Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

The Silent Ransom Group extortion gang is actively targeting U.S. law firms and professional services organizations in social engineering attacks that often lead to data theft within hours of initial contact, according to a new report by cybersecurity firm Mandiant. [...]

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday issued an alert warning of bad actors actively leveraging commercial spyware and remote access trojans (RATs) to target users of mobile messaging applications

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a sophisticated social engineering campaign that's targeting supply chain-critical manufacturing companies with an in-memory malware dubbed MixShell

Attackers Stole US Customer Data Using Social EngineeringA malicious actor breached a customer relationship management platform used by Allianz Life Insurance of North America on July 16 and stole personally identifiable information of most of its 1.4 million U.S. customers, financial professionals and some employees, the company said.

Experts Warn White House AI Action Plan Could Prioritize Deregulation Over SecurityThe Trump administration pledged Wednesday an offensive against "red tape" hindering artificial intelligence developers in federal and state governments while vowing to ensure that such systems are objective "rather than pursue social engineering agendas."

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has revealed that it has observed the notorious cybercrime group Scattered Spider broadening its targeting footprint to strike the airline sector

Russian hackers bypass multi-factor authentication and access Gmail accounts by leveraging app-specific passwords in advanced social engineering attacks that impersonate U.S. Department of State officials. [...]

Cybersecurity researchers are alerting to a new malware campaign that employs the ClickFix social engineering tactic to trick users into downloading an information stealer malware known as Atomic macOS Stealer (AMOS) on Apple macOS systems

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned of social engineering attacks mounted by a criminal extortion actor known as Luna Moth targeting law firms over the past two years

The FBI warned that an extortion gang known as the Silent Ransom Group has been targeting U.S. law firms over the last two years in callback phishing and social engineering attacks. [...]

Also: Conviction in £1.5M Fraud, Sentencing in Torture and Theft CaseThis week's stories include a critical Ethereum vulnerability, conviction in a £1.5M fraud, sentencing in a torture and crypto theft case, SEC's new roadmap, Jan crypto stats, Coinbase social engineering victims, and U.S. lawmakers' digital assets working group.

Five alleged members of the infamous Scattered Spider cybercrime crew have been indicted in the U.S. for targeting employees of companies across the country using social engineering techniques to harvest credentials and using them to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data and break into crypto accounts to steal digital assets worth millions of dollars

CISA and FBI Warn of Iranian Hackers Targeting US Political Campaigns and OfficialsThe Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have issued new guidance to help U.S. political campaigns defend against increasing cyber threats from Iran, recommending stronger multi-factor authentication, phishing-resistant protocols, and vigilance against social engineering.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warns that hackers are now using social engineering tactics to target IT help desks across the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector. [...]

American Hospital Association Warns of Social Engineering SchemesThe American Hospital Association is warning of increasingly sophisticated social engineering scams targeting hospital IT help desks with schemes involving the stolen credentials of revenue cycle and other finance employees to commit payment fraud against the institutions.

High-profile individuals working on Middle Eastern affairs at universities and research organizations in Belgium, France, Gaza, Israel, the U.K., and the U.S. have been targeted by an Iranian cyber espionage group called Mind Sandstorm since November 2023

U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have released a joint advisory about a cybercriminal group known as Scattered Spider that's known to employ sophisticated phishing tactics to infiltrate targets

Identity and access management company Okta released a warning about social engineering attacks targeting IT service desk agents at U.S.-based customers in an attempt to trick them into resetting multi-factor authentication (MFA) for high-privileged users. [...]

U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies have issued a new alert warning of North Korean cyber actors' use of social engineering tactics to strike think tanks, academia, and news media sectors

Iranian state-sponsored actors are continuing to engage in social engineering campaigns targeting researchers by impersonating a U.S. think tank