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Cybersecurity researchers have discovered what they say is the first Android malware that abuses Gemini, Google's generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, as part of its execution flow and achieves persistence. The malware has been codenamed PromptSpy by ESET. The malware is equipped to capture lockscreen data, block uninstallation efforts, gather device information, take screenshots, and record screen activity as video. "Gemini is used to analyze the current screen and provide PromptSpy with step-by-step instructions on how to ensure the malicious app remains pinned in the recent apps list, thus preventing it from being easily swiped away or killed by the system," ESET researcher Lukáš Štefanko said in a report published today. "Since Android malware often relies on UI navigation, leveraging generative AI enables the threat actors to adapt to more or less any device, layout, or OS version, which can greatly expand the pool of potential victims." ...

An international cybercrime operation against online scams has led to 651 arrests and recovered more than $4.3 million as part of an effort led by law enforcement agencies from 16 African countries. The initiative, codenamed Operation Red Card 2.0, took place between December 8, 2025 and January 30, 2026, according to INTERPOL. It targeted infrastructure and actors behind high-yield investment scams, mobile money fraud, and fraudulent mobile loan applications. Countries that participated in the law enforcement operation included Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It was conducted under the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC). "During the eight-week operation, investigations exposed scams linked to over USD 45 million in financial losses and identified 1,247 victims, predominantly from the African continent but also from other regions of the world," INTE...

Microsoft has disclosed a now-patched security flaw in Windows Admin Center that could allow an attacker to escalate their privileges. Windows Admin Center is a locally deployed, browser-based management tool set that lets users manage their Windows Clients, Servers, and Clusters without the need for connecting to the cloud. The high-severity vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-26119 , carries a CVSS score of 8.8 out of a maximum of 10.0 "Improper authentication in Windows Admin Center allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network," Microsoft said in an advisory released on February 17, 2026. "The attacker would gain the rights of the user that is running the affected application." Microsoft credited Semperis researcher Andrea Pierini with discovering and reporting the vulnerability. It's worth mentioning that the security issue was patched by the tech giant in Windows Admin Center version 2511 released in December 2025.  While the ...

The cyber threat space doesn’t pause, and this week makes that clear. New risks, new tactics, and new security gaps are showing up across platforms, tools, and industries — often all at the same time. Some developments are headline-level. Others sit in the background but carry long-term impact. Together, they shape how defenders need to think about exposure, response, and preparedness right now. This edition of ThreatsDay Bulletin brings those signals into one place. Scan through the roundup for quick, clear updates on what’s unfolding across the cybersecurity and hacking landscape. Privacy model hardening Google Showcases New Privacy and Security Features in Android 17 Google announced the first beta version of Android 17 , with two privacy and security enhancements: the deprecation of Cleartext Traffic Attribute and support for HPKE Hybrid Cryptography to enable secure communication using a combination of public key and symme...

We’ve all seen this before: a developer deploys a new cloud workload and grants overly broad permissions just to keep the sprint moving. An engineer generates a "temporary" API key for testing and forgets to revoke it. In the past, these were minor operational risks, debts you’d eventually pay down during a slower cycle. In 2026, “Eventually” is Now But today, within minutes, AI-powered adversarial systems can find that over-permissioned workload, map its identity relationships, and calculate a viable route to your critical assets. Before your security team has even finished their morning coffee, AI agents have simulated thousands of attack sequences and moved toward execution. AI compresses reconnaissance, simulation, and prioritization into a single automated sequence. The exposure you created this morning can be modeled, validated, and positioned inside a viable attack path before your team has lunch. The Collapse of the Exploitation Window Historically, the exploita...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new Android trojan called Massiv that's designed to facilitate device takeover ( DTO ) attacks for financial theft. The malware, according to ThreatFabric, masquerades as seemingly harmless IPTV apps to deceive victims, indicating that the activity is primarily singling out users looking for the online TV applications. "This new threat, while only seen in a limited number of rather targeted campaigns, already poses a great risk to the users of mobile banking, allowing its operators to remotely control infected devices and perform device takeover attacks with further fraudulent transactions performed from the victim's banking accounts," the Dutch mobile security company said in a report shared with The Hacker News. ThreatFabric told The Hacker News via email that the malware was first spotted in a campaign targeting users in Portugal and Greece earlier this year, although it has observed samples dating back to...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new campaign dubbed CRESCENTHARVEST , likely targeting supporters of Iran's ongoing protests to conduct information theft and long-term espionage. The Acronis Threat Research Unit (TRU) said it observed the activity after January 9, with the attacks designed to deliver a malicious payload that serves as a remote access trojan (RAT) and information stealer to execute commands, log keystrokes, and exfiltrate sensitive data. It's currently not known if any of the attacks were successful. "The campaign exploits recent geopolitical developments to lure victims into opening malicious .LNK files disguised as protest-related images or videos," researchers Subhajeet Singha, Eliad Kimhy, and Darrel Virtusio said in a report published this week. "These files are bundled with authentic media and a Farsi-language report providing updates from 'the rebellious cities of Iran.' This pro- protest framing appears ...

New research from the Citizen Lab has found signs that Kenyan authorities used a commercial forensic extraction tool manufactured by Israeli company Cellebrite to break into a prominent dissident's phone, making it the latest case of abuse of the technology targeting civil society. The interdisciplinary research unit at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy said it found the indicators on a personal phone belonging to Boniface Mwangi, a Kenyan pro-democracy activist who has announced plans to run for president in 2027. Specifically, it has emerged that Cellebrite's forensic extraction tools were used on his Samsung phone while it was in police custody following his arrest in July 2025. The phone was returned to him nearly two months later, in September, at which point Mwangi found that the phone was no longer password-protected and could be unlocked without requiring a password. It's been assessed with high confidence that ...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a critical security flaw in the Grandstream GXP1600 series of VoIP phones that could allow an attacker to seize control of susceptible devices. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-2329 , carries a CVSS score of 9.3 out of a maximum of 10.0. It has been described as a case of unauthenticated stack-based buffer overflow that could result in remote code execution. "A remote attacker can leverage CVE-2026-2329 to achieve unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) with root privileges on a target device," Rapid7 researcher Stephen Fewer, who discovered and reported the bug on January 6, 2026, said . According to the cybersecurity company, the issue is rooted in the device's web-based API service ("/cgi-bin/api.values.get") and is accessible in a default configuration without requiring authentication. This endpoint is designed to fetch one or more configuration values from the phone, such as the firmware version number...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed multiple security vulnerabilities in four popular Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VS Code) extensions that, if successfully exploited, could allow threat actors to steal local files and execute code remotely. The extensions, which have been collectively installed more than 125 million times, are Live Server, Code Runner, Markdown Preview Enhanced, and Microsoft Live Preview. "Our research demonstrates that a hacker needs only one malicious extension, or a single vulnerability within one extension, to perform lateral movement and compromise entire organizations," OX Security researchers Moshe Siman Tov Bustan and Nir Zadok said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Details of the vulnerabilities are as follows - CVE-2025-65717 (CVSS score: 9.1) - A vulnerability in Live Server that allows attackers to exfiltrate local files, tricking a developer into visiting a malicious website when the extension is running, causing JavaScrip...

In 2025, navigating the digital seas still felt like a matter of direction. Organizations charted routes, watched the horizon, and adjusted course to reach safe harbors of resilience, trust, and compliance. In 2026, the seas are no longer calm between storms. Cybersecurity now unfolds in a state of  continuous atmospheric instability : AI-driven threats that adapt in real time, expanding digital ecosystems, fragile trust relationships, persistent regulatory pressure, and accelerating technological change. This is not turbulence on the way to stability; it  is the climate. In this environment, cybersecurity technologies are no longer merely navigational aids. They are  structural reinforcements . They determine whether an organization endures volatility or learns to function normally within it. That is why security investments in 2026 are increasingly made not for coverage, but for  operational continuity : sustained operations, decision-grade visibility and cont...

A maximum severity security vulnerability in Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines has been exploited as a zero-day by a suspected China-nexus threat cluster dubbed UNC6201 since mid-2024, according to a new report from Google Mandiant and Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG). The activity involves the exploitation of CVE-2026-22769 (CVSS score: 10.0), a case of hard-coded credentials affecting versions prior to 6.0.3.1 HF1. Other products, including RecoverPoint Classic, are not vulnerable to the flaw. "This is considered critical as an unauthenticated remote attacker with knowledge of the hardcoded credential could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to unauthorized access to the underlying operating system and root-level persistence," Dell said in a bulletin released Tuesday. The issue impacts the following products - RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines Version 5.3 SP4 P1 - Migrate from RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines 5.3 SP4 P1 to 6.0 SP3, and th...