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So I cooked up a fake transaction for shits and giggles. No valid IBAN. No real user. No device. No signature. No token. No nothing. Just pure distilled bullshit in a JSON payload.
Guess what? “Transaction accepted” “attack_success”: true “fraud_score”: 0.99999 System looked at it and said: “yeah, looks good to me.”
I even told the sandbox I was sending 10k EUR from FAKE_IBAN_901 to INVALID_IBAN_123 using a spoofed IMEI and some RSA nonsense I made up in Notepad. Bunq backend? Nodded politely and gave me a sandbox TXID.
It gets better — it accepts critical priority flags, fake biometric hashes, invalid currency codes, all wrapped in a nice little “success” bow.
This ain’t a bug, this is a fuckin’ confessional.
If bunq staff lurking here: hit me up. This ain’t a ransom, but y’all might wanna know just how open wide your API goes when someone whispers sweet nothings like tpp_id: "lol_fake_999".
We got logs. We got timestamps. We got receipts.
Your move, bunq.
RAWPA helps security researchers and penetration testers with hierarchical methodologies for testing.
This is not a "get bugs quick scheme". I fully encourage manual scouring through JS files and playing around in burp, RAWPA is just like a guided to rejuvenate your thinking.
Interested ? Join the testers now
https://forms.gle/guLyrwLWWjQW61BK9
Read more about RAWPA on my blog: https://kuwguap.github.io/
A Template Injection vulnerability in the latest version of Kong’s Insomnia API Client (v.11.2.0) leads to Remote Code Execution.
As we continue to evolve the field of AI, a new branch that has been accelerating recently is Agentic AI. Multiple definitions are circulating, but essentially, Agentic AI involves one or more AI systems working together to accomplish a task using tools in an unsupervised fashion. A basic example of this is tasking an AI Agent with finding entertainment events I could attend during summer and emailing the options to my family.
Agentic AI requires a few building blocks, and while there are many variants and technical opinions on how to build, the basic implementation typically includes a Reasoning LLM (Large Language Model) – like the ones behind ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini – that can invoke tools, such as an application or function to perform a task and return results. A tool can be as simple as a function that returns the weather, or as complex as a browser commanding tool that can navigate through websites.
While this technology has a lot of potential to augment human productivity, it also comes with a set of challenges, many of which haven’t been fully considered by the technologists working on such systems. In the cybersecurity industry, one of the core principles we all live by is implementing “security by design”, instead of security being an afterthought. It is under this principle that we explore the security implications (and threats) around Agentic AI, with the goal of bringing awareness to both consumers and creators:
With the proliferation of Agentic AI, we will see both opportunities to make our life better as well as new threats from bad actors exploiting the same technology for their gain, by either intercepting and poisoning legitimate users AI Agents, or using Agentic AI to perpetuate attacks. With this in mind, it’s more important than ever to remain vigilant, exercise caution and leverage comprehensive cybersecurity solutions to live safely in our digital world.
The post Navigating cybersecurity challenges in the early days of Agentic AI appeared first on McAfee Blog.
We use our smartphones for everything under the sun, from work-related communication to online shopping, banking transactions, and social media. For this reason, our phones store a lot of personal data, including contacts, account details, and bank account logins.
High online usage also makes your devices vulnerable to viruses, a type of malware that replicate themselves and spread throughout the entire system. They can affect your phone’s performance or, worse, compromise your sensitive information so that hackers can benefit monetarily.
In this article, we will give you a rundown of viruses that can infect your phone and how you can identify and eliminate them. We will also provide some tips for protecting your phone from viruses in the first place.
iPhones and Android devices run on different operating systems, hence differences in how they resist viruses and how these affect each system.
While iOS hacks can still happen, Apple’s operating system is reputed to be highly resistant from viruses because of its design. By restricting interactions between apps, Apple’s operating system limits the movement of a virus across the device. However, if you jailbreak your iPhone or iPad to unlock other capabilities or install third-party apps, then the security restrictions set by Apple’s OS won’t work. This exposes your iPhone and you to vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit.
Android phones, while also designed with cybersecurity in mind, rely on open-source code, making them an easier target for hackers. Additionally, giving users the capability to install third-party apps from alternative app stores such as the Amazon or Samsung Galaxy app stores makes Android devices open to viruses.
Cybercriminals today are sophisticated and can launch a variety of cyberattacks on your smartphone. Some viruses that can infect your phone include:
Ultimately, contracting a virus on your phone or computer comes down to your browsing and downloading habits. These are the most common ways it could happen:
Now that you know how your phone could be infected by a virus, look out for these seven signs that occur when malicious software is present:
Most pop-up ads don’t carry viruses but are only used as marketing tools. However, if you find yourself closing pop-up ads more often than usual, it might indicate a virus on your phone. These ads might be coming from apps in your library that you didn’t install. In this case, uninstall them immediately as they tend to carry malware that’s activated when the app is opened or used.
When you accidentally download apps that contain malware, your device has to work harder to continue functioning. Since your phone isn’t built to support malware, there is a good chance it will overheat.
If your contacts receive unsolicited scam emails or messages on social media from your account, especially those containing suspicious links, a virus may have accessed your contact list. It’s best to let all the recipients know that your phone has been hacked so that they don’t download any malware themselves or forward those links to anybody else.
An unusually slow-performing device is a hint of suspicious activity on your phone. The device may be slowing down because it is working harder to support the downloaded virus. Alternatively, unfamiliar apps might be taking up storage space and running background tasks, causing your phone to run slower.
Are you finding credit card transactions in your banking statements that you don’t recognize? It could be an unfamiliar app or malware making purchases through your account without your knowledge.
A sudden rise in your data usage or phone bill can be suspicious. A virus might be running background processes or using your internet connection to transfer data out of your device for malicious purposes.
An unusually quick battery drain may also cause concern. Your phone will be trying to meet the energy requirements of the virus, so this problem is likely to persist for as long as the virus is on the device.
You may have an inkling that a virus resides in your phone, but the only way to be sure is to check. An easy way to do this is by downloading a trustworthy antivirus app that will prevent suspicious apps from attaching themselves to your phone and secures any public connections you might be using.
Another way to check your phone is to follow these step-by-step processes, depending on the type of phone you use:
Once you have determined that a virus is present on your iPhone or Android device, there are several things you can do.
Caring for your phone is a vital practice to protect your information. Follow these tips to stay safe online and help reduce the risk of your phone getting a virus.
You have come to heavily rely on your smartphones for many online activities and storage of much of your personal data, including contacts, account details, and bank account logins. This puts your devices at high risk of being infected by viruses that impact not just your phone’s performance but also of being compromised by cybercriminals.
To help you protect your device and personal information, the award-winning McAfee Mobile Security solution regularly scans for threats transmitted through suspicious links in text messages, emails or downloads, and blocks them in real time. McAfee Mobile Security is a reputable security application that filters risky emails and phishing attempts so your inbox stays secure, while providing a secure virtual private network. It is also capable of spotting deepfake videos so you can stay ahead of misinformation. With McAfee, you can rest easy knowing your mobile phone is protected from the latest cyberthreats.
The post 7 Signs Your Phone Has a Virus and What You Can Do appeared first on McAfee Blog.
[Disclosure: I work at CyberArk and was involved in this research]
We've completed a security evaluation of the Model Context Protocol and discovered several concerning attack patterns relevant to ML practitioners integrating external tools with LLMs.
Background: MCP standardizes how AI applications access external resources - essentially creating a plugin ecosystem for LLMs. While this enables powerful agentic behaviors, it introduces novel security considerations.
Technical Findings:
ML-Specific Implications: For researchers using tools like Claude Desktop or Cursor with MCP servers, these vulnerabilities could lead to:
Best Practices:
This highlights the importance of security-by-design as we build more sophisticated AI systems.
The modern family juggling act has never been more complex—or more dangerous. If you’re caring for aging parents while raising children, you’re part of what researchers call the “Sandwich Generation.” According to Pew Research, nearly half (47%) of adults in their 40s and 50s find themselves wedged between these dual responsibilities. But in today’s digital landscape, this demographic faces a uniquely modern threat: becoming the primary target of an unprecedented scam epidemic.
As a cybersecurity professional who has witnessed the evolution of online threats over two decades, I can tell you that today’s scam landscape is unlike anything we’ve seen before. The stakes are higher, the tactics more sophisticated, and the Sandwich Generation is squarely in the crosshairs.
McAfee’s recent State of the Scamiverse report paints a troubling picture of digital life in the UK. The statistics are staggering: 60% of Brits report either falling victim to an online scam or knowing someone who has. When these attacks succeed, the financial impact is severe—victims lose an average of £936, with some reporting devastating losses exceeding £7,980.
Perhaps most alarming is the speed at which these crimes unfold. A shocking 68% of victims said it took less than an hour to be defrauded, with 48% reporting that fraud occurred within just 30 minutes of engaging with a scammer. This isn’t the slow-burn con artistry of yesteryear—this is lightning-fast digital predation.
The financial losses, while significant, represent only part of the damage. The psychological impact cuts deeper than many realize. Our research shows that 32% of Brits who fell for online scams experienced moderate to significant distress, including anxiety, depression, and damaged self-esteem. For the Sandwich Generation, already stretched thin emotionally and financially, this psychological burden can be overwhelming.
Consider the compounding effects: 80% of scam victims reported that the experience impacted their self-esteem and ability to trust others. When you’re responsible for protecting not just yourself but also tech-savvy teenagers and digitally-vulnerable parents, this erosion of confidence can have far-reaching consequences for your entire family’s digital safety.
From a cybercriminal’s perspective, the Sandwich Generation represents the perfect storm of vulnerability. Here’s why you’re in their crosshairs:
Overwhelm and Distraction: Scam tactics are most effective when targets are tired, rushed, or mentally overloaded. The constant juggling act of work, children’s needs, and aging parents’ care creates exactly these conditions.
Multiple Attack Vectors: You’re not just protecting yourself—you’re managing the digital lives of three generations. Children who overshare on social media and parents who may trust too readily both create entry points for scammers.
The “Family Tech Lead” Burden: In most households, one person becomes the de facto IT support for everyone. If that’s you, you’re essentially protecting three generations of users with the cybersecurity knowledge and tools designed for one.
Time Poverty: When you’re constantly switching between helping with homework, managing medical appointments, and handling your own responsibilities, the careful scrutiny required to spot sophisticated scams becomes nearly impossible.
The repeat victimization rate is particularly concerning. Once scammers identify a successful target, they often share that information within criminal networks, leading to sustained harassment and repeated attempts.
Protecting Your Children (The Digital Natives)
Despite their technological fluency, young people face unique vulnerabilities:
Social Media Saturation: 28% of 18-24-year-olds receive scam messages via social media platforms. The integration of these platforms into daily life makes detection more challenging.
Gaming Community Exploitation: Scammers infiltrate gaming communities with fake giveaways, cryptocurrency cons, and phishing attempts disguised as game-related communications.
Celebrity Deepfake Scams: AI-generated celebrity endorsements for cryptocurrency schemes or investment opportunities are becoming increasingly sophisticated and harder to detect.
Overconfidence Bias: Young people often believe their digital nativity makes them immune to scams, leading to less cautious behavior online.
Protecting Your Parents (The Trusting Generation)
Older adults face different but equally serious threats:
Email-Based Attacks: 67% of over-55s encounter scams primarily through email, a medium they often trust more than social media.
Authority Impersonation: Tech support scams, fake government communications, and bank impersonation attempts exploit older adults’ respect for authority and institutions.
Voice Cloning Threats: 21% of Brits have encountered AI voice scams impersonating loved ones—a particularly dangerous development for older users who may be more trusting of familiar voices.
Isolation Exploitation: Scammers often target older adults during periods of loneliness or health concerns, when they’re more likely to engage with unexpected communications.
Mobile Device Security
Mobile scams have reached epidemic proportions in the UK, with 35% of Brits falling victim to SMS or call-based scams in the past year. The most common mobile threats include:
Package Delivery Scams (33%): “Your parcel couldn’t be delivered” texts that lead to fake websites designed to steal personal information or payment details.
Subscription Renewal Cons (23%): Messages claiming services like Netflix require payment information updates, leading to credential theft or unauthorized charges.
Social Engineering Openers (16%): Simple “Hey, how are you?” messages that gradually build trust before introducing investment or romance scams.
Computer and Email Security
Email remains the primary attack vector, with 32% of Brits falling victim to phishing attempts last year. The sophistication of these attacks has increased dramatically—while 78% of people believe they can spot scams, today’s emails often perfectly mimic legitimate communications.
Artificial intelligence has revolutionized scamming, with 21% of Brits encountering AI-generated scams. The challenge is significant: 53% of people admit that deepfakes are difficult to spot, and the technology improves daily.
Just as you have a fire escape plan, your family needs a comprehensive fraud response strategy. This should include:
Technology alone cannot solve this crisis. The most effective defense combines good security tools with open family communication and ongoing education. Regular conversations about online safety should be as normal as discussions about physical safety.
For Children: Focus on critical thinking skills rather than fear-based messaging. Teach them to question unexpected opportunities and verify information through multiple sources.
For Parents: Emphasize that asking for help with suspicious communications is a sign of wisdom, not weakness. Create an environment where they feel comfortable seeking guidance.
For Everyone: Establish family rules about financial communications—for example, agreeing that no family member will ever ask for money or personal information via text or email without prior verbal confirmation.
The scam landscape evolves constantly, driven by technological advancement and criminal innovation. As someone who has tracked these trends for two decades, I can tell you that the only constant is change. What worked last year may be ineffective today, and tomorrow will bring new challenges.
The key is building adaptable defenses: security awareness that can evolve with threats, technology solutions that update automatically, and family communication patterns that encourage ongoing vigilance without creating paranoia.
The Sandwich Generation faces unique challenges in today’s digital world, but you’re not powerless. By understanding the threat landscape, implementing appropriate security measures, and fostering open communication about online safety, you can protect your family’s financial security and emotional well-being.
Remember that in the UK today, encountering scam attempts isn’t rare—it’s daily. The goal isn’t to avoid all contact with potential threats but to recognize them quickly and respond appropriately. With the right preparation and tools, you can maintain your family’s digital confidence while staying one step ahead of the scammers.
Your role as the family’s digital guardian is challenging, but it’s also crucial. You’re not just protecting money—you’re protecting your family’s trust, confidence, and peace of mind in an increasingly connected world.
Stay vigilant, stay informed, and remember: when in doubt, pause, check, and verify. Your family’s digital safety depends on it.
The post How the Sandwich Generation Can Fight Back Against Scams appeared first on McAfee Blog.
I wrote a blog post discussing how I hid images inside DNS records, you can check out the web viewer at https://dnsimg.asherfalcon.com with some domains I already added images to like asherfalcon.com and containerback.com
I came across this article and in speaking with my friends in the netsec field I received lots of good input. Figured I’d push it here and see what the community thinks.
there are links in the article and I checked them to see if they coincided with the articles points.
i’,m not affiliated with this article but with the lawsuit in New York moving forward and the Dominion lawsuit in 2020 giving the hardware and software to the GOP. I had questions the community might be able to clarify
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Hey all, started a blog series on Vulnerability Management. 4 articles posted already the last one is about when open you open the flood gate of a code or cloud scanner and you start drowning in findings!
This leads to thousands of findings for an SMB, millions for a big org. But vulns can’t all be worth fixing, right? This article walks through a first, simple way to shorten the list. Which is to triage every vuln and confirm if the bug is reachable in your reality.
Let me know if you have any comment to improve the blog or this article, would appreciate it!
This is a walkthrough video for anyone who wants to run Kali Linux in a more lightweight, consistent way using Docker.
The video covers: * Installing Kali Linux via Docker * Avoiding the "it works on my machine" issue * Creating your own custom Docker image * Setting up file share between host and container
It's a solid way to practice hacking without spinning up a whole VM — and great for anyone doing tutorials that require a Kali Linux instance, or folks who are starting out their penetration testing or bug bounty journey.
Microsoft today released security updates to fix at least 67 vulnerabilities in its Windows operating systems and software. Redmond warns that one of the flaws is already under active attack, and that software blueprints showing how to exploit a pervasive Windows bug patched this month are now public.
The sole zero-day flaw this month is CVE-2025-33053, a remote code execution flaw in the Windows implementation of WebDAV — an HTTP extension that lets users remotely manage files and directories on a server. While WebDAV isn’t enabled by default in Windows, its presence in legacy or specialized systems still makes it a relevant target, said Seth Hoyt, senior security engineer at Automox.
Adam Barnett, lead software engineer at Rapid7, said Microsoft’s advisory for CVE-2025-33053 does not mention that the Windows implementation of WebDAV is listed as deprecated since November 2023, which in practical terms means that the WebClient service no longer starts by default.
“The advisory also has attack complexity as low, which means that exploitation does not require preparation of the target environment in any way that is beyond the attacker’s control,” Barnett said. “Exploitation relies on the user clicking a malicious link. It’s not clear how an asset would be immediately vulnerable if the service isn’t running, but all versions of Windows receive a patch, including those released since the deprecation of WebClient, like Server 2025 and Windows 11 24H2.”
Microsoft warns that an “elevation of privilege” vulnerability in the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) client (CVE-2025-33073) is likely to be exploited, given that proof-of-concept code for this bug is now public. CVE-2025-33073 has a CVSS risk score of 8.8 (out of 10), and exploitation of the flaw leads to the attacker gaining “SYSTEM” level control over a vulnerable PC.
“What makes this especially dangerous is that no further user interaction is required after the initial connection—something attackers can often trigger without the user realizing it,” said Alex Vovk, co-founder and CEO of Action1. “Given the high privilege level and ease of exploitation, this flaw poses a significant risk to Windows environments. The scope of affected systems is extensive, as SMB is a core Windows protocol used for file and printer sharing and inter-process communication.”
Beyond these highlights, 10 of the vulnerabilities fixed this month were rated “critical” by Microsoft, including eight remote code execution flaws.
Notably absent from this month’s patch batch is a fix for a newly discovered weakness in Windows Server 2025 that allows attackers to act with the privileges of any user in Active Directory. The bug, dubbed “BadSuccessor,” was publicly disclosed by researchers at Akamai on May 21, and several public proof-of-concepts are now available. Tenable’s Satnam Narang said organizations that have at least one Windows Server 2025 domain controller should review permissions for principals and limit those permissions as much as possible.
Adobe has released updates for Acrobat Reader and six other products addressing at least 259 vulnerabilities, most of them in an update for Experience Manager. Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome both recently released security updates that require a restart of the browser to take effect. The latest Chrome update fixes two zero-day exploits in the browser (CVE-2025-5419 and CVE-2025-4664).
For a detailed breakdown on the individual security updates released by Microsoft today, check out the Patch Tuesday roundup from the SANS Internet Storm Center. Action 1 has a breakdown of patches from Microsoft and a raft of other software vendors releasing fixes this month. As always, please back up your system and/or data before patching, and feel free to drop a note in the comments if you run into any problems applying these updates.
I am a undergrad Computer Science student working with a team looking into building an security tool for developers building AI agent systems. I read this really interesting paper on how to build secure agents that implement Google's new A2A protocol which had some proposed vulnerabilities of codebases implementing A2A.
It mentioned some things like:
- Validating agent cards
- Ensuring that repeating tasks don't grant permissions at the wrong time
- Ensuring that message schemas adhere to A2A recommendations
- Checking for agents that are overly broad
- A whole lot more
I found it very interesting for anyone who is interested in A2A related security.
This issue affects systems where KTelnetService and a vulnerable version of Konsole are installed but at least one of the programs telnet, rlogin or ssh is not installed. The vulnerability is in KDE's terminal emulator Konsole. As stated in the advisory by KDE, Konsole versions < 25.04.2 are vulnerable.
On vulnerable systems remote code execution from a visited website is possible if the user allows loading of certain URL schemes (telnet://, rlogin:// or ssh://) in their web browser. Depending on the web browser and configuration this, e.g., means accepting a prompt in the browser.
FreshRSS 