Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Ukraine’s SSU and the FBI Just Confirmed Russian Intelligence Has Been Systematically Hacking Messenger Accounts for Years. The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), working jointly with the FBI, has formally exposed a sustained Russian intelligence campaign targeting the messaging accounts of government officials, military personnel, politicians, and activists across Ukraine, Europe, and the United States. […]

JDY botnet scans SOHO/IoT devices globally to map services and targets, especially US military networks. Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs reported the resurgence of the JDY botnet, a covert reconnaissance network tied to Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups including Volt Typhoon. The network was first spotted in late 2023 as a cluster inside KV-botnet. The U.S. government […]

Experts Cite Prepositioning Risk in Iranian Cyber Operations Amid Escalating WarWarnings from Iranian-linked hacking groups targeting U.S. water systems highlight a growing risk of prepositioned cyber access and rapid attack activation, analysts told ISMG, as federal defenders confront rising geopolitical tensions and operational strain across critical infrastructure sectors.

Experts Cite Prepositioning Risk in Iranian Cyber Operations Amid Escalating WarWarnings from Iranian-linked hacking groups targeting U.S. water systems highlight a growing risk of prepositioned cyber access and rapid attack activation, analysts told ISMG, as federal defenders confront rising geopolitical tensions and operational strain across critical infrastructure sectors.

Healthcare Hit Shows Symbols Matter as Iran Shifts Focus to Economic DamageCybersecurity experts say that the Handala "hacktivist" group that claimed credit for attacks against two American firms on Wednesday is run by the Iranian government. The shift to destructive cyberattacks parallels Iran's attempt to inflict greater economic damage on the United States and allies.

Attack Spotlights Threats, Risks Facing Healthcare Supply ChainUFP Technologies, a Massachusetts-based maker of single-use medical devices and other healthcare supplies, has notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of a cyber incident discovered on Valentine's Day that involved the theft or destruction of company data.

Meanwhile, IP-stealing 'distillation attacks' on the rise A Chinese government hacking group that has been sanctioned for targeting America's critical infrastructure used Google's AI chatbot, Gemini, to auto-analyze vulnerabilities and plan cyberattacks against US organizations, the company says.…

Ukrainian National Twice Indicted in Los Angeles for Pro-Russian HackingU.S. and allied agencies warned of low-skill Russian-linked hacktivists breaching critical infrastructure by exploiting weak remote access tools, as federal prosecutors charged a Ukrainian national with helping orchestrate operations targeting water and energy systems.

Suspect May Be Military Officer Indicted by US for 2016 Election InterferencePolice in Thailand have arrested a Russian citizen suspected of launching hack attacks against targets around the world, who's wanted by the FBI. While the suspect hasn't been named, his age matches that of a Russian military intelligence officer indicted for 2016 U.S. election interference.

U.S. prosecutors last week levied criminal hacking charges against 19-year-old U.K. national Thalha Jubair for allegedly being a core member of Scattered Spider, a prolific cybercrime group blamed for extorting at least $115 million in ransom payments from victims. The charges came as Jubair and an alleged co-conspirator appeared in a London court to face accusations of hacking into and extorting several large U.K. retailers, the London transit system, and healthcare providers in the United States.

Seven-year-old Cisco vuln that remains inexplicably unpatched is their way in The US State Department has put a $10 million bounty on the heads of three Russians accused of being intelligence agents hacking America's critical infrastructure - primarily via old Cisco kit, it seems.…

Iranian OT Hacking Team Has Gone Quiet … Too QuietArmed exchanges between Iran and Israel and the prospect of U.S. armed intervention against Tehran has cyber defenders warning about hacking risks to critical infrastructure. Iran's CyberAv3ngers doesn't possess the sophistication of Chinese or Russian actors but it's still a persistent threat.

​Ascension, one of the largest private healthcare systems in the United States, is notifying patients that their personal and health information was stolen in a December 2024 data theft attack, which affected a former business partner. [...]

A U.S. Army soldier who pleaded guilty last week to leaking phone records for high-ranking U.S. government officials searched online for non-extradition countries and for an answer to the question "can hacking be treason?" prosecutors in the case said Wednesday. The government disclosed the details in a court motion to keep the defendant in custody until he is discharged from the military.

Days before leaving office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to shore up the United States' cybersecurity by making it easier to sanction hacking groups targeting federal agencies and the nation's critical infrastructure. [...]

Hackers Reportedly Target Treasury Department Offices Overseeing Economic SanctionsA Chinese hack of the U.S. Department of Treasury targeted offices tasked with overseeing economic sanctions and financial investigations, as experts warn Beijing is increasingly escalating attacks on American critical infrastructure while preparing for potential future conflict.

Major Chinese Router Manufacturer Facing Increased Scrutiny After Chinese EspionageU.S. authorities have launched multiple investigations while reportedly considering banning the widely popular Chinese-manufactured TP-Link routers amid ongoing security risks linked to Chinese cyberespionage and hacking campaigns targeting American critical infrastructure sectors.

The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned Chinese cybersecurity company Sichuan Silence and one of its employees for their involvement in a series of Ragnarok ransomware attacks targeting U.S. critical infrastructure companies and many other victims worldwide in April 2020. [...]

Robert Purbeck, a 45-year-old man from Idaho, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for hacking at least 19 organizations in the United States, stealing the personal data of more than 132,000 people, and multiple extortion attempts. [...]

Posing as an application used to locate Ukrainian military recruiters, a Kremlin-backed hacking initiative delivers malware, along with disinformation designed to undermine sign-ups for soldiers in the war against Russia.