Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Who Knew APT Hackers Liked Emojis So Much?All the nation-state hackers are vibe coding. Vibeware won't win any coding awards. It's not pretty. It doesn't target any zero-day vulnerabilities or known flaws in innovative new ways - but it does allow polyglot malware to be generated at scale.

Also: China-Linked APT Hijack Updates, Condé Nast Data Leaked, La Poste HitThis week, a Clop-linked vendor breach hit Korean Air, a China-linked APT hijacked software updates, a critical zero-day flaw remained unpatched, Condé Nast faced a data leak, La Poste was disrupted and Korean police extradited a malware operation suspect.

Unpatched Flaw in Open-Source Gogs Service Facilitates Remote Code ExecutionAn attacker has been exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Gogs, an open-source and popular Git service that allows for self-hosting, warned researchers. At least 700 internet-exposed servers running Gogs shows signs of being infected with command-and-control malware; no patch is yet available.

Researchers Uncover Covert Chinese Access to US Service Provider InfrastructureMandiant said it has tracked a Chinese-linked espionage campaign using BRICKSTORM malware to quietly embed within U.S. infrastructure and service providers for over a year, exploiting appliance-level blind spots to maintain persistence, evade detection and potentially develop zero-day exploits.

Mandiant Reveals Critical Flaw Exposes Sitecore ProductsAttackers exploited a now-patched zero-day vulnerability in a popular content management system that powers websites for companies including HSBC, L’Oréal, Toyota and United Airlines. Attackers used a cryptography key stored in some deployments to force the system into loading malware.

Microsoft Researchers Link Turkish Spy Group to Output Messenger Zero-Day HackA Turkish-linked cyberespionage group known as Marbled Dust exploited a zero-day in the Output Messenger Server Manager application to spy on Kurdish military operations in Iraq. Microsoft reported the hack and called for immediate mitigation to block credential theft and malware delivery.

Mitigate Career Risk With a Self-Audit, Targeted Training and Real-World TestingChanging jobs or going after that promotion can be difficult, even in a field like cybersecurity where the demand for skilled professionals is high. Often, the biggest career challenge is not that advanced persistent threat or the zero-day vulnerability. It's what we call "mental malware."

Espionage and Cybercrime Campaign Tied to 7-Zip Mark-of-the-Web Bypass HitsRussian hackers targeting Ukrainian government agencies and businesses - including a major automotive manufacturer - have been targeting a zero-day vulnerability in the open source and widely used 7-Zip archive utility, to infect systems with credential-stealing SmokeLoader malware.

Also: Infostealer Malware Compromises Mexican Government ComputersThis week, DeepSeek exposed sensitive data, hackers exploited unpatched Zyxel flaws, infostealer malware on Mexican government computers, Smiths Group incident, PowerSchool breach notifications, an Apple zero-day, XWorm RAT backdoor, and Credit Control Corporation settled a lawsuit.

Suspected Chinese Attackers Again Tied to Active Exploitation of VPN AppliancesVPN appliance maker Ivanti has begun releasing updates to patch a zero-day vulnerability being actively exploited by suspected nation-state attackers. Experts are warning users to immediately update their devices, after factory resetting them to flush any malware attackers may have installed.

Lazarus Espionage Group's Sophisticated Malware Evades Antivirus MonitoringNorth Korea's Lazarus hacking team, which focuses on cryptocurrency theft and espionage, has once again been exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Windows to install antivirus-suppressing malware dubbed Fudmodule to aid its intrusions.

Threat Actors Mirror the Tactics of North Korea's Lazarus GroupCryptomining malware that might be North Korean in origin is targeting edge devices, including a zero-day in Palo Alto Networks' custom operating system that the company hurriedly patched in April. It appears threat actors operate their own mining pools or pool proxies rather than using public ones.