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South Korea
AI Cloud Coupang Cyber Security Data Leak Retail Store South Korea

Online Retail Store Coupang Suffers South Korea's Worst Data Breach, Leak Linked to Former Employee


33.7 million customer data leaked

Data breach is an unfortunate attack that businesses often suffer. Failing to address these breaches is even worse as it costs businesses reputational and privacy damage. 

A breach at Coupang that leaked the data of 33.7 million customers has been linked to a former employee who kept access to internal systems after leaving the organization. 

About the incident 

The news was reported by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency with news agencies after an inquiry that involved a raid on Coupang's offices recently. The firm is South Korea's biggest online retailer. It employs 95,000 people and generates an annual revenue of more than $30 billion. 

Earlier in December, Coupang reported that it had been hit by a data breach that leaked the personal data of 33.7 million customers such as email IDs, names, order information, and addresses.

The incident happened in June, 2025, but the firm found it in November and launched an internal investigation immediately. 

The measures

In December beginning, Coupang posted an update on the breach, assuring the customers that the leaked data had not been exposed anywhere online. 

Even after all this, and Coupang's full cooperation with the authorities, the officials raided the firm's various offices on Tuesday to gather evidence for a detailed enquiry.

Recently, Coupang's CEO Park Dae-Jun gave his resignation and apologies to the public for not being able to stop what is now South Korea's worst cybersecurity breach in history. 

Police investigation 

In the second day of police investigation in Coupang's offices, the officials found that the main suspect was a 43-year old Chinese national who was an employee of the retail giant. The man is called JoongAng, who joined the firm in November 2022 and overlooked the authentication management system. He left the firm in 2024. JoongAng is suspected to have already left South Korea. 

What next?

According to the police, although Coupang is considered the victim, the business and staff in charge of safeguarding client information may be held accountable if carelessness or other legal infractions are discovered. 

Since the beginning of the month, the authorities have received hundreds of reports of Coupang impersonation. Meanwhile, the incident has caused a large amount of phishing activity in the country, affecting almost two-thirds of its population.

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surveillance
AI Cloud Data Internet Privacy Stalkerware surveillance

FTC Refuses to Lift Ban on Stalkerware Company that Exposed Sensitive Data


The surveillance industry banned a stalkerware maker after a data breach leaked information of its customers and the people they were spying on. Consumer spyware company Support King can't sell the surveillance software now, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said. 

The FTC has denied founder Scott Zuckerman's request to cancel the ban. It is also applicable to other subsidiaries OneClickMonitor and SpyFone.

Recently, the FTC announced the move in a press release when Zuckerman petitioned the agency to cancel the ban order in July of 2025. 

The FTC banned Zuckerman from “offering, promoting, selling, or advertising any surveillance app, service, or business,” in 2021 and stopped him from running other stalkerware business. Zuckerman had to also delete all the data stored by SpyFone and went through various audits to implement cybersecurity measures for his ventures. Then acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Samuel Levine said that the "stalkerware was hidden from device owners, but was fully exposed to hackers who exploited the company’s slipshod security."

Zuckerman in his petition said that the FTC mandate has made it difficult for him to conduct other businesses due to monetary losses, even though Support King is out of business and he now only operates a restaurant and plans other ventures.

The ban came from a 2018 incident after a researcher discovered an Amazon S3 bucket of SpyFone that left important data such as selfies, chats, texts, contacts, passwords, logins, and audio recordings exposed online in the open. The leaked data comprised 44,109 email ids.

According to Samuel, “SpyFone is a brazen brand name for a surveillance business that helped stalkers steal private information." He further said that the "stalkerware was hidden from device owners, but was fully exposed to hackers who exploited the company’s slipshod security.r

According to TechCrunch, after the 2021 order, Zuckerman started running another stalkerware firm. In 2022, TechCrunch found breached data from stalkerware application SpyTrac. 

According to the data, freelance developers ran SpyTrac who had direct links with Support King. It was an attempt to escape the FTC ban. Additionally, the breached data contained records from SpyFone, which Support King was supposed to delete. Beside this, the data also contained access keys to the cloud storage of OneClickMonitor, another stalkerware application. 

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zero-day
AI Cloud Data GitHub Internet Technology zero-day

700+ Self-hosted Gits Impacted in a Wild Zero-day Exploit


Hackers actively exploit zero-day bug

Threat actors are abusing a zero-day bug in Gogs- a famous self-hosted Git service. The open source project hasn't fixed it yet.

About the attack 

Over 700 incidents have been impacted in these attacks. Wiz researchers described the bug as "accidental" and said the attack happened in July when they were analyzing malware on a compromised system. During the investigation, the experts "identified that the threat actor was leveraging a previously unknown flaw to compromise instances. They “responsibly disclosed this vulnerability to the maintainers."

The team informed Gogs' maintainers about the bug, who are now working on the fix. 

The flaw is known as CVE-2025-8110. It is primarily a bypass of an earlier patched flaw (CVE-2024-55947) that lets authorized users overwrite external repository files. This leads to remote code execution (RCE). 

About Gogs

Gogs is written in Go, it lets users host Git repositories on their cloud infrastructure or servers. It doesn't use GitHub or other third parties. 

Git and Gogs allow symbolic links that work as shortcuts to another file. They can also point to objects outside the repository. The Gogs API also allows file configuration outside the regular Git protocol. 

Patch update 

The previous patch didn't address such symbolic links exploit and this lets threat actors to leverage the flaw and remotely deploy malicious codes. 

While researchers haven't linked the attacks to any particular gang or person, they believe the threat actors are based in Asia.

Other incidents 

Last year, Mandiant found Chinese state-sponsored hackers abusing a critical flaw in F5 through Supershell, and selling the access to impacted UK government agencies, US defense organizations, and others.

Researchers still don't know what threat actors are doing with access to compromised incidents. "In the environments where we have visibility, the malware was removed quickly so we did not see any post-exploitation activity. We don't have visibility into other compromised servers, beyond knowing they're compromised," researchers said.

How to stay safe?

Wiz has advised users to immediately disable open-registration (if not needed) and control internet exposure by shielding self-hosted Git services via VPN. Users should be careful of new repositories with unexpected usage of the PutContents API or random 8-character names. 

For more details, readers can see the full list of indicators published by the researchers.



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Ransomware
AI Akira Cloud Cyber Attacks Hypervisor Internet Ransomware

Researchers Find Massive Increase in Hypervisor Ransomware Incidents


Rise in hypervisor ransomware incidents 

Cybersecurity experts from Huntress have noticed a sharp rise in ransomware incidents on hypervisors and have asked users to be safe and have proper back-up. 

The Huntress case data has disclosed a surprising increase in hypervisor ransomware. It was involved in malicious encryption and rose from a mere three percent in the first half to a staggering 25 percent in 2025. 

Akira gang responsible 

Experts think that the Akira ransomware gang is the primary threat actor behind this, other players are also going after hypervisors to escape endpoint and network security controls. According to Huntress threat hunters, players are going after hypervisors as they are not secure and hacking them can allow hackers to trigger virtual machines and manage networks.

Why hypervisors?

“This shift underscores a growing and uncomfortable trend: Attackers are targeting the infrastructure that controls all hosts, and with access to the hypervisor, adversaries dramatically amplify the impact of their intrusion," experts said. The attack tactic follows classic playbook. Researchers have "seen it with attacks on VPN appliances: Threat actors realize that the host operating system is often proprietary or restricted, meaning defenders cannot install critical security controls like EDR [Endpoint Detection and Response]. This creates a significant blind spot.”

Other instances 

The experts have also found various cases where ransomware actors install ransomware payloads directly via hypervisors, escaping endpoint security. In a few cases, threat actors used built-in-tools like OpenSSL to run encryption of the virtual machine volume without having to upload custom ransomware binaries.

Attack tactic 

Huntress researchers have also found attackers disrupting a network to steal login credentials and then attack hypervisors.

“We’ve seen misuse of Hyper-V management utilities to modify VM settings and undermine security features,” they add. “This includes disabling endpoint defenses, tampering with virtual switches, and preparing VMs for ransomware deployment at scale," they said.

Mitigation strategies 

Due to the high level of attacks on hypervisors, experts have suggested admins to revisit infosec basics such as multi-factor authentication and password patch updates. Admins should also adopt hypervisor-specific safety measures like only allow-listed binaries can run on a host.

For decades, the Infosec community has known hypervisors to be an easy target. In a worst-case scenario of a successful VM evasion where an attack on a guest virtual machine allows hijacking of the host and its hypervisor, things can go further south. If this were to happen, the impact could be massive as the entire hyperscale clouds depend on hypervisors to isolate tenants' virtual systems.

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Ransomware
AI Asahi Cloud Cyber Attacks Data Internet Ransomware

Beer Firm Asahi Not Entertaining Threat Actors After Cyberattack


Asahi denies ransom payment 

Japanese beer giant Asahi said that it didn't receive any particular ransom demand from threat actors responsible for an advanced and sophisticated cyberattack that could have exposed the data of more than two million people. 

About the attack

CEO Atsushi Katsuki in a press conference said that the company had not been in touch with the threat actors. But Asahi has delayed the release of financial results. Even if the company received a ransom demand, it would not have paid, Katsuki said. Asahi Super Dry is one of Japan's most popular beers. Asahi suffered a cyberattack on 29th September. However, the company clarified on October 3 that it was hit by a ransomware attack.

Attack tactic 

In such incidents, threat actors typically use malicious software to encrypt the target's systems and then ask ransom for providing encryption keys to run the systems again.

Asahi said threat actors could have hacked or stolen identity data like phone numbers and names of around two million people- employees, customers and families.

Qilin gang believed to be responsible 

The firm didn't disclose details of the attacker at the conference. Later, it told AFP via mail that experts hinted towards a high chance of attack by hacking group Qilin. The gang issued a statement that the Japanese media understood as a claim of responsibility. Commenting on the situation, 

Katsuki said the firm thought it had taken needed measures to prevent such an incident. "But this attack was beyond our imagination. It was a sophisticated and cunning attack," Katsuki said. 

Impact on Asahi business 

Interestingly, Asahi delayed the release of third-quarter earnings and recently said that the annual financial results had also been delayed. "These and further information on the impact of the hack on overall corporate performance will be disclosed as soon as possible once the systems have been restored and the relevant data confirmed," the firm said.

The product supply hasn't been affected. Shipments will resume in stages while systems recover. "We apologise for the continued inconvenience and appreciate your understanding," Asahi said.
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Vulnerabilities and Exploits
AI Cloud Data Next.js React Server Vulnerabilities and Exploits

Critical Vulnerabilities Found in React Server Components and Next.js


Open in the wild flaw

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added a critical security flaw affecting React Server Components (RSC) to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog after exploitation in the wild.

The flaw CVE-2025-55182 (CVSS score: 10.0) or React2Shell hints towards a remote code execution (RCE) that can be triggered by an illicit threat actor without needing any setup. 

Remote code execution 

According to the CISA advisory, "Meta React Server Components contains a remote coThe incident surfaced when Amazon said it found attack attempts from infrastructure related to Chinese hacking groupsde execution vulnerability that could allow unauthenticated remote code execution by exploiting a flaw in how React decodes payloads sent to React Server Function endpoints."

The problem comes from unsafe deserialization in the library's Flight protocol, which React uses to communicate between a client and server. It results in a case where an unauthorised, remote hacker can deploy arbitrary commands on the server by sending specially tailored HTTP requests. The conversion of text into objects is considered a dangerous class of software vulnerability. 

About the flaw

 "The React2Shell vulnerability resides in the react-server package, specifically in how it parses object references during deserialization," said Martin Zugec, technical solutions director at Bitdefender.

The incident surfaced when Amazon said it found attack attempts from infrastructure related to Chinese hacking groups such as Jackpot Panda and Earth Lamia. "Within hours of the public disclosure of CVE-2025-55182 (React2Shell) on December 3, 2025, Amazon threat intelligence teams observed active exploitation attempts by multiple China state-nexus threat groups, including Earth Lamia and Jackpot Panda," AWS said.

Attack tactic 

Few attacks deployed cryptocurrency miners and ran "cheap math" PowerShell commands for successful exploitation. After that, it dropped in-memory downloaders capable of taking out extra payload from a remote server.

According to Censys, an attack surface management platform, 2.15 million cases of internet-facing services may be affected by this flaw. This includes leaked web services via React Server Components and leaked cases of frameworks like RedwoodSDK, React Router, Waku, and Next.js.

According to data shared by attack surface management platform Censys, there are about 2.15 million instances of internet-facing services that may be affected by this vulnerability. This comprises exposed web services using React Server Components and exposed instances of frameworks such as Next.js, Waku, React Router, and RedwoodSDK.


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Technology
ChatGPT Cloud Content GenAI Internet Misinformation Technology

The New Content Provenance Report Will Address GenAI Misinformation


The GenAI problem 

Today's information environment includes a wide range of communication. Social media platforms have enabled reposting, and comments. The platform is useful for both content consumers and creators, but it has its own challenges.

The rapid adoption of Generative AI has led to a significant increase in misleading content online. These chatbots have a tendency of generating false information which has no factual backing. 

What is AI slop?

The internet is filled with AI slop- content that is made with minimal human input and is like junk. There is currently no mechanism to limit such massive production of harmful or misleading content that can impact human cognition and critical thinking. This calls for a robust mechanism that can address the new challenges that the current system is failing to tackle. 

The content provenance report 

For restoring the integrity of digital information, Canada's Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS) and the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have launched a new report on public content provenance. Provenance means "place of origin." For building stronger trust with external audiences, businesses and organisations must improve the way they manage the source of their information.

NSSC chief technology officer said that the "new publication examines the emerging field of content provenance technologies and offers clear insights using a range of cyber security perspectives on how these risks may be managed.” 

What is next for Content Integrity?

The industry is implementing few measures to address content provenance challenges like Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). It will benefit from the help of Generative AI and tech giants like Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft. 

Currently, there is a pressing need for interoperable standards across various media types such as image, video, and text documents. Although there are content provenance technologies, this area is still in nascent stage. 

What is needed?

The main tech includes genuine timestamps and cryptographically-proof meta to prove that the content isn't tampered. But there are still obstacles in development of these secure technologies, like how and when they are executed.

The present technology places the pressure on the end user to understand the provenance data. 

A provenance system must allow a user to see who or what made the content, the time and the edits/changes that were made. Threat actors have started using GenAI media to make scams believable, it has become difficult to differentiate between what is fake and real. Which is why a mechanism that can track the origin and edit history of digital media is needed. The NCSC and CCCS report will help others to navigate this gray area with more clarity.


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Internet
Cloud Cyber Security Data hack Google Internet

Google Confirms Data Breach from 200 Companies


Google has confirmed that hackers stole data from more than 200 companies after exploiting apps developed by Gainsight, a customer success software provider. The breach targeted Salesforce systems and is being described as one of the biggest supply chain attacks in recent months. 
 
Salesforce said last week that “certain customers’ Salesforce data” had been accessed through Gainsight applications, which are widely used by companies to manage customer relationships at scale. According to Google’s Threat Intelligence Group, more than 200 Salesforce instances were affected, indicating that the attackers targeted the ecosystem strategically rather than going after individual companies one by one. The incident has already raised deep concern across industries that depend heavily on third-party integrations to run core business functions. 
 
A group calling itself Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, which includes members of the well-known ShinyHunters gang, has claimed responsibility. This collective has previously targeted prominent global firms and leaked confidential datasets online, earning a reputation for bold, high-impact intrusions. In this case, the hackers have published a list of alleged victims, naming companies such as Atlassian, CrowdStrike, DocuSign, GitLab, LinkedIn, Malwarebytes, SonicWall, Thomson Reuters, and Verizon. Some of these organisations have denied being affected, while others are still conducting internal investigations to determine whether their environments were touched. 
 
This attack underscores a growing reality: compromising a widely trusted application is often more efficient for attackers than breaching a single company. By infiltrating Gainsight’s software, the threat actors gained access to a broad swath of organisations simultaneously, effectively bypassing individual perimeter defences. TechCrunch notes that supply chain attacks remain among the most dangerous vectors because they exploit deeply rooted trust. Once a vendor’s application is subverted, it can become an invisible doorway leading directly into multiple corporate systems. 
 
Salesforce has stated that it is working closely with affected customers to secure environments and limit the impact, while Google continues to analyse the breadth of data exfiltration. Gainsight has not yet released a detailed public statement, prompting experts to call for greater transparency from vendors responsible for critical integrations. Cybersecurity firms advise all companies using third-party SaaS tools to review access permissions, rotate credentials, monitor logs for anomalies, and ensure stronger compliance frameworks for integrated platforms. 
 
The larger picture here reflects an industry-wide challenge. As enterprises increasingly rely on cloud services and SaaS tools, attackers are shifting their attention to these interconnected layers, where a single weak link can expose hundreds of organisations. This shift has prompted analysts to warn that due diligence on app vendors, once considered a formality, must now become a non-negotiable element of cybersecurity strategy. 
 
In light of the attack, experts believe companies will need to adopt a more vigilant posture, treating all integrations as potential threat surfaces, rather than assuming safety through trust. The Gainsight incident serves as a stark reminder that in a cloud-driven world, security is only as strong as the least protected partner in the chain.
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WhatsApp
AI Cloud malware Social Media Sturnus Telegram WhatsApp

Banking Malware Can Hack Communications via Encrypted Apps


Sturnus hacks communication 

A new Android banking malware dubbed Sturnus can hack interactions from entirety via encrypted messaging networks like Signal, WhatsApp, and Telegram, as well as take complete control of the device.  

While still under growth, the virus is fully functional and has been programmed to target accounts at various financial institutions across Europe by employing "region-specific overlay templates."  

Attack tactic 

Sturnus uses a combination of plaintext, RSA, and AES-encrypted communication with the command-and-control (C2) server, making it a more sophisticated threat than existing Android malware families.

Sturnus may steal messages from secure messaging apps after the decryption step by recording the content from the device screen, according to a research from online fraud prevention and threat intelligence agency Threatfabric. The malware can also collect banking account details using HTML overlays and offers support for complete, real-time access through VNC session.

Malware distribution 

The researchers haven't found how the malware is disseminated but they assume that malvertising or direct communications are plausible approaches. Upon deployment, the malware connects to the C2 network to register the target via a cryptographic transaction. 

For instructions and data exfiltration, it creates an encrypted HTTPS connection; for real-time VNC operations and live monitoring, it creates an AES-encrypted WebSocket channel. Sturnus can begin reading text on the screen, record the victim's inputs, view the UI structure, identify program launches, press buttons, scroll, inject text, and traverse the phone by abusing the Accessibility services on the device.

To get full command of the system, Sturnus gets Android Device Administrator credentials, which let it keep tabs of password changes and attempts to unlock and lock the device remotely. The malware also tries to stop the user from disabling its privileges or deleting it from the device. Sturnus uses its permissions to identify message content, inputted text, contact names, and conversation contents when the user accesses WhatsApp, Telegram, or Signal.

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Windows
AI ChatGPT Cloud Cyber Security Data Windows

AI Models Trained on Incomplete Data Can't Protect Against Threats


In cybersecurity, AI is being called the future of threat finder. However, AI has its hands tied, they are only as good as their data pipeline. But this principle is not stopping at academic machine learning, as it is also applicable for cybersecurity.

AI-powered threat hunting will only be successful if the data infrastructure is strong too.

Threat hunting powered by AI, automation, or human investigation will only ever be as effective as the data infrastructure it stands on. Sometimes, security teams build AI over leaked data or without proper data care. This can create issues later. It can affect both AI and humans. Even sophisticated algorithms can't handle inconsistent or incomplete data. AI that is trained on poor data will also lead to poor results. 

The importance of unified data 

A correlated data controls the operation. It reduces noise and helps in noticing patterns that manual systems can't.

Correlating and pre-transforming the data makes it easy for LLMs and other AI tools. It also allows connected components to surface naturally. 

A same person may show up under entirely distinct names as an IAM principal in AWS, a committer in GitHub, and a document owner in Google Workspace. You only have a small portion of the truth when you look at any one of those signs. 

You have behavioral clarity when you consider them collectively. While downloading dozens of items from Google Workspace may look strange on its own, it becomes obviously malevolent if the same user also clones dozens of repositories to a personal laptop and launches a public S3 bucket minutes later.

Finding threat via correlation 

Correlations that previously took hours or were impossible become instant when data from logs, configurations, code repositories, and identification systems are all housed in one location. 

For instance, lateral movement that uses short-lived credentials that have been stolen frequently passes across multiple systems before being discovered. A hacked developer laptop might take on several IAM roles, launch new instances, and access internal databases. Endpoint logs show the local compromise, but the extent of the intrusion cannot be demonstrated without IAM and network data.


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RaaS
Cloud Cyber Attacks Cyber Attacks. Ransomware Extortion Japan RaaS

Firms in Japan at Risk of Ransomware Threats, Government Measures Insufficient


There is no indication that ransomware assaults against Japanese businesses will stop. Major online retailer Askul Corp. experienced a cyberattack in October that resulted in system interruptions, following an attack on Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. Government authorities are finding it difficult to keep up with the situation.

The ransomware profit 

According to some estimates, a complete system recovery could take several months. Asahi is thought to have been employing a large-scale operations system that linked ordering, shipping, human resources, and accounting administration. 

A hacker collective known as Qilin claimed responsibility for this most recent attack in a statement released on a dark web website on October 27. The group claimed to have stolen approximately 9,300 files totaling at least 27 gigabytes, and they shared 29 photos that they felt showed Asahi's internal documents and employee personal information.

About Quilin

Qilin is thought to be a hacker collective with ties to Russia that was established around 2022. The gang reportedly released over 700 statements claiming responsibility for ransomware attacks in 2025 alone, when it started to become more active. 

Additionally, Qilin uses a business model called "Ransomware as a Service" (RaaS), whereby it offers third parties ransomware programs and attack techniques as a service. Even anyone without a high level of technological competence can conduct assaults utilizing RaaS. 

The creation of ransomware and the implementation of the attacks have been split between many players who split ransom payments, whereas in the past, virus writers frequently carried out the operations individually. These company strategies seem to have gained popularity in recent years.

Attack tactics

Hackers typically breach a company's networks to prevent access to data and threaten to release it. This is referred regarded as a double extortion strategy. 

To make businesses pay, some hackers even go so far as to use triple or quadruple extortion. These include direct threats to the targeted company's clients and business partners or frequent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that flood servers with data.  

According to reports, these techniques are become more malevolent. The majority of specialists concur that payments should not be made in principle, and even if a business pays the ransom, there is no assurance that the data would be released.




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X
AI Cloud Data Encryption Privacy Signal WhatsApp X

User Privacy:Is WhatsApp Not Safe to Use?


WhatsApp allegedly collects data

The mega-messenger from Meta is allegedly collecting user data to generate ad money, according to recent attacks on WhatsApp. WhatsApp strongly opposes these fresh accusations, but it didn't help that a message of its own appeared to imply the same.  

The allegations 

There are two prominent origins of the recent attacks. Few experts are as well-known as Elon Musk, particularly when it occurs on X, the platform he owns. Musk asserted on the Joe Rogan Experience that "WhatsApp knows enough about what you're texting to know what ads to show you." "That is a serious security flaw."

These so-called "hooks for advertising" are typically thought to rely on metadata, which includes information on who messages whom, when, and how frequently, as well as other information from other sources that is included in a user's profile.  

End-to-end encryption 

The message content itself is shielded by end-to-end encryption, which is the default setting for all 3 billion WhatsApp users. Signal's open-source encryption protocol, which the Meta platform adopted and modified for its own use, is the foundation of WhatsApp's security. So, in light of these new attacks, do you suddenly need to stop using WhatsApp?

In reality, WhatsApp's content is completely encrypted. There has never been any proof that Meta, WhatsApp, or anybody else can read the content itself. However, the platform you are utilizing is controlled by Meta, and it is aware of your identity. It does gather information on how you use the platform.  

How user data is used 

Additionally, it shares information with Meta so that it can "show relevant offers/ads." Signal has a small portion of WhatsApp's user base, but it does not gather metadata in the same manner. Think about using Signal instead for sensitive content. Steer clear of Telegram since it is not end-to-end encrypted and RCS because it is not yet cross-platform encrypted.

Remember that end-to-end encryption only safeguards your data while it is in transit. It has no effect on the security of your content on the device. I can read all of your messages, whether or not they are end-to-end encrypted, if I have control over your iPhone or Android.

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TP-Link
AI China Cloud Data Internet Technology TP-Link

TP-Link Routers May Get Banned in US Due to Alleged Links With China


TP-Link routers may soon shut down in the US. There's a chance of potential ban as various federal agencies have backed the proposal. 

Alleged links with China

The news first came in December last year. According to the WSJ, officials at the Departments of Justice, Commerce, and Defense had launched investigations into the company due to national security threats from China. 

Currently, the proposal has gotten interagency approval. According to the Washington Post, "Commerce officials concluded TP-Link Systems products pose a risk because the US-based company's products handle sensitive American data and because the officials believe it remains subject to jurisdiction or influence by the Chinese government." 

But TP-Link's connections to the Chinese government are not confirmed. The company has denied of any ties with being a Chinese company. 

About TP-Link routers 

The company was founded in China in 1996. After the October 2024 investigation, the company split into two: TP-Link Systems and TP-Link Technologies. "TP-Link's unusual degree of vulnerabilities and required compliance with [Chinese] law are in and of themselves disconcerting. When combined with the [Chinese] government's common use of [home office] routers like TP-Link to perpetrate extensive cyberattacks in the United States, it becomes significantly alarming" the officials wrote in October 2024. 

The company dominated the US router market since the COVID pandemic. It rose from 20% of total router sales to 65% between 2019 and 2025. 

Why the investigation?

The US DoJ is investigating if TP-Link was involved in predatory pricing by artificially lowering its prices to kill the competition. 

The potential ban is due to an interagency review and is being handled by the Department of Commerce. Experts say that the ban may be lifted in future due to Trump administration's ongoing negotiations with China. 

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Windows
AI ChatGPT Cloud Data Technology virus Windows

Hackers Exploit AI Stack in Windows to Deploy Malware


The artificial intelligence (AI) stack built into Windows can act as a channel for malware transmission, a recent study has demonstrated.

Using AI in malware

Security researcher hxr1 discovered a far more conventional method of weaponizing rampant AI in a year when ingenious and sophisticated quick injection tactics have been proliferating. He detailed a living-off-the-land attack (LotL) that utilizes trusted files from the Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX) to bypass security engines in a proof-of-concept (PoC) provided exclusively to Dark Reading.

Impact on Windows

Programs for cybersecurity are only as successful as their designers make them. Because these are known signs of suspicious activity, they may detect excessive amounts of data exfiltrating from a network or a foreign.exe file that launches. However, if malware appears on a system in a way they are unfamiliar with, they are unlikely to be aware of it.

That's the reason AI is so difficult. New software, procedures, and systems that incorporate AI capabilities create new, invisible channels for the spread of cyberattacks.

Why AI in malware is a problem

The Windows operating system has been gradually including features since 2018 that enable apps to carry out AI inference locally without requiring a connection to a cloud service. Inbuilt AI is used by Windows Hello, Photos, and Office programs to carry out object identification, facial recognition, and productivity tasks, respectively. They accomplish this by making a call to the Windows Machine Learning (ML) application programming interface (API), which loads ML models as ONNX files.

ONNX files are automatically trusted by Windows and security software. Why wouldn't they? Although malware can be found in EXEs, PDFs, and other formats, no threat actors in the wild have yet to show that they plan to or are capable of using neural networks as weapons. However, there are a lot of ways to make it feasible.

Attack tactic

Planting a malicious payload in the metadata of a neural network is a simple way to infect it. The compromise would be that this virus would remain in simple text, making it much simpler for a security tool to unintentionally detect it.

Piecemeal malware embedding among the model's named nodes, inputs, and outputs would be more challenging but more covert. Alternatively, an attacker may utilize sophisticated steganography to hide a payload inside the neural network's own weights.

As long as you have a loader close by that can call the necessary Windows APIs to unpack it, reassemble it in memory, and run it, all three approaches will function. Additionally, both approaches are very covert. Trying to reconstruct a fragmented payload from a neural network would be like trying to reconstruct a needle from bits of it spread through a haystack.

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Data
AI APT41 Cloud Cyber Security Data

Chinese Hackers Attack Prominent U.S Organizations


Chinese cyber-espionage groups attacked U.S organizations with links to international agencies. This has now become a problem for the U.S, as state-actors from China keep attacking.  Attackers were trying to build a steady presence inside the target network.

Series of attacks against the U.S organizations 

Earlier this year, the breach was against a famous U.S non-profit working in advocacy, that demonstrated advanced techniques and shared tools among Chinese cyber criminal gangs like APT41, Space Pirates, and Kelp.

They struck again in April with various malicious prompts checking both internal network breach and internet connectivity, particularly targeting a system at 192.0.0.88. Various tactics and protocols were used, showing both determination and technical adaptability to get particular internal resources.

Attack tactics 

Following the connectivity tests, the hackers used tools like netstat for network surveillance and made an automatic task via the Windows command-line tools.

This task ran a genuine MSBuild.exe app that processed an outbound.xml file to deploy code into csc.exe and connected it to a C2 server. 

These steps hint towards automation (through scheduled tasks) and persistence via system-level privileges increasing the complexity of the compromise and potential damage.

Espionage methods 

The techniques and toolkit show traces of various Chinese espionage groups. The hackers weaponized genuine software elements. This is called DLL sideloading by abusing vetysafe.exe (a VipreAV component signed by Sunbelt Software, Inc.) to load a malicious payload called sbamres.dll.

This tactic was earlier found in campaigns lkmkedytl Earth Longzhi and Space Pirates, the former also known as APT41 subgroup.

Coincidentally, the same tactic was found in cases connected to Kelp, showing the intrusive tool-sharing tactics within Chinese APTs.

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Technology
AI Cloud Dark Web Internet Ransomware Technology

Why Ransomware Attacks Keep Rising and What Makes Them Unstoppable


In August, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) suffered a cyberattack. JLR employs over 32,800 people and provides additional 104,000 jobs via it's supply chain. JLR is the recent victim in a chain of ransomware attacks. 

Why such attacks?

Our world is entirely dependent on technology which are prone to attacks. Only a few people understand such complex infrastructure. The internet is built to be easy, and this makes it vulnerable. The first big cyberattack happened in 1988. That time, not many people knew about it. 

The more we rely on networked computer technology, the more we become exposed to attacks and ransomware extortion.

How such attacks happen?

There are various ways of hacking or disrupting a network. Threat actors get direct access through software bugs, they can access unprotected systems and leverage them as a zombie army called "botnet," to disrupt a network.

Currently, we are experiencing a wave of ransomware attacks. First, threat actors hack into a network, they may pretend to be an employee. They do this via phishing emails or social engineering attacks. After this, they increase their access and steal sensitive data for extortion reasons. By this, hackers gain control and assert dominance.

These days, "hypervisor" has become a favourite target. It is a server computer that lets many remote systems to use just one system (like work from home). Hackers then use ransomware to encode data, which makes the entire system unstable and it becomes impossible to restore the data without paying the ransom for a decoding key.

Why constant rise in attacks?

A major reason is a sudden rise in cryptocurrencies. It has made money laundering easier. In 2023, a record $1.1 billion was paid out across the world. Crypto also makes it easier to buy illegal things on the dark web. Another reason is the rise of ransomware as a service (RaaS) groups. This business model has made cyberattacks easier for beginner hackers 

About RaaS

RaaS groups market on dark web and go by the names like LockBit, REvil, Hive, and Darkside sell tech support services for ransomware attack. For a monthly fees, they provide a payment portal, encryption softwares, and a standalone leak site for blackmailing the victims, and also assist in ransom negotiations.


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Technology
AI atlas ChatGPT Cloud Google Internet Technology

Is ChatGPT's Atlas Browser the Future of Internet?

Is ChatGPT's Atlas Browser the Future of Internet?

After using ChatGPT Atlas, OpenAI's new web browser, users may notice few issues. This is not the same as Google Chrome, which about 60% of users use. It is based on a chatbot that you are supposed to converse with in order to browse the internet.  

One of the notes said, "Messages limit reached," "No models that are currently available support the tools in use," another stated.  

Following that: "You've hit the free plan limit for GPT-5."  

Paid browser 

According to OpenAI, it will simplify and improve internet usage. One more step toward becoming "a true super-assistant." Super or not, however, assistants are not free, and the corporation must start generating significantly more revenue from its 800 million customers.

According to OpenAI, Atlas allows us to "rethink what it means to use the web". It appears to be comparable to Chrome or Apple's Safari at first glance, with one major exception: a sidebar chatbot. These are early days, but there is the potential for significant changes in how we use the Internet. What is certain is that this will be a high-end gadget that will only function properly if you pay a monthly subscription price. Given how accustomed we are to free internet access, many people would have to drastically change their routines.

Competitors, data, and money

The founding objective of OpenAI was to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI), which roughly translates to AI that can match human intelligence. So, how does a browser assist with this mission? It actually doesn't. However, it has the potential to increase revenue. The company has persuaded venture capitalists and investors to spend billions of dollars in it, and it must now demonstrate a return on that investment. In other words, it needs to generate revenue. However, obtaining funds through typical internet advertising may be risky. Atlas might also grant the corporation access to a large amount of user data.

The ultimate goal of these AI systems is scale; the more data you feed them, the better they will become. The web is built for humans to use, so if Atlas can observe how we order train tickets, for example, it will be able to learn how to better traverse these processes.  

Will it kill Google?

Then we get to compete. Google Chrome is so prevalent that authorities throughout the world are raising their eyebrows and using terms like "monopoly" to describe it. It will not be easy to break into that market.

Google's Gemini AI is now integrated into the search engine, and Microsoft has included Copilot to its Edge browser. Some called ChatGPT the "Google killer" in its early days, predicting that it would render online search as we know it obsolete. It remains to be seen whether enough people are prepared to pay for that added convenience, and there is still a long way to go before Google is dethroned.

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Web browser
AI ChatGPT Cloud Data Internet Technology Web browser

The Risks of AI-powered Web Browsers for Your Privacy


AI and web browser

The future of browsing is AI, it watches everything you do online. Security and privacy are two different things; they may look same, but it is different for people who specialize in these two. Threats to your security can also be dangers to privacy. 

Threat for privacy and security

Security and privacy aren’t always the same thing, but there’s a reason that people who specialize in one care deeply about the other. 

Recently, OpenAI released its ChatGPT-powered Comet Browser, and Brave Software team disclosed that AI-powered browsers can follow malicious prompts that hide in images on the web. 

AI powered browser good or bad?

We have long known that AI-powered browsers (and AI browser add-ons for other browsers) are vulnerable to a type of attack known as a prompt injection attack. But this is the first time we've seen the browser execute commands that are concealed from the user. 

That is the aspect of security. Experts who evaluated the Comet Browser discovered that it records everything you do while using it, including search and browser history as well as information about the URLs you visit. 

What next?

In short, while new AI-powered browser tools do fulfill the promise of integrating your favorite chatbot into your web browsing experience, their developers have not yet addressed the privacy and security threats they pose. Be careful when using these.

Researchers studied the ten biggest VPN attacks in recent history. Many of them were not even triggered by foreign hostile actors; some were the result of basic human faults, such as leaked credentials, third-party mistakes, or poor management.

Atlas: AI powered web browser

Atlas, an AI-powered web browser developed with ChatGPT as its core, is meant to do more than just allow users to navigate the internet. It is capable of reading, sum up, and even finish internet tasks for the user, such as arranging appointments or finding lodgings.

Atlas looked for social media posts and other websites that mentioned or discussed the story. For the New York Times piece, a summary was created utilizing information from other publications such as The Guardian, The Washington Post, Reuters, and The Associated Press, all of which have partnerships or agreements with OpenAI, with the exception of Reuters.

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Windows
AI Cloud Data Microsoft Technology Windows

Microsoft Warns Windows 10 Users: Hackers Target Outdated Systems

Microsoft Warns Windows 10 Users: Hackers Target Outdated Systems

Modern cyberattacks rarely target the royal jewels.  Instead, they look for flaws in the systems that control the keys, such as obsolete operating systems, aging infrastructure, and unsupported endpoints.  For technical decision makers (TDMs), these blind spots are more than just an IT inconvenience.  They pose significant hazards to data security, compliance, and enterprise control.

Dangers of outdated windows 10

With the end of support for Windows 10 approaching, many businesses are asking themselves how many of their devices, servers, or endpoints are already (or will soon be) unsupported.  More importantly, what hidden weaknesses does this introduce into compliance, auditability, and access governance?

Most IT leaders understand the urge to keep outdated systems running for a little longer, patch what they can, and get the most value out of the existing infrastructure.

Importance of system updates

However, without regular upgrades, endpoint security technologies lose their effectiveness, audit trails become more difficult to maintain, and compliance reporting becomes a game of guesswork. 

Research confirms the magnitude of the problem.  According to Microsoft's newest Digital Defense Report, more than 90% of ransomware assaults that reach the encryption stage originate on unmanaged devices that lack sufficient security controls.  

Unsupported systems frequently fall into this category, making them ideal candidates for exploitation.  Furthermore, because these vulnerabilities exist at the infrastructure level rather than in individual files, they are frequently undetectable until an incident happens.

Attack tactic

Hackers don't have to break your defense. They just need to wait for you to leave a window open. With the end of support for Windows 10 approaching, hackers are already predicting that many businesses will fall behind. 

Waiting carries a high cost. Breaches on unsupported infrastructure can result in higher cleanup costs, longer downtime, and greater reputational harm than attacks on supported systems. Because compliance frameworks evolve quicker than legacy systems, staying put risks falling behind on standards that influence contracts, customer trust, and potentially your ability to do business.

What next?

Although unsupported systems may appear to be small technical defects, they quickly escalate into enterprise-level threats. The longer they remain in play, the larger the gap they create in endpoint security, compliance, and overall data security. Addressing even one unsupported system now can drastically reduce risk and give IT management more piece of mind. 

TDMs have a clear choice: modernize proactively or leave the door open for the next assault.

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Technology
agentic AI AI ChatGPT Cloud Technology

The Threats of Agentic AI Data Trails


What if you install a brand new smart-home assistant that looks surreal, and if it can precool your living room at ease. However, besides the benefits, the system is secretly generating a huge digital trace of personal information?

That's the hidden price of agentic AI, your every plan, act, and prompt gets registered, forecasts and logs hints of frequent routines reside info long-term storage. 

These logs aren't silly mistakes. They are standard behaviour for most agentic AI systems. Fortunately, there's another way. Easy engineering methods build efficiency and autonomy while limiting the digital footprint. 

How Agentic AI Stores and Collects Private Data

It uses a planner based on a LLM to optimize similiar devices via the house. It surveills electricity prices and weather details, configures thermostats, adjusting smart plugs, and schedules EV charge. 

To limit personal data, the system registers only pseudonomymous resident profiles locally and doesn't access microphones and cameras. Agentic AI updates its plan when the weather or prices change, and registers short, planned reflections to strengthen future runs.

However, you as a home resident may not be aware about how much private data is being stored behind your back. Agentic AI systems create information as a natural result of how they function. In baseline agent configurations (mostly), the data gets accumulated. However, this is not considered the best tactic in the business, like configuration is a practical initial point for activating Agentic AI and function smoothly.

How to avoid AI agent trails?

Limit memory to the task at hand.

The deleting process should be thorough and easy.

The agent's action should be transparent via a readable "agent trace."

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