Cybersecurity Brief – 2025-05-22
Major Incidents and Breaches
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Marks & Spencer Cyberattack
- Marks & Spencer, a major UK retailer, suffered a cyberattack resulting in widespread operational disruption and a projected profit loss of up to £300 million ($402 million). The company anticipates continued online disruptions until at least July.
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Kettering Health Ransomware Attack
- Kettering Health, a US healthcare network, experienced a ransomware attack leading to a system-wide outage and the cancellation of both inpatient and outpatient procedures.
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Coinbase Data Breach
- Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase reported a data breach impacting 69,461 customers. Both customer and corporate data were stolen. Coinbase is offering a $20 million reward for information leading to the perpetrators.
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Lumma Infostealer Disruption
- Law enforcement agencies, with support from tech companies, disrupted the Lumma infostealer malware operation, seizing over 2,300 domains and dismantling a major malware-as-a-service infrastructure used globally.
Newly Discovered Vulnerabilities
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Samlify SSO Critical Flaw
- A critical authentication bypass vulnerability in Samlify allows attackers to impersonate admin users by injecting unsigned malicious assertions into otherwise signed SAML responses.
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Unpatched Windows Server Flaw
- A vulnerability in the delegated Managed Service Account (dMSA) feature of Windows Server, enabled by default, can be exploited to compromise Active Directory environments.
Notable Threat Actor Activity
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Russian State-Sponsored Campaigns
- Russian APT28 (Fancy Bear/Forest Blizzard) has been actively targeting Western logistics and technology firms since 2022 to disrupt and surveil aid routes to Ukraine, exploiting email and VPN vulnerabilities.
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PureRAT Malware Campaign Targeting Russian Firms
- A significant increase (4x in 2025) in PureRAT malware activity, with phishing campaigns targeting Russian businesses. These attacks are deploying both PureRAT and PureLogs malware.
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Chinese APTs Intensify Activity in Latin America
- Beijing-sponsored groups such as Vixen Panda and Aquatic Panda, alongside financially motivated Chinese cybercriminals, have increased attacks on organisations in Central and South America.
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Industrial Ransomware Surge
- Multiple industrial firms, including Unimicron and Presto, have recently been hit by ransomware attacks, indicating a rising trend in targeting the manufacturing and industrial sector.
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3AM Ransomware Tactics
- The 3AM ransomware group is employing sophisticated social engineering, including spoofed IT support calls and email bombing, to obtain remote access credentials from employees.
Trends, Tools, and Tactics
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Dero Miner Cryptojacking via Docker API
- Ongoing cryptojacking campaigns are exploiting exposed Docker APIs to deploy Dero cryptocurrency miners in containerised environments.
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Malicious Chrome Extensions
- Over 100 malicious Chrome browser extensions have been discovered impersonating legitimate brands (e.g., Fortinet, YouTube, VPNs) to steal cookies and enable remote code execution.
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Malware Delivery via Social Media Ads
- Fake Facebook ads and pages promoting counterfeit Kling AI are being used to distribute RAT malware, potentially reaching over 22 million users.
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Malicious PWA JavaScript Redirects
- New campaigns are injecting malicious JavaScript into websites to redirect mobile users to fraudulent Chinese adult-content Progressive Web Apps.
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CI/CD Pipeline Security
- Increased focus on securing CI/CD workflows, with tools like Wazuh being highlighted for monitoring and protecting automated development pipelines.
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Phishing Detection Tactics
- Emphasis on rapid phishing detection, with case studies such as Tycoon2FA illustrating the effectiveness of proactive monitoring and response.
Regulatory and Policy Developments
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EU Sanctions on Stark Industries
- The European Union has imposed sanctions on the web-hosting provider Stark Industries and its leadership for facilitating destabilising cyberattacks.
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Russia Mandates Tracking App for Foreigners
- Russia has introduced a law requiring all foreign nationals in the Moscow region to install a government tracking application.
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NIST ‘LEV’ Equation
- The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has introduced the ‘LEV’ equation, providing a mathematical model to assess the likelihood of a vulnerability being exploited, potentially enhancing vulnerability management and prioritisation.