IT News Analysis

1

Mustang Panda Adds Signed Windows Rootkit to CoolClient Backdoor for Stealth

The threat actor known as HoneyMyte (aka  Mustang Panda ) has been observed deploying an updated version of the CoolClient backdoor with a signed Windows kernel-mode rootkit that can hide and protect malicious processes, files, registry objects, and command-and-control (C2) network information. Russian cybersecurity vendor Kaspersky said it identified victims in Myanmar, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Russia, including confirmed government entities, with CoolClient consistently deployed as a secondary backdoor following a  PlugX  infection. The kernel component is deployed when CoolClient has full access to the Service Control Manager (SCM) and the SeTcbPrivilege privilege. If those conditions are not met, the malware skips driver deployment and proceeds to the final-stage implant. Kaspersky has also published file hashes, paths, and C2 domains as indicators of compromise (IoCs). "Our analysis confirms that the investigated malware is a new CoolClient variant ...

Aug 14, 2026

2

Chrome DevTools Technique Enables Authenticated Session Hijacking in Live Windows Browsers

Cybersecurity researchers have detailed a post-exploitation technique that enables the  Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP)  inside a running Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge process on Windows, allowing an operator to access cookies, saved data, and authenticated browser sessions. The technique assumes that an operator already has code execution on the Windows host and does not involve exploiting a Chrome or Edge security vulnerability. The requirement for prior code execution and sufficient access to manipulate the target process places the technique in a narrower post-compromise scenario than a remotely exploitable browser flaw. SpecterOps said defenders can look for signs of process injection targeting chrome.exe and msedge.exe using Sysmon Event IDs 8 and 10. "Since App-Bound Encryption was enabled, we've seen an increase in attackers using Chrome Remote Debugging to extract cookies," Google said in a  March 2025 post . Google  changed C...

Aug 14, 2026

3

AI Is Flooding Security with Bugs Nobody Proved

Stephen Sims on why unproven AI findings pile up as a triage burden. Read the full SANS blog.

4

CTM360 Uncovers Over 3,000 Recruitment Phishing URLs Using Browser-in-the-Browser (BitB) Credential Traps

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a large-scale, global recruitment-themed phishing campaign that uses fake interview scheduling pages and Browser-in-the-Browser (BitB) windows to steal Google and Facebook credentials and, in more advanced cases, relay multi-factor authentication (MFA) prompts in real time. CTM360, which detailed the activity in a new report titled RecruitTrap , said it identified more than 3,000+ phishing URLs over two months. The campaign impersonated real recruiters and recruitment processes associated with more than 50 organizations across 14 sectors . Marketing professionals accounted for the majority of observed targets. The focus on marketing roles appears deliberate. Compromised marketing accounts can provide access to advertising platforms, corporate social media profiles, customer data, email, and other business-critical services. Read the full report here: https://www.ctm360.com/reports/recruittrap-browser-in-the-browser-bitb-recruitment-scam...

Aug 14, 2026

5

Apple Warns Users in 110 Countries They May Be Targets of Mercenary Spyware

Apple on Thursday sent a fresh batch of notifications to customers whom it suspects may have been targeted by mercenary spyware attacks. In a statement shared with TechCrunch, the iPhone maker said it alerted an unspecified number of users targeted in 110 countries and that it has notified customers in over 150 countries to date. Apple began sending threat notifications to users in late 2021. "The extreme cost, sophistication, and worldwide nature of mercenary spyware attacks make them some of the most advanced digital threats in existence today," the tech giant said . "As a result, Apple does not attribute the attacks or resulting threat notifications to any specific attackers or geographical regions." Typically, such notifications are sent to people who may have been individually targeted because of "who they are or what they do," including journalists, activists, politicians, and diplomats. They tend to focus on a very small number of speci...

Aug 14, 2026

6

Trump Memo Paves Way for U.S. Firms to Hack and Disrupt Foreign Crime Groups

A new White House memo signed by U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed the National Coordination Center (NCC) to establish a program that would allow private sector companies to take advantage of their "innovative capabilities" to break into foreign Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and disrupt them. "By partnering with vetted United States companies subject to the direction and oversight of the Federal Government, we will enhance our ability to counter TCO threats and combat transnational cybercrime, fraud, and other predatory schemes against American citizens," the memo reads . To that end, the NCC has been tasked with setting up a program that allows authorized companies to conduct two types of operations against TCOs upon obtaining approval: cyber surveillance operations, which can access sensitive data without authorization from the owner or operator, and cyber effects operations, which can result in disruption, denial, degradation, or destr...

Aug 14, 2026

7

Exploit Time Just Dropped From 30 Days to 30 Minutes

Download the 11-step checklist CISOs use to close exposure windows first.

8

China-Linked Jewelbug Uses XG-Web for Government Espionage and Crypto Fraud

The China-linked threat actor known as Jewelbug has been observed carrying out cyber espionage operations targeting governments and militaries, while simultaneously engaging in cryptocurrency fraud. "Both missions are administered from a single control panel, XG-Web , a browser-centric remote-access and information-stealing framework that turns a victim's browser into a full remote-control channel and reaches from there into the host and the internal network behind it," Broadcom's Symantec and Carbon Black Threat Hunter Team said . Jewelbug is assessed to be a China-based hackers-for-hire group that runs parallel operations, including espionage against governments and militaries across the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South Asia, and a for-profit cryptocurrency fraud business. "The group has developed five generations of command-and-control (C&C) code and a family of implants spanning browsers, Windows endpoints, Linux servers and network devices,...

Aug 14, 2026

9

Unpatched GeoServer Zero-Day Targeted in Active Exploitation Attempts, Can Lead to RCE

A newly disclosed zero-day flaw in GeoServer is seeing active exploitation efforts, per watchTowr. The vulnerability, which has yet to be assigned a CVE identifier, is an SQL injection vulnerability in the open-source platform that can lead to remote code execution (RCE). The security defect remains unpatched. It was first disclosed on August 12, 2026, at 10:46 UTC, by a researcher named @q1uf3ng on X. "GeoServer jsonArrayContains unauthorized SQL injection, and in the case of the sa [system administrator] database, it's naturally possible to achieve RCE," the researcher said. The threat intelligence and exposure management platform said it began to observe exploitation attempts within hours of public disclosure, and that it has seen hundreds of attempts originating from a small pool of IP addresses.  "Currently, we're seeing attackers probe to identify vulnerable systems across the internet, triggering errors and not proceeding further," Jake Knot...

Aug 13, 2026

10

ThreatsDay: GhostJacking AI Attacks, EtherHiding ClickFix, Cursor CLI Flaw + 17 More Stories

Some weeks have one big security story. Others bring many smaller updates that are easy to miss but still matter. This week has plenty of them, covering cloud services, AI tools, malware, data breaches, scams, and new attack methods. The latest ThreatsDay Bulletin puts all of these short updates in one place, so you can quickly catch up on what happened, what changed, and what security teams should know. The threats change every week. Subscribe, and we’ll alert you when each new ThreatsDay Bulletin is out.

Aug 13, 2026