Behind the Clouds: Attackers Targeting Governments in Southeast Asia Implement Novel Covert C2 Communication

Since late 2024, Unit 42 researchers have been tracking a cluster of suspicious activity as CL-STA-1020, targeting governmental entities in Southeast Asia. The threat actors behind this cluster of activity have been collecting sensitive information from government agencies, including information Read More …

Impostor uses AI to impersonate Rubio and contact foreign and US officials

The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence, according to two senior officials and a cable sent last week to all embassies Read More …

Payout offered to Afghans hit by UK data breaches

Afghan nationals whose personal information was mistakenly exposed by the Ministry of Defence in 2021 will be offered up to £4,000 each in compensation, the government has said. The data breaches affected 277 people, some of whom had worked for Read More …

French government hit by Chinese hackers exploiting Ivanti security flaws

In late 2024, Chinese state-sponsored threat actors abused multiple zero-day vulnerabilities in Ivanti Cloud Services Appliance (CSA) devices to access French government agencies, as well as numerous commercial entities such as telcos, finance, and transportation organizations. The news was recently Read More …

U.S. House of Representatives bans WhatsApp from staff devices

The U.S. House of Representatives’ top official has banned WhatsApp from government-issued devices used by its staff, saying the app poses potential security risks, Reuters reported, citing a memo sent to House staff. “The Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp Read More …

US government’s vaccine website defaced with AI-generated content

A U.S. government website designed to inform the public about vaccines has been defaced and now hosts apparently AI-generated spam. The domain, which belongs to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), appears to have been hosting the Read More …

Italy and Israeli Paragon part ways after spyware affair

Italy has terminated a contract with Israeli spyware maker Paragon, a parliamentary document showed on Monday, following allegations that the Italian government used its technology to hack critics’ phones. Paragon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Read More …

FBI probes effort to impersonate White House chief of staff Susie Wiles

One or more unknown people accessed White House chief of staff Susie Wiles’ personal cellphone and used her contacts file to reach out to other top officials and impersonate her, sources told CBS News Thursday. Some of the recipients realized Read More …

Mysterious hacking group Careto was run by the Spanish government

More than a decade ago, researchers at antivirus company Kaspersky identified suspicious internet traffic of what they thought was a known government-backed group, based on similar targeting and its phishing techniques. Soon, the researchers realized they had found a much Read More …

UK: Legal Aid database hacked, ‘significant amount’ of data and criminal records stolen

The UK’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has revealed that a cyberattack on the Legal Aid system has led to the theft of a “significant amount” of data, including criminal records. The MoJ was alerted to the attack on April 23 Read More …