Aflac: 'Cybercrime Campaign' Is Targeting Insurance Industry

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee • June 20, 2025

Aflac is the latest insurance company dealing with a cyberattack. The company is investigating a cyber incident that did not involve ransomware encryption of its IT systems, but did potentially compromise data. Experts suspect Scattered Spider is behind the recent rash of insurance incidents.

CrowdStrike Outage Updates

ISMG Editors: Supply Chain Attacks Are Spiking - Here's Why

Latest

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

ISMG Editors: Anubis Ransomware's Puzzling New Tactic

Anna Delaney • June 20, 2025

In this week's update, four editors with ISMG discussed Anubis ransomware's puzzling shift to data wiping malware, the leadership vacuum and budget uncertainty at CISA and growing concerns about how artificial intelligence tools are making confident mistakes that demand human oversight.

Security Operations

AdaCore Merges With CodeSecure for Unified Developer Tools

Michael Novinson • June 20, 2025

The merger between New York-based AdaCore and Washington D.C.-area CodeSecure fills a strategic gap in static analysis for C and C++ programming, giving embedded software developers a more complete suite of security and safety verification tools in high-stakes industries.

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

AI Is Moving From Hype to Practical Use Cases in Enterprises

Michael Novinson • June 20, 2025

Enterprises are realizing that AI is no longer a one-size-fits-all solution. Dan Rice, global head of AI strategy and risk at Kroll, shares why organizations, rather than banking on broad AI platforms, are moving toward targeted AI tools that streamline security operations and improve resilience.

Events

Unified Action Systems Critical to Reducing Cyber Risk

Michael Novinson • June 20, 2025

Proactive crack detection, unified security tools and behavioral change are essential for minimizing risk in today's fast-evolving threat landscape, said Zafran Security CEO Sanaz Yashar.

API Security

Malicious AI Agent in LangSmith May Have Exposed API Data

Rashmi Ramesh • June 20, 2025

A flaw in the LangSmith platform, an open-source framework that helps developers build LLM-powered applications, can enable hackers to siphon sensitive data, said Noma Security. Dubbed AgentSmith, the flaw can allow attackers to embed malicious proxy configurations into public AI agents.

Critical Infrastructure Security

Beware the CyberAv3ngers

Prajeet Nair • June 20, 2025

Armed exchanges between Iran and Israel and the prospect of U.S. armed intervention against Tehran has cyber defenders warning about hacking risks to critical infrastructure. Iran's CyberAv3ngers doesn't possess the sophistication of Chinese or Russian actors but it's still a persistent threat.

Data Backup and Recovery

Offline Backup and Encryption Are Crucial to Data Resilience

Mathew J. Schwartz • June 20, 2025

While more than 90% of organizations have a backup strategy, nearly one-third fail to recover all data during a breach. To combat ransomware and device loss, defenders need encrypted offline backups, automated backup strategies and consistent recovery testing, said Apricorn's Jon Fielding.

Events

Proactive Security Crucial Amid Faster Exploits

Mathew J. Schwartz • June 20, 2025

The gap between disclosure and exploitation is shrinking. Benjamin Harris, founder and CEO of watchTowr, said companies need visibility, validation and fast triage to act before threat actors exploit common vulnerabilities and exposures - often within four hours.

Cyberwarfare / Nation-State Attacks

Israel-Iran War: Hacktivist Groups' Claimed Activity Surges

Mathew J. Schwartz • June 20, 2025

Missile exchanges over the skies of Israel and Iran entered their eighth day, wreaking death and destruction. Hacktivists are taking that as their cue to join the fray, although whether their efforts function as anything more than psychological operations is unclear.

Data Security

Hype Alert: 'The Largest Data Breach in History' That Wasn't

Mathew J. Schwartz • June 20, 2025

News broke this week that a "colossal" set of data comprising 16 billion stolen login credentials has been circulating on the cybercrime underground, making it "the largest data breach in history." Don't believe the hype: experts say the numbers simply don't add up, and see little if any risk.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

UK Passes Data Use and Access Regulation Bill

Akshaya Asokan • June 19, 2025

The U.K. government passed the Data Use and Access Bill that will introduce a host of privacy changes intended at making data processing more lenient with a motive to promote economic growth. Whether the EU will continue to find British law adequate is an open question.

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

AI Gives Predictable Answers, But With Unpredictable Results

Anna Delaney • June 19, 2025

Gen AI predicts words, not truth. Michael Pound, associate professor at the University of Nottingham, warns that when large language models generate malicious content, it's not due to confusion or logic flaws - it's simply probability at work.