DEV Community: Habdul Hazeez

Security news weekly round-up - 3rd April 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:15:46 +0000

Malware, vulnerability, and research in computer security are mostly what we'll talk about in this week's security review. As always, you should know the threat out there and you're responsible for acting accordingly.

As always, my name is Habdul Hazeez. Welcome to this week's review.

Fake VS Code alerts on GitHub spread malware to developers

If you're a developer who receives lots of email notifications from GitHub, be careful of the one that you respond to.

Here is what's going on:

The discussions are posted in an automated way from newly created or low-activity accounts across thousands of repositories within a few minutes, and trigger email notifications to a large number of tagged users and followers.

The posts include links to supposedly patched versions of the impacted VS Code extensions, hosted on external services such as Google Drive.

Although Google Drive is obviously not the official software distribution channel for a VS Code extension, it’s a trusted service, and users acting in haste may miss the red flag.

Stolen Logins Are Fueling Everything From Ransomware to Nation-State Cyberattacks

Username is correct. Password is correct. Successful login. Now, the question you should ask: was it a legitimate user that just accessed your system, or, was it an imposter? If you have the chance to ask yourself that question. Good for you. If an alert goes off afterwards, know that something could be wrong, e.g., a ransomware attack.

From the article:

The theft and resale of credentials operates on an industrial scale. Fueled by the rise of increasingly more sophisticated infostealers, stolen credentials are packaged into ‘logs’ and sold to criminals on the black market.

Ransomware has been one of the primary beneficiaries of stolen credentials. More than 7,000 incidents and 129 active groups were tracked through 2025. At the same time, ransom payments decreased slightly from $892M in 2024 to $820M in 2025.

Digital assets after death: Managing risks to your loved one’s digital estate

From me to you: I don't wish that you die any moment from now. Nonetheless, please, start having that conversation with your loved ones now. What happens to your digital life when you are no more? How will your family get hold of your digital assets? And questions like that. That's what the article is trying to raise awareness about. The message is for me and you.

If you still need more convincing, here is an excerpt from the article that should do the trick:

It’s important to understand that, while most big tech companies offer the ability to transfer access to a “legacy contact,” if you don’t take advantage of this before passing on, the chances are that no one will be able to access your accounts

Microsoft Warns of WhatsApp-Delivered VBS Malware Hijacking Windows via UAC Bypass

By reading the article, it's evident that if attackers successfully infect a system with this VBS malware, they can exfiltrate users' private data or deploy more malware. Also, by reading the article's title, you can ask: Who would knowingly execute a VBS malware via WhatsApp? The answer: the attackers use social engineering to get the user to do it.

Here is what's going on:

The activity begins with the attackers distributing malicious VBS files via WhatsApp messages that, when executed, create hidden folders in "C:\ProgramData" and drop renamed versions of legitimate Windows utilities like "curl.exe" (renamed as "netapi.dll") and "bitsadmin.exe" (renamed as "sc.exe").

Upon gaining an initial foothold, the attackers aim to establish persistence and escalate privileges, ultimately installing malicious MSI packages on victim systems. This is achieved by downloading auxiliary VBS files hosted on AWS S3, Tencent Cloud, and Backblaze B2 using the renamed binaries.

New Rowhammer attacks give complete control of machines running Nvidia GPUs

These types have of attack have come to public light since 2014. It's, 2026 and researchers are still discovering different forms of the attack. This time, in the form of GDDRHammer and GeForge.

Here is what's going on:

GDDRHammer can manipulate the memory allocator to break isolation of GPU page tables—which, like CPU page tables, are the data structures used to store mappings between virtual addresses and physical DRAM addresses—and user data stored on the GPU. The result is that the attacker acquires the ability to both read and write to GPU memory.

GeForge, too, uses novel hammering patterns and memory massaging to corrupt GPU page table mappings in GDDR6 memory to acquire read and write access to the GPU memory space. From there, it acquires the same privileges over host CPU memory.

'NoVoice' Android malware on Google Play infected 2.3 million devices

If you have a device that has security updates from 2021 to the current date, you can mitigate the flaws targeted by this NoVoice malware. Otherwise, you are vulnerable.

Here is what NoVoice can do to an infected device:

According to McAfee researchers, the threat actor concealed malicious components in the com.facebook.utils package, mixing them with the legitimate Facebook SDK classes.

An encrypted payload (enc.apk) hidden inside a PNG image file using steganography is extracted (h.apk) and loaded in system memory while wiping all intermediate files to eliminate traces.

The malware then contacts the command-and-control (C2) server and collects device information such as hardware details, kernel version, Android version (and patch level), installed apps, and root status, to determine the exploit strategy.

Critical Vulnerability in Claude Code Emerges Days After Source Leak

It's one thing to accidentally leak the source code of one of your tools and it's another for someone to discover a vulnerability. Now, we can say you have to do two things: build another version of the tools whose code got leaked, and ensure that it does not get to the public. Second, find a way to protect the users of the current version from the vulnerability. Anyways, we can say, Anthropic has a lot to deal with.

From the article, here is some brief information about the vulnerability:

The problem stems from Anthropic’s desire for improved performance following the discovery of a performance issue: complex compound commands caused the UI to freeze. Anthropic fixed this by capping analysis at 50 subcommands, with a fall back to a generic ‘ask’ prompt for anything else. The code comment states, “Fifty is generous: legitimate user commands don’t split that wide. Above the cap we fall back to ‘ask’ (safe default — we can’t prove safety, so we prompt).”

The flaw discovered by Adversa is that this process can be manipulated. Anthropic’s assumption doesn’t account for AI-generated commands from prompt injection — where a malicious CLAUDE.md file instructs the AI to generate a 50+ subcommand pipeline that looks like a legitimate build process.

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 27th March 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 21:03:26 +0000

While cybersecurity defenders are looking for innovative ways to keep Internet users safe, cybercriminals are doing the opposite — to hurt users by stealing their money or information that can lead to theft or other things that are valuable to the user. It's upon me and you to always know the threat out there and act accordingly.

Hackers Use Fake Resumes to Steal Enterprise Credentials and Deploy Crypto Miner

It's a phishing attack. To complicate issues, if you fall for it, it takes around 25 seconds from script execution to credential exfiltration.

Here is what's going on:

The initial dropper file is a Visual Basic Script (VBScript) that, upon opening, displays a bogus French-language error message, fooling message recipients into thinking that the file is corrupted.

...the heavily obfuscated script runs a series of checks to evade sandboxes and enters into a persistent User Account Control (UAC) loop that prompts users to run it with administrator privileges.

As soon as the dropper obtains administrative privileges, it wastes no time disabling security controls and covering up its tracks

Convicted spyware chief hints that Greece’s government was behind dozens of phone hacks

While reading the article, one thing is clear: someone hacked the phones of government officials and journalists. The spyware chief was sentenced to eight years in prison and now he claims he will not be a "scapegoat."

From the article:

Several senior officials in the Greek government, including the head of Greece’s national intelligence agency and a senior aide to the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, resigned in the wake of revelations that several journalists’ phones had been hacked.

No government officials have been convicted in connection with the surveillance, and critics have accused the Mitsotakis government of a cover-up.

WebRTC Skimmer Bypasses CSP to Steal Payment Data from E-Commerce Sites

At the time of writing, Adobe has patched the vulnerability that allowed this to happen, but it appears that the patch is yet to reach production websites.

The following is how the skimmer works:

The skimmer is designed as a self-executing script that establishes a WebRTC peer connection to a hard-coded IP address ("202.181.177[.]177") over UDP port 3479 and retrieves JavaScript code that's subsequently injected into the web page for stealing payment information.

The use of WebRTC marks a significant evolution in skimmer attacks, as it bypasses Content Security Policy (CSP) directives.

Apple made strides with iOS 26 security, but leaked hacking tools still leave millions exposed to spyware attacks

The article title says it all. If you're not in the loop in the past few weeks, let me update you. The hacking tools in question are DarkSword and Coruna. The former was leaked on GitHub, making it easy for anyone to launch attacks on older iOS users.

From the article:

The discovery of Coruna and DarkSword suggest that memory-based attacks could continue to plague users of older iPhones and iPads that lag behind the newer, more memory-safe models.

Experts working for iVerify and Lookout, two cybersecurity companies that have a commercial stake in selling security products for mobile devices, say Coruna and DarkSword may also challenge the long-held assumption that iPhone hacks are rare.

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 20th March 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 22:57:50 +0000

One thing is certain. Vulnerabilities are not going anywhere anytime soon because humans are not perfect and our imperfections can show in what we create. Also, while technology like AI applications can help you become productive, it can lead to a data breach.

This and more is what we are about to review. Let's begin.

Researchers disclose vulnerabilities in IP KVMs from four manufacturers

The vulnerability risk is high because the kind of power that it gives to the attackers is dangerous.

For example:

The devices, which typically sell for $30 to $100, are known as IP KVMs. Administrators often use them to remotely access machines on networks.

This provides power and convenience to admins, but in the wrong hands, the capabilities can often torpedo what might otherwise be a secure network.

The Collapse of Predictive Security in the Age of Machine-Speed Attacks

As a cyber defender, know that it's nothing new. You just need to change how you protect the systems that you are charged to protect.

Here is what's going on:

“Preemptive security means reducing the conditions attackers rely on before exploitation occurs, detecting and responding with full environmental context, and prioritizing action based on material risk, not alert volume.”

Internet access brokers are a primary cause for this necessary shift in defense, and the success of infostealers are key to the IABs’ efficiency. “Infostealers provide a gold mine of information that attackers can use,”

Shadow AI Risk: How SaaS Apps Are Quietly Enabling Massive Breaches

It's your responsibility to know the apps in your environment.

From the article:

While complexity is the enemy of security, SaaS is the disguiser and multiplier of complexity, through poor visibility into its shadow AI.

An attacker can often find greater visibility into a SaaS app by stealing the right OAuth access and/or refresh token (courtesy of the modern infostealer that can enter, scrape and depart without the victim realizing it).

‘DarkSword’ iOS Exploit Kit Used by State-Sponsored Hackers, Spyware Vendors

What I found fascinating from the article is: the exploit is written in JavaScript. I know, it sounds weird, but it's what it is.

From the article:

Written completely in JavaScript, DarkSword starts with the exploitation of Safari bugs to achieve remote code execution (RCE), continues with a sandbox escape, and shifts to exploiting kernel flaws to inject and execute JavaScript code for privilege escalation and final payload execution.

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 13th March 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 22:45:37 +0000

Security education can go a long way. It can help companies and users patch their vulnerable systems and be aware of the threats that are out there. The results? A better security posture.

In this week's review, we have the usual suspects: malware and phishing. And in the mix, we have some more news.

How AI Assistants are Moving the Security Goalposts

It is a funny title from Brian Krebs. Meanwhile, it should sound the security alarm within you if you have been following the trend of OpenClaw since its release. We can go all day talking about it, but the following is what I want you to take away from the article.

Jamieson O’Reilly is a professional penetration tester and founder of the security firm DVULN. In a recent story posted to Twitter/X, O’Reilly warned that exposing a misconfigured OpenClaw web interface to the Internet allows external parties to read the bot’s complete configuration file, including every credential the agent uses — from API keys and bot tokens to OAuth secrets and signing keys.

With that access, O’Reilly said, an attacker could impersonate the operator to their contacts, inject messages into ongoing conversations, and exfiltrate data through the agent’s existing integrations in a way that looks like normal traffic.

Researchers Trick Perplexity's Comet AI Browser Into Phishing Scam in Under Four Minutes

The good news is that they have patched it. Now, we should worry: what other attacks can researchers devise against these types of web browsers? Time will tell.

Here is what happened:

The research builds on prior techniques like VibeScamming and Scamlexity, which found that vibe-coding platforms and AI browsers could be coaxed into generating scam pages or carrying out malicious actions via hidden prompt injections.

In other words, with the AI agent handling the tasks without constant human supervision, there arises a shift in the attack surface wherein a scam no longer has to deceive a user. Rather, it aims to trick the AI model itself.

14,000 routers are infected by malware that’s highly resistant to takedowns

Here, resistant to takedown means, one of the ways to get rid of the malware if you're infected, is to perform a factory reset!.

From the article:

The malware—dubbed KadNap—takes hold by exploiting vulnerabilities that have gone unpatched by their owners, Chris Formosa, a researcher at security firm Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs, told Ars.

The high concentration of Asus routers is likely due to botnet operators acquiring a reliable exploit for vulnerabilities affecting those models. He said it’s unlikely that the attackers are using any zero-days in the operation.

Six Android Malware Families Target Pix Payments, Banking Apps, and Crypto Wallets

When you read the article's title, you can be certain of one thing: the malware families are used to steal people's money. One of the malware — PixRevolution — steals money in such a way that it's difficult for the victim to know what happened.

From the article:

The Android malware range from traditional banking trojans like PixRevolution, TaxiSpy RAT, BeatBanker, Mirax, and Oblivion RAT to full-fledged remote administration tools such as SURXRAT.

PixRevolution, according to Zimperium, targets Brazil's Pix instant payment platform, hijacking victims' money transfers in real-time to route them to the threat actors instead of the intended payee.

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 6th March 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 21:05:05 +0000

This week's security review is centered around hackers — the good ones and the bad ones. If you're not familiar, the good hackers are the security researchers who investigate how we [the general Internet users] can stay safe online. Conversely, the bad hackers are those who devise mischievous ways to make the life of Internet users miserable, e.g., wasting users' time, stealing data and money, e.t.c.

APT37 hackers use new malware to breach air-gapped networks

When you read the word "air-gapped networks", you should automatically think that such networks exist in critical infrastructures where security is of great importance. Also, they should be "safe" from outside intrusion. Well, that's not always true, and this article is proof that threat actors still find ways to steal data from air-gapped networks.

From the article:

The infection chain begins when the victim opens a malicious Windows shortcut file (LNK), which deploys a PowerShell script that extracts payloads embedded in the LNK file. To divert attention, the script also launches a decoy document.

The PowerShell script loads the first malware component, called RESTLEAF, an implant that communicates with APT37's command-and-control (C2) infrastructure using Zoho WorkDrive.

Hackers Weaponize Claude Code in Mexican Government Cyberattack

When you read the article, you'll realize it's funny how the hackers got Claude to comply.

Here is what happened and what the hackers stole:

The attacker bypassed the AI’s guardrails by convincing it that all actions were authorized, guided the assistant throughout the compromise, and leveraged OpenAI’s model to analyze data and accelerate the attack execution.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
Within a month, Gambit says, the hacker exfiltrated over 150GB of data, including civil registry files, tax records, and voter data. Roughly 195 million identities have been exposed in the breach

LLMs can unmask pseudonymous users at scale with surprising accuracy

I strongly believe that this might be tedious work before. Now, LLMs can make it much easier.

From the article:

The findings have the potential to upend pseudonymity, an imperfect but often sufficient privacy measure used by many people to post queries and participate in sometimes sensitive public discussions while making it hard for others to positively identify the speakers.

The ability to cheaply and quickly identify the people behind such obscured accounts opens them up to doxxing, stalking, and the assembly of detailed marketing profiles that track where speakers live, what they do for a living, and other personal information.

Quantum Decryption of RSA Is Much Closer Than Expected

Currently, I have limited knowledge of cryptography. But I know one thing for sure: RSA is one of the most used encryption that we have today. So, if it's close to being broken, you should know about it.

From the article:

A new algorithm, the JVG algorithm, completely upends existing time projections. The Advanced Quantum Technologies Institute (AQTI) announced March 2, 2026, “The JVG algorithm requires thousand-fold less quantum computer resources, such as qubits and quantum gates. Research extrapolations suggest it will require less than 5,000 qubits to break encryption methods used in RSA and ECC.”

A suite of government hacking tools targeting iPhones is now being used by cybercriminals

When you think: This is safe to develop since we are the only ones that will be using it for "legal" purposes. Then boom! It's in the wrong hands!

Here is what's going on:

Google said the hacking tools are powerful, as they can bypass an iPhone’s defenses simply through visiting a malicious website containing the exploit code — such as being sent a malicious link — in what is known as a “watering hole” attack.

According to Google, the Coruna kit can hack into an iPhone five separate ways by relying on and chaining together 23 separate vulnerabilities in its digital arsenal. Affected devices range from iPhone models running iOS 13 up to 17.2.1, which was released in December 2023.

Wikipedia hit by self-propagating JavaScript worm that vandalized pages

This is Wikipedia; the online encyclopedia. Why would someone do this? This shows that the bad guys don't care about your reputation or your usefulness to others. If they intend to wreck you, they will surely try and it's up to you to defend yourself.

From the article:

The malicious script was stored at User:Ololoshka562/test.js [Archive], first uploaded in March 2024 and allegedly associated with scripts used in previous attacks on wiki projects.

Based on edit histories reviewed by BleepingComputer, the script is believed to have been executed for the first time by a Wikimedia employee account earlier today while testing user-script functionality.

It is not currently known whether the script was executed intentionally, accidentally loaded during testing, or triggered by a compromised account.

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 27th February 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:16:17 +0000

Glad tidings to all cybersecurity defenders who research and bring us news on the threats out there and advise the general population on how to stay safe. Successful is the one who applies the knowledge gained from the information that they share or at least disseminate it to those who will make the most of it.

If you're thinking: Why the threats all the time? Can't we have a day off without reading about a cyber incident or learning that someone designed an application to facilitate illicit gains? Unfortunately, that's not happening anytime soon. That's because there will always be good guys who want what's best for you, and there will always be bad guys who don't care.

‘Starkiller’ Phishing Service Proxies Real Login Pages, MFA

Just when you think that Multi Factor Authentication can save your online accounts from intrusion, then you read an article like this and you have a heartbreak.

Here is a tip of what Starkiller can do:

According to an analysis of Starkiller by the security firm Abnormal AI, the service lets customers select a brand to impersonate (e.g., Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft et. al.) and generates a deceptive URL that visually mimics the legitimate domain while routing traffic through the attacker’s infrastructure.

For example, a phishing link targeting Microsoft customers appears as “login.microsoft.com@[malicious/shortened URL here].” The “@” sign in the link trick is an oldie but goodie, because everything before the “@” in a URL is considered username data, and the real landing page is what comes after the “@” sign

Faking it on the phone: How to tell if a voice call is AI or not

I know that threat actors will read this and try to find a way to beat the information shared in the article. You should also read it and know how they can attack you in the first place.

The following is a quick lesson from the article:

Given that deepfake technology has improved significantly in the six years since, it’s worth revisiting some key steps you can take to minimize the chances of a worst-case scenario.

It should start with employee training and awareness. These programs should be updated to include deepfake audio simulations to ensure staff known what to expect, what’s at stake and how to act. They should be taught to spot the tell-tale signs of social engineering and typical deepfake scenarios

Cisco says hackers have been exploiting a critical bug to break into big customer networks since 2023

I am not saying it's good news. But if the article's title had not said "big customer networks", I would probably have cared less. Meanwhile, that's not the case. Big customer networks dating back to 2023? Who knows what the hackers have got their hands on? What a time to be alive!

Here is what hackers tend to gain from the bug:

By exploiting this bug over the internet, hackers can gain the highest level of permissions to these devices and maintain persistent hidden access inside a victim’s network, allowing them to spy or steal data over a long period of time.

Some of the affected organizations are said to be critical infrastructure. The company did not provide specifics, but “critical infrastructure” can refer to everything from power grids and water supply to the transportation sector.

Ukrainian man pleads guilty to running AI-powered fake ID site

This article reminds me of the saying: Just because you can, does not mean that you should. At the time of writing, the site [OnlyFake] is offline. However, the cached copy of the Internet Archive shows the web page instructing its user base to use the generated IDs for legal purposes only.

Then I thought: it's a big mistake if one creates a service like this and expects it to be used solely for "experimental purposes" only. Now, he is in custody, forced to forfeit USD $1.2 million, and faces up to 15 years in prison. The latter is set to be decided on June 26, 2026.

From the article:

According to the indictment, Nazarenko's OnlyFake platform allowed customers to generate fake digital versions of U.S. driver's licenses for all 50 states and U.S. passports and passport cards, as well as digital versions of identification documents for roughly 56 other countries.

Customers could also customize the fake digital documents with personal details, opt for randomized information, and choose whether the finished product appeared as a scan or a tabletop photograph.

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 20th February 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 22:51:54 +0000

Cybersecurity education is a must for everyone. Take a few minutes of your time, and go through what I have for you in this week's security review. You'll learn a thing or two, and in the process, you become more aware of the threats that are out there.

Is it OK to let your children post selfies online?

No. And before you scold your children about this, check yourself. Still, you might think: what's there? I can tell you that there is a lot. The least? Misuse of the image, and with the popularity of AI, the image can be transformed into something that you never thought of before. If you're on X, you know what I am talking about.

From the article:

As soon as a selfie is posted onto a social media site, your child loses a certain amount of control over it. Even if they delete it, your child may find that the image has been reposted and shared by their friends and followers.

There’s also a growing body of evidence to suggest that social media use, including the posting of selfies, could result in psychological harm. A 2017 study of eighth to 12th graders found a 33% increase in depressive symptoms between 2010-2015.

Microsoft Finds “Summarize with AI” Prompts Manipulating Chatbot Recommendations

Everyone with access to AI, wants the best from it even if they have to manipulate it as this article shows. If Microsoft brings this to the public, it's a message to whoever is involved: we are watching you and we know what you are doing

Here is what's going on:

The new AI hijacking technique has been codenamed AI Recommendation Poisoning by the Microsoft Defender Security Research Team. The tech giant described it as a case of an AI memory poisoning attack that's used to induce bias and deceive the AI system to generate responses that artificially boost visibility and skew recommendations.

The attack is made possible via specially crafted URLs for various AI chatbots that pre-populate the prompt with instructions to manipulate the assistant's memory once clicked. These URLs, as observed in other AI-focused attacks like Reprompt, leverage the query string ("?q=") parameter to inject memory manipulation prompts and serve biased recommendations.

Password managers’ promise that they can’t see your vaults isn’t always true

A really long read. However, the message is clear: when it comes to password managers, they are not hack-proof as they are advertised.

From the article:

Another avenue for attackers or adversaries with control of a server is to target the backward compatibility that all three password managers provide to support older, less-secure versions. Despite incremental changes designed to harden the apps against the very attacks described in the paper, all three password managers continue to support the versions without these improvements.

New Keenadu Android Malware Found on Thousands of Devices

While reading the title of the article, you should ask one question: What type of malicious activity does Keenadu perform when it infects a device? The answer: Ad Fraud.

From the article:

The malware gives its operators full control of the infected device, but it seems to be mainly used for ad fraud. Kaspersky researchers have seen Keenadu payloads designed to hijack browser search engines, monetize new app installs, and click on ads.

In many cases the malware was preinstalled on devices, but the security firm has also seen it being distributed through various application stores (including Google Play and Xiaomi GetApps) disguised as smart camera apps.

Critical Flaws Found in Four VS Code Extensions with Over 125 Million Installs

At the time of writing, only Microsoft Live Preview has received a patch in September 2025. The rest? They remain unpatched.

From the article:

Poorly written extensions, overly permissive extensions, or malicious ones can execute code, modify files, and allow attackers to take over a machine and exfiltrate information.

Keeping vulnerable extensions installed on a machine is an immediate threat to an organization's security posture: it may take only one click, or a downloaded repository, to compromise everything.

FBI says ATM ‘jackpotting’ attacks are on the rise, and netting hackers millions in stolen cash

Work legally for your money and don't steal! That's it, I said it. Meanwhile, there is a bit of good news here. The hackers found a way to drain the ATMs without affecting the user account.

From the article:

According to a new security bulletin issued by the FBI, hackers have rapidly ramped up their attacks in recent years, with more than 700 attacks on cash dispensers during 2025 alone, netting hackers at least $20 million in stolen cash.

Per the bulletin, the FBI says hackers are using a mix of physical access to ATM machines, such as generic keys for unlocking front panels and accessing hard drives, and digital tools, like planting malware that can force ATMs to rapidly dispense cash in a flash.

PromptSpy Android Malware Abuses Gemini AI at Runtime for Persistence

Original research from the team at ESET called PromptSpy. This is another news that threat actors are using Generative AI for malicious purposes, and who knows what they are cooking or what they have already that's not yet discovered by security researchers?

From the article:

PromptSpy can collect device information, capture the lockscreen PIN or password, record the screen to obtain the device’s unlock pattern, and take screenshots.

For persistence, the Android malware uses a novel approach at runtime that involves sending a prompt to Google’s Gemini gen-AI chatbot along with an XML file containing data about the various UI elements displayed on the screen.

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 13th February 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 22:01:52 +0000

Theft. Most of the article that we'll cover today is centered on this; malicious users using one means or the other steal stuff that includes credentials, money, or proprietary data.

Fake AI Chrome extensions with 300K users steal credentials, emails

I rarely install web browser extensions. If you think that's weird, this article should change your mind. Moreover, when I read the extension names included in the article, it felt off and numb.

From the article:

The malicious browser add-ons do not implement AI functionality locally; instead, they deliver the promised feature by rendering a full-screen iframe to load content from a remote domain. This, by itself, is risky, as publishers can change the extensions’ logic at any time without pushing an update.

Attackers prompted Gemini over 100,000 times while trying to clone it, Google says

Shortcuts sound good, but not in the context of training an AI model when you don't have permission to do so. That's a quick summary of what's going on here.

From the article:

In the report published by Google, its threat intelligence group describes a growing wave of these distillation attacks against Gemini. Many of the campaigns specifically targeted the algorithms that help the model perform simulated reasoning tasks, or decide how to process information step by step.

WordPress plugin with 900k installs vulnerable to critical RCE flaw

900k installs is a lot. For added context, the plugin in question is "WPvivid Backup & Migration plugin", tracked as CVE-2026-1357 with a severity score of 9.8.

Here is what's going on:

The root cause is the improper error handling in RSA decryption, combined with a lack of path sanitization. Specifically, when the ‘openssl_private_decrypt()’ function fails, the plugin does not halt execution and instead passes the failed result (false) to the AES (Rijndael) routine.

The cryptographic library treats this as a string of null bytes, creating a predictable encryption key that an attacker can use to craft malicious payloads that the plugin would accept.

Malicious packages for dYdX cryptocurrency exchange empties user wallets

What prompted me to cover this article is the theft of cryptocurrencies and the way that the attackers did it. It should serve as a reminder that there are people out there ready to steal your money using any means necessary. This means you should always take appropriate measures (to the best of your abilities) to protect your assets.

From the article:

The incident is at least the third time dYdX has been targeted in attacks. Previous events include a September 2022 uploading of malicious code to the npm repository and the commandeering in 2024 of the dYdX v3 website through DNS hijacking. Users were redirected to a malicious site that prompted them to sign transactions designed to drain their wallets.

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 6th February 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 21:23:16 +0000

The world is ever evolving and attackers sometimes use tried and tested methods to breach their targets. With the popularity of Generative AI, both defenders and attackers have a new tool in their arsenal. Who is going to win? Time will tell. Also, are you stuck on social media for hours without knowing it? It's high time that you minimize your screen hours.

eScan Antivirus Delivers Malware in Supply Chain Attack

First, you are not reading the title wrong. Yes, you read that right; an antivirus delivered malware. Are we safe at all?

From the article:

Malicious updates were distributed through eScan’s legitimate update infrastructure, resulting in the deployment of multi-stage malware to enterprise and consumer endpoints globally.

The affected users received a malicious ‘Reload.exe’ file, designed to kick off a multi-stage infection chain. The file modified the HOSTS file to block automatic updates, established persistence through scheduled tasks, and downloaded additional payloads.

Notepad++ Supply Chain Hack Conducted by China via Hosting Provider

Once upon a time, it was my favorite code editor. Now, it's suffered a supply-chain attack? No. Now, seriously. It turned out that some users were the target and not the entire users of Notepad++.

Here is what happened:

According to the analysis provided by the security experts, the attack involved infrastructure-level compromise that allowed malicious actors to intercept and redirect update traffic destined for notepad-plus-plus.org.

The exact technical mechanism remains under investigation, though the compromise occurred at the hosting provider level rather than through vulnerabilities in Notepad++ code itself. Traffic from certain targeted users was selectively redirected to attacker-controlled server malicious update manifests.

Researchers Expose Network of 150 Cloned Law Firm Websites in AI-Powered Scam Campaign

There is nothing much to say about this. It's another misuse of Generative AI. Meanwhile, a key lesson that you should take away from the article is the following: be on the lookout for websites impersonating your brand and take action against them as fast as possible.

From the article:

The primary purpose of these clones appears to be a repeat victimization of subjects already victim to previous fraud. The lure is a cloned legal site offering to recover money already lost to prior fraud, noticeably stating that no payment will be required before the lost funds are recovered.

EU says TikTok faces large fine over "addictive design"

Doom scrolling, among other things, it's why TikTok is facing the fine. By reading this article, you should learn to limit your screen time and know that these platforms are now designed to take much of your attention without you even knowing. You'll think: I'll just check one post and before you know it, hours have gone by!

From the article:

"Social media addiction can have detrimental effects on the developing minds of children and teens, said EU tech commissioner Henna Virkkunen on Friday.

"The Digital Services Act makes platforms responsible for the effects they can have on their users. In Europe, we enforce our legislation to protect our children and our citizens online."

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 30th January 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 20:55:49 +0000

In the context of cybersecurity, there are two types of developers. The first type develops applications that keep users safe and the other develops applications to harm or steal something of value from users. It's a never-ending race.

As an end user, it's your duty to stay informed. Who knows? Reading the right thing at the right time might be what you need to stop that attack against yourself or your organization.

‘Stanley’ Malware Toolkit Enables Phishing via Website Spoofing

The real threat of this malware toolkit: you can see the legitimate website URL in the web browser address bar and you are still on a phishing page! Wild, if you say.

There is no excerpt for this one. Go read the whole thing.

Drowning in spam or scam emails? Here’s probably why

Go through the article, check the list of possible causes of that increase in spam emails in your email, what to do, and what not to do in the future.

From the article:

Spammers don’t just source their email lists from large-scale data breaches. Some of them get hold of these details by using bots to scrape public-facing websites like social media platforms. Bad bot traffic accounts for 37% of all internet traffic. If your details were in the public domain, they may have been caught up in such a campaign.

WhatsApp Rolls Out Lockdown-Style Security Mode to Protect Targeted Users From Spyware

If you work in a sensitive industry or believe you could be a target of a cyber attack via WhatsApp, this setting is for you.

Here is how it works:

This lockdown-style feature bolsters your security on WhatsApp even further with just a few taps by locking your account to the most restrictive settings like automatically blocking attachments and media from unknown senders, silencing calls from people you don't know, and restricting other settings that may limit how the app works

Apple’s new iPhone and iPad security feature limits cell networks from collecting precise location data

Apple always aims to protect its users' privacy. This is yet another step forward in that direction.

Here is how the tech works:

According to Apple, the new feature, when enabled, limits the precision of location data that iPhones and cellular-enabled iPads share with the customer’s cell carrier. Sharing a less-precise location, such as the general neighborhood rather than a street address, will help to protect the device owner’s privacy, the company claims.

LLMs Hijacked, Monetized in ‘Operation Bizarre Bazaar’

With the popularity of LLM-powered chatbots, Agents, and MCP servers, this should not come as a surprise. Now, don't get me wrong: this has to do with self-hosted LLM infrastructure with inadequate security and not apps like ChatGPT or Claude.

From the article:

Exploited systems include Ollama instances on port 11434 without authentication, web-exposed OpenAI-compatible APIs on port 8000, exposed MCP servers with no access control, development environments with public IPs, and production chatbots that lack authentication or rate limits.

The operation, the company notes, is run by a threat actor using the moniker Hecker, who is also known as Sakuya and LiveGamer101

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 23rd January 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 21:01:37 +0000

Is malware going anywhere anytime soon? I don't think so. What about phishing? No. You should be worried about thses two so long that you have digital devices that you care about.

Why LinkedIn is a hunting ground for threat actors – and how to protect yourself

I'll be clear on this one: This is not exclusive to LinkedIn. Therefore, be very careful on social media websites and the information that you share.

From the article:

The challenge with LinkedIn threats is that it’s difficult for IT to get any real insight into how extensive the risk is to its employees, and what tactics are being used to target them. However, it would make sense to build LinkedIn threat scenarios of the sort described above into security awareness courses.

New Android malware uses AI to click on hidden browser ads

Smart (by using AI); but in a very bad way. Malware is not good news anytime.

From the article:

Researchers at mobile security company Dr.Web found that the new family of Android trojans is distributed through GetApps, the official app store for Xiaomi devices.

They discovered that the malware can operate in a mode called 'phantom', which uses a hidden WebView-based embedded browser to load a target page for click-fraud

Common Apple Pay scams, and how to stay safe

These scams include phishing (no surprises on this one), marketplace fraud, overpayment, unsolicited payment, and fake receipts.

From the article, here are examples of how to stay safe:

Apple Pay scams may seem disconcertingly widespread, but keeping your personal information, money and accounts safe and secure isn’t as difficult as you might think. First, take a moment to recognize the most common red flags and Apple Pay scams

Keep checking in from time to time to refresh your memory and update your knowledge as these scams evolve.

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Security news weekly round-up - 16th January 2026

Habdul Hazeez — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 21:11:11 +0000

We can't stop talking about malware and phishing. They are threats that seem not to go away. Now, with the explosion of Artificial Intelligence in the last three years, we have to talk about topics like prompt injection, AI poisoning, and so on. The latter examples are specific to AI and can have far-reaching consequences.

AI Tool Poisoning: How Hidden Instructions Threaten AI Agents

A quick TL;DR for this article: an AI tool can work as expected and still be malicious by stealing your personal information and sending it to an attacker.

Here is more from the article:

Consider a scenario where an attacker publishes a tool with a seemingly harmless description. However, hidden in the metadata is an instruction to read sensitive data, such as a private key or confidential files. When the AI agent uses the tool, it unwittingly follows the malicious instruction, sharing sensitive data with the attacker. This can lead to a data breach

Google removes some AI health summaries after investigation finds “dangerous” flaws

At the time of writing, AI is still not perfect. They can hallucinate or generate wrong information. This is one example.

From the article:

The investigation revealed that searching for liver test norms generated raw data tables (listing specific enzymes like ALT, AST, and alkaline phosphatase) that lacked essential context. The AI feature also failed to adjust these figures for patient demographics such as age, sex, and ethnicity. Experts warned that because the AI model’s definition of “normal” often differed from actual medical standards, patients with serious liver conditions might mistakenly believe they are healthy

Never-before-seen Linux malware is “far more advanced than typical”

Once upon a time, you hardly read news about Linux malware or macOS malware. That has changed in recent times. For the author of the article to quote that the malware is more advanced than typical shows the efforts of the malware author.

From the article:

VoidLink is a comprehensive ecosystem designed to maintain long-term, stealthy access to compromised Linux systems, particularly those running on public cloud platforms and in containerized environments.

Its design reflects a level of planning and investment typically associated with professional threat actors rather than opportunistic attackers, raising the stakes for defenders who may never realize their infrastructure has been quietly taken over.

Convincing LinkedIn comment-reply tactic used in new phishing

On a normal day, I don't think anyone will fall for this. Nonetheless, not everyone is tech-savvy. So, here we are.

Here is what's going on:

The messages convincingly impersonate LinkedIn branding and in some cases even use the company’s official lnkd.in URL shortener, making the phishing links harder to distinguish from legitimate ones.

These posts falsely claim that the user has "engaged in activities that are not in compliance" with the platform and that their account has been "temporarily restricted" until they visit the specified link in the comment.

Your personal information is on the dark web. What happens next?

If this applies to you, change your login credentials immediately, among other things. Now, you need to ask: why do cyber criminals want your personal information?

Here is why:

The stuff that cybercriminals really want is your financial information (bank account numbers, card details and logins), PII, and account logins.

With this, they can hijack accounts to drain them of data and funds, and possibly access stored card information, or else use your PII in follow-on phishing attempts designed to get hold of financial information.

Alternatively, they could use that PII in identity fraud, such as applying for new lines of credit, medical treatment or welfare benefits.

Credits

Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.

That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.