Spanish Guardia Civil and Group-IB arrest 'GoogleXcoder,' the 25-year-old Brazilian mastermind of the GXC Team, for selling AI-powered phishing kits and malware used to steal millions from banks across the US, UK, Spain, and Brazil.

The Spanish Guardia Civil, with assistance from the research firm Group-IB, has successfully dismantled one of the world’s most active online crime networks- the GXC Team. This nationwide operation, which saw six coordinated searches across Spain, ended in the arrest of the alleged mastermind on May 20, 2025.

The individual arrested in San Vicente de la Barquera, Cantabria, is a 25-year-old Brazilian national known online as GoogleXcoder. Authorities also detained other criminals who were actively using his illegal tools. It must be noted that over the last year, this group’s actions are believed to have caused financial losses amounting to millions of euros.

Suspects being detained (Source: Group-IB)

****Selling Crime Tools as a Service****

Emerging in early 2023, the suspect GoogleXcoder ran a Crime-as-a-Service (CaaS) operation. This means he was not always the one robbing people, but instead, he sold the specialised tools criminals needed to carry out massive scams.

These dangerous tools targeted institutions like banks, transportation companies, and online shops in several countries, including Spain, Slovakia, the UK, the US, and Brazil. He offered these kits on underground channels, even having a Telegram group shamelessly named “Steal everything from grandmas,” which shows their lack of conscience.

The service offered multiple high-tech tools, including:

**Phishing Kits:** These kits allowed other criminals to create fake websites that perfectly copied the online pages of 10 Spanish banks and more than 30 international institutions and government portals.

**Android Malware:** This was a malicious program disguised as a simple banking app. Once installed, it became the phone’s main messaging application and could steal One-Time Passwords (OTPs), which are the security codes you get via text.

**AI Voice Scams:** An innovative addition, these tools automatically generate realistic-sounding voice calls to trick victims into giving up their Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) codes, the extra security layer we rely on.

The Threat Actor’s Profile (Source: Group-IB)

****The Investigation and Arrest****

The operation was only possible after Group-IB mapped out the team’s entire setup, finding over 250 fake scam sites and nine different types of bad software. This intelligence was shared with the Guardia Civil’s Department against Cybercrime.

Investigation further revealed that GoogleXcoder lived as a digital nomad, constantly moving between Spanish regions and using stolen identities to rent homes and get new phone lines, making him difficult to track.

Following the evidence trail, the Guardia Civil conducted raids not only in Cantabria but also in cities like Valladolid, Barcelona, and Zaragoza. Authorities seized electronic devices containing the source code for the fake websites, records of communication with his criminal clients, and financial details. The year-long investigation also tracked and recovered stolen funds that had been moved through various digital currencies, finally dismantling the channels used to run the schemes.

“The ‘GXC Team’ case demonstrates how artificial intelligence can be misused to industrialise fraud and impersonation on an unprecedented scale. Group-IB was the first to investigate this AI-enabled framework, allowing us to support law enforcement in preventing its spread and mitigating its impact,” Group-IB’s head of cybercrime investigation in Europe, Anton Ushakov, concluded in the blog post.

Police Bust GXC Team, One of the Most Active Cybercrime Networks

Disclosure: This article was provided by ANY.RUN. The information and analysis presented are based on their research and findings.

The cyber-threat landscape changes hourly. Infrastructure used in phishing, malware delivery, and command-and-control campaigns appears and disappears within minutes. For a SOC that still relies on static or outdated indicators, even a few hours of delay can mean the difference between early detection and full compromise.

****When yesterday’s data means today’s breach****

Leading SOCs consider timeliness and relevance of threat data as a measurable performance driver. Their KPIs, like MTTD, MTTR, and attacker dwell time, improve directly with the timeliness of threat intelligence they ingest. Studies from major vendors and security institutes show that using continuously updated, contextual threat intelligence cuts detection and response times dramatically.

The logic is simple: the sooner analysts know what’s active in the wild, the faster they can detect, triage, and contain.

****How timely intelligence shapes SOC KPIs****

**KPI**

**Impact of Fresh / Real-Time TI**

**Business Outcome**

**MTTD (Mean Time to Detect)**

Live IOCs (IPs, URLs, hashes) from ongoing campaigns trigger detections earlier in SIEM/XDR.

Quicker identification of active infections or phishing sites.

**MTTR (Mean Time to Respond)**

Contextual data (TTPs, sandbox reports, relationships) shortens investigation and accelerates playbooks.

Fewer analyst hours per incident, faster remediation.

**Dwell Time**

Faster detection + response leaves attackers less time in the environment.

Smaller lateral movement window, lower breach impact.

**Analyst Efficiency**

Enriched, validated IOCs reduce false positives and manual lookups.

Lower alert fatigue, higher throughput per analyst.

**Risk-Based Prioritization**

Campaign and actor context enable triage by business relevance.

Resources focus on incidents that truly matter.

  
Fresh threat data doesn’t just improve technical KPIs, it translates into tangible business outcomes: reduced breach cost, less downtime, and stronger compliance posture.

****Threat Intelligence Feeds: Intel at the Speed of Threats****

ANY.RUN’s Threat Intelligence Feeds are built on millions of live sandbox detonations, updated continuously and adding thousands of new threats and indicators each day. Each record is validated, context-rich, and directly actionable in SIEM, TIP, and XDR systems.

*   16K+ new threats added every day
*   15K SOC teams investigating actual incidents
*   50M+ unique threats in the database, growing daily
*   Automatic extraction of IOCs from real behavioural analysis sessions
*   API, STIX/TAXII, and SDK integration for instant use in SOC workflows

For analysts, this means fewer blind spots and faster decisions. For business leaders, it means measurable KPI improvement and lower operational risk.

TI feeds are compatible with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), and orchestration platforms. The support of STIX and MISP formats ensures plug-and-play compatibility with tools like Splunk, QRadar, or Palo Alto Networks. This streamlines workflows, automates triage, and cuts MTTR by enabling rapid correlation of IOCs with internal telemetry. Integration reduces manual overhead, allowing teams to scale operations without adding headcount.

****How Elite SOCs Maintain Intelligence Currency****

1\. Instead of waiting for threats to be analysed, categorised, and published days or weeks later, top-performing SOCs tap into live malware analysis environments where threats are being executed and analysed as they emerge in the wild.

This approach provides:

*   **Immediate IOC availability**: URLs, domains, IPs, and file hashes from active malware samples
*   **Current TTP intelligence**: How threats are behaving right now, not how they behaved last month
*   **Context-rich data**: Full execution traces, network behaviour, and payload delivery mechanisms

  
Empower your SOC with real-time insights and cut MTTR&MTTD  
Get TI Feeds trial and act on threats while they’re still active.

2\. Leading SOCs don’t just collect threat intelligence; they operationalise it immediately. This means:

*   **Automated feed ingestion** into SIEM, EDR, and threat intelligence platforms
*   **Continuous IOC enrichment** without manual analyst intervention
*   **Dynamic playbook updates** based on current threat behaviours
*   **Automated indicator scoring** using freshness as a key factor

3\. Elite SOCs treat threat intelligence like perishable inventory: 

*   **Age-weighted scoring:** Recent IOCs receive higher priority
*   **Automated expiration:** Stale indicators are deprecated systematically
*   **Revalidation workflows:** Periodically confirm IOCs remain active
*   **Source freshness monitoring:** Track and measure intelligence provider timeliness

ANY.RUN’s Threat Intelligence Feeds are purpose-built for SOCs and MSSPs aiming to stay ahead. Measurable improvements across core security metrics include: 

*   **MTTR Reduction**: Organisations with real-time threat intelligence cut response times by identifying threats earlier in the kill chain
*   **Analyst Efficiency**: Automation of indicator enrichment reduces per-IOC investigation time from hours to minutes
*   **Detection Accuracy**: Current threat context reduces false positives and helps prioritise genuine threats
*   **Coverage Gaps**: Real-time feeds prevent the blind spots created when about half of basic IOCs become useless within 48 hours.
*   **Business Scalability**: Automated triage and integration free up analyst time, enabling MSSPs to onboard more clients without proportional cost increases.
*   **Strategic Alignment**: Clear KPI improvements strengthen CISO reporting to boards.

****Conclusion: Intelligence Currency as Competitive Advantage****

In modern cybersecurity operations, the freshness of your threat intelligence is as important as the quality. When half of all IOCs become useless within 48 hours, waiting days or weeks for threat intelligence isn’t just inefficient. It’s operationally negligent.

Top SOCs understand that staying current on the threat landscape requires more than periodic intelligence updates. It demands real-time visibility into active threats, immediate indicator availability, and automated integration that turns intelligence into action within minutes, not days.

How Top SOCs Stay Up-to-Date on Current Threat Landscape

Astaroth banking trojan has evolved to use GitHub and steganography for resilient C2, hiding its vital commands in images. Learn how this sophisticated malware employs fileless techniques to steal banking and crypto credentials from users across Latin America.

A new report from McAfee Labs reveals that a dangerous banking trojan, Astaroth, is being distributed with a worrying new trick to stay active- abusing the software development platform GitHub as a secret backup location.

****An Unexpected New Hiding Place****

Written in Delphi, Astaroth is a banking trojan designed to silently steal login details and passwords using keylogging when a victim accesses banking or cryptocurrency accounts. Normally, these cybercriminals rely on central C2 (command-and-control) servers that security experts can find and disable.

However, the McAfee Threat Research team discovered that Astaroth is storing its vital setup files on GitHub. This means, if the main C2 server is shut down by law enforcement or security experts, Astaroth simply gets new instructions from the GitHub repository, which hosts the information hidden in images using steganography, and continues its operations. Once credentials are stolen, the malware uses the tool Ngrok to secretly exfiltrate the data back to the attackers.

****How the Attack Starts****

The attack usually begins with a phishing email (pretending to be a document or resume) that contains a link. This link downloads a zipped file with a malicious Windows shortcut (.lnk) file.

Astaroth C2 Infrastructure, Phishing Email and Attack Flow (source: McAfee)

Opening this shortcut triggers a complex, multi-stage infection chain that eventually installs Astaroth by abusing legitimate Windows system files, a technique known as living off the land. The .lnk file executes a hidden script using mshta.exe (a Microsoft HTML Application host) to get additional code.

The final malicious payload is then secretly injected into the legitimate Windows process regsvc.exe (Remote Registry Service) to run undetected. The Astaroth malware also employs various anti-analysis techniques, including monitoring and targeting popular web browsers (programs with a window class name containing chrome, ieframe, mozilla, or xoff).

Astaroth targets financial institutions across a wide region, including Brazil (where the current campaign is focused), Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Portugal, and Italy.

Targeted Brazilian financial institutions include sites like caixa.gov.br, safra.com.br, itau.com.br, bancooriginal.com.br, santandernet.com.br, and btgpactual.com. It also targets cryptocurrency-related sites such as etherscan.io, binance.com, bitcointrade.com.br, and localbitcoins.com.

Moreover, the malware instantly shuts down if it detects that it is being analysed by security researchers. McAfee Labs reported its findings to GitHub, after which the malicious files were taken down, temporarily disrupting this latest activity.

This latest development confirms Astaroth remains one of the most sophisticated online threats and follows previous warnings from security experts. In February 2025, Hackread.com reported on an advanced Astaroth phishing kit discovered by SlashNext that used an “evilginx-style reverse proxy” to easily bypass two-factor authentication (2FA) and steal credentials and session cookies in real time.

The current banking trojan variant primarily relies on keylogging after infection and may not actively bypass 2FA during login. Nevertheless, to protect yourself, the most critical step is to never open links or attachments in emails from unknown senders.

_“_The threat landscape is surging, in particular the mobile threat landscape, as in 2024, more than 4 million social engineering attacks targeted mobile devices, over 33 million mobile malware/adware incidents were blocked, and phishing attacks rose significantly, especially on iOS,_“_ said Randolph Barr, Chief Information Security Officer at Cequence Security.

_“_Android continues to face banking Trojans and data-leaking SDKs, while insecure app practices plague both platforms. Most of these attacks are aimed at PII, credentials, and financial data,_“_ Barr cautioned.

_“_Employers and service providers add a third risk layer. Each validation request is a new integration point, creating an additional attack surface. Bad actors could compromise employer systems, abuse verification APIs, or phish organizations into over-collecting and mishandling sensitive data. Since employers often lack the same level of cybersecurity maturity as, say, government systems, they may become the weakest link in the chain,_“_ he warned.

Astaroth Trojan Uses GitHub Images to Stay Active After Takedowns

Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 14th October 2025, CyberNewsWire

**Luxembourg, Luxembourg, October 14th, 2025, CyberNewsWire**

**Surge in scale and sophistication highlights rising threats to tech and digital infrastructure**

Gcore, the global edge AI, cloud, network, and security solutions provider, has successfully mitigated one of the largest DDoS attacks recorded to date. The large-scale, multi-regional DDoS attack reached a peak bandwidth of 6 Tbps (terabits per second) and a packet rate of 5.3 Bpps (billion packets per second).

The attack targeted a hosting provider operating in the gaming sector, but the methodology and scale confirm a broader trend of intensifying DDoS campaigns aimed at a wide range of digital infrastructure. The attack was consistent with the AISURU botnet, which has been associated with several high-impact incidents in recent months worldwide.

> “This incident underscores an ongoing escalation in both the scale and sophistication of DDoS attacks,” said Andrey Slastenov, Head of Security at Gcore.

> “While this event was a short-burst volumetric flood, across the industry we increasingly see campaigns used to probe resilience or coincide with other vectors. Without robust, adaptive protection, organizations across tech, hosting, and enterprise sectors remain at risk.”

**Attack Highlights:**

*   Peak traffic: 6 Tbps
*   Packet rate: 5.3 Bpps
*   Main protocol: UDP, typical of volumetric floods
*   Duration: 30-45 seconds
*   Geographic concentration: 51% of sources originated in Brazil and 23.7% in the US, together accounting for nearly 75% of all traffic

This event mirrors insights from the recently published Gcore Radar report Q1-Q2 2025, which revealed that not only did the number of DDoS attacks increase by 41% in just one quarter, but attacks targeting tech companies also rose significantly, accounting for 30% of all recorded incidents.

In the context of this attack, the multi-regional origin and volumetric scale signal a concerning evolution of botnet capabilities, exploiting unsecured infrastructure in regions with high device density and weaker security controls. AISURU’s concentration in Brazil and the US reflects this dynamic.

**Strategic Implications for Hosting and Enterprise Infrastructure**

The attack’s characteristics align with a growing tactic observed in modern DDoS campaigns: short-burst, high-intensity attacks designed not only to cause downtime but to probe infrastructure resilience.

> “For hosting providers, uptime is currency,” added Slastenov. “When a botnet can generate 6 Tbps of traffic, even a few seconds of disruption can translate to financial and reputational damage. This is why adaptive mitigation, edge-layer filtering, and Layer 7 behavioral analysis are no longer optional, they’re mission-critical.”

**Gcore’s Response and Defense Capabilities**

Gcore’s global DDoS Protection solution absorbed and neutralized the attack without service interruption, leveraging its globally distributed infrastructure across 210+ Points of Presence and a filtering capacity exceeding 200 Tbps.

The incident highlights the need for integrated, AI-driven DDoS defense strategies capable of real-time response and deep traffic inspection—especially as attacks continue to combine volumetric and application-layer exploits.

**About Gcore**

Gcore is a global infrastructure and software provider for AI, cloud, network, and security solutions. Headquartered in Luxembourg, with a staff of 600+ operating from ten offices worldwide, Gcore provides its solutions to global leaders in numerous industries. The company manages its own global IT infrastructure across six continents, with one of the best network performances in Europe, Africa, and LATAM, due to the average response time of 30 ms worldwide. Gcore’s network consists of 210+ points of presence around the world in reliable Tier IV and Tier III data centres, with a total capacity exceeding 200 Tbps. Users can learn more at gcore.com.

PR agency contact  

\[email protected\]

**Contact**

**Ms.**  
**Kira Kurepina**  
**Gcore**  
**\[email protected\]**

Gcore Mitigates Record-Breaking 6 Tbps DDoS Attack

ShinyHunters and its affiliate hackers have leaked data from 6 firms, including Qantas and Vietnam Airlines, after claiming to breach 39 companies via a Salesforce vulnerability.

On October 3, 2025, Hackread.com **published** an in-depth report in which hackers claimed to have stolen 989 million records from 39 major companies worldwide by exploiting a Salesforce vulnerability. The group demanded that Salesforce and the affected firms enter negotiations before October 10, 2025, warning that if their demands were ignored, they would release the entire dataset.

The hackers, identifying themselves as “**Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters,**” a collective said to combine elements of Scattered Spider, Lapsus$, and ShinyHunters, have now published data allegedly belonging to 6 of the 39 targeted companies.

The companies named in the leak are as follows:

1.  Fujifilm
2.  GAP, INC.
3.  Vietnam Airlines
4.  Engie Resources
5.  Qantas Airways Limited
6.  Albertsons Companies, Inc.

Leaked databases (Credit: Hackread.com)

****What’s In The Data****

While the impacted companies are the only ones who can verify the breach, Hackread.com has carried out an in-depth analysis of the leaked data, and it looks legitimate. In all 6 leaks, the record contains personal details of customers, business, including email addresses, full names, addresses, passport numbers, phone numbers,

****Qantas Airways Limited****

The dataset allegedly leaked from Qantas Airways Limited is substantial in size, weighing in at 153 GB. The files are in JSON format and reportedly contain over 5 million records. The data was published on October 10, 2025, and marked as public by the threat actors.

This dataset combines personally identifiable information (PII) with customer loyalty and internal business data, making it a serious exposure if authentic. Here’s what the leaked data contains:

1.  Gender
2.  Country
3.  Full name
4.  Date of birth
5.  Points balance
6.  Currency used (AUD)
7.  Frequent flyer number
8.  Frequent flyer join and anniversary dates
9.  Title or salutation (for example, Mrs, Mr)
10.  Frequent flyer tier and status credits
11.  Phone numbers (main, alternate, home, business, mobile)
12.  Email addresses (primary, alternate, business, home)
13.  Account creation and modification timestamps
14.  Mailing address details (city, postal code, latitude, longitude, etc.)
15.  Account or customer ID numbers (internal Salesforce and Qantas IDs)
16.  Profile preferences (for example, meal, seat, marketing preferences, newsletters)
17.  Membership and loyalty details (bronze tier, expiry, status credits till next level)
18.  Internal CRM fields (OwnerId, RecordTypeId, CreatedBy, etc.)
19.  Links to internal reports and templates (for example, “QCC Frequent Flyer Report”, “QCC Lounges Report”)
20.  Customer notes and remarks fields
21.  Geolocation data (latitude and longitude of mailing address)
22.  Activity and contact tracking metadata (last modified, last viewed, etc.)
23.  Internal flags and status indicators (HasOptedOutOfEmail, DoNotCall, Active, Sensitive\_Contact, etc.)

It is worth noting that in July 2025, the company **confirmed** a major data breach connected to a third-party vendor but did not disclose its name at the time.

****Vietnam Airlines****

Vietnam Airlines’ dataset is reported to be 63.62 GB, also in JSON format, with more than 23 million records. Like the others, it was made public on October 10, 2025. The release, if authentic, represents one of the larger leaks attributed to this round of breaches.

These record includes both personally identifiable information (PII) and corporate account data, along with internal airline CRM fields and loyalty program identifiers such as the frequent flyer number. Here is a list of the types of data contained in the Vietnam Airlines record:

1.  Age
2.  Gender
3.  Full name
4.  Phone number
5.  Currency used
6.  Email address
7.  Frequent flyer number
8.  Date of birth and year of birth
9.  Owner and system metadata
10.  Internal account and contact IDs
11.  Business or cargo-related fields
12.  Account type and record classification
13.  Corporate or business role information
14.  Corporate and tax information fields
15.  Company-related email and phone fields
16.  Last travel and travel-related tracking fields
17.  Country and city fields (though some are blank)
18.  Residential address (street and partial location details)

****Albertsons Companies, Inc.****

The leak associated with Albertsons Companies, Inc. is relatively smaller, totalling 2 GB of JSON files. According to the listing, it contains over 672,000 records. The data was published on October 10, 2025, and labelled as public.

****GAP, INC.****

The dataset tied to GAP, INC. is 1 GB in size, formatted in JSON, and reportedly holds more than 224,000 records. The information was uploaded on October 10, 2025, with a public status tag, suggesting it is accessible to anyone through the leak portal.

****Fujifilm****

The Fujifilm data leak appears smaller in comparison, listed at 155 MB and in CSV format. Despite its smaller size, the dataset still allegedly includes around 224,000 records. It too was made public on October 10, 2025.

****Engie Resources****

The dataset from Engie Resources measures 3 GB and is formatted as JSON files. It is said to include more than 537,000 records, published publicly on October 10, 2025.

Screenshot from the website where the data has been leaked (Credit: Hackread.com)

****Total Number of Companies Impacted in the Breach****

The full list of 39 companies identified as victims in the alleged Salesforce data breach:

1.  KFC – 1.3GB
2.  ASICS – 9GB
3.  UPS – 91.34GB
4.  IKEA – 13GB
5.  GAP, INC. – 1GB
6.  Petco – 9.9GB
7.  Cisco – 5.6GB
8.  McDonald’s – 28GB
9.  Cartier – 1.4GB
10.  Adidas – 37GB
11.  Fujifilm – 155MB
12.  Instacart – 32GB
13.  Marriott – 7GB
14.  Walgreens – 11GB
15.  Pandoranet – 8.3GB
16.  Chanel – 2GB
17.  CarMax – 1.7GB
18.  Disney/Hulu – 36GB
19.  TransUnion – 22GB
20.  Aeroméxico – 172.95GB
21.  Toyota Motor Corporation – 64GB
22.  Stellantis – 59GB
23.  Republic Services – 42GB
24.  TripleA (aaacom) – 23GB
25.  Saks Fifth – 1.1GB
26.  Albertsons (Jewel Osco, etc) – 2GB
27.  Engie Resources (Plymouth) – 3GB
28.  1-800Accountant – 18GB
29.  HMH (hmhcocom) – 88GB
30.  Instructurecom – Canvas – 35GB
31.  Google Adsense – 19GB
32.  HBO Max – 3.2GB
33.  FedEx – 1.1TB
34.  Qantas Airways – 153GB
35.  Vietnam Airlines – 63.62GB
36.  Air France & KLM – 51GB
37.  Home Depot – 19.43GB
38.  Kering (Gucci, Balenciaga, Brioni, AlexMcQ) – 10GB

****What’s Next?****

While more data was initially expected, the hackers announced on Telegram that they will not be releasing any additional information, stating, “A lot of people are asking what else will be leaked. Nothing else will be leaked. Everything that was leaked was leaked, we have nothing else to leak and obviously, the things we have cannot be leaked for obvious reasons.” This statement leaves the future of the remaining data uncertain.

Message on Telegram (Credit: Hackread.com)

However, what has already been leaked is damaging enough. If verified, the release of these databases could have serious consequences across several industries. Airlines, retailers, and energy companies store large volumes of sensitive customer and business information, including personal details, contact data, and internal records.

The exposure of such data puts affected individuals at risk of identity theft and fraud, while also creating potential reputational and financial damage for the companies involved. Since these leaks are linked to earlier claims about a **Salesforce vulnerability**, the incident also raises questions about the security practices of third-party platforms that manage and store such extensive data.

ShinyHunters Leak Alleged Data from Qantas, Vietnam Airlines and Other Major Firms

Just weeks after its release, OpenAI’s Guardrails system was quickly bypassed by researchers. Read how simple prompt injection attacks fooled the system’s AI judges and exposed an ongoing security concern for OpenAI.

A new report from the research firm HiddenLayer reveals an alarming flaw in the safety measures for Large Language Models (LLMs). OpenAI recently rolled out its Guardrails safety framework on October 6th as part of its new AgentKit toolset to help developers build and secure AI agents.

It is described by OpenAI as an open-source, modular safety layer to protect against unintended or malicious behaviour, including concealing Personal Identifiable Information (PII). This system was designed to use special AI programs called LLM-based judges to detect and block harmful actions like jailbreaks and prompt injections.

For your information, a jailbreak is a prompt that tries to get the AI to bypass its rules, and a prompt injection is when someone uses a cleverly worded input to force the AI to do unintended things.

HiddenLayer’s researchers found a way to bypass these Guardrails almost immediately after they were released. The main issue they noticed is that if the same kind of model used to generate responses is also used as a safety checker, both can be tricked in the same way. The researchers quickly managed to disable the main safety detectors, showing that this setup is “inherently flawed.”

****The “Same Model, Different Hat” Problem****

Using a straightforward technique, the researchers successfully bypassed the Guardrails. They convinced the system to create harmful responses and carry out hidden prompt injections without setting off any alarms.

The research, which was shared with Hackread.com, demonstrated the vulnerability in action. In one test, they managed to bypass a detector that was 95% confident their prompt was a jailbreak by manipulating the AI judge’s confidence score.

Further probing revealed that they could also trick the system into allowing an “indirect prompt injection” through tool calls, which could possibly expose a user’s confidential data.

Guardrail couldn’t block malicious prompts, and Guardrail fails to block indirect prompt injection (Source: HiddenLayer)

Researchers also noted that this vulnerability gives a false sense of security. As organisations increasingly depend on LLMs for important tasks, relying on the model itself to check its own behaviour creates a security risk.

****Recurring Risk for OpenAI****

The danger of these indirect prompt injection attacks is a serious and recurring issue for OpenAI. In a separate discovery, reported by Hackread.com in September 2025, security researchers from Radware found a way to trick a different OpenAI tool, the ChatGPT Deep Research agent, into leaking a user’s private data. They called the flaw ShadowLeak, which was also an indirect prompt injection disguised as a zero-click attack hidden inside a normal-looking email.

The latest findings from HiddenLayer are a clear sign that AI security needs separate layers of protection and constant testing by security experts to find weak spots. Until then, the model’s weaknesses will continue to be used to break its own safety systems, leading to the failure of critical security checks.

OpenAI’s Guardrails Can Be Bypassed by Simple Prompt Injection Attack

Cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered nearly 180,000 files, including PII and banking details, left exposed on an unprotected database linked to the Invoicely platform. Read about the identity theft and financial fraud risks for over 250,000 businesses worldwide.

A large volume of private business and personal records was left exposed online after a database belonging to, or linked with, the invoicing and billing platform Invoicely was discovered with no password or encryption.

Cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler was the first one to discover this database. According to the researcher, the database held nearly 180,000 files containing sensitive information from clients, partners, and employees around the world.

For your information, the Vienna-based Invoicely (by Stack Holdings GmbH) is a cloud-based platform that helps users with creating estimates, managing billing, sending payment reminders, and tracking things like time and vehicle mileage. The platform is widely used, reportedly by more than 250,000 businesses worldwide.

****What Was Exposed****

The exposed database held exactly 178,519 files, including invoices, various tax forms, images of checks, and banking details. The data was found in common formats like CSV and PDF. This material also included Personally Identifiable Information (PII – private data like names and addresses) such as names, physical addresses, phone numbers, and tax identification numbers. Furthermore, Fowler found other documents that should be kept private, such as airline tickets and medical payment receipts.

****The Risks Associated with Open Data****

The exposure of this kind of data creates serious risks for identity theft and financial fraud, as it gives cybercriminals a wealth of information to exploit. For example, the presence of names, addresses, and financial account numbers could be used for highly targeted attacks, including spear-phishing.

Also, the exposure of invoices can be used in invoice fraud, where criminals trick companies into making fake payments. According to the 2024 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey, 80% of organisations experienced some form of invoice fraud attack in 2023.

This research, which was shared with Hackread.com, points out that organisations that handle this sensitive data should encrypt it to make it “extremely difficult to access without the correct credentials,” even if it is exposed.

It is worth noting that while the database was quickly taken offline after the researcher notified the company, following a responsible disclosure practice. However, it remains unknown if the database was managed by Invoicely directly or by a third-party contractor, how long the information was publicly accessible, or if any unauthorised person accessed the data. Therefore, users are advised to use multi-factor authentication and avoid reusing passwords.

Invoicely Database Leak Exposes 180,000 Sensitive Records

An Authentication Bypass (CVE-2025-5947) in Service Finder Bookings plugin allows any unauthenticated attacker to log in as an administrator. Over 13,800 exploit attempts detected. Update to v6.1 immediately.

Website owners using the Service Finder WordPress theme and its bundled Bookings plugin must update their software immediately, as a serious security flaw is currently being targeted by cybercriminals. This critical issue allows unauthorised individuals to take complete control of affected sites.

****Easy Access to Administrator Accounts****

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-5947, is an authentication bypass, which simply means a hacker can get past the login screen without a valid password. Security experts have given this flaw a very high severity score of 9.8 out of 10.

The problem lies in how the Service Finder Bookings plugin handles an account switching function. Attackers found they could exploit this by sending a request to the website while falsely attaching a cookie (a small piece of hidden data) that identifies them as the site’s administrator. The plugin failed to properly check if this identifying data was real or fake.

This oversight allows any hacker (even one who has no account on the site) to trick the system into logging them in as any user, including the site’s administrator. Once logged in as an administrator, they can inject harmful code, send visitors to fake websites, or even use the site to host malicious software.

****Discovery and Active Attacks****

The flaw was initially found by a researcher known as Foxyyy and reported to the Wordfence Bug Bounty Program. Wordfence, a leading WordPress security firm, facilitated the responsible disclosure process and published the details, including the researcher’s name, on their platform.

According to the Wordfence blog post, the issue affects all versions of the theme up to and including version 6.0. The maintainers of the theme quickly released a fix in version 6.1 on July 17, 2025. However, it was later identified that despite the patch being available, attackers started actively exploiting the flaw almost immediately, beginning on August 1, 2025.

Furthermore, over 13,800 attempts to exploit this vulnerability have been detected since that date. The Service Finder theme has been purchased by more than 6,000 customers, which means thousands of websites could still be at risk.

Website administrators are strongly urged to update the Service Finder theme and plugin to version 6.1 or later right away. It is worth noting that for those running security software like the Wordfence firewall, many of these attack attempts have been blocked. This is because the firewall detects the malicious, fake cookie data being used by the attacker and immediately blocks the request before it can reach the vulnerable part of the website.

(Source: Wordfence)

However, updating your software remains the best and most complete defence to prevent this kind of unauthorised access.

“The pure deja vu of another critical WordPress vulnerability cannot be ignored as threat actors are increasingly automating the exploitation of common CMS plugins to gain persistent access to web infrastructure,_“_ said Gunter Ollmann, CTO at Cobalt.

“Once inside, adversaries can pivot to distributing malware, stealing credentials, or using compromised sites in larger botnets,” Ollmann warned. _“_The WordPress ecosystem’s accessibility makes it a prime target, and with so many vulnerabilities like this over the years, security teams should treat the service as untrusted and strengthen systems around it to protect critical data and connected systems.”

Auth Bypass Flaw in Service Finder WordPress Plugin Under Active Exploit

Fortinet warns of Stealit, a MaaS infostealer, now targeting Windows systems and evading detection by using Node.js’s SEA feature while hiding in fake game and VPN installers.

Cybersecurity researchers at Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs have issued a warning about an active MaaS (malware-as-a-service) operation distributing a dangerous data-stealing malware called Stealit.

This malicious program is designed to take over a victim’s computer and steal private information. The campaign is current, actively targeting Microsoft Windows users across all organisations, and has been classified with a Medium severity level.

Stealit Homepage (Source: Fortinet)

****A New Way to Hide****

The advanced tactics employed by the Stealit campaign show the malware is now using a highly deceptive new method to bypass security measures.

FortiGuard Labs’ investigation revealed that the campaign is leveraging a feature in the Node.js development platform called Single Executable Application (SEA). This is a crucial detail, as older versions of the malware used a different tool named Electron. The purpose of this change is to make the malware harder to spot and block.

The new SEA approach packs all the necessary malicious files into one simple program. This means the program can run even on a computer that does not have the Node.js software installed. The researchers explained that this allows the malware to run “without requiring a pre-installed Node.js runtime or additional dependencies.”

Threat actors are likely taking advantage of the SEA feature’s novelty, hoping to catch security programs and analysts off guard. The malware is further protected by heavy code obfuscation and numerous anti-analysis checks designed to detect and terminate execution if it detects a debugger, a virtual environment, or suspicious processes.

****A Professional Cybercrime Service****

Stealit operators are running this as a full commercial service, advertising “professional data extraction solutions” through various subscription plans. They have relocated their Command-and-Control (C2) server multiple times, switching from the domain stealituptaded.lol to iloveanimals.shop. Moreover, they offer clear pricing for lifetime access: around $500 for the Windows version and $2,000 for the Android version.

Malware’s Subscription Pricing (Source: Fortinet)

The malware’s USP is its extensive list of remote access capabilities, including:

*   File extraction

*   Ransomware deployment

*   Live screen monitoring and webcam control

*   Remote system management (shutdown/restart)

*   The ability to push fake alert messages to the victim.

****What’s At Risk****

According to FortiGuard Labs’ blog post shared with Hackread.com ahead of publishing on Friday, Stealit operators are distributing the malware by hiding it as installers for popular games and VPN applications. They upload these files (packaged in common compressed archives or as PyInstaller) to file-sharing sites such as Mediafire and Discord.

When successfully installed, the malicious program extracts a wide range of information, including sensitive data like login credentials and cryptocurrency wallets from various applications, which can then be used in future attacks.

The researchers noted that the malware’s authors quickly shift tactics, sometimes reverting to the older Electron framework for payload delivery to keep security teams guessing.

This campaign highlights how quickly threat actors adapt by weaponising legitimate software features, like Node.js SEA, to remain undetected. With the malware being distributed via lures like games and VPNs, users must exercise extreme caution with software downloads from unofficial sources.

_“_This is great research tracking the evolution of a focused campaign,_“_ said Trey Ford, Chief Strategy and Trust Officer at Bugcrowd, a San Francisco, Calif.-based leader in crowdsourced cybersecurity.

_“_The targeted user population is what’s most interesting to me – gamers generally have high-performance hardware, and are accustomed to running all kinds of random software in support of their gaming, and the gaming ecosystem is a mess of binaries and network connections BEFORE you start adding in helpers, performance mods, and cheating resources_,”_ Ford explained.

Ford warned that when IT professionals use the same devices or networks for both gaming and work, it creates a vulnerable environment that attackers could exploit for coordinated cyber operations.

_“_There is a large population of privileged IT workers that are avid gamers (many moved into IT thanks to a passion for gaming) – meaning hardware used for work and play, lateral network access to their laptop, and extortionary material on those users are all levers to be used for coordinated adversarial development._“_

Stealit Malware Using Node.js to Hide in Fake Game and VPN Installers

Menlo Park, USA, 10th October 2025, CyberNewsWire

**Menlo Park, USA, October 10th, 2025, CyberNewsWire**

**AccuKnox****,** a leader in Zero Trust Cloud Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP), is proud to announce that Nanoprecise has selected AccuKnox to enhance its cloud security, governance, and compliance framework. Nanoprecise is a pioneer predictive maintenance and condition monitoring, and leverages Artificial Intelligence and IoT technologies to deliver real-time fault diagnostics and predictive insights. This helps enterprises minimize downtime, optimize maintenance, and drive operational efficiency. With a growing cloud footprint and plans to expand across AWS and Oracle Cloud, Nanoprecise recognized the need for a comprehensive CNAPP solution that could scale securely and ensure compliance across workloads.

**Why Nanoprecise Chose AccuKnox?**

After a competitive evaluation that included **best-in-class incumbent Cloud Security vendors**, Nanoprecise selected AccuKnox for its **agentless architecture, rapid risk assessment capabilities, and modular pricing**. During the Proof of Concept (POC), AccuKnox successfully demonstrated:

*   **CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management)** for AWS
*   **KSPM (Kubernetes Security Posture Management)** using KIEM, CIS Benchmarks, and Cluster Misconfigurations in an agentless manner
*   **Automated Compliance** for Cloud and Workload Environments

The deployment validated AccuKnox’s ability to deliver **quick time-to-value**, **granular visibility**, and **compliance assurance** — all while aligning with Nanoprecise’s forward-looking roadmap that includes **Cloud Detect & Respond (CDR)** and **AI security** modules.

**A Partnership Built for Securing the Future**

AccuKnox’s Customer Success and Solution Engineering teams ensured a seamless POC (Proof of Concept) within a month – demonstrating AccuKnox’s **Zero Trust CNAPP** platform’s ability to **simplify security and compliance operations** while preparing for future multi-cloud growth.

**Customer Testimonial**

**Faizan Ahmad Wani, Head Of Security at Nanoprecise**, shared:

> “At Nanoprecise, our focus has always been on leveraging AI to deliver predictive intelligence with accuracy and speed. We wanted a security partner who shared the same philosophy. AccuKnox not only delivered strong visibility across our AWS environment but also showcased a forward-looking roadmap with CDR and AI security that aligns perfectly with our innovation goals. Their agentless, modular approach and customer-first engagement truly stood out.”

**Gaurav Kumar Mishra, Solution Engineering Lead at AccuKnox**, commented:

> “Nanoprecise is a fantastic example of a fast-scaling, innovation-driven company that understands the importance of embedding security early in the growth journey. Our teams collaborated closely to operationalize CSPM and KSPM seamlessly in under a month. What makes this partnership exciting is that Nanoprecise is not just securing their cloud — they’re also exploring ways to deliver CNAPP value to their own customers through an MSSP model. This is the kind of forward-thinking collaboration AccuKnox is known for.”

**About Nanoprecise** 

Nanoprecise specializes in **AI and IoT-based predictive maintenance and condition monitoring solutions**, offering real-time insights into machine health to help enterprises make data-driven decisions that save time, resources, and costs. Their proprietary technologies enable **timely and accurate fault detection**, ensuring optimal performance and reliability for industrial operations.

Users can learn more at https://www.nanoprecise.io

**About AccuKnox**

AccuKnox is a **Zero Trust CNAPP** platform that delivers **runtime protection, agentless risk assessment, and comprehensive visibility** across cloud, container, and AI workloads. AccuKnox is a core contributor to leading CNCF OpenSource projects, KuberArmor and ModelArmor. AccuKnox Enterprise platform is anchored on these open source projects and helps organizations **secure modern cloud environments** with **policy-driven automation and compliance frameworks** that scale.

Users can learn more at https://www.accuknox.com

**Contact**

**Product Marketing Manager**  
**Syed Hadi**  
**AccuKnox**  
**\[email protected\]**

Source

HackRead