Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new multi-stage malware delivery attack chain that uses social engineering and Blogger pages to deliver an information stealer called PureLogs

Governments Have Long Warned About Kremlin Social Engineering HacksSignal is defending the security of its systems following a series of phishing attacks that took place on the encrypted messaging platform, and that reportedly compromised members of the German government including the president of the country's parliament.

A previously undocumented threat activity cluster known as UNC6692 has been observed leveraging social engineering tactics via Microsoft Teams to deploy a custom malware suite on compromised hosts

Password resets are one of the easiest ways for attackers to bypass security controls. Specops Software shows how helpdesk social engineering turns a seemingly legitimate reset request into full account compromise. [...]

The maintainer of the Axios npm package has confirmed that the supply chain compromise was the result of a highly-targeted social engineering campaign orchestrated by North Korean threat actors tracked as UNC1069

The ransomware operation known as LeakNet has adopted the ClickFix social engineering tactic delivered through compromised websites as an initial access method

The North Korea-linked threat actor known as UNC1069 has been observed targeting the cryptocurrency sector to steal sensitive data from Windows and macOS systems with the ultimate goal of facilitating financial theft

CTM360 has identified a rapidly expanding WhatsApp account-hacking campaign targeting users worldwide via a network of deceptive authentication portals and impersonation pages. The campaign, internally dubbed HackOnChat, abuses WhatsApp’s familiar web interface, using social engineering tactics to trick users into compromising their accounts

Combining AI-generated code and social engineering, EvilAI operators are executing a rapidly expanding campaign, disguising their malware as legitimate applications to bypass security, steal credentials, and persistently compromise organizations worldwide.

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.

The North Korea-linked threat actor known as the Lazarus Group has been attributed to a social engineering campaign that distributes three different pieces of cross-platform malware called PondRAT, ThemeForestRAT, and RemotePE

A new large-scale campaign has been observed exploiting over 100 compromised WordPress sites to direct site visitors to fake CAPTCHA verification pages that employ the ClickFix social engineering tactic to deliver information stealers, ransomware, and cryptocurrency miners

Until recently, the cyber attacker methodology behind the biggest breaches of the last decade or so has been pretty consistent: Compromise an endpoint via software exploit, or social engineering a user to run malware on their device;  Find ways to move laterally inside the network and compromise privileged identities; Repeat as needed until you can execute your desired attack — usually

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.

A new malware campaign has been observed leveraging social engineering tactics to deliver an open-source rootkit called r77

Private Equity Firm Says It'll Take Several Weeks to Pinpoint Scope of Jan. 16 HackAn unauthorized third-party accessed certain information systems last month from Insight Partners through a sophisticated social engineering attack. Insight said it'll take the next several weeks to determine the scope of the Jan. 16 incident with the support of third-party cybersecurity experts.

Attackers Could Exploit Flaw to Relay Credentials, Compromise SystemsA critical vulnerability in Open Policy Agent could expose NTLM credentials from Windows systems, potentially affecting millions of users. Researchers at Tenable warn that attackers could exploit the flaw through social engineering. Users must update to version v0.68.0 immediately to mitigate risks.

Also: Dangers of Malicious Code Embedded in ML Models; Is Ransomware in Decline?AI's influence on social engineering and election security has become a focal point at Black Hat. ISMG editors discuss how advanced technologies are making it easier to manipulate people and compromise security systems and offer key insights on machine learning vulnerabilities.

Cybersecurity researchers are warning about a new phishing campaign that targets Microsoft OneDrive users with the aim of executing a malicious PowerShell script