Cybersecurity Brief – 2025-04-29

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Major Incidents and Breaches

Marks & Spencer Ransomware Attack
- Marks & Spencer experienced significant operational disruption, including outages and warehouse worker furloughs, due to a ransomware attack attributed to the “Scattered Spider” group.
Hitachi Vantara Ransomware Incident
- Hitachi Vantara took servers offline to contain an Akira ransomware attack, impacting business operations.
VeriSource Data Breach
- Employee benefits firm VeriSource confirmed that a February breach exposed personal information of 4 million individuals.
Urban One Data Breach
- Urban One, a major media company, disclosed a data breach following claims by a ransomware group.
World Uyghur Congress Targeted by Malware
- Senior members of the World Uyghur Congress were targeted in a sophisticated malware campaign via a trojanized UyghurEdit++ tool, indicating ongoing cyber-espionage efforts against exiled Uyghur groups.

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (CVE-2025-31324)
- Over 1,200 internet-facing SAP NetWeaver servers remain vulnerable to an actively exploited unauthenticated file upload flaw, allowing server hijacking. Attacks began before SAP released a patch.
Craft CMS Zero-Day Flaws
- Two newly disclosed critical vulnerabilities in Craft CMS are being exploited in the wild, with hundreds of servers likely compromised.
Broadcom Brocade Fabric OS and Commvault Web Server
- CISA added high-severity vulnerabilities in Broadcom Brocade Fabric OS and Commvault Web Server to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) database, indicating active exploitation.
Pymatgen 2024.1 Remote Code Execution
- A high-risk remote code execution vulnerability has been disclosed in Pymatgen 2024.1.
WooCommerce Phishing Campaign
- Attackers are distributing fake security patches to WooCommerce users, installing backdoors under the guise of critical updates.

Earth Kurma APT
- Newly identified APT group “Earth Kurma” has targeted government and telecom sectors in Southeast Asia since June 2023, using rootkits and cloud-based data theft tools.
Scattered Spider
- Linked to the ransomware attack on Marks & Spencer, demonstrating continued targeting of UK-based large enterprises.
AI-Powered Phishing and Commodity Tools
- Increased use of AI-powered phishing kits and automated attack tools is lowering the barrier to entry for less skilled threat actors.

AI and Automation in Threat Landscape
- Attackers are leveraging AI, automation, and dark web resources to accelerate attack sophistication and frequency.
Record DDoS Attack Volumes
- Cloudflare reported a 358% year-over-year increase in DDoS attacks, highlighting a surge in volumetric and application-layer attacks.
Supply Chain and Update Risks
- Kali Linux users were warned of update failures due to a lost repository signing key, underscoring the importance of secure software supply chains.
Surveillance Risks in Connected Vehicles
- Law enforcement agencies are increasingly exploiting data from internet-connected vehicle features for surveillance purposes.

CISA KEV Updates
- The U.S. CISA’s addition of new vulnerabilities to its KEV database may prompt UK organisations to review their own exposure and patch management processes.
US DoJ Data Security Program
- New compliance rules from the US Department of Justice will require organisations to reassess data sharing practices, with potential implications for multinational firms operating in or with the US.
Windscribe Legal Precedent
- Windscribe VPN was acquitted on charges regarding user data collection, reinforcing the legal standing of privacy-first service providers.

Operational Disruptions
- Ukrainian state and banking services were temporarily disrupted due to a data centre power outage, affecting government and corporate customers.
Security Tooling
- Malwarebytes highlighted as a tool for combating online scams, reflecting ongoing emphasis on endpoint protection and anti-fraud solutions.

Ransomware remains a significant threat to large enterprises, with notable UK impact.
Actively exploited vulnerabilities in widely used enterprise software (SAP, Craft CMS, Broadcom, Commvault) require urgent attention.
AI-driven attack automation and phishing are reshaping the threat landscape, enabling more actors to launch sophisticated campaigns.
Regulatory changes and legal rulings are influencing data security and privacy practices globally.