All news in category “Incidents and Data Breaches”

⚠️ Over recent months a global scam campaign has bombarded users with fraudulent cloud-storage renewal notices claiming payment failures and imminent deletion of photos and backups. The emails use auto-generated sender domains and links hosted on Google Cloud Storage that redirect to phishing pages impersonating cloud portals. Those pages run fake storage scans, promote unrelated affiliate products, and lead to checkout forms that collect credit card details. Delete these messages and verify billing only through official apps or websites.

🔒 Mandiant reports a recent wave of ShinyHunters attacks that combine targeted vishing and company‑branded phishing sites to capture SSO credentials and MFA codes. Attackers impersonate IT or helpdesk staff, guide victims through MFA approval or one‑time passcodes in real time, and enroll attacker-controlled MFA devices. With access to Okta, Microsoft Entra, or Google SSO dashboards they pivot into SaaS platforms (Salesforce, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, DocuSign, Slack, Atlassian, Dropbox, Google Drive) to steal and extort cloud data.

🔍 A security researcher published evidence that some Instagram private profiles returned links to user photos and captions inside the page HTML, making them visible to unauthenticated visitors on certain mobile devices. Researcher Jatin Banga showed the polaris_timeline_connection JSON object embedded encoded CDN links pointing to images that should have been private. In tests of private accounts he controlled or had permission to use, about 28% exposed captions and CDN links. Banga reported the issue to Meta on October 12, 2025; Meta later closed the report as "not applicable" and did not provide a root-cause analysis, though the behavior ceased roughly October 16.

🔍 HarfangLab detected a Farsi-speaking, Iran-aligned campaign codenamed RedKitten in January 2026 that targets NGOs and individuals documenting recent human rights abuses. The operation begins with a Farsi-named 7‑Zip archive containing macro-laced Excel files; embedded VBA macros, which analysts say show signs of LLM generation, drop a C# implant via AppDomainManager injection. The backdoor, SloppyMIO, uses GitHub and Google Drive for steganographic configuration retrieval and leverages Telegram for command-and-control, supporting multiple modules to run commands, collect and exfiltrate files, deploy payloads and establish persistence.

🔒 The FBI has seized control of RAMP (Russian Anonymous MarketPlace), replacing both its dark‑web and clearnet domains with law‑enforcement seizure banners. The action, carried out with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Justice Department’s CCIPS, redirects the forum's nameservers to ns1.fbi.seized.gov and ns2.fbi.seized.gov. The takedown follows the 2024 arrest of alleged operator Mikhail Matveev and may provide authorities access to user data that could prompt further prosecutions.

📞 Google-owned Mandiant reported an expansion of ShinyHunters-style extortion activity that combines advanced voice phishing with fake credential-harvesting sites to capture SSO credentials and MFA codes to access cloud SaaS environments. The team is tracking multiple clusters (UNC6661, UNC6671, UNC6240) and observed attackers impersonating IT staff, registering attacker-controlled MFA devices, and exfiltrating data from services such as SharePoint and OneDrive. Mandiant recommends strengthening help-desk verification, improving logging and detection, restricting weak authentication methods, and adopting phishing-resistant options like FIDO2 or passkeys.

🔒 CERT Polska disclosed coordinated, destructive cyber attacks on December 29, 2025 that targeted more than 30 wind and photovoltaic farms, a manufacturing firm, and a large combined heat and power (CHP) plant. The agency attributed the activity to the cluster it calls Static Tundra, linked to Russia's FSB Center 16, while other vendors noted similarities to Sandworm. Attackers deployed multiple wipers — notably DynoWiper and a PowerShell-based LazyWiper — exploited vulnerable FortiGate appliances, harvested credentials and exfiltrated selected M365 data, but did not succeed in disrupting electricity production or heat delivery.

🔒 A coordinated international law enforcement operation led by Italy’s District Prosecutor’s Office of Catania, with support from Europol, Eurojust and Interpol, dismantled three large illegal IPTV platforms. Authorities seized infrastructure linked to IPTVItalia, migliorIPTV and DarkTV, identified 31 suspects and disrupted servers across Romania and Africa. Investigators report the services illegally retransmitted content from providers such as Sky, DAZN, Netflix and others while using cryptocurrencies and shell companies to obscure proceeds.

🔎 Mandiant and Google GTIG observed an expansion of ShinyHunters-style campaigns using sophisticated vishing and victim-branded credential harvesting sites to steal SSO credentials and MFA codes. Compromised accounts were used to access a broadening set of cloud SaaS applications to locate confidential documents and PII for extortion. Activity attributed to clusters UNC6661, UNC6671, and UNC6240 includes harassment, DDoS, and Limewire-hosted proof samples. Organizations should adopt phishing-resistant MFA such as FIDO2 or passkeys and follow published hardening and detection guidance.

⚠️Researchers discovered a coordinated network of malicious Google Chrome extensions that inject attacker affiliate tags into e-commerce links, scrape product data, and exfiltrate OpenAI ChatGPT authentication tokens. A cluster of 29 add-ons (including Amazon Ads Blocker) targeted Amazon, AliExpress, Best Buy, Shein, Shopify and Walmart. Separate groups intercepted ChatGPT tokens or abused permissions to harvest cookies and clipboard data. Experts warn these behaviors violate Chrome Web Store policies and urge caution when installing extensions requesting broad permissions or combining unrelated features.

🛡️ Bitdefender Labs reports a large-scale Android malware campaign that leveraged Hugging Face's public hosting to deliver a remote access trojan (RAT). The operation begins with a scareware dropper disguised as a security app, TrustBastion, which tricks users via fake infection alerts into downloading a second-stage APK from a Hugging Face dataset. Attackers automated payload generation with thousands of unique APKs and frequent commits to evade signature-based detection. The installed RAT requests high-risk permissions — Accessibility Services, screen recording, casting, and overlay rights — enabling credential harvesting, screen capture, persistent control, and exfiltration; Bitdefender notified Hugging Face and the malicious datasets were removed, though variants resurfaced elsewhere.

🔍 Cisco Talos has uncovered a late-2025 to early-2026 campaign by a China-linked actor tracked as UAT-8099 targeting vulnerable IIS servers across Asia, notably Thailand and Vietnam. The actor uses web shells, PowerShell, and red-team utilities to deploy GotoHTTP and maintain persistence via hidden accounts. Infections deliver the BadIIS SEO-fraud malware family, hijacking crawlers and injecting malicious redirects to manipulate search rankings.

🚨 French cybersecurity firm HarfangLab uncovered a January 2026 campaign dubbed RedKitten that leverages emotionally charged, forged forensic files to deliver a .NET implant called SloppyMIO. The attack begins with a password-protected 7z archive containing malicious Excel spreadsheets that prompt users to enable macros and drop a C# payload. SloppyMIO hijacks a legitimate Windows binary to run stealthily, establishes persistence via scheduled tasks, fetches modules from GitHub and Google Drive, and uses Telegram as its command-and-control channel. Researchers noted multiple traces of LLM-assisted development and assessed the campaign as aligned with Iranian government security interests.

🛡️ ESET researchers describe DynoWiper, a newly identified data-wiping malware used against an energy company in Poland. The report details a three-phase wiper that overwrites files using a single 16-byte random buffer, executes destructive passes with variant-specific behavior, and forces a reboot to complete destruction. ESET attributes the operation to Sandworm with medium confidence and highlights that ESET PROTECT blocked execution and significantly limited impact. The analysis also notes overlaps with the previously observed ZOV wiper.

🛡️ Linwei Ding, a former Google engineer, was convicted by a federal jury on multiple counts of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets after allegedly taking more than 2,000 confidential documents tied to Google's AI infrastructure and chip designs. Prosecutors say the material included details on Google's TPU and GPU architectures, Cluster Management System software, and custom SmartNICs used in AI supercomputers. Authorities allege the theft occurred between May 2022 and April 2023 and that Ding copied files to personal accounts and founded a China-based startup while still employed by Google. He faces significant federal prison terms if sentenced.

📞 Notorious extortion group ShinyHunters released tens of gigabytes of files it claims were stolen from dating services including Hinge, Match, OkCupid and Bumble. Researchers link the disclosures to a broader campaign that combines automated phishing kits with voice-based social engineering to capture credentials and MFA tokens in real time. Security firm Silent Push detected a 'Live Phishing Panel' and infrastructure consistent with SLSH activity targeting more than 100 high-value organizations. Organizations are advised to verify IT support calls through official out-of-band channels and audit OSS logs for suspicious device enrollments and new-IP logins.

🚨Researchers at Bitdefender found an Android campaign using the Hugging Face platform to host and serve thousands of malicious APK variants. A scareware dropper called TrustBastion lures victims with fake Google Play update prompts, redirects to a Hugging Face dataset, and downloads the payload via the platform's CDN. The RAT aggressively abuses Android Accessibility Services to present overlays, capture screens, impersonate login UIs for services such as Alipay and WeChat, block uninstall, and exfiltrate credentials; Hugging Face removed the malicious datasets after notification.

🔒 Google Threat Intelligence Group, working with industry partners, disrupted the IPIDEA residential proxy network by taking down domains, infected-device management systems, and proxy-traffic routing infrastructure. The operation targeted SDKs embedded in at least 600 trojanized Android apps and over 3,000 malicious Windows binaries, which collectively enrolled about 6.7 million devices worldwide. GTIG reported that more than 550 distinct threat groups abused IPIDEA for account takeovers, credential theft, botnet control, and DDoS support; users should avoid untrusted VPNs and apps that pay for bandwidth.

🔒Match Group confirmed a security incident after the ShinyHunters group leaked 1.7 GB of compressed files allegedly containing about 10 million records from Hinge, Match, and OkCupid, along with internal documents. The company says it terminated unauthorized access, is working with external experts, and believes a limited amount of user data was exposed with no indication that login credentials, financial information, or private communications were accessed. Match Group is notifying affected individuals as appropriate and continuing its investigation.

🔒 Marquis Software Solutions says a ransomware attack in August 2025 that disrupted systems serving dozens of U.S. banks and credit unions was enabled by a breach at SonicWall's cloud backup service. Rather than exploiting an unpatched firewall, attackers used configuration data taken from backup files accessed after unauthorized access to the MySonicWall portal, according to Marquis and a third-party investigation. Marquis is evaluating options including seeking recoupment of response costs for itself and affected customers. SonicWall has acknowledged the MySonicWall breach and said a Mandiant probe linked the incident to state-sponsored actors.