Cyber Crime

Pierluigi Paganini July 04, 2026
U.S. Government Agency Paid $1M to Data Extortion Group Kairos

A U.S. government agency paid $1M to Kairos, a group focused on data theft and extortion rather than ransomware, Ransom-ISAC reports. A new case study from Ransom-ISAC reconstructs a complete data-extortion incident involving a U.S. government body and a threat actor called Kairos, using a leaked negotiation transcript and blockchain tracing of the ransom payment. […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 04, 2026
FBI: TeamPCP Compromised Dev Tools to Steal Cloud Credentials

FBI says TeamPCP poisoned trusted developer tools to steal cloud credentials, spread malware through software updates, and extort victims. On July 2, 2026, the FBI published a FLASH alert identifying the criminal group called TeamPCP and detailing how it compromised widely used developer and security tools to steal credentials from victim environments at scale. The […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 03, 2026
JADEPUFFER: First End-to-End AI-Driven Ransomware Operation

Sysdig reports an AI agent ran a full ransomware attack end-to-end, exploiting flaws, stealing creds, moving laterally, and encrypting data without humans. Sysdig’s Threat Research Team has documented what it assesses to be the first ransomware operation driven end-to-end by a large language model. The operator, which Sysdig calls JADEPUFFER, broke into a server, harvested […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 03, 2026
The Anatomy of a Shadow AI Supply-Chain Breach: Lessons from the 2026 Vercel Incident

Vercel breach happened after an employee used an unvetted AI tool. Attackers exploited it as a trusted link to access systems, steal data, and extort $2M. The Vercel breach of April 2026 did not begin with a classic zero-day exploit, a misconfigured cloud bucket, or a sophisticated nation-state infrastructure implant. Instead, it unfolded when an […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 03, 2026
Law enforcememt operation disrupted Malicious Residential Proxy Networks NetNut

Google disrupted NetNut, a major proxy network that routed internet traffic through compromised home devices used by cybercriminals. Google has disrupted NetNut, one of the world’s largest residential proxy networks. The service routed internet traffic through home devices, allowing customers to hide their real location and identity. “Today, in coordination with the FBI, Lumen, and […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 02, 2026
430,000 FortiGate Devices Exposed in FortiBleed Ransomware Link

FortiBleed exposed 430,000 FortiGate firewalls, linked to INC Ransom and Lynx, enabling domain compromise and at least 12 ransomware attacks. SOCRadar’s Threat Research Unit has connected FortiBleed, a large-scale campaign that harvested credentials from over 430,000 FortiGate firewalls worldwide, directly to two active ransomware operations: INC Ransom and Lynx. The link isn’t circumstantial. An operator […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 02, 2026
Alleged Scattered Spider Hacker Extradited to U.S. to Face Cybercrime Charges

Alleged Scattered Spider member Peter Stokes, 19, was extradited from Finland to the U.S. over hacking, fraud, and extortion charges. Peter Stokes, 19, an alleged Scattered Spider member known online as “Bouquet,” has been extradited from Finland to the U.S. to face hacking, fraud, and extortion charges. Prosecutors say he took part in multiple cyberattacks, […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 01, 2026
CISA Warns BlueHammer Flaw Is Now Exploited in Ransomware Attacks

CISA confirms BlueHammer (CVE-2026-33825) is now used in ransomware attacks to gain SYSTEM privileges through Microsoft Defender. BlueHammer, tracked as CVE-2026-33825, has moved from proof-of-concept noise to real ransomware attacks in the wild, the US CISA confirms. BlueHammer allows attackers to escalate privileges locally in Microsoft Defender. The vulnerability, along with two other zero-days dubbed […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 30, 2026
XSS.is, The Forum That Ran the Ransomware Supply Chain Is Down. The Market Isn’t

Police arrested the alleged admin of XSS.is, a major cybercrime forum whose trusted escrow service helped power the underground economy. On 22 July 2025, French and Ukrainian police arrested a 38-year-old man in Kyiv and shut down XSS.is, the most influential Russian-language cybercrime forum of the past decade. Europol, which coordinated the operation under the […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 30, 2026
Hackers Steal Data of 4.38 Million Aflac Japan Customers

Hackers stole data from 4.38 million Aflac Japan customers after accessing its systems for 10 days before the breach was detected. Aflac Japan disclosed that hackers stole the personal information of 4.38 million customers and agents after gaining access to its systems between June 15 and June 25. Attackers stole data from the company policyholder […]