Researchers detail JS#SMUGGLER, a multi-stage web attack using JavaScript, HTA, and PowerShell to deploy NetSupport RAT on targeted systems.
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How Agentic BAS AI Turns Threat Headlines Into Defense Strategies
Picus Security explains why relying on LLM-generated attack scripts is risky and how an agentic approach maps real threat intel to safe, validated TTPs. Their breakdown shows how teams can turn headline threats into reliable defense checks without unsafe automation.
Ransomware gangs turn to Shanya EXE packer to hide EDR killers
Multiple ransomware gangs are using a packer-as-a-service platform named Shanya to help them deploy payloads that disable endpoint detection and response solutions on victim systems.
Packer services provide cybercriminals with specialized tools to package their payloads in a way that obfuscates malicious code to evade detection by most known security tools and antivirus engines.
The Shanya packer operation emerged in late 2024 and has grown in popularity significantly, with malware samples using it being spotted in Tunisia, the UAE, Costa Rica, Nigeria, and Pakistan, as per telemetry data from Sophos Security.
Malicious VSCode extensions on Microsoft’s registry drop infostealers
Two malicious extensions on Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code Marketplace infect developers’ machines with information-stealing malware that can take screenshots, steal credentials, crypto wallets, and hijack browser sessions.
The marketplace hosts extensions for the popular VSCode integrated development environment (IDE) to extend functionality or add customization options.
The two malicious extensions, called Bitcoin Black and Codo AI, masquerade as a color theme and an AI assistant, respectively, and were published under the developer name ‘BigBlack.’
Poland arrests Ukrainians utilizing ‘advanced’ hacking equipment
The police in Poland arrested three Ukrainian nationals for allegedly attempting to damage IT systems in the country using hacking equipment and for obtaining “computer data of particular importance to national defense.”
The three men, aged between 39 and 43, could not explain why they were carrying the electronic devices. They now face charges of fraud, computer fraud, and possession of devices and software intended for criminal activity.
According to the police, the Ukrainians “were visibly nervous” when officers stopped them and said they were heading to Lithuania while traveling around Europe.
Google Chrome adds new security layer for Gemini AI agentic browsing
Google is introducing in the Chrome browser a new defense layer called ‘User Alignment Critic’ to protect upcoming agentic AI browsing features powered by Gemini.
Agentic browsing is an emerging mode in which an AI agent is configured to autonomously perform for the user multi-step tasks on the web, including navigating sites, reading their content, clicking buttons, filling forms, and carrying out a sequence of actions.
User Alignment Critic is a separate LLM model isolated from untrusted content that acts as a “high-trust system component.”
Astronomers spot one of the largest spinning structures ever found in
An international team led by the University of Oxford has identified one of the largest rotating structures ever reported: a ‘razor-thin’ string of galaxies embedded in a giant spinning cosmic filament, 140 million light-years away. The findings, published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, could offer valuable new insights into how galaxies formed in the early Universe.
Cosmic filaments are the largest known structures in the Universe: vast, thread-like formations of galaxies and dark matter that form a cosmic scaffolding. They also act as ‘highways’ along which matter and momentum flow into galaxies. Nearby filaments containing many galaxies spinning in the same direction-and where the whole structure appears to be rotating – are ideal systems to explore how galaxies gained the spin and gas they have today. They can also provide a way to test theories about how cosmic rotation builds up over tens of millions of light-years.
What makes this structure exceptional is not just its size, but the combination of spin alignment and rotational motion. You can liken it to the teacups ride at a theme park. Each galaxy is like a spinning teacup, but the whole platform-the cosmic filament-is rotating too.