Manic Android malware combines banking fraud and spyware, using a Bluetooth relay to steal data even when devices are offline. ThreatFabric’s Mobile Threat Intelligence team has identified a new Android malware, dubbed Manic, which has been active in the wild since at least February 2026. The researchers state that the malware is still under development as of July. “Manic sits at the intersection of Android banking malware and mobile spyware, combining financial-fraud capabilities with broader surveillance and device-control features.” reads the report published by the ThreatFabric’s Mobile Threat Intelligence team. “Its targeting is strongly focused on Ukraine, covering Ukrainian banks, government and identity services, and messaging applications, while also extending to Russian and European financial institutions, global fintech and cryptocurrency services, and military-focused communications.” The malware monitors 169 different Android apps, including banking and payment apps across several European countries, government and eID services, crypto exchanges and wallets, 2FA tools, messaging apps, browsers and email clients. This wide coverage appears deliberate. By targeting both financial and communication apps, the attackers can track a victim’s money, messages, location and files from the same device. ThreatFabric traces the first infrastructure registrations back to February 2026, with development and production services appearing in late March and April. By July, an updated build had added stronger anti-analysis checks, in-memory DEX loading, and a technique the researchers call lock-secret phishing, which extracts the device PIN or pattern by presenting a fake prompt before the victim reaches the real lock screen. Once installed, Manic requests Accessibility and notification access, then uses the Accessibility service as a UI keylogger. It classifies everything it captures before logging it: lock-screen input, recovery phrase candidates, four-to-six-digit SMS codes, passwords, long messages, email logins, and ordinary text. “Manic uses its Accessibility service as a UI keylogger. It classifies captured text before recording it, distinguishing lock-screen input, recovery-phrase candidates, four- to six-digit SMS codes, passwords, long messages, email logins, and ordinary text.” continues the report. “Each key log record includes the app and package, captured text, timestamp, whether the input came from Autofill or manual entry, and whether the app is on Manic’s target list “ Each log record includes the app name and package, the captured text, a timestamp, whether input came from autofill or manual entry, and whether the app is on Manic’s target list. The PIN theft technique works differently from a typical banking overlay. When Manic detects a numeric keypad in a targeted app, it places an invisible layer over the keys and records each tap. It then briefly passes the tap to the real keypad using Android’s Accessibility features, so the banking app works normally while Manic captures the PIN. Another function, called autoEnterPin, can try to enter a stored PIN or pattern on the Android lock screen. This gives attackers two options: capture a PIN during a banking session and later use it to unlock the device without the victim being present. According to the researchers, Manic stands out for its offline relay. “Manic uses a store-and-forward relay mechanism to exfiltrate data even when the infected device cannot reach the C2 server directly.” continues the report. “Collected files and command results are encrypted with AES-GCM and placed in a local queue, allowing the source device to remain offline while the malware searches for another infected device that can provide a route to the C2 infrastructure.” Manic searches for nearby infected devices over Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth RFCOMM, or BLE GATT, and supports chains of up to four relay hops. Cutting an infected phone off from the Internet doesn’t cut it off from exfiltration, as long as another infected device is within radio range. It’s a store-and-forward mesh built out of other people’s compromised phones. Manic gives attackers remote control of the device through WebRTC, allowing them to view the screen and interact with it using Android’s Accessibility features. It can hide its activity with black screens, fake screens or fake update messages, while also covering permission requests. The July version goes a step further by removing itself from the device’s app launcher. This keeps it out of the normal app list and lets attackers activate it through its wrapper or a deep link. For defenders, the combination here is complete in an uncomfortable way: credential theft, live screen monitoring, authentication interception, device takeover, and an exfiltration path that doesn’t require the infected device to have Internet access at all. Monitoring for unusual Accessibility service grants and unexpected Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Direct connections from phones that aren’t actively transferring files are the most practical detection starting points. “Manic is an evolving Android fraud platform designed for Device Takeover (DTO), combining credential and authentication theft with live screen monitoring and remote control. Its targeting spans banks, payment and cryptocurrency services, eID applications, and messengers, with a strong focus on Ukraine.” concludes the report. “A particularly distinctive capability is its offline mesh relay, which allows collected data to move through nearby infected devices over Wi-Fi Direct or Bluetooth when direct C2 access is unavailable. “ Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs – hacking, Android Malware)
Hackers compromised the maintainer account behind the widely used Rust crate arrayref to introduce malware that executed on developers’ systems during compilation. Within a 23-minute window, the attacker also poisoned two other crates, append-only-vec and internment, in the same supply-chain attack. The arrayref crate is a popular Rust library with more than 53 million downloads over the past 90 days that is used by cryptography, graphics, and blockchain tools. A report from application security company StepSecurity notes that the malicious Rust crate releases were arrayref 0.3.10, append-only-vec 0.1.9, and internment 0.8.7, all maintained by the same account. The hacker injected a dependency on a package called proc-macro1, a typosquat impersonating the popular proc-macro2 crate, while retaining the rest of the upstream source code completely unchanged.
A critical vulnerability in the Elementor Pro WordPress plugin could allow attackers to upload executable files for remote code execution on the server. Identified as CVE-2026-32475, the flaw affects Elementor Pro versions before 4.2.2 and stems from the File Upload module, which uses separate loops for file validation and processing that handle empty filename uploads differently. “The problem is that these two loops disagree about what to do with an empty file entry (an upload part whose filename is blank, which PHP reports as UPLOAD_ERR_NO_FILE),” clarifies a report from Patchstack, a cybersecurity company focused on the WordPress ecosystem. “The validation loop and the processing loop have different early-exit logic for these empty entries, so a carefully shaped multi-part upload can be seen one way by the validator and another way by the mover.”
Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Staying Secure at Eventsno-cost Cyber ServicesCybersecurity Awareness MonthKnown Exploited Vulnerabilities CatalogReport A Cyber Issue WASHINGTON – Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published the Logging Reference Architecture, an outcome-driven guide for federal civilian executive branch (FCEB) agencies to establish logging, visibility and operational standards in an Agency Logging Plan, as required in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-26-14. Developed in collaboration with OMB and the Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) Council, this guidance implements a practical, risk-based, prioritized logging approach that improves agency network monitoring.
A new Android malware named Manic targeting users in multiple European countries has a fallback mechanism for exfiltrating data through nearby infected devices. The malware has been active since at least February and combines spyware, banking fraud, and remote control capabilities. It targets at least 169 banking, government/eID, payment, crypto wallet, messaging, and authenticator/2FA apps, with users in Ukraine being the primary focus. Mobile security company ThreatFabric analyzed the Manic malware and found that it uses transparent overlays on the numeric keypads of legitimate applications to capture victims' taps and reproduce them through Android Accessibility, allowing the legitimate applications to continue functioning normally. After obtaining Accessibility and notification access permissions, the malware can capture the lock PIN/password, intercept notifications and SMS messages, collect files and location data, monitor the screen, and provide remote control to operators via WebRTC sessions.
Unit 42 details how attackers exploit enterprise collaboration tools for identity phishing and credential theft. Discover key defense strategies. The post Identity Abuse Through Trusted Communication Channels appeared first on Unit 42.
CERT Polska, the Polish Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), warned that attackers have begun exploiting a critical vulnerability in Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS). ZCS is a popular email and collaboration software suite used by hundreds of millions of people and organizations worldwide, including thousands of businesses and hundreds of government agencies. The Zimbra security team released version 10.1.20 on July 20 to patch the vulnerability (tracked as CVE-2026-73570), which allows unauthenticated attackers to gain remote code execution by exploiting a command injection weakness in the SNMP monitoring component when SNMP notifications are enabled. "Due to improper sanitization of untrusted input during SNMP notification processing, an unauthenticated attacker can send specially crafted SMTP requests that may result in execution of arbitrary operating system commands as the Zimbra user," it explained.
The US charged 17 Iranians over a years-long hacking campaign that stole 31TB from universities, companies and government agencies worldwide. Eight years after the original indictment first went public, US prosecutors just added eight more names to the list. The Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment this week charging 17 members of the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based operation running hacking campaigns since at least 2013 on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other government and university clients. According to DoJ, the group compromised systems at 144 US universities and 178 foreign ones, plus at least 42 US private companies, 11 foreign companies, five federal and state government agencies, and two nongovernmental organizations. They pulled more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property out of those systems, along with entire employee email inboxes wherever they had access. “The Mabna Institute stole more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property from these universities, as well as the email accounts of employees at the private sector companies, government agencies, and NGOs.” reads the press release published by DoJ. “The defendants conducted many of these intrusions on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), one of several entities within the government of Iran responsible for gathering intelligence, as well as other Iranian government and university clients. Nine of the 17 defendants charged in the S2 indictment were previously charged in a 7-count indictment announced in March 2018. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman.” The hackers targeted more than 100,000 professor accounts worldwide and broke into about 8,000 of them in around 24 countries. They used stolen credentials to access research papers, theses, dissertations and academic journals, which were then sold online. The stolen material was offered through websites such as Megapaper.ir and Gigapaper.ir. Customers could buy academic resources or use compromised professor accounts to access university libraries. The operation turned stolen academic credentials and research into a profitable business. One name on the new charge sheet connects this case to something much more publicly memorable. Behzad Mesri, listed among the newly added defendants, was separately charged years ago with breaking into HBO’s systems, stealing proprietary data, and attempting to extort the company for roughly $6 million in Bitcoin. This indictment ties him and four co-defendants to that same intrusion as part of the broader Mabna Institute operation, connecting a headline-grabbing entertainment industry hack to a much larger state-linked espionage campaign. The financial damage extends well beyond stolen research. According to the indictment, other defendants ran password spray attacks against private companies and at least two government entities, causing victims to spend more than $20 million investigating and cleaning up after the intrusions. ““Today’s charges, which include eight additional defendants, reveal the broader network allegedly behind a sweeping, state-sponsored campaign to steal research and intellectual property from American universities, businesses, and government institutions,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York. “More than eight years after making the original indictment public, these charges make clear that the passage of time will not deter us from identifying and pursuing those who target the United States from abroad. Cyber operations have become a central instrument of national power, and attacks on American and allied institutions carry direct consequences for our security and economic strength. This office and our partners will continue to protect American innovation and pursue accountability for the individuals behind these attacks.”” Five of the newly charged defendants, Mesri, Galekuhi, Kahzadian, Fayaz, and Ballojeh, now carry a combined bounty attached to their names. The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $10 million for information leading to their location, funneled through a Tor-based tip line for anyone willing to share what they know. Given that most of these defendants are almost certainly still in Iran and unlikely to face a US courtroom anytime soon, that reward is really the only lever prosecutors currently have. An indictment isn’t a conviction, and every defendant here remains legally presumed innocent unless proven otherwise in court. But the FBI’s own framing of the case makes the intended message pretty clear regardless of what happens next: eight years between the original charges and this expanded version isn’t hesitation, it’s the department demonstrating that an open case file doesn’t have an expiration date, even when the people on it never set foot on American soil. Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs – hacking, Iranians) Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs – hacking, Iranians)
StopAndProtect turned nearly 2,000 hacked WordPress sites into a criminal network for malware delivery, data theft, surveillance and ransomware. Check Point Research uncovered a cybercrime operation, dubbed StopAndProtect, that has turned thousands of hacked WordPress websites into a shared platform for malware delivery, data theft, surveillance and ransomware. The operation is a good reminder that a compromised website isn’t just a problem for its owner. It can become part of someone else’s attack infrastructure. “StopAndProtect is a newly identified operation that combines file encryption with data theft. The criminals abuse thousands of hacked WordPress websites as their infrastructure – using them to spread the malware, control infected machines, and store stolen documents, screenshots, and activity logs (records created by malware to track its actions, progress, or status during execution).” reads the report published by Check Point. Researchers first identified the campaign in May 2026. The operation starts with a fake CAPTCHA based on the ClickFix technique: visitors are told to prove they’re human, but the instructions actually push them into copying and running a PowerShell command. From there, the infection unfolds through several downloaders and loaders before deploying different malware components. StopAndProtect uses a toolkit of different malware rather than a single strain. Its components can encrypt files, steal documents, lock screens and even provide attackers with a chat channel to communicate with victims. That last point is important because StopAndProtect doesn’t always behave like traditional ransomware. In many cases, the operators first collect file lists and then choose specific files to steal. Encryption or screen locking may come later, depending on what the attackers find and what they want to do with the victim.research. The criminals used compromised WordPress sites for several jobs at once. The sites hosted malware stages, delivered commands, received logs and stored stolen files. Check Point discovered this because one of the servers exposed a directory listing through a PHP script, revealing more files, logs and open folders than the operators probably intended. The campaign appears to have reached close to 2,000 compromised WordPress domains. Many of the sites were running old versions of WordPress or outdated plugins, and one site examined by researchers was still using a 2021 version with almost 40 known weaknesses, including SQL injection, authentication bypasses and arbitrary file upload issues. “In one scenario, we suspect that the malware operator infected themselves and accidentally uploaded some of their desktop files to the collection server. This archive contains the source code of an automation tool for managing injected payloads at scale on compromised WordPress sites.” continues the report. “It also contains a few text files listing close to 2,000 compromised WordPress domains, giving us a hint about the size of the operation.” continues the report. The infection chain is straightforward enough to understand, even if it becomes more complex after the first step. A visitor sees a fake CAPTCHA, follows the instructions, runs PowerShell, and downloads further stages written in .NET. The malware can then encrypt files, spread through SMB shares and USB devices, steal credentials, capture screenshots, collect selected documents or show a ransom message. “We first noticed a ransomware family called StopAndProtect in the middle of May 2026. Further analysis of the infrastructure reveals that the infection chain starts with a ClickFix social-engineering technique, which prompts victims to execute a PowerShell command. This leads to two stages of additional downloaders and loaders written in .NET, followed by several main functional components, such as ransomware, SMB/USB worm, LockScreen, VBS spreader, chat utility and credential stealer.” continues the report. “Although the name StopAndProtect was originally given to the ransomware component, we decided to call the whole operation StopAndProtect, as it does not deploy ransomware on all its victims. In many cases, the attackers silently exfiltrate lists of files and later specific files from the infected machines.” The operators also built tools to manage the infected websites at scale. Check Point found an automation utility that could upload and delete files, enable or disable fake CAPTCHA pages, change redirects and manage additional payloads across the compromised sites. It was written with Visual Basic 6, a technology old enough to have a pension plan, but apparently still useful when the job is mass-managing hacked servers. The campaign also collected a remarkable amount of victim information. From mid-May to the end of July 2026, researchers found more than 700 archives containing stolen files, passwords, wallet information, screenshots and activity logs. One exposed directory held more than 20,000 screenshot files, while the researchers collected roughly 31,000 screenshots during the monitoring period. Some of the captured images showed victims’ desktops, browser activity, antivirus windows, ransom messages and lists of encrypted files. The malware could also monitor WhatsApp activity, search for a contact name and capture the person’s details, including a phone number. That moves the campaign well beyond file encryption: it becomes a surveillance operation with a ransomware component attached.research. Check Point counted more than 6,000 unique IP addresses associated with the campaign by 24 July 2026. The largest groups came from the United States, Russia and India, although IP location does not necessarily identify the victims’ real location or the operators behind the operation. The WordPress side of the story is familiar. Sites are compromised because owners don’t update the core platform, plugins or themes, or because administrative accounts are protected badly. Once attackers obtain access, they can install hidden must-use plugins that load automatically and create file-upload functions capable of accepting PHP files, which may lead to remote code execution. For website owners, the basic response is still the right one: update WordPress and every plugin, remove anything unsupported, protect administrator accounts with strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, review installed plugins and check for unexpected PHP files or unfamiliar administrator accounts. Web server logs, outbound connections and recent file changes deserve particular attention if a site may have been compromised. For visitors, the warning is more specific. A CAPTCHA should not ask someone to open PowerShell, paste a command into a terminal or disable security controls. If a webpage tells you to leave the browser and run instructions on your computer, close it. The CAPTCHA isn’t testing whether you’re human. It’s testing whether you’ll do the attacker’s work for them. Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs – hacking, WordPress)
Microsoft is investigating a potential issue with the August 2026 updates that may prevent some games from launching or cause them to crash on affected Windows 11 systems. The confirmation follows user reports that a limited number of games, including ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals, become unresponsive on devices running Windows 11, version 25H2, and Windows 11, version 24H2. The complete list of symptoms users are experiencing on impacted systems includes: "Following the release of Windows updates on August 11, 2026 (KB5121003) and later, Microsoft received reports of issues involving inability to run games as expected," Microsoft said in a Windows release health dashboard update on Wednesday. "We are presently investigating to determine if this is an issue caused by Microsoft. We will provide an update when more information is available."
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