Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Apate.ai CEO Dali Kaafar on Turning the Tables on Fraudsters With AI-Powered BotsMajor banks in Australia are now using bots to foil scammers. The bots are designed to pose as potential victims, extract real-time intelligence and waste scammers' resources. The data is then pushed directly into fraud detection systems used by banks, telecom providers and government agencies.

Apate.ai CEO Dali Kaafar on Turning the Tables on Fraudsters With AI-Powered BotsMajor banks in Australia are now using bots to foil scammers. The bots are designed to pose as potential victims, extract real-time intelligence and waste scammers' resources. The data is then pushed directly into fraud detection systems used by banks, telecom providers and government agencies.

PLUS: Perplexity AI scores 360-million-customer win in India; Australian billionaire’s political party suffers data breach, won’t contact victims; and more Asia In Brief Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory last week announced the discovery of a small body with an orbit beyond Pluto’s, and scientists think its presence means the “Planet 9” theory should be revisited.…

Frequent flyers’ info takes flight Australian airline Qantas on Wednesday revealed it fell victim to a cyberattack that saw information describing six million customers stolen.…

In an update to a joint advisory with CISA and the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the FBI said that the Play ransomware gang had breached roughly 900 organizations as of May 2025, three times the number of victims reported in October 2023. [...]

Victims' details at risk after criminals download 9,000 files from court database Australian police are currently investigating the theft of "sensitive" data from a New South Wales court system after they confirmed approximately 9,000 files were stolen.…

Experts Say Consumers Gain Little as Implementation Challenges Loom for FrameworkAustralia's new scams framework bill sets the foundation for industry action but leaves consumers with limited protections. Experts warn that enforcement and reimbursement mechanisms are unclear, forcing victims to navigate a complex system with little guarantee of compensation.

Banks Shift Blame to Social Media, Telecoms While Scam Victims Pay the PriceIf you're the victim of a scam in Australia, the chances of being reimbursed for your stolen funds are low. In fact, the AFCA ruled in favor of full reimbursement for victims in only 4.8% of its cases in 2024, highlighting the difficulty consumers face in disputing fraud-related losses with banks.

Banks Shift Blame to Social Media, Telecoms While Scam Victims Pay the PriceIf you're the victim of a scam in Australia, the chances of being reimbursed for your stolen funds are low. In fact, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority ruled in favor of full reimbursement for victims in only 4.8% of its cases last year, highlighting the difficulty consumers face when disputing fraud-related losses with their banks.

A joint advisory issued by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S. has warned of a broad cyber espionage campaign undertaken by People's Republic of China (PRC)-affiliated threat actors targeting telecommunications providers

New Law Calls for Better Reporting, Securing Devices and Critical InfrastructureThe Australian government's proposed cybersecurity legislation passed both houses of the Parliament on Monday, formalizing the government's strategy to boost ransomware payment reporting, mandate basic cybersecurity standards for connected devices and enhance critical infrastructure security.

In case today’s news cycle wasn’t shocking enough, here’s a gem from Sophos Fresh from a series of serious reports detailing its five-year battle with Chinese cyberattackers, Sophos has dropped a curious story about users of a popular infostealer-cum-RAT targeting a niche group of victims.…

3 Countries Taking Different Approaches to Accountability and Victim CompensationGovernments globally are intensifying anti-scam measures, introducing new guidelines to banks, telecom providers and other key sectors to bolster security controls and mitigate fraud risks for consumers and businesses. Some new frameworks threaten to levy stiff penalties for non-compliance.

A collaboration with the FBI and law-enforcement agencies in Europe, the UK, and Australia, Operation Magnus has seized servers and source code related to the two malware families, which have stolen data from millions of victims worldwide.

Cyber Bill Says the Government Can't Use Information to Prosecute VictimsRansom payments are typically tightly held secrets between cybercriminals and their victims, but the Australian government has introduced a cybersecurity bill in Parliament that would require require larger businesses to report ransom payments to the government.

An Australian man has been charged with running a fake Wi-Fi access point during a domestic flight with an aim to steal user credentials and data

Evil twin Wi-Fi access points mimicked legitimate networks to capture personal data from unsuspecting victims who mistakenly connected to them

Throw another healthcare biz on the barby, mate Australian prescriptions provider MediSecure is the latest healthcare org to fall victim to a ransomware attack, with crooks apparently stealing patients' personal and health data.…

The United States joined the United Kingdom and Australia today in sanctioning 31-year-old Russian national Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev as the alleged leader of the infamous ransomware group LockBit. The U.S. Department of Justice also indicted Khoroshev as the gang's leader "LockbitSupp," and charged him with using Lockbit to attack more than 2,000 victims and extort at least $100 million in ransomware payments.

Threat actors behind the Akira ransomware group have extorted approximately $42 million in illicit proceeds after breaching the networks of more than 250 victims as of January 1, 2024