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)
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a now-patched vulnerability that could be exploited to bypass Lockdown Mode protections in OpenAI ChatGPT. Lockdown Mode was introduced by the artificial intelligence (AI) company in June 2026 as an optional setting to minimize data exfiltration risks arising from prompt injections. "The flaw could enable silent chat data theft, phishing,
How much damage can someone do without breaking much? Quite a lot, it seems. A stolen login can open doors across several systems. A trusted setting can be used to lock people out. Even a simple file copy can reach places it shouldn't. And while new tools are helping find security holes faster, some important systems are still taking months, sometimes over a year, to get patched. Not exactly a
October 2026 brought another wave of cyber threats targeting US businesses, with attackers exploiting trusted platforms, legitimate authentication processes, and everyday business workflows. For enterprises, these campaigns raise the stakes beyond individual security incidents, increasing the risk of financial losses, data breaches, and costly operational disruption. Below, we examine five
Zyxel GS1900 network switches that received the vendor's earlier fix for an actively exploited flaw are still open to the exploit attackers used, researchers at Binarly found. The exploit lets anyone who can reach a switch's web management interface run commands on it without logging in. Zyxel has released new firmware for 10 GS1900 models that closes the hole. The earlier fix is the 2.90
Barracuda patched two flaws that can be chained to give attackers root access to Email Security Gateway appliances. Barracuda has patched two vulnerabilities that can be chained to gain root access to its Email Security Gateway (ESG) appliances. CVE-2026-116606 (CVSS score of 9.3) is an authentication bypass that lets unauthenticated attackers modify appliance configurations. CVE-2026-111560 (CVSS score of 8.6) is a command injection flaw affecting six Barracuda products. An attacker with administrator privileges could exploit it to execute operating system commands as root. “Barracuda has identified two vulnerabilities affecting certain Barracuda products: a pre-authentication authorization bypass vulnerability and a command injection vulnerability. The vulnerabilities have been assigned CVE-2026-116606 and CVE-2026-111560, respectively.” states the advisory. “Successful exploitation requires an attacker to have access to the administrative interface of an affected product. If exploited in combination, these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to bypass authorization controls and obtain root access to the device.” Barracuda quickly began fixing the problem and released security patches for affected products. Customers should check the affected products and follow the remediation guidance, make sure their systems use the latest firmware, and install all security patches. It has released patches and urges customers to update their systems, below are the affected products: Email Security Gateway (ESG) — affected by both vulnerabilities; patch with BNSF-40425 for version 9.4.017 or later, or BNSF-40430 for versions below 9.4.017. Load Balancer Application Delivery Controller (ADC) — affected by CVE-2026-111560; patch with BNADC-16586. Message Archiver (BMA) — affected by CVE-2026-111560; patch with BNMA-32468. WAF Control Center (WCC) — affected by CVE-2026-111560; patch with BNWF-60060. Web Application Firewall (WAF) — affected by CVE-2026-111560; patch with BNADC-16586. Web Security Gateway (WSG) — affected by CVE-2026-111560; patch with BNYF-24789. The vendor recommends that customers: Restrict administrative interfaces to trusted internal networks and use network access controls to reduce exposure. Check that devices are running the latest firmware and that all security patches are installed. If a device is several versions behind, install updates step by step; more than one update may be needed. Contact Barracuda Support if help is required. “If a patch has not been automatically applied, customers should manually apply the appropriate patch as soon as possible. If customers have turned off automatic patching, Barracuda recommends setting devices to automatically receive patches.” concludes the advisory. “Guidance on how to manually apply the patch or update firmware can be found on Barracuda Campus.” Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs – hacking, Barracuda)
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."
A phishing campaign used Google Calendar invites, trusted redirects, and fake login pages to hijack corporate Google sessions and bypass MFA protections. Material Security examines how Operation CloudFire tracked the attacks, blocked malicious messages, and helped take down nearly 900 domains used by the attackers.
SonicWall warned customers of two security flaws affecting end-of-life Global Management System (GMS) systems that will not be patched. Global Management System (GMS) helps IT admins deploy and manage thousands of SonicWall security appliances from a single interface, but SonicWall has officially replaced it with the Network Security Manager (NSM) management platform. The two vulnerabilities were found and reported by Pentest-Tools security researchers and affect systems running SonicWall GMS 9.5.2 and earlier. The first GMS flaw disclosed this week is tracked as CVE-2026-109593, and it enables unauthenticated attackers with network access to vulnerable instances (running GMS 9.5.2 and earlier versions) to steal sensitive information by reading internal files. SonicWall also flagged a second security issue (CVE-2026-109594) that can let threat actors with high privileges access or modify information stored in the GMS database through low-complexity SQL Injection attacks.
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