⚠️ New attack can turn AI coding assistants into BOTNET installers.

Register a hallucinated repo name, hide prompt-injection instructions inside it, and wait for coding agents to fetch the wrong resource.

Here's how HalluSquatting works - https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/new-hallusquatting-attack-could-trick.html

EvilTokens phishing can look clean during URL checks.

The real page stays encrypted until it opens in the victim’s browser, then uses Microsoft device-code phishing to push toward Microsoft 365 account takeover.

The blind spot is browser visibility, not just email scanning.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/new-ghost-phishing-wave-is-breaking.html

🚨 Your developers’ AI coding assistants are tripping endpoint alarms built to catch intruders.

Sophos says #Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenAI Codex triggered rules for DPAPI browser credential access, cmdkey /list, certutil-to-bitsadmin downloads, and startup-folder writes.

Read the full story: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/ai-coding-agents-found-triggering.html

⚠️ WARNING: Fake 7-Zip installers are being used to turn victim devices into residential proxy nodes.

Infoblox linked the campaign to a 230+ domain operation involving lookalike sites, fake proxy brands, fake reviews, and trojanized software downloads.

Read the full story on THN 🠖 https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/fake-7-zip-installers-turn-devices-into.html

🚨 GhostApproval </>

A malicious repo can trick AI coding assistants into reading or writing files outside the workspace.

Wiz says symlink flaws affected Amazon Q Developer, #Claude Code, Augment, Cursor, #Google Antigravity, and Windsurf.

Learn how this attack works on THN 🠖 https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/ghostapproval-symlink-flaws-could-let.html

🚨 AI agents built to catch malicious code (Claude Code, OpenAI Codex) can be tricked into running it.

New "Friendly Fire" attack hides instructions in a repo's README. Ask the agent to review some code, and during that review it runs the attacker's payload on your machine.

Here's how it works: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/friendly-fire-ai-agents-built-to-catch.html

🛑 WARNING - Meta’s new Muse Image tool can let others use your public #Instagram photos in AI-generated images UNLESS you opt out.

Users can @-mention public Instagram accounts in Meta AI to pull public photos into new visuals, and existing AI creations may not be deleted after you disable reuse.

Here’s how to turn it off 🠖 https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/metas-new-ai-image-tool-lets-others-use.html

⚡ Microsoft patched RoguePlanet weeks after the Defender flaw was publicly disclosed.

CVE-2026-50656 affects the #Microsoft Malware Protection Engine and could let local attackers gain SYSTEM-level privileges, according to the researcher who disclosed it.

Full story here → https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/microsoft-patches-rogueplanet-defender.html

⚠️ GodDamn ransomware is using the PoisonX kernel driver to disable endpoint defenses before encryption.

Symantec says attackers also used AnyDesk, PsExec, and a NirSoft-based credential harvesting toolkit in a June attack.

Read the full story: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/goddamn-ransomware-uses-poisonx-driver.html

A #vulnerability clearinghouse is just a place to collect bugs.

Chainguard says the real work is what happens next: turning those bugs into rebuilt, tested, signed fixes people can use.

Athena has taken in 20K+ findings and shipped 2K+ patches across 500 projects.

Why the fix pipeline matters: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/summer-of-clearinghouses.html

AI attacks move in minutes. Your SOC is still on the first alert.

Next week we're hosting a free WEBINAR with Zscaler on defending at machine speed: shrink the attack surface, kill lateral movement, contain the attack before it spreads.

Save your seat 👇 https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/ai-attacks-move-in-minutes-join-this.html

Cyber teams own continuity planning at most organizations but only 22% rate their program as strategic.

Can your continuity program survive real-world disruption? Discover why resilience programs fail under pressure — and what leading teams do differently. Read the new report to explore:

✅ Insights from 500+ leaders across North America, the UK, Germany, and the UAE.
✅ How leaders feel prepared, yet fewer than 4 in 10 actually met recovery targets when disruption hit.
✅ Why resilience programs break down at dependency mapping, third-party risk, and AI governance.

Get the report - https://thn.news/business-continuity-report

🚨 Cybercrime did not need one big break this week. It used the usual doors: cloud storage, browser trust, support calls, package names, weak defaults, and exposed admin paths.

This week’s #ThreatsDay covers:

• Cloud bucket hijacking
• Windows LPE chain
• Global fraud bust
• Chrome extension abuse
• npm/PyPI typosquats
• Fake IT support scams
• Meta phishing abuse
• Tax-themed RAT lures
• Remcos loader campaign
• Ransomware tooling links
• Realtek driver flaws
• ADFS key exposure
• AI/cloud exfiltration risks
• Teams phishing
• Taiwan espionage case
• Scattered Spider/0ktapus links
• Process Parameter Poisoning
• Esri ArcGIS flaw
• Claude warning in China

Read the full bulletin: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/threatsday-cloud-bucket-hijacking.html

💪 npm 12 now turns off install scripts by default.

Dependency lifecycle scripts, implicit node-gyp builds, Git dependencies, and remote URL dependencies no longer run or resolve unless explicitly allowed.

GitHub is also phasing out npm tokens that bypass 2FA.

Read the article: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/npm-12-disables-install-scripts-by.html

🛑 Microsoft has detailed GigaWiper, a Windows backdoor that can spy on a machine and destroy it on command.

It can wipe disks, overwrite the Windows drive, or run fake #ransomware that encrypts files without saving a recovery key.

No decryptor. Just dead machines.

Read about it here 🠖 https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/new-gigawiper-windows-backdoor-bundles.html

🚨 Attackers are using 50+ dormant #GitHub “ghost” accounts and exposed PATs to map corporate orgs through the GitHub API.

Datadog says the campaigns enumerate repos, users, gists, followers, and org memberships. In select cases, actors cloned private repos.

Read the article - https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/dormant-github-accounts-help-attackers.html

A #ransomware negotiator got 70 months in prison for betraying five clients to BlackCat operators.

Angelo Martino shared confidential insurance limits and negotiation strategy to drive up ransoms, then helped deploy BlackCat against more U.S. victims.

Authorities seized $10 million in assets.

Here’s how the scheme worked: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/ransomware-negotiator-gets-70-months-in.html

🛑 WARNING - Hackers exploited the "Ill Bloom" flaw to drain $3.1 million from 431 #cryptocurrency wallets.

Weak recovery phrase generation left some older mobile wallets created between 2016 and 2018 exposed, potentially allowing attackers to reconstruct private keys and gain unauthorized access.

Check the details on THN 🠖 https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/attackers-exploit-ill-bloom.html

UPDATE 🠒 Latest MS Defender’s RoguePlanet patch may have introduced a new problem.

Researcher 'Chaotic Eclipse' says Defender can cache a massive Zone.Identifier ADS file and exhaust disk space when a system visits a custom SMB server.

They reproduced it on Windows 11 25H2 and Windows Server 2025.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/microsoft-patches-rogueplanet-defender.html

🚨 Hackers are using fake #Microsoft Entra passkey pages to target Microsoft 365 accounts.

The vishing campaign steals credentials and MFA responses, then attempts to register attacker-controlled passkeys while adapting to prompts in real time.

Read how the attack works: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/hackers-use-fake-microsoft-entra.html

🛑 ALERT - A VPN is supposed to hide your traffic. A new study says many free #Android VPN apps do not.

Researchers tested 281 popular apps with 2.4B+ installs:

→ 29 leak traffic, including visited sites
→ 246 contact ad/tracking servers
→ 5 could let a same-Wi-Fi attacker hijack the tunnel

The app still says “connected.”

Check whether yours is listed: https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/study-of-281-free-android-vpn-apps.html