Information

Microsoft Patch Tuesday, August 2025 Edition

Microsoft today released updates to fix more than 100 security flaws in its Windows operating systems and other software. At least 13 of the bugs received Microsoft’s most-dire “critical” rating, meaning they could be abused by malware or malcontents to gain remote access to a Windows system with little or no help from users. August’s patch batch from Redmond includes an update for CVE-2025-53786, a vulnerability that allows an attacker to pivot from a compromised…

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Update WinRAR tools now: RomCom and others exploiting zero-day vulnerability

ESET researchers have discovered a previously unknown vulnerability in WinRAR, being exploited in the wild by Russia-aligned group RomCom. This is at least the third time that RomCom has been caught exploiting a significant zero-day vulnerability in the wild. Previous examples include the abuse of CVE-2023-36884 via Microsoft Word in June 2023, and the combined vulnerabilities assigned CVE‑2024‑9680 chained with another previously unknown vulnerability in Windows, CVE‑2024‑49039, targeting vulnerable versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, and the…

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WinRAR zero-day exploited in espionage attacks against high-value targets

The attacks used spearphishing campaigns to target financial, manufacturing, defense, and logistics companies in Europe and Canada, ESET research finds 11 Aug 2025 ESET researchers have uncovered a previously unknown vulnerability in WinRAR, actively being exploited by Russia-aligned group RomCom. Tracked as CVE-2025-8088, the path traversal flaw affects WinRAR’s Windows version and lets threat actors execute arbitrary code by crafting malicious archive files. This marks at least the third time RomCom has leveraged a significant…

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Android adware: What is it, and how do I get it off my device?

Mobile Security Is your phone suddenly flooded with aggressive ads, slowing down performance or leading to unusual app behavior? Here’s what to do. Phil Muncaster 08 Aug 2025  •  , 5 min. read There are various bad things that could end up on your smartphone. Spyware designed to turn your phone into a secret surveillance device. Trojans that could harvest your banking logins or credit card data, possibly via a novel method that relays NFC…

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Black Hat USA 2025: Is a high cyber insurance premium about your risk, or your insurer’s?

Business Security A sky-high premium may not always reflect your company’s security posture Tony Anscombe 08 Aug 2025  •  , 3 min. read When a cyber risk insurance quote lands on your desk and the premium is sky high, it’s natural to assume that the insurer is judging your environment to be high risk. So, when the next quote lands and is more acceptable, does it mean they viewed your risk differently? According to one…

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Black Hat USA 2025: Policy compliance and the myth of the silver bullet

Business Security Who’s to blame when the AI tool managing a company’s compliance status gets it wrong? Tony Anscombe 07 Aug 2025  •  , 3 min. read If you put a group of CISOs in a room, they are all likely to wait for one of them to declare they have the answer, the silver bullet, that solves the issue of the day. In reality, however, what needs to happen is that all the CISOs…

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Black Hat USA 2025: Does successful cybersecurity today increase cyber-risk tomorrow?

Business Security Success in cybersecurity is when nothing happens, plus other standout themes from two of the event’s keynotes Tony Anscombe 07 Aug 2025  •  , 3 min. read The 2025 edition of the Black Hat USA conference kicked off with an address from founder Jeff Moss that featured several thought-provoking comments. Among other things, he remarked that technology has become political and pointed to geopolitical sanctions and bans that limit cooperation and hit revenues,…

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KrebsOnSecurity in New ‘Most Wanted’ HBO Max Series

A new documentary series about cybercrime airing next month on HBO Max features interviews with Yours Truly. The four-part series follows the exploits of Julius Kivimäki, a prolific Finnish hacker recently convicted of leaking tens of thousands of patient records from an online psychotherapy practice while attempting to extort the clinic and its patients. The documentary, “Most Wanted: Teen Hacker,” explores the 27-year-old Kivimäki’s lengthy and increasingly destructive career, one that was marked by cyber…

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Red Teams Jailbreak GPT-5 With Ease, Warn It’s ‘Nearly Unusable’ for Enterprise

Two different firms have tested the newly released GPT-5, and both find its security sadly lacking. After Grok-4 fell to a jailbreak in two days, GPT-5 fell in 24 hours to the same researchers. Separately, but almost simultaneously, red teamers from SPLX (formerly known as SplxAI) declare, “GPT-5’s raw model is nearly unusable for enterprise out of the box. Even OpenAI’s internal prompt layer leaves significant gaps, especially in Business Alignment.” NeuralTrust’s jailbreak employed a…

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In Other News: Nvidia Says No to Backdoors, Satellite Hacking, Energy Sector Assessment

SecurityWeek’s cybersecurity news roundup provides a concise compilation of noteworthy stories that might have slipped under the radar. We provide a valuable summary of stories that may not warrant an entire article, but are nonetheless important for a comprehensive understanding of the cybersecurity landscape. Each week, we curate and present a collection of noteworthy developments, ranging from the latest vulnerability discoveries and emerging attack techniques to significant policy changes and industry reports.  Here are this…

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