Attackers can force Android devices into a continuous boot loop using a specially crafted app that requires no permissions and only needs to be installed. To cause the persistent denial-of-service (DoS), the app triggers a vulnerability that researchers dubbed 'GhostMap' that makes Android map a file into an unallocated memory region. The affected process crashes when it attempts to read from that region. Romanian cybersecurity company Bitdefender discovered the flaw while analyzing an Android banking trojan that kept crashing its emulators when it tried to read an application resource. The researchers demonstrated the vulnerability by creating an app that contains no executable code, requests no permissions on installation, and does not need to be launched on the device. According to the company, Google has been aware of GhostMap since August but closed the issue without releasing a patch, classifying it as "not reproducible."
A Canadian man was extradited to the U.S. to face charges over hacking universities and hijacking their computers to mine cryptocurrency. A Canadian man, Ryan James Roach (35), has been extradicted to the United States to face charges tied to a hacking operation that targeted universities and other schools. Roach was extradited on October 28 and now faces federal charges alongside Mathiew James Stubbings, 41, of Ontario. The indictment alleges that, from June 2016 to December 2019, the two men hacked computers, stole login details, and used victims’ machines to mine cryptocurrency for themselves. “They used virtual private servers in multiple countries, which were registered under false names. These servers transmitted malware and mining software to victim computers and stored stolen login credentials.” DoJ states. “Victims of the scheme included educational institutions in New York, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Massachusetts. Some of the computers damaged by the defendants were located at an institution of higher learning in the Western District of New York.” The targets were not random home PCs. Prosecutors say the pair went after U.S. schools with supercomputers, including institutions in New York, Tennessee, North Carolina and Massachusetts. Some affected computers belonged to a higher-education institution in western New York. “To carry out the scheme, Roach and Stubbings surreptitiously accessed victim computers without authorization, deployed malware to gain control, stole victim login credentials, exfiltrated the data to servers that they controlled, and forcing victim computers to use their processing power to mine cryptocurrency for the financial benefit of the defendants.” DoJ continues. That is a lot of effort to turn someone else’s research hardware into a personal crypto rig. The alleged method was also more involved than a single phishing email. The indictment says they looked for weaknesses in victims’ networks, used servers and compromised machines from one victim to hide their tracks, and then moved through the network once inside. The duo used sophisticated techniques and tools to conduct reconnaissance and expand their access within the network. The charges include conspiracy to obtain information from and damage protected computers, obtaining information from a protected computer, and intentional damage to a protected computer. Each carries up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors also allege the pair damaged at least 10 protected computers in one year and caused at least $5,000 in losses. Roach appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark W. Pedersen and is being held pending a detention hearing. Extradition proceedings for Stubbings continue in Canada. The FBI, the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, and the Office of International Affairs worked on the case. For security teams, the useful part is not the alleged crypto-mining. It is the reminder that universities remain attractive targets because they hold powerful computing resources, broad networks, and plenty of people with access. Patch quickly, watch for unusual processing load, and treat credential theft as a serious incident rather than a nuisance. “The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.” DoJ concludes. Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs – hacking, University Supercomputers)
DreamHost is warning of a data breach after attackers gained access to its File Manager platform for two months and stole customers' FTP/SFTP usernames and passwords. This follows the American web hosting provider and domain registrar's announcement that it suffered a cybersecurity incident requiring users to reset their email and FTP/SFTP passwords. In a data breach notification, DreamHost now says the breach extended from August 2026 to October 23, 2026, the day it was discovered. "We discovered that an unauthorized third party accessed the server that runs our web-based File Manager at files.dreamhost.com," reads the notification. "The unauthorized third party exploited a vulnerability in that software and was able to access the FTP/SFTP usernames and passwords of individuals who logged into this File Manager between approximately August 2026 and October 23, 2026."
mSeven Software is warning current and former mSecure password manager customers to change passwords, reset two-factor authentication, and remove passkeys following a cyberattack in which a hacker reportedly stole an encrypted customer database.. In a security notification sent to customers on November 3 and shared with BleepingComputer, the company said it recently discovered suspicious activity involving its mSecure password management application. "mSeven Software (“mSeven”) recently learned of suspicious activity associated with the mSecure password management application," reads the mSecure security notification. "In response, mSeven quickly launched an investigation, took steps to mitigate the issue, and engaged external cybersecurity experts to assist. You are receiving this email because you are a current or former mSecure customer."
Developer platform WorkOS suffered a data breach after a threat actor accessed business contact records and summaries of customer communications. According to the company, the attacker used an AI offensive security framework to automate reconnaissance and exploitation attempts. Based on evidence from the investigation, no WorkOS app data or production services were accessed or affected. WorkOS is a developer infrastructure company that provides APIs, SDKs, and tools for integrating services such as enterprise authentication, single sign-on (SSO), user management, and identity management into applications. According to its website, at least 3,000 companies use its services, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, Perplexity, Snowflake, Plaid, Webglow, and Netlify. “On October 30, 2026, we identified unauthorized access to an internal WorkOS application used by our sales team,” the company says in an incident alert.
Large language model hijacking attacks, also known as LLMjacking, are generating large fraudulent cloud charges, with some organizations losing more than $100,000 per day. Companies can record costs as high as $1 million due to fraudulent calls using stolen API keys, researchers at Google's Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) and Mandiant in analyzed incidents. Based on their observations, there are "two distinct operational clusters coordinating to compromise and monetize enterprise LLM infrastructure." The researchers identified two categories of threat actors: those who scan for publicly exposed LLM endpoints and those who steal valid API keys from unprotected machines. After gaining initial access, the attackers sell it to services known as LLM mixers, which provide their subscribers with unauthorized access to LLMs.
Synology warns of ransomware attacks exploiting a 2024 flaw in outdated NAS devices, urging users to update DSM immediately. A security fix released in 2024 is now at the centre of ransomware attacks against Synology NAS devices. The company has found attackers targeting systems that still run outdated versions of DiskStation Manager (DSM), putting files stored on these network storage devices at risk of encryption and extortion. Synology disclosed the attacks on October 29, 2026. Its investigation found that threat actors are taking advantage of a vulnerability that the vendor had already addressed in December 2024. “These attacks aim to encrypt data and extort ransom.” The warning highlights how devices left without security updates can remain exposed long after vendors have released a fix. The company hasn’t identified the exact vulnerability used in the attacks. Instead, it refers customers to Synology-SA-24:20, a security advisory published on November 5, 2024, which documents three flaws affecting DSM. The advisory was updated as fixes became available across different software branches, with the DSM 6.2 update released on December 5. The three vulnerabilities have different security implications. CVE-2024-10441 is the most severe, with a CVSS score of 9.8. It affects the system plugin daemon and could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable device. CVE-2024-50629 has a CVSS score of 5.3 and affects the DSM webapi component. It could allow remote attackers to read limited files. The third issue, CVE-2024-10445, is rated 4.3 and concerns improper certificate validation in the update functionality. It could allow an attacker in an adjacent network position to write limited files. Synology hasn’t confirmed which of these vulnerabilities attackers are exploiting. The three flaws should therefore be considered part of the security advisory, not three confirmed entry points in the current ransomware campaign. The vendor has released corrected builds for all the affected DSM branches. Users should check the full version number installed on their NAS and compare it with the minimum fixed releases listed in the advisory: DSM 7.2.2: 7.2.2-72806-1 or later. DSM 7.2.1: 7.2.1-69057-6 or later. DSM 7.2: 7.2-64570-4 or later. DSM 7.1: 7.1.1-42962-7 or later. DSM 6.2: 6.2.4-25556-8 or later. The impact of a ransomware infection on a NAS can extend well beyond the storage device itself. Businesses often use these systems to keep shared documents, operational files and backup copies in one place. If attackers encrypt that data, employees may lose access to essential information, while recovery can become much harder if the NAS also holds the backups needed to restore other systems. Updating DSM is therefore an immediate priority for administrators and home users alike. Synology is also advising customers to enable automatic updates so that future security fixes don’t depend entirely on someone checking for them manually. “Synology also recommends enabling automatic updates to keep DSM up to date at all times.” concludes the advisory. Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs – hacking, NAS)
A 3AM ransomware affiliate targeted a school estate in the UK and successfully encrypted around 37 of nearly 50 machines reached from an unmanaged host. Researchers at cybersecurity company Bitdefender believe the threat actor may have used AI-generated commands and an automated agentic loop to carry out the operation. The conclusion is based on a sequence of repeated commands that were slightly modified at each attempt and issued at roughly regular intervals of 40 to 100 seconds. "We were not able to access the machine the attacker worked from, so we cannot document anything about the language model itself: which model it was, whether it ran locally or remotely, or even whether a person was copying and pasting instructions and results between the implant and the model," Bitdefender explains.
Google has expanded its Cloud Vulnerability Reward Program (VRP) with a new top-tier reward for high-impact architectural security flaws. Starting this month, researchers can earn $250,000 for Root-in-Cloud bugs, including tenant-isolation bypasses and complex cross-service logic flaws that let attackers gain full administrative control over arbitrary Google Cloud organizations. "To earn this premier reward, you must demonstrate full administrative control, the equivalent of 'roles/owner' or complete IAM control, over arbitrary Google Cloud organizations or projects with no prior access or special project setup," said Chris Betz, Google Cloud's Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). "Additionally, valid vulnerability reports demonstrating remote code execution (RCE) in underlying Google production infrastructure (Borg) or achieving root-in-prod will automatically be evaluated by the Google Cloud VRP panel for root-in-cloud eligibility."
Hackers who breached Harvard University's Alumni Affairs and Development systems in November 2025 stole data linked to more than 850,000 unique email addresses, according to breach notification service Have I Been Pwned. Harvard is a private Ivy League research university with over 20,000 faculty and staff, over 24,500 undergraduate and graduate students, and more than 400,000 alumni worldwide. As the university discovered on November 18, 2025, the attackers gained access to the personal information of students, alumni, donors, staff, and faculty members, including email addresses, telephone numbers, home and business addresses, event attendance records, donation details, and "biographical information pertaining to University fundraising and alumni engagement activities." However, Klara Jelinkova, Harvard's Vice President and University Chief Information Officer (CIO), said the breached IT systems didn't store Social Security numbers, passwords, payment card information, or financial information.
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