The Hacker News

🛑 Chinese-speaking attackers hijacked a SonicWall VPN to escape VMware ESXi guest VMs. Huntress stopped it before ransomware, but the chain abused 3 VMware zero-days now on CISA’s KEV list. 🔗 Read → https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/chinese-linked-hackers-exploit-vmware.html

🔐 Most 2026 cyber predictions are noise. The real threats are already active: 🎯 ransomware shifting to targeted disruption 🤖 uncontrolled AI creating internal security gaps 🧠 big claims about AI attacks running ahead of reality Bitdefender cuts through the hype with data, not forecasts. 🔗 Evidence-based risks shaping 2026 → https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/cybersecurity-predictions-2026-hype-we.html

🇷🇺 Russian state-linked APT28 targeted Turkish energy and nuclear staff, a European think tank, and organizations in North Macedonia and Uzbekistan. 🎣 Fake Microsoft, Google, and VPN login pages harvested credentials, then redirected victims to real sites to stay hidden. 🔗 Details → https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/russian-apt28-runs-credential-stealing.html

🚨 Trend Micro patched a critical flaw in on-prem Apex Central for Windows that can lead to SYSTEM-level code execution. CVE-2025-69258 (CVSS 9.8) allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker with endpoint access to load a malicious DLL via MsgReceiver.exe. On-prem builds below 7190 are affected. 🔗 Details → https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/trend-micro-apex-central-rce-flaw.html

⚠️ CISA closed 10 Emergency Directives issued between 2019–2024. The required security actions for risks such as SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, and VMware were completed or are now enforced under Binding Operational Directive 22-01. 🔗 Read → https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/cisa-retires-10-emergency-cybersecurity.html

🛡️ The FBI warns North Korea–linked Kimsuky is using QR codes in spear-phishing emails. The “quishing” tactic pushes victims onto unmanaged phones 📱, enabling session token theft, MFA bypass, and cloud takeover. 🔗 Read → https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/fbi-warns-north-korean-hackers-using.html

⚠️ Astaroth banking malware is now using WhatsApp as its main delivery channel in Brazil. Researchers report a new Python-based module that steals a victim’s contact list and auto-sends malicious ZIP files, spreading the infection chat to chat. 🔗 How the campaign works and spreads → https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/whatsapp-worm-spreads-astaroth-banking.html

The future of AI is exciting, but securing it is essential. Risks like Shadow AI, vulnerabilities, and data exposure are growing. We’re excited to join Zscaler’s virtual event with CEO Jay Chaudhry to learn how to secure AI systems—hope you’ll join too! 🔍 Identify AI risks ⚙️ Automate remediation 🛡️ Protect AI systems ✅ Ensure compliance Register → https://thn.news/ai-zero-trust

🇨🇳 China-linked UAT-7290 targets telecoms in South Asia, now expanding into Southeastern Europe. Cisco Talos links the group to deep recon, edge device exploits, SSH brute force, 🐧 Linux malware, and shared ORB relay infrastructure. 🔗 Read → https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/china-linked-uat-7290-targets-telecoms.html

Most production risk sits outside the top 20 images. Chainguard data shows 98% of CVEs were remediated in the longtail, where about half of workloads run. That’s where security focus needs to move. 🔗 See where real supply-chain risk accumulates → https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/the-state-of-trusted-open-source.html

[🔥] ThreatsDay Bulletin is live! ⚖️ OpenAI – Court orders 20M ChatGPT logs. 🇨🇳 China–Taiwan – Cyberattacks surge tenfold. 💌 Microsoft – Exchange limit scrapped. 🕵️ pcTattletale – Spyware maker guilty. 🔑 RustFS – Hardcoded token flaw fixed. 🎭 pkr_mtsi – Loader spreads malware. 💥 Open WebUI – RCE via CVE-2025-64496. 🇮🇷 MuddyWater – New backdoors active. ☁️ ownCloud – MFA urged after breaches. 🐍 GravityRAT – Cross-platform RAT exposed. 🔗 Read the full edition ➜ https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/threatsday-bulletin-rustfs-flaw-iranian.html

🛑 Cisco released patches for CVE-2026-20029 in Identity Services Engine and ISE-PIC. The XML parsing flaw allows an authenticated admin to upload a malicious file and read restricted OS files. A public PoC exists. Patch Now. 🔗 Read → https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/cisco-patches-ise-security.html