Security News

Preparing for the Quantum Era: Post-Quantum Cryptography Webinar for Security Leaders

Most organizations assume encrypted data is safe. But many attackers are already preparing for a future where today’s encryption can be broken. Instead of trying to decrypt information now, they are collecting encrypted data and storing it so it can be decrypted later using quantum computers. This tactic—known as “harvest now, decrypt later”—means sensitive data transmitted today could become

Dust Specter Targets Iraqi Officials with New SPLITDROP and GHOSTFORM Malware

A suspected Iran-nexus threat actor has been attributed to a campaign targeting government officials in Iraq by impersonating the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deliver a set of never-before-seen malware. Zscaler ThreatLabz, which observed the activity in January 2026, is tracking the cluster under the name Dust Specter. The attacks, which manifest in the form of two different

ISC Stormcast For Thursday, March 5th, 2026 https://isc.sans.edu/podcastdetail/9836, (Thu, Mar 5th)

Where Multi-Factor Authentication Stops and Credential Abuse Starts

Organizations typically roll out multi-factor authentication (MFA) and assume stolen passwords are no longer enough to access systems. In Windows environments, that assumption is often wrong. Attackers still compromise networks every day using valid credentials. The issue is not MFA itself, but coverage.  Enforced through an identity provider (IdP) such as Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, or

APT28-Linked Campaign Deploys BadPaw Loader and MeowMeow Backdoor in Ukraine

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new Russian cyber campaign that has targeted Ukrainian entities with two previously undocumented malware families named BadPaw and MeowMeow. "The attack chain initiates with a phishing email containing a link to a ZIP archive. Once extracted, an initial HTA file displays a lure document written in Ukrainian concerning border crossing appeals

Europol-Led Operation Takes Down Tycoon 2FA Phishing-as-a-Service Linked to 64,000 Attacks

Tycoon 2FA, one of the prominent phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) toolkits that allowed cybercriminals to stage adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) credential harvesting attacks at scale, was dismantled by a coalition of law enforcement agencies and security companies. The subscription-based phishing kit, which first emerged in August 2023, was described by Europol as one of the largest phishing

FBI and Europol Seize LeakBase Forum Used to Trade Stolen Credentials

A joint law enforcement operation has dismantled LeakBase, one of the world's largest online forums for cybercriminals to buy and sell stolen data and cybercrime tools. The LeakBase forum, per the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), had over 142,000 members and more than 215,000 messages between members as of December 2025. Those attempting to access the forum's website ("leakbase[.]la") are now

Differentiating Between a Targeted Intrusion and an Automated Opportunistic Scanning [Guest Diary], (Wed, Mar 4th)

[This is a Guest Diary by Joseph Gruen, an ISC intern as part of the SANS.edu BACS program]

VMware Aria Operations Bug Exploited, Cloud Resources at Risk

Exploitation of the command injection flaw in VMware Aria Operations could grant an attacker broad acess to victims' cloud environments.

149 Hacktivist DDoS Attacks Hit 110 Organizations in 16 Countries After Middle East Conflict

Cybersecurity researchers have warned of a surge in retaliatory hacktivist activity following the U.S.-Israel coordinated military campaign against Iran, codenamed Epic Fury and Roaring Lion. "The hacktivist threat in the Middle East is highly lopsided, with two groups, Keymous+ and DieNet, driving nearly 70% of all attack activity between February 28 and March 2," Radware said in a Tuesday

Stranger Things Meets Cybersecurity: Lessons from the Hive Mind

Events and concepts from the Stranger Things television series illustrate how enterprises can defend their networks and stay "right side up."

Are We Ready for Auto Remediation With Agentic AI?

With the rapid innovations in AI, we are entering an exciting era of automated risk remediation. Learn about security team readiness to leverage agentic AI for threat and exposure management.

Dark Reading Confidential: This Threat Hunter Helped Cops Bust Up An African Cybercrime Syndicate

Dark Reading Confidential Episode 15: Interpol relied on Will Thomas and team to help break up a sprawling cybercrime ring, leading to the arrest of 574 suspects, the recovery of more than $3 million, and the decryption of six malware variants. Here's his story.

Coruna iOS Exploit Kit Uses 23 Exploits Across Five Chains Targeting iOS 13–17.2.1

Google said it identified a "new and powerful" exploit kit dubbed Coruna (aka CryptoWaters) targeting Apple iPhone models running iOS versions between 13.0 and 17.2.1. The exploit kit featured five full iOS exploit chains and a total of 23 exploits, Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) said. It's not effective against the latest version of iOS. The findings were first reported by WIRED. "The

New RFP Template for AI Usage Control and AI Governance

As AI becomes the central engine for enterprise productivity, security leaders are finally getting the green light — and the budget — to secure it. But there’s a quiet crisis unfolding in the boardroom: many organizations know they need "AI Governance," but they have no idea what they are actually looking for. The CISO’s Dilemma: You Have the AI Budget, but Do You Have the Requirements? As AI

China's Silver Dragon Razes Governments in EU, SE Asia

The emerging actor, part of the APT41 nexus, gains initial access via phishing, and uses legitimate network services to obscure cyberespionage activities.

Want More XWorm?, (Wed, Mar 4th)

And another XWorm[1] wave in the wild! This malware family is not new and heavily spread but delivery techniques always evolve and deserve to be described to show you how threat actors can be imaginative! This time, we are facing another piece of multi-technology malware.

Fake Laravel Packages on Packagist Deploy RAT on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged malicious Packagist PHP packages masquerading as Laravel utilities that act as a conduit for a cross-platform remote access trojan (RAT) that's functional on Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. The names of the packages are listed below - nhattuanbl/lara-helper (37 Downloads) nhattuanbl/simple-queue (29 Downloads) nhattuanbl/lara-swagger (49 Downloads)

APT41-Linked Silver Dragon Targets Governments Using Cobalt Strike and Google Drive C2

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of an advanced persistent threat (APT) group dubbed Silver Dragon that has been linked to cyber attacks targeting entities in Europe and Southeast Asia since at least mid-2024. "Silver Dragon gains its initial access by exploiting public-facing internet servers and by delivering phishing emails that contain malicious attachments," Check Point said

CISA Adds Actively Exploited VMware Aria Operations Flaw CVE-2026-22719 to KEV Catalog

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday added a recently disclosed security flaw impacting Broadcom VMware Aria Operations to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing active exploitation in the wild. The high-severity vulnerability, CVE-2026-22719 (CVSS score: 8.1), has been described as a case of command injection that could allow an