant of the malware. Security researchers at Aikido on Sunday uncovered a new Shai Hulud variant.

Implantable brain devices introduce a new and significantly more complex class of cybersecurity risk and critical privacy concerns, compared with traditional medical devices, given the sensitivity of neural data, says Professor Kevin Fu of the Archimedes Center at Northeastern University.

Also: AI-Driven Deception, Cyber Deterrence and Resilience
In the latest weekly update, ISMG editors reflected on the accelerating use of AI in cyber deception in 2025, geopolitical tensions and nation-state threats, and a growing shift from prevention to resilience as attacks increasingly targeted critical infrastructure and exploited human trust.

Little Progress Made to Mandate Customer Reimbursement for Financial Scams
Financial scams and synthetic identity fraud showed no signs of slowing in 2025, as regulators focused on fraud prevention over reimbursement for victims. But some countries joined the United Kingdom in advancing new anti-scam measures that focus on prevention and industry accountability.

Healthcare sector mergers and acquisitions dramatically amplify cybersecurity and data privacy exposure for potential buyers and sellers, said attorney Jonian Rafti of law firm Proskauer. But there are critical steps entities can take to reduce those risks, he said.

AI is changing cybercrime in a big way. Autonomous AI agents could soon carry out entire attacks on their own -scanning servers, testing vulnerabilities, refining exploits and even launching phishing campaigns from start to finish, said David Sancho, senior threat researcher at Trend Micro.

Also: Trader Loses $50M in USDT in Address Poisoning Scam
This week, the U.K. FCA mapped a path to U.K. crypto regulation, iComTech promoter sentenced in Ponzi case, the U.S. SEC sought public company bans for former FTX and Alameda executives, a trader lost $50M in USDT in an address poisoning scam and a Brooklyn man indicted over $16M Coinbase phishing scam.

Also: SudamericaData Leak, RaccoonO365 Arrest and Nefilim Conspirator Pleads Guilty
This week: Spotify metadata scraped, Nissan disclosed third-party breach, millions of Argentines exposed to data leak, African police arrested hundreds in a cybercrime sweep, Nigeria nabbed a phishing operator, the U.S. DOJ charged ATM jackpotting ring and Nefilim ransomware affiliate pleaded guilty.

Job Seekers Need to Demonstrate Good Judgement and Trust - Not Just Skills
Cybersecurity job interviews function much more like risk assessments. Hiring managers are not searching for perfection. They are working to reduce uncertainty about how someone will think, decide and behave when systems fail, pressure mounts and information is incomplete.

Third-party security threats remain one of the most critical risks facing the healthcare sector. But now the increasing use of artificial intelligence by vendors adds a new layer of third-party concerns, said independent consultant Rick Doten, former healthplan CISO at Centene Corp.