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Ransomware crims got a month-long head start on Check Point VPN 0-day that now has a fix

8 June 2026 at 17:10
Check Point released an emergency fix on Monday for a critical authentication bypass vulnerability affecting its Remote Access VPN and Mobile Access deployments - but attackers, including ransomware criminals, got a month-long head start. Attacks against the bug, tracked as CVE-2026-50751, began on May 7, according to Check Point VP of research Lotem Finkelstein, and picked up in early June. The security software vendor spotted suspicious activity and began investigating the zero-day on June 4, Finkelstein said in a Monday blog. “We have observed indications that exploitation has been limited to a relatively small number of targeted organizations (several dozen globally), primarily over the past few days,” Finkelstein wrote, adding that, in at least one case, investigators observed post-compromise activity associated with a Qilin ransomware affiliate. This same ransomware scum is also likely exploiting other VPN-related vulnerabilities in Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and F5 products, Finkelstein said. CVE-2026-50751 is due to a logic-flow weakness in the Remote Access and Mobile Access certificate validation process, and it allows remote attackers to bypass authentication and establish a remote access VPN connection without a user password. It affects Mobile Access/SSL VPNs, Remote Access VPNs, and Spark Firewalls configured to use the deprecated IKEv1 key exchange protocol. While investigating CVE-2026-50751 and affected VPN components, Check Point found another vulnerability, CVE-2026-50752, in its Security Gateways and Spark Firewall products. It’s due to a bug in the certificate validation logic of the deprecated IKEv1 key exchange method, and can lead to man-in-the-middle attacks on the VPN site-to-site configuration. Check Point says that it hasn’t received any reports of in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2026-50752. Check Point urges customers running vulnerable gateways and firewalls to apply the hotfixes, and the vendor also provided alternative mitigation options with instructions in the security advisories. The software provider also published a list of indicators of compromise, including attacker IPs, and recommends customers search Check Point SmartConsole logs for possible VPN certificate authentication attempts associated with observed attacker infrastructure and certificate subject names for at least May 7 through June 5. ®

Ransomware sends Illinois high school on an early summer vacation

8 June 2026 at 15:46
An Illinois high school won't reopen until Wednesday at the earliest after suffering a ransomware attack on Sunday, June 7. Evanston Township High School (ETHS), located 14 miles north of Chicago, said it would be closed today and tomorrow, and that the closure also affected summer school, sports camps, and on-campus activities, which are all canceled. "Upon discovering the incident, we immediately activated our incident response procedures and engaged external cyber breach attorneys and cybersecurity forensic experts to assist with the investigation and recovery process," ETHS said in a statement issued via a dedicated information page. "We are working with these specialists to determine precisely what information may have been accessed or acquired and to restore normal systems operations as quickly as possible. The district is cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as part of the ongoing investigation." It said that phone systems are down and staff have limited access to emails. Children and their families may also not be able to access certain online resources, all of which suggests the institution may still be in the containment phase of remediation. Among the online resources currently offline is Home Access Center, which is powered by PowerSchool. PowerSchool itself was was at the center of a cybersecurity disaster in late 2024. However, ETHS has not linked the platform to the ransomware attack. All staff other than safety and operations workers were told to work from home, although their work will be limited since, for the time being, they're locked out of the district's Google accounts and "other network systems, including eSchool." "We understand this situation is disruptive and appreciate your patience and flexibility," ETHS went on to say. "Additional updates and instructions will be provided as they become available." No major ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the intrusion at the high school yet. Education under attack The ETHS incident follows a separate attack on the education sector disclosed on June 4 that affected 13 schools in Powys, Wales. Powys Council set up its own information page about the attack, although it has not revealed much, saying it is awaiting the outcome of investigations by external specialists. However, it said the attack has affected "some school systems" and personal data belonging to both staff and pupils was accessed. The council identified 13 affected schools, although the compromised data only appears to have been taken from one of these, according to current information. Its information page repeatedly uses the phrase "because of the sensitive nature of the data." The council cites this as the reason for not revealing information such as which schools were affected, how many individuals are affected, what types of data have been accessed, and whether this included sensitive or safeguarding-related data. It also refused to say whether the attack involved ransomware or who was responsible for it. However, it said the risk of identity fraud would vary by individual, hinting that different types of personal data may have been accessed. Powys Council confirmed that all schools across the region remain open, and the cyberattack does not affect their day-to-day safety or operations. Education remains a strong target for cybercriminals. Given the sensitivity of the data these organizations store, it makes the sector one of the most attractive for financially motivated criminals looking for an extortion payment. In the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office said that between 2022 and 2024, pupils were responsible for 57 percent of 214 school data breaches, often using stolen login details. ®

GitHub nukes 70+ Microsoft repos, breaks CI/CD pipelines, following suspected worm infections

8 June 2026 at 13:56
Microsoft’s GitHub temporarily disabled over 70 repositories after they were reportedly compromised by a worm in the latest open source supply chain attack. The code shack took down 73 repos within the space of 105 seconds after its alarms were tripped on Friday, June 5, after detecting signs of the Miasma worm infecting its projects, according to StepSecurity’s co-founder and CTO, Ashish Kurmi. “Our priority is to protect customers and the broader ecosystem. We temporarily removed some repositories as we investigated potential malicious content," a Microsoft spokesperson told us on Wednesday, two days after this story was originally published. "All of these repos have been restored after review. As part of our investigation, we notified a small number of customers who may have pulled down content from the affected repositories. We will continue to investigate, and if anything further is identified that requires customer action, we will reach out directly through our established support channels.” Users reported issues quickly on Friday, after visits to those repos all resulted in the same message displayed, indicating that they had been disabled due to terms of service violations. According to StepSecurity’s analysis, the attack kicked off after a compromised contributor account pushed a malicious commit to Azure/durabletask. The commit dropped configuration files that triggered remote code execution on machines when a developer opened the repo in an IDE or AI coding tool, such as Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and Cursor. Several developers soon reported broken CI/CD pipelines, a support thread showed, although a moderator said at the time this was due to “an internal management issue.” "The repo that most immediately caused issues was Azure/functions-action,” Kurmi wrote, used to deploy code to Azure. With it being taken down, every workflow that referenced Azure/functions-action@v1 stopped resolving. GitHub stepped in a few hours after the repos were infected by the malicious commit. Its automated detections kicked in and disabled the repos in under two minutes, in two separate waves. However, it was the borking of the durabletask family that hinted at the bigger picture, that the attack was indeed a re-opening of the previous Miasma worm attack that hit Microsoft last month. Microsoft’s durabletask PyPi package was a previous target of the Miasma worm on May 19. Within a 35-minute window, three versions of the package were uploaded to PyPi, which planted infostealers on developers’ machines, specifically sniffing out cloud secrets and developer tool configurations on Linux systems. Crucially, the re-targeting of durabletask suggests the tokens associated with the compromised developer account used to execute the PyPi attack were not fully rotated, allowing an attacker to gain access and push commits to GitHub, Kurmi said. It was either that, or the contributor was re-compromised through the worm's own propagation loop, or a different contributor's token was used but the attacker altered the metadata to make it look like a repeated attack. Security shop Snyk described Miasma as a descendant of the Mini Shai Hulud worm. It’s the same one that ravaged open source packages over at the npm registry, including Red Hat’s, earlier this month. Cybercrime group TeamPCP claimed responsibility for developing Mini Shai Hulud, which itself is named after an earlier worm of the same name, sans “mini.” However, because TeamPCP open-sourced Mini Shai Hulud, it’s difficult to tell whether it was also behind Miasma or if someone else took the reins on the follow-up project. StepSecurity also reported that two days before the Microsoft attack, the same worm was making a nuisance of itself at npm, compromising more than 50 packages, including a Vapi.ai SDK with more than 408,000 monthly downloads.® Updated on June 10 with new comment from Microsoft and the fact that the repos have now been restored.

NSO Group back in Meta's crosshairs after alleged WhatsApp targeting

8 June 2026 at 12:10
Meta has asked a federal judge to hold Israeli spyware maker NSO Group in contempt of court after claiming it caught the surveillance vendor targeting WhatsApp users again despite a permanent injunction ordering it to stop. In a blog post on Monday, Meta said it had disrupted "NSO-linked social engineering attempts" after investigating reports from users. According to the company, the activity involved attempts to lure targets into clicking malicious links that redirected them to websites outside WhatsApp, as well as the creation of test accounts and groups on the messaging platform. "We successfully disrupted NSO-linked social engineering attempts after investigating user reports," Meta said. "They tried to trick people into clicking on malicious links to drive them to external websites outside of WhatsApp, similar to previously reported 1-click phishing campaigns linked to NSO." WhatsApp also published a handful of domains it linked to the campaign, including ikhwancast[.]com, ghazacast[.]com, and fr24cast[.]com, and said it was releasing indicators to help organizations identify related activity. The move marks the latest chapter in the long-running legal battle between Meta and the Israeli spyware maker. A US court found NSO liable in December 2024 for hacking WhatsApp users via its Pegasus spyware. In May 2025, a jury awarded Meta roughly $168 million in damages, but the judge later cut that to $4 million while issuing a permanent injunction barring NSO from targeting WhatsApp or its users. Meta, however, says NSO didn't get the memo. "Last year, WhatsApp made history by securing a landmark verdict and permanent injunction barring NSO Group ... from targeting WhatsApp and its users ever again," the company wrote. "Today, we're asking the court to hold them in contempt of that order." The company provided few technical details about the activity, such as when it occurred, how many users were targeted, whether any compromises were successful, or how it attributed the operation to NSO. Meta did not respond to The Register’s questions. However, the blog post adopts a hard line on the spyware industry than previous updates, repeatedly describing commercial spyware as a national security issue. "When a malicious company on the US government's Entity List continues to defy US courts, existing restrictions must remain firmly in place," WhatsApp wrote. "Easing them would undermine US national security and put American companies and billions of people worldwide who depend on secure communications at risk." If Meta's allegations are accurate, the episode suggests that a court loss is not enough to persuade a spyware vendor to leave a high-value target alone. ®

CVE-2026-46640: Developing payloads for Twig sandbox bypass

I recently learned about multiple sandbox bypasses discovered in Twig by project Glasswing. From the descriptions, only CVE-2026-46640 and CVE-2026-46633 seemed universally exploitable, so I decoded to research them. This writeup documents my development of payloads for the CVE-2026-46640 and the corresponding SSTImap module.

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Oxford Uni student data pwned yet again - this time via career platform breach

6 June 2026 at 07:28
Oxford University students seeking work will be dismayed to learn that crooks have breached a second external platform provider for the university in as many months. The institution’s CareerConnect platform, provided by Group GTI, was the target of the intrusion, which exposed users’ full names and email addresses. Those who don’t use single sign-on (SSO) had their encrypted passwords leaked, too. CareerConnect forms part of Oxford University’s career services department, supporting students and alumni to find work opportunities. It is available to students, alumni, research staff, and recruiters. The same underlying technology powering the platform, which GTI markets as TargetConnect, is used by other universities in the UK and overseas, according to its website. OxfordUni said the May 28 attack was enabled by a “security vulnerability,” which has since been fixed. GTI has not publicly disclosed the security snafu itself, and did not respond to our requests for more information. The London-based tech company has not confirmed how many individuals were affected by the break-in, nor whether any data was stolen. It has also not explicitly stated which types of individuals were affected, although Oxford’s announcement listed “alumni, research staff, and employer users” as those who had their passwords forcibly reset following the attack. “There is no evidence that course information, uploaded files, appointment information, or financial information were involved in this incident,” the announcement went on to say. “GTI has stated this breach appeared to be focused on gathering credentials which may lead to phishing attempts.” The university did not list current students as among those affected, but told student newspaper Cherwell that names and email addresses might be compromised, and said the attack was entirely separate from the one which hit Instructure’s Canvas last month. Twice bitten Oxford University was just one of the circa 8,800 educational institutions affected by the mega breach at Canvas, a separate platform that’s also relied upon by schools, colleges, and universities. Seemingly timed by ShinyHunters to coincide with exam season, students across multiple countries were left without access to learning materials, tests, and grades at a pivotal time of the year. The scale of the attack was vast, affecting the usernames, email addresses, course names, enrollment information, and messages of up to 275 million students, teachers, and staff. The severity of the situation, coupled with the inopportune timing, led to Instructure “reaching an agreement” with ShinyHunters to prevent the criminal gang from leaking all the data online. In cyberese, this implies Instructure paid the criminals an extortion fee in exchange for their word that they would delete the stolen data. "We received digital confirmation of data destruction (shred logs)," Instructure said, adding "We have been informed that no Instructure customers will be extorted as a result of this incident, publicly or otherwise." ®

If you don't fall for these extortionists' calls, they'll show up with USB sticks

5 June 2026 at 21:18
If they don't get you online, they'll try in person. A data-theft and extortion gang has targeted “dozens” of banks, law firms, and other professional services companies in the US from January through May, using fake help desk calls and other social-engineering techniques to gain access to corporate IT environments, according to Google’s Mandiant incident response team. And when those remote-deception methods don’t work, the criminals sometimes show up at victims’ physical offices, posing as IT technicians, and attempt to steal sensitive files using thumb drives. Google’s threat hunters track the extortion threat group as UNC3753, while other analysts call it Luna Moth, Chatty Spider, and Silent Ransom Group. The crew has been around since 2022, originally using fake software renewal emails and other billing lures, typically with PDF attachments containing phone numbers for attacker-controlled call centers, as their means of gaining initial access to corporate networks. Beginning around March 2025, the crims shifted tactics and started posing as IT help desk staff. “While UNC3753 primarily relies on digital vectors, GTIG assesses that associated threat actors have also attempted direct data theft using physical, in person access,” Google incident responders and researchers Chad Reams, Tufail Ahmed, Keith Knapp, Ashley Frazer, and Tyler McLellan said in a Friday blog. The authors also pointed to a May FBI alert to corroborate this in-person tactic. According to the feds, Silent Ransom Group crooks have been walking into law firms’ physical offices as recently as this spring. Once they are on-site, they claim to be IT support staff needing to image a device or create local backups for security reasons. If that line works, they plug a thumb drive into the victim’s computer and steal data the old-fashioned way. “Although limited forensic evidence and the absence of a subsequent extortion attempt prevent formal attribution, GTIG assesses that these physical intrusions are likely associated with UNC3753 based on structural, timeline, and targeting overlaps,” the blog said. Google won’t say how many dozens of firms have been targeted in these attacks, or how many ended in the data thieves paying a visit to the victims’ locations. “While we can’t share additional details regarding specific investigations, Mandiant CTO Charles Carmakal notes that this tactic has been observed over the years,” a spokesperson told The Register. “Mandiant has investigated various matters where adversaries planted insiders, bribed employees, or physically entered buildings to facilitate cyberattacks.” Another noteworthy thing about UNC3753’s attacks: they are very fast. In many of Mandiant’s investigated incidents, the entire operation from initial contact to data extortion occurred in just one day. “Recently, Mandiant observed data searches, staging, and theft initiated in under an hour,” the threat analysts warned. These intrusions typically begin with an invoice-themed email - but these don’t usually contain any malicious links or attachments. The email’s sole purpose is to give the miscreants a plausible reason to follow up via phone, so that the recipient is more likely to believe the call is legitimate. Most of the crew’s entry mechanisms involve voice-phishing, using a method that has worked so well for other groups like ShinyHunters and Scattered Spider over the past few years. UNC3753 calls organizations’ employees directly and purports to be a help desk worker or member of the security team. The criminals say they need the target’s help addressing a security issue or aiding with a corporate data migration project, and convince the individual to join a screen-sharing session via Zoom, Microsoft Terminal Services, Microsoft Teams, or Quick Assist. In one such intrusion, using Teams to gain access to the victim’s computer, the attacker jumped on five separate calls with the same target over a three-day period, we’re told. And in more than one incident that Mandiant responded to, UNC3753 established Zoom sessions directly on targets' personal laptops, using these machines to access corporate virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) using native client platforms, such as Windows 365 or Citrix clients. Once they’re in the corporate systems, the intruders map local directories and network drives, and target specific legal and document storage repositories. The crooks also use very-specific keyword searches to find sensitive folders containing tax logs (Forms W-2, W-9, and 1099), audit files, corporate client agreements, and Social Security numbers, before staging this data for exfiltration. UNC3753 uses several methods to sneak the data out of the corporate IT environment without setting off any security alarm bells, including using portable versions of free Windows file manager WinSCP or another open source filesystem like Rclone. The crew has also been known to log into a file-sharing account from the victim’s browser and upload the stolen files that way - or even instruct the victims to send the files to an attacker-controlled email address. After stealing the data, they send the extortion email, usually within 30 minutes of exiting the victim’s environment, and set a three-day deadline to respond and begin the negotiation process. “We hope to find a financial solution that will be acceptable for both parties,” reads one such extortion email. It continues: In case of ignorance or no agreement, We will notify your employees, partners and customers, after which We will publish your data. You will receive claims from individuals, and legal entities for information leakage and breach of contracts, your current deals will be terminated. Journalists and others will dig into your documents, finding inconsistencies or violations in them. Your organization will lose its reputation, shares will fall in price, and your organization will be forced to close. Stay safe, friends In the Friday report, Google’s threat hunters list IP addresses and other indicators of compromise, including these phishing domains that UNC3753 uses in its social-engineering attacks, all designed to look like the target organization’s help desk: -itdesk[.]com, -it[.]com, and -helpdesk[.]com. The security shop also suggests a range of things companies can do to avoid falling victim to this group and other voice-phishing scams or physical office intrusions. Some of the physical controls include requiring visitors to display official credentials and photo identification, and mandating front-desk staff log all visitor IDs before granting access. Also, check pre-scheduled work orders to ensure the “technician” at the front desk is who they say they are, and make sure any visiting technical service workers are always accompanied by a corporate, in-office supervisor. Because the bulk of these intrusions occur without any physical entry into the office, however, companies should also implement remote access conditional access policies to ensure only corporate-owned devices can authenticate to any VDIs or VPNs. Plus, block the installation and execution of unauthorized remote monitoring and support utilities. ®

Yet another Cisco SD-WAN 0-day under attack, and no patch in sight

5 June 2026 at 17:27
The threat is real. Unknown miscreants are exploiting a high-severity, zero-day bug in Cisco’s SD-WAN management software, and the networking giant hasn’t said when it will patch the flaw. Cisco issued an advisory on Thursday for the Catalyst SD-WAN Manager vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20245, and it sounds like attackers have been exploiting this security failure for at least the last week. It’s due to a validation error - the software fails to properly validate user-supplied input - and an authenticated, local attacker can exploit the flaw by uploading a specially crafted file to vulnerable systems. From there, they can escalate privileges and execute commands with root privileges. The vulnerability affects all versions of the SD-WAN software, regardless of device configuration, and across all deployment types including on-premises, cloud-based, and FedRAMP-certified deployments. Switchzilla says it became aware of attacks against this vulnerability in June. “To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must have netadmin privileges on an affected system,” the vendor said. “This would require valid credentials or exploitation of CVE-2026-20182 or CVE-2026-20127. Cisco is not aware of successful exploitation by other methods.” Both of these earlier SD-WAN security holes have also been hit by attackers in previous months. The good news: an attacker needs valid credentials to abuse the new hole. The bad news: exposed credentials aren’t hard to find (or buy) online. We don’t know the scope of exploitation or exactly when attackers began hitting this SD-WAN hole. Cisco declined to answer The Register’s questions, and instead sent us a statement via email. “Cisco recommends customers upgrade to the fixed software released in May 2026 for CVE-2026-20182 as a protective measure,” a spokesperson said. “A patch for this vulnerability will be provided on a future date. Customers needing assistance should contact Cisco TAC.” This latest bug is the sixth SD-WAN vulnerability listed as under attack since the start of the year, and the second zero-day in two months. The most recent is the one the Cisco spokesperson mentioned in an email to The Register. In May, Switchzilla disclosed a max-severity make-me-admin bug (CVE-2026-20182) affecting Catalyst SD-WAN Controller and Manager, and warned that attackers had already found and exploited the hole before it issued a patch. A month earlier, America's lead cyber-defense agency said that three Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager bugs (CVE-2026-20128, CVE-2026-20133, and CVE-2026-20122) were under attack, and gave federal agencies just four days to patch the security holes. Cisco fixed all three CVEs in late February, and in March warned of attackers abusing two of them. Also in February, the networking vendor patched a max-severity improper authentication flaw (CVE-2026-20127) affecting the same SD-WAN software, prompting a Five Eyes countries’ joint intelligence alert urgently warning defenders to patch it - plus an old SD-WAN vulnerability (CVE-2022-20775) - or risk root takeover. "Malicious cyber threat actors are targeting Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN used by organizations globally," the UK's lead cyber agency said at the time. "These actors are compromising SD-WANs to add a malicious rogue peer and then conduct a range of follow-on actions to achieve root access and maintain persistent access to the SD-WAN." And while this one isn't listed as under active exploitation (yet), on Wednesday, Cisco warned about a proof-of-concept exploit for CVE-2026-20230, a critical bug in its Unified Communications Manager that also allows attackers to gain root privileges. ®

GTA Cheat Users Exposed in Breach as Minecraft Malware Hits 116,000 Players

5 June 2026 at 15:18

One gaming cyberattack this week exposed nearly 64,000 users. 

Another has already infected more than 116,000 players.  

Both are connected by the same common gaming behavior: looking for a cheat, mod, or shortcut. 

This week in scam news, a popular Grand Theft Auto V cheat service was hacked, exposing tens of thousands of users. At the same time, McAfee researchers uncovered a massive malware campaign spreading through fake Minecraft mods, cheats, and game clients. 

The takeaway is simple: some of the biggest threats facing gamers aren’t happening inside games. They’re hiding in the downloads, websites, and tools players use around them. 

Let’s start with the GTA breach. 

GTA Cheat Service Breach Exposes Nearly 64,000 Users 

Atlas Menu, a cheat service for Grand Theft Auto V, was reportedly hacked, exposing data belonging to nearly 64,000 users. 

According to reports, the leaked information included: 

  • Email addresses 
  • Usernames 
  • Scrambled passwords 
  • IP addresses 
  • Customer support tickets

The hacker who claimed responsibility later posted the data online. 

Why This Matters 

Many players think of cheats as harmless tools that unlock special abilities, provide advantages, or simply make games more entertaining. 

But unofficial cheat services often operate outside the protections offered by legitimate gaming platforms. 

That means users may be: 

  • Sharing personal information with unknown developers 
  • Downloading unverified software 
  • Exposing themselves to malware 
  • Putting gaming accounts at risk 

And that brings us to an even bigger threat. 

Minecraft Malware Campaign Has Already Infected 116,000 Players 

McAfee researchers recently uncovered a large-scale malware operation targeting gamers searching for Minecraft mods, clients, and cheats. 

The campaign is called WeedHack. 

What Is WeedHack? 

WeedHack is a type of Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS). 

That means cybercriminals package malware into a subscription service that other attackers can use. 

Researchers found that: 

  • More than 116,000 victims have been infected since January 
  • The campaign continues to add roughly 2,000 to 3,000 new victims every day 
  • More than 3,800 malicious files have been identified 
  • More than 240 malicious download URLs have been linked to the operation 

Premium versions reportedly cost as little as $5 per month and include tools that allow attackers to remotely access victims’ devices and webcams. 

What WeedHack Can Steal 

Once installed, the malware can collect: 

  • Minecraft account credentials and session IDs 
  • Discord, Steam, and Telegram credentials 
  • Browser passwords and cookies 
  • Cryptocurrency wallet information 
  • Screenshots and device information 
  • Files stored on a victim’s computer 

Premium versions can also provide: 

  • Live webcam access 
  • Live screen sharing 
  • Remote keyboard and mouse control 
  • Keylogging capabilities 
  • Full remote access to the infected device

Get the full explainer here. 

How McAfee+ Advanced Helps Protect Gamers 

Gaming malware campaigns rely on three things: 

  1. Getting users to visit malicious websites 
  2. Convincing them to download infected files 
  3. Encouraging them to ignore security warnings  

With McAfee+ Advanced, multiple layers work together before any damage is done:  

  • Scam Detector flags suspicious texts, emails, links, QR codes, and even deepfake videos before you engage 
  • Secure VPN keeps your data private, especially on public Wi-Fi  
  • Web Protection helps block risky sites, even if you do accidentally click  helps block risky sites, even if you do accidentally click   
  • Password Manager doesn’t just help you make unique, strong passwords, it keeps them stored and organized for you
  • Device Security helps detect malicious apps or downloads   
  • Identity Monitoring alerts you if your personal info shows up where it should not, so you can act fast   
  • Personal Data Cleanup helps remove your information from sites selling it. 
  • Online Account Cleanup assists in taking down your old, forgotten accounts across the web 
  • Social Privacy Manager helps you monitor and change privacy settings across your social platforms in just a few clicks 

Together, these protections are designed to address the broader range of online risks people face every day.

Other Scam and Cybersecurity News This Week 

Here are some other important headlines to be aware of: 

Carnival Data Breach Impacts Nearly 6 Million Customers 

Carnival Corporation disclosed a data breach affecting nearly six million customers after a social engineering attack allowed an unauthorized individual to gain access to part of the company’s IT systems. 

Exposed information may include: 

  • Names 
  • Addresses 
  • Email addresses 
  • Phone numbers 
  • Dates of birth 
  • Government-issued identification numbers

Affected customers should be alert for phishing emails, fake customer support calls, and identity theft attempts. 

Instagram AI Support Tool Exploit Raises Security Questions 

Instagram says it has fixed an issue that reportedly allowed attackers to manipulate its AI-powered support chatbot and gain access to other users’ accounts. 

According to reports, attackers were allegedly able to influence the account recovery process and associate new email addresses with targeted accounts. 

The incident highlights a growing challenge for AI-powered customer support systems: convenience cannot come at the expense of identity verification. 

AI Voice Cloning Scams Continue to Surge 

Voice cloning scams continue to grow as AI tools make it easier than ever to imitate friends, family members, and coworkers. 

According to FBI data cited this week, Americans lost more than $893 million to AI-related scams last year. 

These scams included: 

  • Voice cloning attacks 
  • AI-generated phishing emails 
  • Romance scams 
  • Other AI-assisted fraud schemes 

If someone calls claiming to be a loved one in distress and urgently requests money, verify the situation through another communication channel before taking action. 

McAfee Safety Tips This Week 

Whether you’re downloading a Minecraft mod or answering an unexpected phone call, the same rule applies: 

Slow down before you click, download, or share information. 

Here are a few ways to stay safer: 

  • Download mods, clients, and game tools only from trusted sources. 
  • Be skeptical of download links shared in YouTube comments, Discord servers, or social media posts. 
  • Never disable antivirus software to install a game mod. 
  • Enable multi-factor authentication on gaming, Discord, and email accounts. 
  • Use unique passwords for gaming accounts. 
  • Treat “free cheats,” exclusive hacks, and too-good-to-be-true downloads with caution. 

We’ll be back next week with more scams making headlines. 

The post GTA Cheat Users Exposed in Breach as Minecraft Malware Hits 116,000 Players appeared first on McAfee Blog.

World Food Programme breach exposes data of 600k vulnerable Gazan families

5 June 2026 at 13:00
Humanitarian organization World Food Programme (WFP) says one of its systems was breached, and around 600,000 Gazan households receiving aid had their details improperly accessed. Its announcement, made via Telegram on May 31, confirmed there was “a security incident” in the self-registration application used by Gazans to register for aid and applicants’ names, ID numbers, phone numbers, and location information were among the data types accessed. “We understand this may be concerning, and we want to assure you that protecting your data and privacy is our top priority,” the WFP said. “The program is treating this situation with the utmost seriousness and priority.” The organization said it temporarily suspended the registration platform to urgently apply the necessary security improvements. Its most recent update on the situation came on June 2, when it said the platform was still down, but added that aid recipients did not need to do anything, while their support would continue to be delivered uninterrupted. “The WFP wants to assure all those registered via the link that food assistance, cash assistance, nutritional supplementation, and all other WFP programs are continuing as usual,” it said. “If you are already registered on the Self-Registration Application (SRA), your registration remains valid. There is no need to update, delete, or re-register your information at this time.” WFP told The New Humanitarian, which first reported the story, that the attack was detected on May 14, and confirmed the scale to be in the region of 600,000 households. The news organization also claimed, citing a whistleblower’s account of matters, that an anonymous “independent expert” contacted WFP’s Palestine team, alerting it to vulnerabilities in the SRA two days before the organization detected the breach. The Register contacted WFP’s Rome headquarters for more details, but it did not immediately respond. WFP, which is a division of the UN and the largest welfare organization in the world, supports 1.6 million Palestinians every month who face a malnutrition crisis amid fierce conflict between the territory and neighboring Israel. This represents around 77 percent of the country’s population, and an estimated 80 percent of the population is unemployed, unable to earn the money required to pay for a nutritionally sound diet. WFP delivers wheat flour, high-energy biscuits, and fortified snacks to families, community kitchens, and bakeries in its effort to push back famine, as well as facilitating cash transfers. The organization is also helping individuals get back into paid work, maintains roads, and says that when conditions allow, it will stay in the region and help local people rebuild communities, markets, and other food systems. ®

Council in UK's City of York outs hundreds of disabled residents with a single email blunder

5 June 2026 at 10:00
A City of York Council email mishap exposed the email addresses of hundreds of Blue Badge holders in the ancient Viking capital, inadvertently revealing their status as disabled residents and triggering a data breach investigation. The council confirmed to The Register that it’s investigating what it described as a "personal data breach" after emails sent to residents last week were distributed without using the blind carbon copy (BCC) function, allowing recipients to see everyone else on the mailing list. According to local reports, the council sent three emails containing Blue Badge-related updates before issuing a fourth message acknowledging the error and asking recipients to delete the previous emails, including from their deleted items folders. Recipients were also warned to remain alert for suspicious messages following the incident. While the exposed information appears to have been limited to email addresses, the breach is especially sensitive because everyone on the distribution list was receiving communications intended for Blue Badge holders. In practice, that meant recipients could identify hundreds of people as members of a group generally associated with disabilities or mobility impairments. One affected resident told local media that the disclosure had left her upset because most people in her life were unaware she held a Blue Badge. "Honestly, I think it's just disgusting – we've been given the details of hundreds of disabled people, which feels unsafe," she said. In a statement to The Register, a spokesperson at City of York Council said it activated its data breach procedures as soon as the error was identified and is conducting a risk assessment in line with guidance from the UK Information Commissioner's Office. "We're working carefully to establish exactly what's happened, alongside conducting a thorough risk assessment ... to understand any potential impact on individuals," a spokesperson said. “Our investigation is ongoing, and we’ll continue to be as open as possible while ensuring the accuracy of the information we provide.” The spokesperson declined to say how many individuals were affected or whether the issue was caused by human error or a technical issue. The council added that it was assessing whether the incident meets the threshold for notification to the ICO within the statutory 72-hour reporting window. That may depend less on the email addresses themselves than on what the mailing list revealed. A spokesperson at the ICO told The Register: "We can confirm that we have received a data breach report on this matter, and following an assessment of the information provided we have closed the case with advice given.” For all the talk of AI-powered cyber threats, it seems some organizations remain committed to the classics. ®

[REVIVE-SA-2026-002] Revive Adserver Vulnerabilities

5 June 2026 at 00:16

Posted by Matteo Beccati on Jun 04

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Revive Adserver Security Advisory REVIVE-SA-2026-002
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https://www.revive-adserver.com/security/revive-sa-2026-002
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Date: 2026-06-03
Risk Level: Medium to High
Applications affected: Revive Adserver
Versions...
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