Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new malware loader codenamed CountLoader that has been put to use by Russian ransomware gangs to deliver post-exploitation tools like Cobalt Strike and AdaptixC2, and a remote access trojan known as PureHVNC RAT.
“CountLoader is being used either as part of an Initial Access Broker’s (IAB) toolset or by a ransomware affiliate with ties to the LockBit,
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered two new malicious packages in the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that are designed to deliver a remote access trojan called SilentSync on Windows systems.
“SilentSync is capable of remote command execution, file exfiltration, and screen capturing,” Zscaler ThreatLabz’s Manisha Ramcharan Prajapati and Satyam Singh said. “SilentSync also extracts
AI’s growing role in enterprise environments has heightened the urgency for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) to drive effective AI governance. When it comes to any emerging technology, governance is hard – but effective governance is even harder. The first instinct for most organizations is to respond with rigid policies. Write a policy document, circulate a set of restrictions, and
Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, the creator of the notorious BreachForums hacking forum, has been resentenced to three years in prison after a US appeals court overturned his prior sentence of time served and 20 years of supervised release.
Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.
Google on Wednesday released security updates for the Chrome web browser to address four vulnerabilities, including one that it said has been exploited in the wild.
The zero-day vulnerability in question is CVE-2025-10585, which has been described as a type confusion issue in the V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine.
Type confusion vulnerabilities can have severe consequences as they can be
When “bad actors” stop being hackers and start being… actual actors.
This week, Graham and special guest Jenny Radcliffe play “Hacker or Ham?” (yes, Steven Seagal, we’re looking at you), before diving into a campaign which saw an Iranian gang luring Israeli performers with fake casting calls for a serious film.
We unpack why positive lurescan short-circuit scepticism just as effectively as fear.
Plus, the UK’s ICO says students are increasingly hacking their own schools.
Meanwhile, Graham heads to 1960s Oxford with Endeavour, while Jenny investigates the Wirral’s mysterious “Catman”.
All this, and more, in episode 435 of the “Smashing Security” podcast.
The threat actor known as TA558 has been attributed to a fresh set of attacks delivering various remote access trojans (RATs) like Venom RAT to breach hotels in Brazil and Spanish-speaking markets.
Russian cybersecurity vendor Kaspersky is tracking the activity, observed in summer 2025, to a cluster it tracks as RevengeHotels.
“The threat actors continue to employ phishing emails with invoice
Recent research released by the ICO say that school pupils should be considered as an “insider threat” by schools.
Read more in my article on the Fortra blog.
A China-aligned threat actor known as TA415 has been attributed to spear-phishing campaigns targeting the U.S. government, think tanks, and academic organizations utilizing U.S.-China economic-themed lures.
“In this activity, the group masqueraded as the current Chair of the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as well as the
Quantum computing and AI working together will bring incredible opportunities. Together, the technologies will help us extend innovation further and faster than ever before. But, imagine the flip side, waking up to news that hackers have used a quantum computer to crack your company’s encryption overnight, exposing your most sensitive data, rendering much of it untrustworthy.
And with your