DataBreachToday.com

Hackers Posing as Help Desks and Call Centers to Target Victims, Google Warns
A hacking collective behind recent cyberattacks on major British retailers has pivoted to target U.S. insurance firms, warned Google. Scattered Spider, tracked as UNC3944 by Google, is a financially motivated threat group consisting largely of English-speaking adolescents.

Several Affected HealthEC Healthcare Clients Are Chipping in to Fund Settlement
A provider of artificial intelligence-enabled hospital cost-cutting software and several of its healthcare clients agreed to $5.48 million to settle proposed class action litigation involving a 2023 hacking incident affecting 4.6 million individuals.

JFrog uncovers multi-stage malware harvesting cloud secrets
Multi-stage malware embedded in a Python package is stealing sensitive cloud infrastructure data, JFrog researchers said Monday. The package steals credentials, configuration files, API tokens and other data from corporate cloud environments. It targets developers using the Chimera sandbox platform.

Research Shows Next-Generation 9-1-1 Ecosystems Lack Critical Cyber Protections
A report from telecom firm Intrado warns that cybersecurity safeguards are lagging behind the rapid deployment of next-generation 911 systems, exposing the emergency ecosystem to attacks ranging from VoIP floods to ransomware amid growing reliance on cloud-based and IP-connected technologies.

Justice Officials Will Reportedly Probe the Google-Wiz Deal on Antitrust Grounds
Antitrust enforcers are reportedly pumping the brakes on Google's proposed $32 billion buy of Wiz, but it's unclear if it'll be a single speedbump or an unmovable roadblock. Officials in the Justice Department's antitrust division are assessing if the megadeal would illegally limit competition.

Microsoft Patched Flaw Allowing Attackers to Hijack Copilot Responses
A well-phrased email was all an attacker would have needed to trick Microsoft Copilot into handing over sensitive data until the operating system giant patched the vulnerability. The zero-click prompt injection attack vulnerability received a CVSS severity score of 9.3.

Publication Tells Staff to Reset Passwords After Email Breach
Suspected Chinese state-sponsored hackers reportedly targeted the Washington Post journalists covering national security and economic policy, according to an internal memo and media reports. The publication has not disclosed the identity of the victims.

Anne Wojcicki's New Company Wins Bid for Bankrupt Genomics Testing Firm
TTAM Research Institute - 23andMe's co-founder and former CEO Anne Wojcicki's new company - is the winner in a final round of bids to purchase the bankrupt consumer genomics testing firm. As part of TTAM's bid, the nonprofit pledged to implement additional data privacy and security protections.

Sean Plankey Has Support, But His CISA Nomination is Blocked and Delayed
U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the nation’s top cyber defense agency is stuck in confirmation limbo, delayed by scheduling setbacks and a Senate hold over an unrelated report - deepening uncertainty amid a major operational overhaul at the agency.

UEFI Vulnerability Threatens Systems with Silent Compromise
Hackers could circumvent the protections of Secure Boot by silently disabling it through an attack that potentially affects a wide swath of Windows laptops and servers. Microsoft issued a patch this month and hackers would already need admin access and physical access to a target machine.

Defunct Ransomware Group's Diaspora Includes Hackers With Focus on Microsoft Teams
Based on intelligence gleaned from the leak of Black Basta ransomware messages, researchers are warning organizations to beware phishing attacks launched via Microsoft partner domains and via Teams, as well as the targeting of personal Google accounts accessed via corporate devices.

Ocuco and Episource Breaches Affect Health Sector Clients, Patients
An Ireland-based provider of eye care practice software and a California-based medical coding services firm have reported separate hacking incidents to U.S. and state regulators that have likely affected dozens of their clients and hundreds of thousands of people.

Analysts Warn US Infrastructure May Be Next as Iran Plans Missile Strike Response
Israel's strike on Iranian military and nuclear targets has triggered fears of retaliatory cyberattacks, with analysts warning that Tehran may escalate disruptions against U.S. and Israeli critical infrastructure through proxy campaigns, brute-force attacks or coordinated DDoS strikes.

Startup Boosts AI-Driven Detection, MSP Channel Outreach and Hiring With Series B
Guardz has secured $56 million to deepen AI-powered threat detection and enhance automation for MSPs. The Series B funding will support platform engineering, channel marketing and operational scaling as Miami-based Guardz targets a simplified and consolidated cybersecurity future.

NCC Group's Katharina Sommer on Why Nations Are Turning Inward on Cyber Defense
Geopolitical shifts are reshaping how countries approach cyber resilience. Katharina Sommer, group head of government affairs and analyst relations at NCC Group, explains why governments are turning inward and focusing on sovereign cybersecurity strategies as cross-border collaboration weakens.

Also: Trump's Rollback of Cyber Rules, 23andMe's Privacy Backlash
In this week's update, four editors with ISMG unpack the sharp rise in software supply chain cyberattacks, U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping cybersecurity executive order, and the data privacy backlash over 23andMe's bankruptcy and sale to the highest bidder.

Huione-Linked Crypto Activity Continues Despite Takedown Efforts
Huione's apparent shutdown was cosmetic, not operational. Transaction volumes increase since the crypto laundering network's announced closure, with services reemerging under new domains and continuing illicit operations.

Opaque Decision-Making, Lack of Guardrails, Poor Auditability are Risks
The dream of replacing burned-out SOC analysts with autonomous AI agents is as premature as it is persistent. Cybersecurity leaders are finding that deploying such tools inside security operations centers may do less to eliminate toil than to shift it.

Australian Securities Commission Says HSBC Ignored Repeated Internal Warnings
Some lessons come with a price. The recent lawsuit against HSBC by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission claims the bank prioritized profits over customer safety. Despite repeated internal warnings from its own fraud experts, HSBC failed to act.

Hackers Use TeamFiltration Penetration Testing Tool
A threat actor is using the password spraying feature of the TeamFiltration pentesting tool to launch attacks against Microsoft Entra accounts - and finding success. The threat actor has targeted more than 80,000 user accounts across roughly 100 cloud tenants.