Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Researchers Estimate Losses Ranging From Hundreds of Millions to BillionsA Chinese-language phishing-as-a-service platform scammed between $470 million to $1 billion from soccer fans ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup starting next month. Domain-by-domain takedowns will not stop this, Group-IB warned.

Researchers Detail Prompt Injection, API and Redirect FlawsOasis Security researchers found three bugs in Claude that attackers can chain to steal user chat data without malware or phishing. The "Claudy Day" attack links hidden prompt injection, Anthropic's Files API and an open redirect. Anthropic has fixed the core flaw.

Also, CIRO Phishing Breach, Ingram Micro Ransomware and CVE SurgeThis week, DOGE posted sensitive data on an outside server. A phishing attack affected 750,000 Canadians. A hacktivism warning from the U.K. NCSC. An Ingram Micro breach. CVEs surged in 2025. SK Telecom challenged a fine. Researchers disclosed Chainlit flaws. North Korean hackers abused VS Code.

Uncovered: Typosquatted Domains Linked to Suspected Ransomware Group CampaignContinuing its targeting of customer data, the cybercrime group Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters appears to be gearing up for large-scale attacks involving typosquatted domains that lead to phishing domains designed to steal Zendesk users' valid credentials, warn security researchers.

Attacks Move From China to Malaysia Using Phishing PDFsSeemingly unrelated attacks targeting Chinese-speakers throughout the Asia-Pacific region with a remote access trojan trace back to the same threat actor, says researchers. Hackers' most likely motivation is regional intelligence collection.

Government Agencies Targeted With Infostealers and Cryptomining MalwareA fake police alert is the social engineering cornerstone of an ongoing phishing campaign targeting Ukrainian government agencies, warn security researchers. They're tracking a surge in malicious SVG file attachments, in this case leading to information-stealing and cryptocurrency-mining malware.

One Prompt Was Enough for AI Agent to Buy, Click and Expose Sensitive DataAI agents that shop and surf the web on behalf of users are suckers for scams, find security researchers who sicced a fake online story, a phishing email and a fake captcha on Perplexity's AI-powered web browser Comet. The AI's logic was not designed to weigh credibility or risk.

Proof-of-Concept Attack Demonstrates FIDO Downgrade Against Microsoft Entra IDThe FIDO standard, a bulwark against credential-stealing phishing attacks, has an implementation chink that's poised for commoditization by cybercriminals, say security researchers in news that's good for phishing-as-a-service providers but terrible for everyone else.

PoisonSeed Threat Actor Uses Cross-Device Login Feature and QR Code to Trick UsersExpel researchers have found a novel adversary-in-the-middle phishing technique used by PoisonSeed, a cybercrime group previously tied to large-scale cryptocurrency thefts, to sidestep one of the most secure forms of multifactor authentication - FIDO2 physical keys.

Defunct Ransomware Group's Diaspora Includes Hackers With Focus on Microsoft TeamsBased 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.

Phishing Campaigns Appear to Be Solely Intelligence-Gathering for DPRK LeadershipNorth Korea nation-state hackers appear to have entered the Ukrainian cyber operations fray, albeit solely for cyberespionage purposes for "gathering intelligence to help North Korean leadership determine the current risk to its forces already in the theater," cybersecurity researchers report.

Hoxhunt Predicts Phishing-as-a-Service Will Adopt AI Spear Phishing AgentsAI surpassed human red teams in crafting phishing attacks, at scale and with alarming success, asserts research from cybersecurity training firm Hoxhunt. The company's proprietary AI spear phishing agent, outperformed human counterparts by 24%, a turnaround from a31% deficit in 2023.

Chinese-Speaking Operators Have Made Lucid a 'Primary Source' of PhishingSecurity researchers say they expect a surge this year in text message smishing fueled by a phishing-as-a-service platform operated by Chinese-speaking threat actors. Lucid already is a primary source of phishing campaigns targeting users in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States.

A newly discovered phishing campaign is using social engineering to dupe victims into copying, pasting, and running the Havoc command-and-control framework on their computers, warn researchers from Fortinet. "ClickFix," displays a fake error message and instructions for its supposed resolution.

Google Expects Tactics to Spread; Global Targets and Other Services at RiskRussian nation-state hackers are using phishing attacks to target Ukrainian users of the chat app Signal, say security researchers. Rather than circumventing Signal's end-to-end encryption via a cryptographic attack, attackers use malicious prompting to prod victims into exposing messages.

AI-Powered Social Engineering and Deepfake Threats in 2025Security researchers predict threat actors will use artificial intelligence and large language models to enhance phishing attacks and create convincing fake personas, while defensive AI enters a new phase of semiautonomous operations.

Developers Listed as Public Contact Points Targeted in Phishing CampaignA supply chain attack that subverted legitimate Google Chrome browser extensions to inject data-stealing malware is more widespread than security researchers first suspected. So far researchers have identified 36 subverted extensions collectively used by 2.6 million people.

Infrastructure Problems Blamed; Users Appear to Move to Similar FlowerStorm ServiceAs the end of the year approaches, it's out with the old and in with the new as researchers report that Rockstar 2FA, which once facilitated prolific phishing-as-a-service hits, has crashed and burned, apparently leading many one-time users to move to rival FlowerStorm.

New Campaign Targets Over 1,500 Banks WorldwideDespite a law enforcement takedown in January, researchers identified new phishing campaigns spreading the Grandoreiro banking Trojan, indicating its return as a malware-as-a-service tool with better encryption and a better domain name generator, according to IBM X-Force researchers.

Survey: SMBs, Charities Mostly Targeted With Phishing, Online Impersonation in 2023Cybercriminals launched 7.78 million attacks against U.K. businesses and nearly 1 million against charity organizations, according to the latest U.K. government survey report. But fewer than half of those firms reported the incidents to authorities, something researchers say is a concerning trend.