CyberSecure Specialist

21 Oct

Widespread PHP Flaw May Cause Many Site Outages Today

Information, Insights

Expect to see quite a few websites serving error pages today: Nearly 70 percent of websites need to update their core software to fix a pair of vulnerabilities that allow an attacker to seize full control over affected servers. Experts say there are working exploits for the flaws, and that these critical bugs are already being exploited in the wild. Image: Shutterstock.com, Sashkin. The flaws at issue are present in PHP, the programming language that…

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21 Oct

Critical Vulnerabilities in PHP Require Immediate Patching

Attacks, Insights, Malware

CISA strongly urges organizations to immediately patch the recently disclosed critical vulnerabilities in PHP, CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619. These vulnerabilities, known as “php2shell,” allow for unauthenticated remote code execution in PHP and affect all PHP installations serving web requests. Organizations should immediately update to PHP 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36, or 8.2.35 to fix these vulnerabilities. While CISA has not observed exploitation of these vulnerabilities as of the time of publication, they pose a risk to organizations if…

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21 Oct

Is the ad a scam? How to tell before you click

Information

Social Media You can trust a social media platform and still get scammed by an ad running on it Phil Muncaster 20 Oct 2026  •  , 7 min. read Fraudulent ads have been around for about as long as the advertising industry. Today, they often reach you through social media feeds, apps and search results you use every day, and the platforms showing them can also (inadvertently) help build them. In September, the US Federal…

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21 Oct

PHP2Shell: Mass Exploitation Looms for Leaked Critical PHP Flaws

Information, News

Details on two critical-severity PHP vulnerabilities named PHP2Shell have been leaked online ahead of scheduled coordinated disclosure and official patches. On Tuesday, PHP warned that patches for the critical issues, both with a CVSS score of 9.2, are planned for Wednesday, 21 October 2026 at 14:00 UTC (10:00 am ET), urging defenders to prepare for immediate patching. “All PHP users are encouraged to prepare now so they can upgrade as soon as the release is…

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19 Oct

Siemens Software Center Vulnerability Exploited in ClickFix Malware Attacks

Information, Malware, News

Siemens revealed on Monday that threat actors have exploited a vulnerability in Siemens Software Center as part of a malware campaign. Siemens Software Center handles the download, installation, activation and updating of software that customers have bought, and it can also be used to start free trials. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-110936, exists because the program doesn’t properly restrict the locations it searches for DLL files. An authenticated local attacker could plant a malicious DLL…

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19 Oct

Feds Suspect Ransom Negotiator Ran ShinyHunters Extortion Site

Data Breaches, Information, Insights

U.S. federal investigators pursuing the ShinyHunters hacking group that recently stole highly sensitive data from the FBI have identified executives at two different ransomware negotiation firms who maintained unusually close relations with the extortion group, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Sources close to the investigation say one of the executives in the United States even helped ShinyHunters operate a website that pressured victims into paying a ransom. Hackers aligned with ShinyHunters have claimed credit for dozens of…

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19 Oct

Anthropic Acquires Confidential AI Startup Opaque Systems

Information, News

Anthropic has acquired Opaque Systems, a company that developed technology for using sensitive data in AI systems while keeping it protected by the underlying hardware.  Opaque announced the deal last week, saying its team is joining Anthropic. Financial terms were not disclosed. Opaque started as a research project at UC Berkeley’s RISELab a decade ago. Its founders include Ion Stoica, co-founder of Databricks and Anyscale, and Raluca Ada Popa, an encryption and systems security researcher…

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18 Oct

Inbox flooded with sign-up messages? Email bombing explained

Information

In September, reports emerged that a Virginia woman had been submerged by a flood of emails. Hundreds of automated messages poured in over a 24-hour period, including newsletters and promotions she’d never signed up to. But this was no ordinary spam campaign. The real reason behind the inbox blitz was to bury a legitimate email from the victim’s bank warning her about a fraudulent laptop purchase. This is email bombing. And if it’s happened to…

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17 Oct

Israeli Ad Firm Doubled as Candiru’s Zero-Click Spyware Delivery Channel

Information, News

Candiru spyware has infected devices at international news network Al Jazeera in zero-click attacks, via targeted advertisements, Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab reports. As part of the operation, dubbed AdFection, ads purchased by Israeli company Discover-Tech were used to de-anonymize, fingerprint, and infect users, and also allow threat actors to track millions of devices. As part of the online advertising ecosystem, companies bid at billions of daily Real-Time Bidding (RTB) auctions hosted on ad…

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16 Oct

In Other News: ICS-Sniper Attack, Hacking XWorm Malware Operators, $250k Chrome Exploit

Information, News

SecurityWeek’s weekly cybersecurity news roundup offers a concise overview of important developments that may not receive full standalone coverage yet remain relevant to the broader threat landscape. This curated summary highlights key stories across vulnerability disclosures, emerging attack methods, policy updates, industry reports, and other noteworthy events to help readers stay well-informed about the evolving cybersecurity environment. Here are this week’s highlights:  ICS-Sniper attack picks off critical OT traffic University of British Columbia researchers have…

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