While supply chain threats have been quietly compounding over the past decade, the last 12–18 months have triggered a drastic shift in the scale and velocity of these attacks. Rather than just hunting for bugs in finished software, attackers are targeting the everyday tools and code developers rely on.
Unit 42 research shows this happening at every step of the building process. We’ve observed attackers spending years pretending to be helpful contributors just to hide backdoors in core software, as seen in the XZ Utils vulnerability (CVE-2024-3094). We’ve seen attackers hijack accounts to drop malware into popular libraries, like in the Axios supply chain attack. And we’ve seen them misuse setup scripts to automatically steal credentials using the Shai-Hulud npm worm.
Read more…
Source: Palo Alto Unit 42
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- CISA warns max-severity n8n bug is being exploited in the wild
March 12, 2026
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that hackers are exploiting a max-severity remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in workflow automation platform n8n. CISA urged all federal civilian executive branch (FCEB) agencies to patch CVE-2025-68613 at once because it carries a near-perfect 9.9 vulnerability score. The bug was first disclosed in December, and ...
- Iran-linked hackers launch cyberattack against U.S. medtech company Stryker
March 11, 2026
U.S. medical technology company Stryker is currently experiencing a massive cyberattack, which has shut down their computer systems and, as a result, even closed the company’s offices. An Iran-linked digital activist collective known as Handala is claiming credit for the cyberattack against Stryker. This would be the first major cyberattack carried out in the wake of the ...
- Russian hackers target HR departments with vicious new ‘BlackSanta’ malware
March 11, 2026
Russian hackers have been targeting Human Resources (HR) departments at various organizations around the world with a never-before seen piece of malware called BlackSanta. The campaign was spotted by cybersecurity researchers Aryaka, who said the attacks have been going on for at least a year, and include a rather sophisticated infection chain. It most likely starts ...
- BeatBanker: A dual‑mode Android Trojan
March 10, 2026
Recently, Kaspersky researchers uncovered BeatBanker, an Android‑based malware campaign targeting Brazil. It spreads primarily through phishing attacks via a website disguised as the Google Play Store. To achieve their goals, the malicious APKs carry multiple components, including a cryptocurrency miner and a banking Trojan capable of completely hijacking the device and spoofing screens, among other ...
- Ericsson US reveals employee and customer data breach after third-party hack
March 10, 2026
The US arm of Ericsson has confirmed suffering a third-party data breach which saw it lose sensitive data on an undisclosed number of its customers. In a data breach notification letter sent out to affected individuals, Ericsson US said it spotted “a suspicious event” and potential unauthorized access to its systems on April 28, 2025. The ...
- DOGE employee stole Social Security data and put it on a thumb drive
March 10, 2026
A former employee of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency reportedly stole Americans’ personal data from the U.S. Social Security Administration and stored it on a thumb drive, according to a whistleblower complaint reported by The Washington Post. The former DOGE software engineer told co-workers at his new job that he “possessed two tightly restricted databases ...

