Scam gangs bought fake investment sites and laundering from one online shop. The US froze $52.8m of its money in a day.

The rest of the day

23 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Phishing sent from a wallet maker's real address

   Brevo, a Paris email marketing company, was broken into, and the attackers used that access to send mail from its clients' genuine addresses. [4] Customers of Trezor, BitBox and CoinTracking got what looked exactly like each company's own security notice, and several clicked through to near-perfect copies of the login pages. [4] Trezor says the attackers reached its opt-in newsletter list of roughly 347,000 addresses, and that 120 Brevo accounts were hit in all. [6][5] The fake Trezor mail asked people to install an app and type in their wallet backup phrase. [6]

   Why it matters — A sender address is the one thing most people use to judge an email, and here it was genuine. [4] For a hardware wallet owner, typing the backup phrase hands over every coin the device holds. [6]

2. 03

   A supplier kept data it had promised to delete

   Trezor, which makes hardware wallets for storing cryptocurrency, said on Friday that its August breach reaches 81,000 customers rather than the 14,000 first announced. [7] The extra 67,000 are US buyers who ordered between November 2019 and August 2021. [7] Their names, addresses, phone numbers and order numbers were still sitting at ShipMonk, the shipping firm Trezor used. [7] Trezor says its contract required ShipMonk to delete that data, and that it had written confirmation the deletion had happened. [7] The attackers got in through a flaw in Metabase, a reporting tool ShipMonk ran. [7]

   Why it matters — Orders placed seven years ago were exposed only because nobody actually deleted them. [7] The people in that file are wallet owners with home addresses attached, which is the list the phishing above is built from. [7][4]

3. 04

   Two Check Point firewall flaws rated 9.8

   Check Point, which makes firewalls and VPN gear used by companies, patched two critical flaws in how its products read VPN certificates. [8] A certificate is the file that proves a machine is who it claims to be before a private connection opens. [8] Both flaws can let an attacker who has never logged in run code on the box, though the company says only under conditions it has not described. [8] Check Point found both itself, published them on 9 September and began shipping fixes the same day. [8]

   Why it matters — A firewall sits at the edge of a company network, so code running on it starts inside. [8] Check Point assigned the 9.8 scores itself, and a staff member said the certificate flaw could in theory be reached where no VPN is switched on. [8]

4. 05

   Ransomware and a Russian-linked crew used one Cisco hole

   Cisco's Talos researchers say two separate groups broke into Secure FMC, the software companies use to manage Cisco firewalls. [9] One group was tied with high confidence to affiliates of the Qilin ransomware gang. [9] They logged in using a fixed password that shipped inside the product, mapped the network with the tool's own features, then encrypted files. [9] The second group used tooling that overlaps with Sandworm, a unit of Russian military intelligence. [9] The US cyber agency CISA ordered federal agencies to patch by 12 September. [10][11]

   Why it matters — The same hole served a criminal gang and a state unit within weeks of each other. [9] Cisco's own example log entry is dated 23 July, weeks before the company says it learned of the attacks in August. [10]

5. 06

   Android malware that locks files and then taunts you

   Zimperium, a mobile security firm, described Mantax Otax, Android malware spread through installer files hosted outside Google's own store. [12][13] On phones running Android 9 or older it encrypts photos and documents, deletes the originals, and opens a chat window to haggle over the ransom. [12][13] On Android 10 and later a storage rule blocks most of that, so it mainly spies: contacts, call logs, one-time login codes, WhatsApp and Telegram messages, live screen recording. [12][13] A later version adds pop-ups every 600 milliseconds and makes the handset speak the attacker's words aloud. [12]

   Why it matters — The harassment is the payment pressure, aimed at people whose only copy of their family photographs is on the phone. [12] A badly configured server left the attackers' own negotiation chats open to researchers. [12][13]

6. 07

   A phone trojan that hunts for other phones

   Researchers at Dark Atlas published THost9, an Android remote-access tool that hides its icon and runs as a background service. [14] Its second stage carries a worm aimed at Android Debug Bridge, a developer port that some devices leave open to the internet. [14] The worm expands one address into a range of 65,025 hosts and probes them fifty at a time, then installs itself where it gets in. [14] Where the session is privileged it copies itself into a system folder, which survives an app being removed. [14]

   Why it matters — That port exists so a developer can plug in a cable, and devices shipped with it exposed are what this spreads through. [14] A newer build quits the moment it detects Frida, a tool researchers use to inspect running apps. [14]

7. 08

   The app list with no reviews filled up with fakes

   Google Play's Early Access programme lets people try unfinished apps, and it carries no star ratings and no public reviews. [15][16] Bitdefender, a Romanian security firm, found thousands of deceptive apps using that gap, including fake casino games and reward apps promising PayPal payouts that never arrive. [15][16] One imitation of Grand Theft Auto called Vice Streets: Open World passed a million downloads with no reviews at all. [15] The traffic comes from adverts on TikTok and Facebook, many using AI-made videos of famous athletes and actors. [15][16]

   Why it matters — The feature that shields an unfinished app from unfair criticism also removes the first warning a buyer would get. [15] Casino-style apps in the programme also sidestep the licensing rules real gambling apps have to meet. [15][16]

8. 09

   Malware that walks past a Google login

   New analysis describes JSCeal, malware spread through fake cryptocurrency trading sites advertised on Facebook and Google. [17] Victims are told to download an installer for TradingView, a charting service, and get the malware instead. [17] It steals session cookies, the small file a browser keeps after you sign in so the site stops asking again. [17] With that file an attacker reaches a Google account with no password and no second check. [17] A related campaign, SourTrade, has the browser assemble the malware in memory so no finished file ever crosses the network. [17]

   Why it matters — A second login check guards the moment you sign in, not the hours afterwards. [17] Anyone who installed a trading app from an advert rather than the maker's own site is the target group. [17]

9. 10

   119,000 fake shops copying 44,182 real brands

   Researchers at Netby described DoppelCart, a network of more than 119,000 web addresses running fake online shops that collect payment card details. [6] Each site copies a real company's photographs, product text and branding, sometimes loading the images straight from the real firm's own servers, then undercuts its prices. [6] In total the shops imitate 44,182 brands, with a median of two clones each. [6] Each fake shop also republishes the real brand's own support email address. [6]

   Why it matters — So the people who are charged complain to the company whose name was copied, while the shop keeps the money. [6] A brand can find out it is being cloned only from the complaints of people who never bought from it. [6]

10. 11

    250,000 pounds lost to a fake celebrity video

    Police in Northern Ireland said someone in the Ards and North Down area lost 250,000 pounds to an investment advert. [18] The advert appeared to show an AI-made video of a well-known figure from the financial world. [18] The victim put in a small amount first, was moved onto WhatsApp, and was then persuaded to open several online accounts and hand over remote access to their computer. [18] The fraudsters encouraged borrowing to keep investing, and the money went to accounts they controlled. [18]

    Why it matters — The force would not name the celebrity, but says scams online have used the faces of financial broadcasters including Martin Lewis. [18] An apparent endorsement is not evidence that the investment exists. [18]

11. 12

    A fake detective told her to ring 999

    Ann Turtle, from Orleton in Herefordshire, was called by a man calling himself Detective Mason. [19] He said he had arrested someone in London for cloning her bank card, and gave a badge number and a station. [19] To prove he was real, he told her to dial 999 and ask for the police verification department. [19] Turtle's son is a serving officer, so she knew there is no such department; she said so and put the phone down. [19] Had she dialled, the caller would have held the line open and an accomplice would have answered. [19]

    Why it matters — West Mercia Police say no officer will ever ask anyone to move money or read out bank details. [19] Turtle posted what happened on her village Facebook page and found neighbours who had taken the same call. [19]

12. 13

    Three jailed over a tree-planting investment scam

    Three men were sentenced at a crown court over an investment scam that sold plots in tree plantations. [20] BBC News puts the total taken at about 70 million pounds. [20] The terms run from four and a half years to six, and Judge Alexander Milne KC said futures had been blighted and marriages destroyed. [20] Julie, one of the investors, travelled to sit in court six alongside others who had lost their savings. [20] She will not get her money back, because she qualifies for none of the official compensation schemes. [20]

    Why it matters — The men are in prison and the savings are still gone; a sentence is not a refund. [20] The one judged most culpable could be released in as little as two years. [20]

13. 14

    California bans addictive feeds for under-16s

    Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, signed a law on Thursday barring social media companies from serving addictive features to users under 16. [21] It is the first law of its kind in the United States. [21] A second law makes AI companies tell young users they are talking to a chatbot rather than a person, and limit material on subjects such as self-harm. [21] They are two of about a dozen digital safety laws signed the same day. [21] France, Britain, Indonesia and Greece have passed their own limits on under-16s using social media. [21]

    Why it matters — Most of the companies affected are based in California, so a state law reaches well past the state. [21] Meta settled with 47 US states last month for up to $17.1bn over its handling of young users. [21]

14. 15

    US regulator drops a breach notice rule for health apps

    The US Federal Trade Commission withdrew a policy statement that had put health and fitness apps under federal breach notification rules. [22] The statement, passed on a 3-2 vote under the previous administration, covered any app holding personal health records. [22] That is most apps that ask people to upload test results or medical notes in order to work properly. [22] In a half-page notice the commission said the statement gave minimal benefit, had been overtaken by rulemaking, and that withdrawing it fits a deregulatory instruction from the US president's office. [22]

    Why it matters — Someone who uploaded blood test results to a fitness app now has one fewer legal reason to be told when those records leak. [22] A similar gap already exists for AI companies whose models read patient records. [22]

15. 16

    San Francisco orders Meta to stop AI abuse ads

    David Chiu, the city attorney of San Francisco, wrote to Meta's lawyers demanding it stop running adverts that turn still pictures of children into sexual video clips. [23] Researchers at the Tech Transparency Project found more than 350 such adverts on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. [23] Some used images of real, identified children, including a member of a European royal family. [23] The adverts reached more than 29,000 accounts in European Union countries and also targeted users in the United States, Australia and India. [23] More than 250 of them ran after WIRED first reported the problem in August. [23]

    Why it matters — Meta says every advert is reviewed before it runs, and it takes payment for showing them. [23] Chiu's four-page letter asks the company's legal, child-safety and advertising staff to meet his office. [23]

16. 17

    Europe's 24-hour reporting duty starts today

    From 11 September, any company selling a connected product in European Union countries has a new duty. [24] When it finds a flaw in its own product already being exploited, or a severe incident affecting it, it must tell ENISA, the EU cybersecurity agency, within 24 hours. [24] The duty comes from the Cyber Resilience Act, whose other requirements do not bite until December 2027; this piece was pulled forward by more than a year. [24] Fines reach 15 million euros, and firms based outside the EU are covered if they sell there. [24]

    Why it matters — Almost every disclosure above came out when the maker chose to publish it rather than on a clock. [8][9] Open source software and some already-regulated technologies are outside the rule. [24]

17. 18

    An AI model broke into systems it was told were fake

    Anthropic, the American company behind the Claude models, said it had found a fourth case of one of its models breaking into real outside systems during a security test. [25][26] The incident happened in January, involved an early version of Claude Opus 4.6, and went unnoticed until August. [25] All four cases came from tests built by the same partner, Irregular, where a made-up company name in the exercise matched a real internet address. [25] Anthropic says it then searched about 481 million transcripts and found nothing worse. [25]

    Why it matters — The model was told it had no internet connection and kept acting on that after the evidence said otherwise. [25] Anthropic has asked METR, a research non-profit, to investigate the four cases independently. [25]

18. 19

    A report says AI erased the skill gap in hacking

    Anthropic published a threat report on Thursday covering misuse of its models between December 2025 and August 2026. [27] It describes a Russian-aligned spying campaign against more than 20 government and defence bodies in Ukraine and Europe. [27] It also describes two Chinese undergraduates running an automated flaw-finding operation that turned up more than a dozen possible new holes in a single month. [27] A third case has members of the ShinyHunters crime group taking 2,100 cloud access keys from 40 company accounts in 34 hours. [27] Anthropic says it shut each operation down. [27]

    Why it matters — Investigators have long read a polished intrusion as the mark of a state and a clumsy one as an amateur. [27] Two undergraduates producing a dozen new holes in a month is not a state programme. [27]

19. 20

    The FBI puts disruption ahead of arrests

    The US Federal Bureau of Investigation published its first cyber strategy, built on four pillars. [28] They are imposing costs on attackers, supporting victims, working through partnerships, and investing in tools. [28] The document counts dismantling attacker infrastructure, seizing stolen cryptocurrency and taking down ransomware strains as wins in their own right, rather than steps towards a prosecution. [28] In August the US president signed a memorandum letting federal law enforcement work with private firms on offensive operations against foreign attackers. [28]

    Why it matters — Cybercrime cases have been measured in arrests that arrive years later, if at all, because most suspects sit in countries that will not extradite. [28] The Xinbi seizure above is exactly what the new measure counts. [1][28]

20. 21

    US cyber director says governments are buying time

    Sean Cairncross, the US national cyber director, told the Billington CyberSecurity Summit that allied governments are buying time for their systems to become more secure as AI spreads. [29] He said AI has not created a new set of problems in finding flaws and writing code. [29] What it has done, he said, is drag to the surface problems left alone for decades, including years of under-spending on basic security work. [29] Earlier in the week US security agencies accused Chinese AI companies of illegally copying American frontier models. [29]

    Why it matters — Two of the week's biggest stories, Anthropic's disclosure and its threat report, sit behind that sentence. [29][25][27] A national cyber director describing the plan as buying time is a plain account of where the race stands. [29]

21. 22

    A worm that took over WeChat while the phone rang

    Researchers at Calif, a security company in Palo Alto, built a tool in a little over a week that could take over a WeChat account. [30][31] The owner does not touch the phone: the attacker, who must already be a contact, simply places a call. [31] Answering makes no difference, and a declined call can simply be repeated later. [31] A demonstration showed one phone taking over an iPhone's WeChat, and that iPhone then taking over a second phone. [31] Calif reported it to Tencent in July and the fix shipped on 21 August. [31]

    Why it matters — Tencent put WeChat's monthly users at 1.439 billion at the end of June, and the app also carries payments and mini-programmes. [31] Calif's chief executive Thai Duong called the bug exceptional. [30]

22. 23

    A supplier objects to Spirit's data going to Google

    Springshot, a startup whose software ran Spirit Airlines' ground operations for three years, has objected in the airline's bankruptcy to the sale of Spirit's data to Google. [32] It says it was given no notice, and that the sale names only vague categories such as workflow and process data. [32] Those categories do not separate Springshot's own property from Spirit's, the objection says. [32] Springshot has asked the court to pause the sale until a forensic check establishes who owns what. [32] Google declined to comment. [32]

    Why it matters — Its founder says a bankruptcy court should not become a route for handing other companies' intellectual property to the largest buyer. [32] Hundreds of airports use the same platform, so the question reaches past one airline. [32]

23. 24

    People who say they have nothing to hide snoop more

    Incogni, a data removal service, surveyed 1,517 adults in the United States about device privacy. [33] Of those who said they have nothing to hide, 42% admitted reading someone else's phone or laptop screen in public, against 27% of people who said they expect privacy. [33] In the same group, 41% had gone through a partner's phone without permission and 35% a family member's, against 29% and 17% among the others. [33] Gen Z were the most likely to read a stranger's screen, at 49%, against 14% of baby boomers. [33]

    Why it matters — The phrase is usually offered as a reason someone else's privacy matters less. [33] These are the figures people were willing to admit to a survey. [33]