Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 21 August 2026

Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.

Executive Summary

While many organisations need to fulfil regulatory requirements for cyber security, it is important to ensure that the choices made not only help prevent a cyber incident from occurring, but also enable the organisation to continue operating while an incident is being investigated and managed.

We highlight the need for cyber resilience in our review this week, alongside insights on the developing tactics of attackers, including exploiting gaps in multi-factor authentication and repurposing older domains with an established reputation and using them to deliver malicious software.

We discuss how attackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in security appliances to enter organisations, and how they use techniques to avoid detection and to identify the systems and business information most valuable to target, again underlining the need for resilience planning. We also share information on an emerging ransomware tactic, where a suspected attacker later poses as an expert who can help the victim recover from the attack.

As cyber risks continue to develop, including through the use of AI, business leaders need to focus not only on preventing attacks but also on ensuring the organisation can continue operating when an incident occurs. This resilience requires effective governance across people, operations and technology, with controls proportionate to the organisation and its risks. Contact us to discuss how we help leadership teams strengthen their cyber security and resilience.


Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Why Compliance Does Not Guarantee Cyber Resilience

Compliance frameworks provide an important security baseline, but passing an audit or holding a certification does not prove that an organisation can keep critical services running during serious disruption. Documented controls may exist without showing how systems, people, suppliers and recovery arrangements will perform under pressure. Scenario-based exercises can expose hidden dependencies, unclear responsibilities and unrealistic recovery assumptions before a real incident occurs. For business leaders, the key is to test whether controls deliver the intended outcomes in practice, rather than treating documented compliance as sufficient evidence of resilience.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2026/08/19/why-compliance-does-not-guarantee-cyber-resilience/

Infostealers Harvest 1.7 Billion Credentials in Six Months

Flashpoint recorded 7.4 million devices infected with information-stealing malware in the first half of 2026, up 27% on the previous six months, with 1.7 billion login credentials stolen. The firm also tracked 21,667 software vulnerabilities, an 8% increase, although only 239 were being actively exploited. Malicious use of AI is also growing, with more than 22 million related posts identified across illicit online channels. Ransomware activity rose sharply too, with 6,256 victims recorded, a 45% increase, highlighting how automation, cheaper initial access and established ransomware-as-a-service operations are increasing the scale of ransomware activity.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/infostealers-17-billion/

Password Spraying Attacks Surge 155x as Hackers Exploit MFA Gaps

Huntress has recorded a 155-fold increase in password spraying attacks during the first half of 2026, including more than 81 million login attempts and 78 compromised accounts in just two weeks. Attackers combined previously stolen passwords with older sign-in methods that can bypass multi-factor authentication when security policies are not applied consistently. Of 23 affected organisations analysed, eight had no multi-factor authentication, while the remaining 15 had gaps that excluded certain users, applications or sign-in methods. The findings highlight the importance of applying strong authentication controls consistently across all cloud access.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/password-spraying-attacks-surge-155x-as-hackers-exploit-mfa-gaps/

Crooks Are Buying Your Expired Domains and Using Them to Deliver Malware

Attackers are buying expired internet domains to exploit the trust and traffic that was built under previous owners. Infoblox found that around 65,000 expired domains are re-registered every day, accounting for nearly 20% of new registrations in the first half of 2026. One criminal operation reportedly spent almost $7 million on more than 10,000 expired domains, using them for unauthorised sports-streaming sites, betting promotion and systems supporting malware. Because expired domains can continue receiving web traffic, appear in stored search results and benefit from an established reputation, organisations should recognise that a familiar or long-established domain is not necessarily a safe one.

https://securityaffairs.com/197251/cyber-crime/crooks-are-buying-your-expired-domains-and-using-them-to-deliver-malware.html

UK Cyberattacks Jump 26% Year-on-Year as Ransomware Activity Doubles Globally

UK organisations faced an average of 1,597 cyberattacks per week in July 2026, up 26% year-on-year and growing faster than the global rate of 16%. Ransomware also surged globally, with 964 reported victims, an 87% annual increase. At the same time, generative AI is creating new data risks, with one in 36 prompts from business networks carrying a high risk of exposing sensitive information and high-risk activity identified in 88% of organisations that regularly use these tools. For business leaders, the findings support maintaining defences across networks, cloud services, endpoints, email and AI use rather than relying on one layer.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2026/08/13/uk-cyber-attacks-jump-26-year-on-year-as-ransomware-activity-doubles-globally/

Your Security Appliances Are the Attack Surface

Security and networking appliances such as firewalls and VPN gateways are becoming an increasingly attractive route into organisations. Google tracked 21 previously unknown vulnerabilities targeting these products in 2025, while they accounted for over 25% of newly recorded actively exploited vulnerabilities in the first half of 2026. 75 known weaknesses in security appliances have also been linked to ransomware campaigns. The risk is heightened because these devices are internet-facing, highly trusted and often difficult to monitor, meaning a compromise can provide attackers with significant access while remaining largely invisible to existing security controls.

https://securityboulevard.com/2026/08/your-security-appliances-are-the-attack-surface/

Stealthy Attacks: How to Protect Your Business

Attackers are increasingly favouring stealth over disruptive malware, using stolen credentials and legitimate business tools to move through systems without raising alarms. Research found critical Microsoft vulnerabilities doubled year-on-year from 78 to 157, while flaws exposing sensitive information rose by 73%. Privilege escalation, where attackers gain higher levels of access, accounted for 40% of disclosed issues. With Microsoft fixing 570 vulnerabilities in July alone, organisations face growing pressure to prioritise risk. Strong access controls, multi-factor authentication, continuous monitoring and effective patch management remain essential to limiting the impact of these quieter cyberattacks.

https://insight.scmagazineuk.com/stealthy-attacks-how-to-protect-your-business

Attackers Turn to AI for Help Identifying Files Worth Stealing

Gambit Security has identified several cases where cyber attackers used artificial intelligence to support attacks, from creating malicious tools and harvesting credentials to identifying which business data was most valuable to steal. In one case, AI helped a suspected ransomware operator assess systems across six organisations and prioritise production databases, client documents and backups. Separately, a credential-harvesting operation used a tool developed with AI to collect 2,975 valid keys and credentials from 1,742 victim systems in under two months. For organisations, the cases show that AI can assist attackers with both technical tasks and identifying the business information most worth targeting.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/08/18/gambit-security-ai-cyberattack-tools-report/

Rogue Ransomware Affiliate Poses as Recovery Firm to Steal Payments

Security researchers have identified a suspected ransomware affiliate posing as a recovery firm and approaching victims before attacks become public, claiming it could provide decryption keys and seeking $20,000 to $60,000 to delete stolen data from servers controlled by the ransomware group. Evidence suggests the same individual or group may be behind both the original ransomware attacks and the subsequent recovery offers, creating an additional route to profit. The activity raises concerns that growing distrust among the criminal parties involved in ransomware operations could expose victims to multiple parties seeking payment, while providing no guarantee that stolen data will remain confidential even after a ransom is paid.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/rogue-ransomware-affiliate-ransom-busters-poses-as-recovery-firm/

The 80% Problem: Why AI Resilience Is More Important Than Ever

AI is now embedded in daily business operations, with ISACA finding that 82% of European companies permit its use at work. Governance has not kept pace, as only 42% have a formal AI policy and 20% do not know who would be accountable if an AI system caused harm. With Microsoft Copilot used by 80% of organisations adopting AI, reliance on a single provider creates operational risk. For business leaders, this makes advance planning for AI outages important, including clear ownership and an agreed alternative for critical work.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2026/08/14/the-80-problem-why-ai-resilience-is-more-important-than-ever/

UK Fraud Cases Hit Record High in 2026

The National Fraud Database recorded more than 220,000 cases in the first half of 2026, its highest total for that period. Identity fraud rose 9% to nearly 130,000 cases and now accounts for three-fifths of all filings, while account-takeover incidents increased 5%. SIM-swap fraud, where criminals transfer a victim’s mobile number to another SIM card to intercept calls and messages, rose 402% to more than 4,100 cases. Money-muling cases also rose 69%, with people under 30 accounting for 57%, reinforcing the importance of fraud education, awareness and prevention for younger people.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uk-fraud-cases-hit-record-high/

How CSOs Can Turn Cyber Security into a Business Growth Strategy

Cyber security is a business enabler rather than simply a defensive function. As organisations adopt AI, modernise infrastructure and expand digital operations, Chief Security Officers (CSOs) have an opportunity to shape investment and transformation decisions from the outset. Building security into new initiatives early can reduce costly changes, improve operational resilience and make secure working easier for employees. Measuring success should also extend beyond preventing incidents to how quickly the organisation can recover and maintain critical services when disruption occurs, helping cyber security support innovation, productivity and growth.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/4208202/how-csos-can-turn-cybersecurity-into-a-business-growth-strategy.html



Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Three-quarters of Ransomware Attacks Target Mid-Market Firms - Infosecurity Magazine

UK Cyber Attacks Jump 26% Year-on-Year as Ransomware Activity Doubles Globally - IT Security Guru

Law Firms Increasingly Targeted By Ransomware/Vishing Attacks - Security Boulevard

Cl0p Ransomware Group Names Over 40 Victims of PTC Windchill Campaign - SecurityWeek

The long tail of Clop’s PTC hack is just beginning to emerge | CyberScoop

27M records allegedly stolen via misconfigured Microsoft portals​ | Cybernews

Akira Ransomware Uses Safe Mode to Bypass EDR

Ransomware gang crashes own attack — with no-one to blame but themselves | TechRadar

CISA: Windows Task Host flaw now exploited by ransomware gangs

Rogue ransomware affiliate poses as recovery firm to steal payments

Storm-1175 Replaces Medusa With New StormEncryptor Ransomware

Data analyst sent to prison for stealing data, extorting employer

Suspected China-Nexus Actor Exploits VMware vCenter Flaw, Deploys Babuk-Derived Ransomware

Windows 11 is fully removing a legacy tool that malware and ransomware have abused for years, meet WMIC

Prison for data analyst who tried to extort $2.5 million from his employer

Ransomware and Destructive Attack Victims

Cl0p Ransomware Group Names Over 40 Victims of PTC Windchill Campaign - SecurityWeek

Clop-Linked Windchill Web Shell Decrypts Credentials and Maps Engineering Data

The long tail of Clop’s PTC hack is just beginning to emerge | CyberScoop

Hacking group claims mass data theft from Shell, Philips, GE, Fiserv and dozens of others | Reuters

Multiple organisations investigating fresh wave of Cl0p breaches | Computer Weekly

More than 200 victims of Medusa ransomware identified over the last year, CISA says | The Record from Recorded Future News

CISA: Medusa ransomware hit over 500 critical infrastructure orgs

Researchers Confirm ExfilSquad’s Access to Sensitive Data - Infosecurity Magazine

European nation rocked by major hacker attack: “largest data leak in history” | Cybernews

Details emerge on BlackFile's recent attacks on financial companies | CyberScoop

Co-op chief digital and technology officer resigns | Retail Week

Ransom Busters Claims It Hacked Ransomware Servers, Asks Victims for Up to $60,000

BMW hit by ransomware attack, allegedly breaching motorcycle data | Cybernews

Other Social Engineering

Law Firms Increasingly Targeted By Ransomware/Vishing Attacks - Security Boulevard

North Korean Remote Workers Are Infiltrating Government and Businesses: How to Expose Them Before Hiring

How QR-code phishing can slip past corporate security measures

MaaS Campaign Combines ClickFix, ErrTraffic and Cruciferra - Infosecurity Magazine

Novel macOS Infostealer AmnesiaStealer Spread via ClickFix - Infosecurity Magazine

Burnham messaged person posing as Trump’s chief of staff

Your polite reply to that text is worth $2 on the dark web | Malwarebytes

Hackers want your nudes. Here’s how to keep your privates, private | PCWorld

2FA/MFA

Password spraying attacks surge 155x as hackers exploit MFA gaps

AML/CFT/Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing/Sanctions

Russian websites could soon be easy pickings for hackers as security certificates expire — banks, emails, and government systems all potentially at risk | TechRadar

Artificial Intelligence

A hollowed out data layer is making CISOs fly blind into AI attacks - Help Net Security

AI is making fraud harder to spot and identity harder to prove - Help Net Security

80% of Organizations Experienced AI or Cybersecurity Incidents

AI’s ‘middle class’ has gotten dramatically better at hacking | CyberScoop

Governance Gap: AI Accountability Crisis

Fake Evidence: How Generative AI Is Changing Fraud

Attackers turn to AI for help identifying files worth stealing - Help Net Security

The 80% Problem: Why AI resilience is more important than ever - IT Security Guru

AI agents aren’t legally responsible for any harm that they cause, experts say. So who is? | AI (artificial intelligence) | The Guardian

NCSC CTO calls for strong AI safeguards | UKAuthority

Irregular says ‘human oversight’ responsible for AI sandbox escape incidents | CyberScoop

Turf War Between Claude Agents Leads to Self-Replicating Malware

Citizen developers are becoming a security problem | perspective | MSSP Alert

Anthropic sees AI risks rising, no plan to release stronger "Model 2"

OpenAI Is Pausing Some Work Due To Safety Concerns After Finding It Could Pose Critical Cybersecurity Risks | IBTimes

ChatGPT’s new feature could give infostealers a map of your Mac activity - Help Net Security

The 'Industrial Accidents' Behind Rogue AI Attacks

No-Filter 'Kriminal' AI Platform Raises Cybercrime Concerns

World-first autonomous ‘end-to-end’ AI attack against Taiwan tied to Chinese hackers — and the scariest part is that it was fully open source | TechRadar

AI Is Calling In Cybersecurity's Technical Debt

LiteLLM Supply-Chain Attack - Technology, Banking and Healthcare the Most Affected

153GB of stolen credentials surface after LiteLLM supply chain attack - Help Net Security

Invisible AI Prompts Trigger Court Sanctions - Security Affairs

How Cybercriminals Are Weaponizing Frontier AI Models Like Grok

Rise of Malicious AI Skills Expands Enterprise Risk

UK Legal Regulator Raises AI Misuse Concerns - Infosecurity Magazine

Copilot tricked into telling reseachers how to hack itself

Microsoft Copilot Personal Flaws Could Let One Click Exfiltrate Data From Connected Apps

Abnormal AI CEO Says the Age of AI Attacks Is Forcing a Rethink of Cybersecurity - Benzinga

ChatGPT's new Computer History tracks your Mac activity to create a timeline - but should you let it? | ZDNET

OpenAI unveils ChatGPT for Teens with stronger guardrails to tackle safety risks | Reuters

Bots/Botnets

New Mirai-Based Linux Botnet ‘Evooo1Bot’ Turns Victims Into Proxies - Infosecurity Magazine

Botnets Based on the Notorious Mirai Code Continue to Emerge - Security Boulevard

Linux Botnet Evooo1Bot Expands Mirai Capabilities Beyond DDoS

Careers, Roles, Skills, Working in Cyber and Information Security

CISOs Break Their Silence in 'Declassified' Docuseries

A Realistic Path Into Remote Cybersecurity Jobs - DevX

Multiple Suicides Reported in US Cyber Operations Forces | Security Magazine

Cloud/SaaS

27M records allegedly stolen via misconfigured Microsoft portals | Cybernews

Hacker claims 3.6 million Azure account records stolen from major companies

Crook hawks millions of records allegedly plundered from corporate Azure tenants

New malware turns Microsoft 365 and Azure into its control center – Computerworld

Weak IAM affects up to 98% of cloud environments - Help Net Security

Max severity SAP Commerce Cloud flaw now targeted in attacks

TWINLOOT Abuses SharePoint and Teams to Steal Credentials and Move Across Networks

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Attackers exploit patched macOS Screen Sharing flaw to deploy cryptominer - Help Net Security

Police bust cybercrime ring accused of stealing €30 million in four-day spree - Help Net Security

14,000 Trezor Customers Impacted by Data Breach at ShipMonk - SecurityWeek

SafePal data breach impacts 39,798 customers, stolen info for sale

Cyber Crime, Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

UK Fraud Cases Hit Record High - Infosecurity Magazine

No-Filter 'Kriminal' AI Platform Raises Cybercrime Concerns

Your polite reply to that text is worth $2 on the dark web | Malwarebytes

Ukraine shuts down 94 fraudulent call centers, seize millions in cash

2,000 Hacked WordPress Sites Were Secretly Running a Global Crime Ring - IT Security Guru

How Cybercriminals Are Weaponizing Frontier AI Models Like Grok

Microsoft starts removing WMIC tool used by cybercriminals

Researchers find a loophole that lets expired credit cards make unauthorized payments - Help Net Security

Data Breaches/Leaks

Infostealers Harvest 1.7 Billion Credentials in Six Months - Infosecurity Magazine

27M records allegedly stolen via misconfigured Microsoft portals | Cybernews

Hacker claims 3.6 million Azure account records stolen from major companies

Crook hawks millions of records allegedly plundered from corporate Azure tenants

Multiple organisations investigating fresh wave of Cl0p breaches | Computer Weekly

Philips and GE investigating Clop ransomware data theft claims

Over 1,000 Charities Hit by Beacon CRM Data Breach - SecurityWeek

Fortune 500 Companies Hit in Azure Data Theft Campaign - SecurityWeek

TWINLOOT Abuses SharePoint and Teams to Steal Credentials and Move Across Networks

Crypto wallet maker Trezor confirms 13,000 customers' details exposed in logistics breach

LiteLLM Supply-Chain Attack - Technology, Banking and Healthcare the Most Affected

153GB of stolen credentials surface after LiteLLM supply chain attack - Help Net Security

Trivy, Not LiteLLM Behind the 2,500 Org Compromise - SecurityWeek

European nation rocked by major hacker attack: “largest data leak in history” | Cybernews

ICO reprimands criminal records body over ‘cybersecurity failings’ that exposed data – PublicTechnology

One Attacker Has Scraped Both Salesforce and ServiceNow Portals Since 2025

Why Secrets Slip Through Every Layer of Your Security Stack - Security Boulevard

50,000 Stripe Secrets Leaked in Public Code

14,000 Trezor Customers Impacted by Data Breach at ShipMonk - SecurityWeek

Microsoft Copilot Personal Flaws Could Let One Click Exfiltrate Data From Connected Apps

France investigates tax authority breach after hacker claims 600,000 victims | The Record from Recorded Future News

NHS Blood and Transplant investigate data breach due to pager use - BBC News

RingCentral data breach exposed info of 1.6 million accounts

Chess.com Leak Exposes 7.3 Million Users — Evidence Points to Scraping

McDonald’s Employee Data Appears in Leak, Seller Claims 1.7M Records Stolen - Security Affairs

Google Confirms Gmail Was Not Breached After Reports of 183 Million Password Leak - gHacks Tech News

Scottish prosecutors cast eye over leaky supplier after staff data exposed

Healthtech firm CareCloud data breach impacts 3.7 million patients

SafePal data breach impacts 39,798 customers, stolen info for sale

Scottish Govt Suffers Potentially Widening Data Breach

Advanced Cyberattacks Target Legal Professionals to Compromise Proceedings - NACABAR Announces CLE to Prepare Lawyers to Respond

Hackers Expose Data of 1.2 Million Heights Finance Customers

Latvian officials resign after cyberattack exposes data on 1.2 million people | The Record from Recorded Future News

Sakura Internet hack exposes data of up to 1.36 million accounts

Data/Digital Sovereignty

Cybersecurity Sovereignty is Having its Moment, but the Channel is Keeping its Head - Security Boulevard

Denial of Service/DoS/DDoS

Linux Botnet Evooo1Bot Expands Mirai Capabilities Beyond DDoS

Why connectivity and cybersecurity can't be treated separately

Large-scale DDoS attacks disrupted Threema secure messaging service

Fraud, Scams and Financial Crime

UK Fraud Cases Hit Record High - Infosecurity Magazine

AI is making fraud harder to spot and identity harder to prove - Help Net Security

Fake Evidence: How Generative AI Is Changing Fraud

Your polite reply to that text is worth $2 on the dark web | Malwarebytes

Ukraine shuts down 94 fraudulent call centers, seize millions in cash

Police bust cybercrime ring accused of stealing €30 million in four-day spree - Help Net Security

Russian websites could soon be easy pickings for hackers as security certificates expire — banks, emails, and government systems all potentially at risk | TechRadar

Hackers arrested over €30M bank fraud exploiting service provider flaw

Researchers find a loophole that lets expired credit cards make unauthorized payments - Help Net Security

How Hackers Target Your Retirement Savings | Kiplinger

Banks look for fraud signals in customer behavior - Help Net Security

Identity and Access Management

Weak IAM affects up to 98% of cloud environments - Help Net Security

Microsoft Urges Organizations to Move Beyond Active Directory

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

North Korean Remote Workers Are Infiltrating Government and Businesses: How to Expose Them Before Hiring

Tech contractor for Brightly Software sentenced to 2 years in prison for insider attack | CyberScoop

Prison for data analyst who tried to extort $2.5 million from his employer

Internet of Things – IoT

Evooo1Bot Linux Botnet Exploits Known Flaws to Turn Edge Devices Into SOCKS5 Proxies

Botnets Based on the Notorious Mirai Code Continue to Emerge - Security Boulevard

Hackers Compromised 14,500+ Dahua Devices Using Credential Attacks, Auth Bypasses, and P2P

Meta's Ray-Bans are being banned from pubs, restaurants, and theatres

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Police bust cybercrime ring accused of stealing €30 million in four-day spree - Help Net Security

Ukrainian police raid 94 fraudulent call centers, seize $2 million - Help Net Security

Hackers arrested over €30M bank fraud exploiting service provider flaw

Tech contractor for Brightly Software sentenced to 2 years in prison for insider attack | CyberScoop

Prison for data analyst who tried to extort $2.5 million from his employer

Linux and Open Source

Linux Botnet Evooo1Bot Expands Mirai Capabilities Beyond DDoS

Evooo1Bot Linux Botnet Exploits Known Flaws to Turn Edge Devices Into SOCKS5 Proxies

Malware

Infostealers Harvest 1.7 Billion Credentials in Six Months - Infosecurity Magazine

New malware turns Microsoft 365 and Azure into its control center – Computerworld

MaaS Campaign Combines ClickFix, ErrTraffic and Cruciferra - Infosecurity Magazine

Expired domains are a goldmine for hackers – and some cyber crime groups are investing millions in 'dropcatch' scams to deliver malware | IT Pro

New Mirai-Based Linux Botnet ‘Evooo1Bot’ Turns Victims Into Proxies - Infosecurity Magazine

Attackers exploit patched macOS Screen Sharing flaw to deploy cryptominer - Help Net Security

Turf War Between Claude Agents Leads to Self-Replicating Malware

Novel macOS Infostealer AmnesiaStealer Spread via ClickFix - Infosecurity Magazine

Fake Chrome update pop-ups may be spreading malware

ChainDrop worm crawls into npm supply chain, evades standard defenses

Cavern C2 Uses DNS and Google Apps Script to Blend Into Legitimate Traffic

New macOS malware turns stolen browsers into attacker-controlled sessions | CSO Online

Microsoft Tracks MacSync Stealer by Its Behavior, Not Its Domains

Windows 11 is fully removing a legacy tool that malware and ransomware have abused for years, meet WMIC

Mustang Panda Adds Signed Windows Rootkit to CoolClient Backdoor for Stealth

Geekom admits to shipping malware-laced network drivers for AMD mini PCs — company responds with guidance, removes malicious package | Tom's Hardware

Grandoreiro Resurfaces in Mexico With New DLL Sideloading Campaign - Infosecurity Magazine

SilkParasite Threatens Central Asian Orgs With Flurry of RATs

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda

Russia’s information warfare after 2022

Researchers publish tool to rate disinformation defense

Mobile

Your polite reply to that text is worth $2 on the dark web | Malwarebytes

New Android malware relays bank cards to fraudsters while victims still hold them - Help Net Security

WindRelay Android Malware Turns Victims' Phones Into NFC Relays for Payment Fraud

Apple sends new ‘Threat Notification’ alerts over mercenary spyware attacks

Models, Frameworks and Standards

By the Book: NIST Ransomware Guidelines Provide a Standard for Reasonable Ransomware Response - Security Boulevard

Ice cream makers as ‘critical infrastructure’? EU’s new cybersecurity law suffers wobbly rollout – POLITICO

17 draft Cyber Resilience Act standards are open for comment - Help Net Security

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Password spraying attacks surge 155x as hackers exploit MFA gaps

TWINLOOT Abuses SharePoint and Teams to Steal Credentials and Move Across Networks

I followed password advice for years until I found out it was designed by someone who later regretted it

Why Secrets Slip Through Every Layer of Your Security Stack - Security Boulevard

Google Confirms Gmail Was Not Breached After Reports of 183 Million Password Leak - gHacks Tech News

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Donald Trump empowers US private companies to conduct cyber-attacks | Donald Trump | The Guardian

A bold new strategy or a dangerous precedent? Experts are divided on Trump's memo. | CyberScoop

As warfare becomes engineering, the era of the digital mercenary dawns - Defense One

Ice cream makers as ‘critical infrastructure’? EU’s new cybersecurity law suffers wobbly rollout – POLITICO

US courts will start publishing how often the government uses spyware | TechCrunch

Trump’s move to ‘unleash’ private sector hackers raises novel oversight, liability questions | Federal News Network

17 draft Cyber Resilience Act standards are open for comment - Help Net Security

EU introduces strict new security rules for VPNs with the help of industry giants | TechRadar

Multiple Suicides Reported in US Cyber Operations Forces | Security Magazine

Software Supply Chain

ChainDrop worm crawls into npm supply chain, evades standard defenses

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Over 1,000 Charities Hit by Beacon CRM Data Breach - SecurityWeek

Crypto wallet maker Trezor confirms 13,000 customers' details exposed in logistics breach

LiteLLM Supply-Chain Attack - Technology, Banking and Healthcare the Most Affected

153GB of stolen credentials surface after LiteLLM supply chain attack - Help Net Security

Trivy, Not LiteLLM Behind the 2,500 Org Compromise - SecurityWeek

Scottish prosecutors cast eye over leaky supplier after staff data exposed


Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Russia’s information warfare after 2022

Researchers publish tool to rate disinformation defense

Non-Nuclear Military AI and the Risk of Misperception for a Nuclear War – CESRAN International

Ukraine says cyberattack hit Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries amid drone strikes | The Record from Recorded Future News

China

Mustang Panda Adds Signed Windows Rootkit to CoolClient Backdoor for Stealth

World-first autonomous ‘end-to-end’ AI attack against Taiwan tied to Chinese hackers — and the scariest part is that it was fully open source | TechRadar

Storm-1175 Replaces Medusa With New StormEncryptor Ransomware

Suspected China-Nexus Actor Exploits VMware vCenter Flaw, Deploys Babuk-Derived Ransomware

Researchers Link Suspected Chinese APT to Hack-for-Hire Operations - Infosecurity Magazine

T-Mobile Cyber Team Physically Cuts Cable to Remove Chinese Hackers From Network

Russia

Russia’s information warfare after 2022

Russian websites could soon be easy pickings for hackers as security certificates expire — banks, emails, and government systems all potentially at risk | TechRadar

Hacking group claims mass data theft from Shell, Philips, GE, Fiserv and dozens of others | Reuters

Ukraine says cyberattack hit Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries amid drone strikes | The Record from Recorded Future News

North Korea

North Korean Remote Workers Are Infiltrating Government and Businesses: How to Expose Them Before Hiring

Iran

Cavern C2 Uses DNS and Google Apps Script to Blend Into Legitimate Traffic

What we know about the alleged Iranian hacks on US water utilities | TechCrunch

US charges Iranians for sprawling hacking campaign on government agencies, universities | The Record from Recorded Future News

Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence

Apple Warns Users in 110 Countries They May Be Targets of Mercenary Spyware

Researchers Link Suspected Chinese APT to Hack-for-Hire Operations - Infosecurity Magazine

US courts will start publishing how often the government uses spyware | TechCrunch

Trump’s move to ‘unleash’ private sector hackers raises novel oversight, liability questions | Federal News Network


Tools and Controls

Your Security Appliances Are the Attack Surface - Security Boulevard

Governance Gap: AI Accountability Crisis

Anthropic sees AI risks rising, no plan to release stronger "Model 2"

The 80% Problem: Why AI resilience is more important than ever - IT Security Guru

The New Currency Of Cybersecurity Is Speed, But Only If The Fix Doesn’t Break Production

Russian websites could soon be easy pickings for hackers as security certificates expire — banks, emails, and government systems all potentially at risk | TechRadar

I followed password advice for years until I found out it was designed by someone who later regretted it

By the Book: NIST Ransomware Guidelines Provide a Standard for Reasonable Ransomware Response - Security Boulevard

Weak IAM affects up to 98% of cloud environments - Help Net Security

Irregular says ‘human oversight’ responsible for AI sandbox escape incidents | CyberScoop

Citizen developers are becoming a security problem | perspective | MSSP Alert

Akira Ransomware Uses Safe Mode to Bypass EDR

Google’s AI security agents found 100+ critical software vulnerabilities in just two days - Help Net Security

Microsoft smothers malware by tracking behavior instead of blocking domains | TechRadar

Windows 11 is fully removing a legacy tool that malware and ransomware have abused for years, meet WMIC

Microsoft Urges Organizations to Move Beyond Active Directory

Researchers say OpenAI revoked their access to limited cyber program | TechCrunch

OpenAI Is Pausing Some Work Due To Safety Concerns After Finding It Could Pose Critical Cybersecurity Risks | IBTimes

ChatGPT’s new feature could give infostealers a map of your Mac activity - Help Net Security

Windows 11’s strongest security defenses can be bypassed without a screwdriver - Help Net Security

AI-Driven Vulnerability Surge Breaks the Traditional Patching Model - SecurityWeek

EU introduces strict new security rules for VPNs with the help of industry giants | TechRadar

Banks look for fraud signals in customer behavior - Help Net Security

Copilot tricked into telling reseachers how to hack itself



Vulnerability Management

The New Currency Of Cybersecurity Is Speed, But Only If The Fix Doesn’t Break Production

Most people never update their networking equipment, and cybercriminals know it

8,539 reasons to rethink how vulnerabilities get patched - Help Net Security

‘The economics of vulnerability discovery have changed’: NIST wants to modernize the National Vulnerability Database amid AI advances – cyber experts say it needs to be redesigned with machine-speed in mind | IT Pro

Google’s AI security agents found 100+ critical software vulnerabilities in just two days - Help Net Security

Amid AI-Driven Bug-Hunt Tsunami, NIST Looks to … AI

How to reduce cybersecurity backlogs and fix vulnerability debt | CSO Online

AI-Driven Vulnerability Surge Breaks the Traditional Patching Model - SecurityWeek

Windows Server 2022 reaches end of mainstream support in 60 days

Vulnerabilities

Microsoft totally breaks Windows Defender virus scans in trying to fix a 0-day flaw - Neowin

CISA: Windows Task Host flaw now exploited by ransomware gangs

Critical RCE flaw in Windows IKE Extension now actively exploited

Microsoft Rolls Out 22 Fresh Security Patches - SecurityWeek

Microsoft Entra ID Flaw (CVSS 10.0) Exploited in Wild, Allows Remote Code Execution

Critical Citrix NetScaler Flaw Lets Remote Attackers Bypass Authentication Without Credentials

Citrix urges customers to fix critical NetScaler authentication bypass (CVE-2026-19490) - Help Net Security

Max severity SAP Commerce Cloud flaw now targeted in attacks

Critical SAP Commerce Cloud Vulnerability Exploited 3 Days After Disclosure - SecurityWeek

Apple plugs image-processing hole ripe for spyware abuse

Dozens of WebKit Vulnerabilities Patched With Fresh macOS, iOS Security Updates - SecurityWeek

Attackers exploit patched macOS Screen Sharing flaw to deploy cryptominer - Help Net Security

Apple's iOS 26.6.1 patches 29 security flaws - here's why you'll want to install it | ZDNET

Critical macOS, SharePoint, vCenter, and Microsoft IKE Flaws Under Active Exploitation

Apple just patched a critical macOS flaw that let hackers break in without a password | TechSpot

Atlassian, Splunk Patch Dozens of Critical, High-Severity Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek

Cisco Patches Critical Crosswork, Secure Workload Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek

Hackers Exploiting Unpatched GeoServer Zero-Day - SecurityWeek

Critical GitLab flaw allows attackers to modify or delete public projects (CVE-2026-19478) - Help Net Security

Chrome, Firefox Updates Patch Dozens of Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek

Google Fixes Two Critical Chrome Flaws in WebGL and Dawn — Update Your Browser

Firefox 154 fixes 58 security bugs, adds Nvidia GeForce Now streaming | PCWorld

Hackers Target Zimbra Servers in Active Exploitation Campaign - SecurityWeek

Attackers Exploit Zimbra SNMP Flaw for Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution

Isolated-vm Flaw Lets Sandboxed JavaScript Escape to Host for Potential RCE

MLflow Vulnerability Exploited for Cloud Credential Theft - SecurityWeek

N-able Bug Exposes Password Vault Master Keys

943 Patches Rolled Out With Oracle's August 2026 Security Update - SecurityWeek

Atlassian, Splunk Patch Dozens of Critical, High-Severity Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek

CISA Urges Immediate Patching of Exploited TrueConf Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek

UNISOC Modem Flaw Enables Remote Code Execution via Video Calls - Infosecurity Magazine

Suspected China-Nexus Actor Exploits VMware vCenter Flaw, Deploys Babuk-Derived Ransomware

Forminator WordPress Flaw Can Enable Unauthenticated RCE via Malicious PHP Uploads

WordPress Plugin Flaw Exposes 40,000 Sites to Admin Takeover - Infosecurity Magazine

300,000 WordPress Sites Potentially Exposed to Hacking Due to Form Plugin Flaw - SecurityWeek


Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

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  • Third Sector & Charities

  • Transport & Aviation

  • Web3


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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 14 August 2026