Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Digital Extortionists Try Recruiting Insiders, Email BarragesCollective efforts to bolster cybersecurity defenses have been taking a big bite out of ransomware groups' earnings, leading groups to reach for new strategies, including social engineering, supply chain attacks, extortion services and bribing insiders, warn incident response experts.

Users Download Malware in Bid to Placate MetaA newly surfaced FileFix social engineering campaign puts a new spin on ClickFix attacks by goading users into loading malware under the guise of reporting a wrongful account suspension to social media giant Facebook. Victims likely get sucked into the scam by following a link from a phishing email.

Attacker Socially Engineered Developer With Phishing EmailA hacker laced 18 popular npm packages with cryptocurrency stealing malware after socially engineering the developer into giving up his credentials to the JavaScript runtime environment. Aikido Security said the 18 software packages collectively have downloads of more than two billion each week.

Acquisition Targets Business Email Compromise, Impersonation and Spear-PhishingVaronis has acquired SlashNext to strengthen detection of phishing and social engineering attacks. The integration will help prevent identity compromises via email, SMS and collaboration tools while enhancing Miami-based Varonis’ AI-driven data protection.

Ironscales Founder, CEO Eyal Benishti Pushes to Expand AI Protection Beyond EmailDeepfake phishing is escalating as cybercriminals deploy agentic AI to automate everything from data collection to social engineering. Ironscales founder and CEO Eyal Benishti outlines how phishing is targeting communication platforms beyond email, and how defenders can keep up.

Agency Spells Out Measures to Avoid Falling Victim to Costly SchemesHealthcare organizations should take steps to avoid falling victim to evolving threats involving costly business email compromise scams and related phishing schemes fueled by social engineering, warned the Department of Health and Human Services' Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center.