All news in category “Incidents and Data Breaches”

🔐 Cisco Talos confirmed ransomware operators abused Velociraptor, an open-source DFIR endpoint tool, to gain arbitrary command execution in August 2025 by deploying an outdated agent vulnerable to CVE-2025-6264. Talos links the activity with moderate confidence to Storm-2603 based on overlapping tooling and TTPs. Operators used the tool to stage lateral movement, deploy fileless PowerShell encryptors, and deliver multiple ransomware families, severely disrupting VMware ESXi and Windows servers.

🔍 Ukraine's SSSCIP reported a sharp rise in AI-enabled cyber operations in H1 2025, documenting 3,018 incidents versus 2,575 in H2 2024. Analysts found evidence that attackers used AI not only to craft phishing lures but also to generate malware samples, including a PowerShell stealer identified as WRECKSTEEL. Multiple UAC clusters—such as UAC-0219, UAC-0218, and UAC-0226—deployed stealers and backdoors via booby-trapped archives, SVG attachments, and ClickFix-style tactics. The report also details zero-click exploitation of Roundcube and Zimbra flaws and widespread abuse of legitimate cloud and collaboration services for hosting and data exfiltration.

🔒 Kantsu, a midsize Japanese logistics firm, was hit by ransomware on Sept. 12, 2024 that encrypted servers, cut communications, and halted shipping operations for hundreds of clients. The company refused to pay a ransom, shut down networks, replaced PCs, and rebuilt its cloud WMS Cloud Thomas on AWS while using analog processes to maintain critical shipments. Executives prioritized speed, cash availability, and employee welfare during an expensive recovery process that exposed gaps in cyber insurance.

🛡️ Discord says it will not pay extortionists who claim to have stolen data from a third‑party customer support service and disputes claims that 2.1 million ID photos were exposed. Attackers allege they obtained 1.6 TB of data from the company's Zendesk instance, impacting 5.5 million users and including partial payment and MFA‑related information. Discord says roughly 70,000 ID photos may have been exposed and characterizes the larger figures as part of an extortion attempt.

🔒 The Qilin ransomware group has added Japanese brewer Asahi to its data leak site, claiming exfiltration of over 9,300 files totaling 27GB and publishing 29 images of internal financial documents, employee IDs, contracts, and reports. Asahi suspended operations at six facilities after a September 29 cyberattack and confirmed a ransomware-caused disruption with evidence of data theft. The company says production of its flagship Super Dry has resumed via a temporary manual ordering system, though full operations are not yet restored and new product launches are postponed.

🔒 Researchers report the 'Crimson Collective' has been targeting long-term AWS credentials and IAM accounts to steal data and extort companies. Using open-source tools like TruffleHog, the attackers locate exposed AWS keys, create new IAM users and access keys, then escalate privileges by attaching AdministratorAccess. They snapshot RDS and EBS volumes, export data to S3, and send extortion notices via AWS SES. Rapid7 urges organisations to audit keys, enforce least privilege, and scan for exposed secrets.

🔒 Security researchers warn of an active campaign that modifies WordPress theme files (notably functions.php) to inject malicious JavaScript that redirects visitors to fraudulent verification and malware distribution pages. The injected loader uses obfuscated references to advertising services but posts to a controller domain that serves a remote script from porsasystem[.]com and an iframe mimicking Cloudflare assets. The activity has ties to the Kongtuke traffic distribution system and highlights the need to patch themes, enforce strong credentials, and scan for persistent backdoors.

🔍 A U.S. District Court complaint alleges that Norfolk, Virginia’s 176 Flock Safety automated license-plate readers tracked plaintiffs repeatedly as they drove — one retired veteran was logged 526 times and another resident 849 times between mid-February and early July. The September lawsuit contends that this pervasive, warrantless tracking raises serious Fourth Amendment and privacy issues. The ACLU and a 2024 ruling by Judge Jamilah LeCruise, which excluded warrantless plate-reader data in a robbery prosecution, underscore growing legal scrutiny.

🔒 Two 17-year-old suspects were arrested in Bishop's Stortford on suspicion of blackmail and computer misuse after an investigation into the doxing of children following a ransomware attack on a chain of London nurseries. The incident aligns with a September 25 breach affecting Kido nurseries, where a group known as Radiant Group claimed to have stolen sensitive data and photos of over 1,000 children. Attackers posted some images and addresses on a dark web leak site and later removed the files on October 2 after failing to extort the company and making threatening calls to parents. Nursery software provider Famly said its infrastructure was not breached, while UK authorities described the case as deeply distressing and said investigations continue.

🔒 Huntress reported that threat actors with suspected ties to China abused a vulnerable phpMyAdmin panel in August 2025 to perform log poisoning, recording a PHP web shell into a query log and naming the file with a .php extension. The actors used the web shell (accessed via ANTSWORD) to deploy the open-source Nezha agent and inventory over 100 hosts—primarily in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. The Nezha agent facilitated execution of an interactive PowerShell script that created Microsoft Defender exclusions and launched Gh0st RAT via a loader and dropper.

⚠️ Chaos-C++ is a resurfaced C++ ransomware strain identified in 2025 that combines fast AES encryption, deliberate deletion of very large files, and a clipboard-hijacking capability to steal cryptocurrency payments. It employs a stealthy downloader that masquerades as a system optimizer, uses Windows CryptoAPI where available and a weaker XOR fallback otherwise, and appends a .chaos extension to affected files. Victims also see destructive post-infection commands that remove shadow copies and hinder recovery, and ForsGuard detections are available for protection.

🔍 Huntress analysts uncovered a sophisticated campaign beginning in August 2025 that used log poisoning to plant a PHP web shell and then manage compromised servers via AntSword. The operators downloaded a file named 'live.exe' — identified as the open-source Nezha agent — which connected to a command server at c.mid[.]al and enabled remote tasking. Nezha was used to execute PowerShell commands to disable Windows Defender and to deploy 'x.exe', a Ghost RAT variant that persisted as 'SQLlite'. More than 100 systems, primarily in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, were observed communicating with the attackers' dashboard.

⚠️ Attackers linked to China turned a benign open-source network monitoring agent into a remote access beacon using log poisoning and a tiny web shell. Huntress says they installed the legitimate Nezha RMM via a poisoned phpMyAdmin log and then deployed Ghost RAT for deeper persistence. The intrusion affected more than 100 hosts across Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong and was contained in August 2025.

🔒 Three major ransomware groups — LockBit, Qilin, and DragonForce — have announced a strategic alliance aimed at sharing techniques, infrastructure, affiliates, and operational resources to amplify extortion campaigns worldwide. The announcement follows LockBit's resurgence and the unveiling of LockBit 5.0, which is advertised to target Windows, Linux, and ESXi systems. Security firms warn the partnership could rebuild affiliate trust, increase attacks on critical infrastructure and diversify threats across multiple industry sectors.

🔒 Jaguar Land Rover has reported a 25% drop in volume sales in the three months to 30 September after a cyber incident severely disrupted production and sales. Wholesales in Q2 FY2026 were 66,165 units, down 24.2% year-on-year, while retail sales fell 17.1%. The company began a controlled, phased restart of UK manufacturing from 8 October and launched a supplier financing scheme to ease cashflow during the restart.

💰 North Korea-linked hackers have stolen more than $2 billion in cryptocurrency so far in 2025, according to blockchain analysis firm Elliptic. The total is the highest annual haul on record and is driven largely by a February $1.46bn theft from exchange Bybit. Elliptic attributes over 30 separate hacks this year and warns attackers are increasingly using social engineering and sophisticated laundering to hide proceeds.

🔒 Two teenage boys were arrested in Bishop's Stortford on suspicion of computer misuse and blackmail following a ransomware attack on the Kido nursery group, the Metropolitan Police said. Referred to the Met by Action Fraud on 25 September, investigators allege attackers demanded £600,000 in Bitcoin after stealing names, addresses, contact details and photos of around 8,000 children via a Famly account. The group, which called itself "Radiant," reportedly contacted parents directly and posted some images on the dark web before blurring and later claiming deletion; the app provider says its infrastructure was not breached. The Met described the arrests as a significant step while inquiries continue alongside partner agencies.

🔒 Salesforce confirmed it will not engage with or pay extortion demands after a large-scale theft of customer data this year. Threat actors calling themselves Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters published a data-leak site to extort 39 companies, claiming nearly one billion records stolen. The breaches stemmed from two campaigns: late-2024 social engineering using malicious OAuth apps and an August 2025 campaign abusing stolen SalesLoft/Drift tokens to exfiltrate CRM and support-ticket data. The leak site appears to have been shut down and its domain redirected to nameservers previously associated with law enforcement seizures.

🔓 A cybercrime collective known as ShinyHunters has launched a public extortion blog threatening to publish data stolen from dozens of major companies if ransoms are not paid. The group claims to have harvested Salesforce customer records via a May voice-phishing campaign, and also says it exfiltrated terabytes of files from a Red Hat GitLab server and Discord user data tied to a third-party provider. Security firms and affected vendors including Salesforce, Red Hat and Discord are investigating, while Google and other investigators link the activity to several related UNC clusters and warn of additional token thefts tied to Salesloft. Victim shaming, published exploit scripts for an Oracle E-Business Suite zero-day, and malware-laced threats have amplified the incident’s severity.

🔒 DraftKings has notified customers that attackers accessed some accounts in a wave of credential stuffing attacks. The company says the threat actors used credentials stolen from non‑DraftKings sources to log in and may have viewed limited profile and account data — including name, address, date of birth, email, phone, the last four digits of a payment card, profile photo, transaction history, account balance, and the date the password was last changed. DraftKings said no full financial account numbers or government‑issued identification numbers were accessed. Affected users will be required to reset passwords and are being urged to enable multifactor authentication and monitor their financial and credit records.