Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

A U.S. government agency paid $1M to Kairos, a group focused on data theft and extortion rather than ransomware, Ransom-ISAC reports. A new case study from Ransom-ISAC reconstructs a complete data-extortion incident involving a U.S. government body and a threat actor called Kairos, using a leaked negotiation transcript and blockchain tracing of the ransom payment. […]

A U.S. government entity paid about $1 million to keep stolen files from being leaked, according to a new case study by Rakesh Krishnan for Ransom-ISAC, built on a leaked negotiation chat and the blockchain trail the payment left

​University of Hawaii says a ransomware gang breached its Cancer Center in August 2025, stealing data of study participants, including documents from the 1990s containing Social Security numbers. [...]

Analysis of Seized LockBit Data Suggests Victims Who Pay Enjoy More Media CoverageBad news for any organization that's ever paid a ransom in a bid to avoid their breach coming to light, or for a promise from attackers to delete stolen data, with a study of seized LockBit data finding that victims who paid a ransom were more likely to see the attack get detailed in the media.

Study Finds Weak Authentication Practices Across AI Agent ServersTools developers use to connect artificial intelligence tools with external applications and data sources typically are secured by static credentials such as API keys and personal access tokens, exposing AI agent systems to theft or misuse, research shows.

Stolen devices are a bigger cause of data loss than stolen credentials or ransomware, according to a new Blancco study

According to the study, around 400 stolen GenAI credentials are being sold by threat actors per day.

Study Looks at Impact of AI on Tasks Requiring Visual ProcessingArtificial intelligence may not steal our jobs just yet, but only because humans are currently cheaper to employ. Many of the human jobs that could be replaced with AI are not "economically beneficial" to automate - at least for now - say researchers at MIT.

Hackers Steal CCTV Footage to Study Efficacy of Missile Strikes and Drone AttacksUkraine's national computer emergency response team, CERT-UA, says it sees an increase in cyber incidents as Russia's invasion continues. While wiper attacks are ongoing, a rising Russian hacker tactic involves stealing private CCTV footage to study the efficacy of missile strikes and drone attacks.

The University of Michigan says in a statement today that they suffered a data breach after hackers broke into its network in August and accessed systems with information belonging to students, applicants, alumni, donors, employees, patients, and research study participants. [...]

A new study conducted by Uptycs has uncovered a stark increase in the distribution of information stealing (a.k.a. infostealer or stealer) malware. Incidents have more than doubled in Q1 2023, indicating an alarming trend that threatens global organizations

A group of academics has demonstrated novel attacks that leverage Text-to-SQL models to produce malicious code that could enable adversaries to glean sensitive information and stage denial-of-service (DoS) attacks

Attackers are turning to stolen credentials and posing as trusted applications to socially engineer victims, according to Google study of malware submitted to VirusTotal.

Firms focus too narrowly on external attackers when it's insiders, third parties, and stolen assets that cause many breaches, new study shows.