Security news

This page tracks the security stories that matter most for enterprises running AI in production. Updates land monthly, newest first, and every item links to its primary source. My own reporting on agentic AI security runs at VentureBeat, and the full column archive is indexed on the VentureBeat columns page.

Noteworthy security updates, July 2026

IBM 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report Finds One in Four Malicious Breaches Are AI-Enabled as Global Average Cost Hits Record $4.99 Million

IBM’s 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report, conducted by Ponemon Institute and based on breaches at 602 organizations between March 2025 and February 2026, found the global average breach cost reached a record $4.99 million, a 12% increase over the prior year. One in four malicious breaches were AI-enabled, a 56% increase over last year, and those breaches cost an average of $6 million. Reported ransomware incidents rose to 39% from 34%, with attackers shifting pressure toward brand reputation (41%), employee data (35%), and intellectual property (31%). Organizations using AI and automation extensively in security operations cut breach costs by an average of almost $2 million, yet one in four have still not adopted these tools. Only 37% of breached organizations encrypt sensitive data both at rest and in transit. URL: https://newsroom.ibm.com/2026-07-29-ibm-study-one-in-four-malicious-breaches-are-ai-enabled,-costing-companies-6-million-on-average

Sysdig Uncovers ENCFORGE Ransomware Purpose-Built to Encrypt AI Model Weights, Vector Indexes, and Training Data

Sysdig’s Threat Research Team reported on July 20, 2026 that JADEPUFFER, the agentic threat actor it previously documented running an end-to-end extortion campaign, returned to the same vulnerable Langflow server and deployed ENCFORGE, a UPX-packed Go ransomware binary targeting roughly 180 file extensions across the machine learning stack. Named formats include PyTorch and TensorFlow checkpoints, Hugging Face SafeTensors weights, GGUF quantized models, FAISS vector indices, and Parquet and TFRecord training datasets, while ordinary business documents are left alone. Entry came through CVE-2025-3248, a CVSS 9.8 missing-authentication flaw in Langflow’s code validation endpoint that CISA added to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog in May 2025. After its first payload fetch failed inside the container, the operator wrote and revised six Python scripts in five minutes and 24 seconds until it had a working path to the host through an exposed Docker socket. URL: https://www.sysdig.com/blog/jadepuffer-evolves-the-agentic-threat-actor-deploys-ransomware-built-to-destroy-ai-models

Microsoft’s July 2026 Patch Tuesday Fixes Massive 570 Flaws as AI-Powered Vulnerability Discovery Comes Online

Microsoft’s July 2026 Patch Tuesday addressed 570 vulnerabilities, including three zero-days, two of them exploited in attacks, among them CVE-2026-56155, an Active Directory Federation Services elevation of privilege flaw. The volume follows Microsoft’s warning a week earlier that Patch Tuesday releases would grow as it begins using an AI-powered vulnerability discovery system to identify flaws across the Windows codebase before attackers can exploit them. Google separately fixed 360 Chromium flaws in June that were ported to Microsoft Edge. URL: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-july-2026-patch-tuesday-fixes-massive-570-flaws-3-zero-days/

Noteworthy security updates, June 2026

Microsoft’s June 2026 Patch Tuesday Addresses 200 Flaws Including Six Zero-Days and 33 Critical Vulnerabilities

Microsoft’s June 2026 Patch Tuesday delivered security updates for 200 flaws, including six zero-day vulnerabilities, five publicly disclosed and one actively exploited in attacks. The release includes 33 critical vulnerabilities, 28 of them remote code execution, alongside four elevation of privilege flaws and one information disclosure flaw. The count excludes flaws fixed earlier in the month in Copilot, Exchange Online, and Microsoft Graph, plus a separate 360 Microsoft Edge Chromium flaws fixed by Google. The same week, SAP shipped fixes for four critical flaws and Veeam patched a critical Backup and Replication vulnerability enabling remote code execution on domain-joined backup servers. URL: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-june-2026-patch-tuesday-fixes-6-zero-days-200-flaws/

Noteworthy security updates, May 2026

Verizon 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report Finds Vulnerability Exploitation Overtakes Credential Abuse as Top Breach Entry Point for First Time in 19 Years

Verizon published its 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report on May 19, analyzing more than 22,000 confirmed breaches, and found exploitation of vulnerabilities became the top initial access vector at 31% of breaches, the first time in the report’s 19-year history it has led. Third-party involvement in breaches rose 60% year over year, security incidents involving shadow AI tripled to 45%, and the human element still factored into 62% of breaches. Ransomware appeared in 48% of breaches even as 69% of victim organizations refused to pay. URL: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/breach-industry-wide-dbir-finds

Mini Shai-Hulud Worm Compromises More Than 170 npm and PyPI Packages With 518 Million Cumulative Downloads

A self-replicating supply chain worm dubbed Mini Shai-Hulud, launched May 11, 2026 and attributed to the TeamPCP crew, compromised more than 170 packages across npm and PyPI carrying over 518 million cumulative downloads, exploiting CVE-2026-45321, a CVSS 9.6 vulnerability. In one burst, 42 @tanstack packages across 84 versions were poisoned in six minutes. Snyk documented the campaign producing the first malicious npm packages carrying valid SLSA provenance attestations, undermining a trust signal the ecosystem adopted after the original Shai-Hulud wave. URL: https://thehackernews.com/2026/05/mini-shai-hulud-worm-compromises.html

Noteworthy security updates, April 2026

RSAC 2026 Sees CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, and Cisco Ship Agentic SOC Platforms

At RSAC 2026, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, and Cisco each introduced agentic SOC platforms, moving autonomous AI agents from pilots into the core of enterprise security operations. VentureBeat’s analysis of the launches examines the agent telemetry security gap the platforms expose, the visibility layer security teams still lack as autonomous agents move into production SOC workflows. URL: https://venturebeat.com/security/rsac-2026-agentic-soc-agent-telemetry-security-gap

Noteworthy security updates, March 2026

Malicious axios Versions Push Cross-Platform Remote Access Trojan Through npm as Microsoft Attributes Attack to North Korea’s Sapphire Sleet

On March 31, 2026, attackers published malicious versions of axios, one of the most widely downloaded JavaScript libraries on npm, pushing versions 1.14.1 and 0.30.4 carrying a cross-platform remote access trojan targeting Windows, macOS, and Linux, alongside a poisoned plain-crypto-js package. The malicious versions were live for roughly three hours before removal. Microsoft Threat Intelligence attributed the compromise to Sapphire Sleet, a North Korean state-aligned group, and published detection and mitigation guidance for affected environments. URL: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2026/04/01/mitigating-the-axios-npm-supply-chain-compromise/

Gartner Predicts 75% of Enterprises Will Run AI-Amplified Cybersecurity Products by 2028, Up From Less Than 25% in 2025

Gartner opened its Security and Risk Management Summit in Sydney on March 16, 2026 with a forecast that Australian organizations will spend more than AU$7.5 billion on information security in 2026, an increase of 9.5% from 2025. Security software is the fastest growing segment at 12.3% growth to more than AU$3.3 billion, driven by application security, data security and privacy, and infrastructure protection as AI adoption spikes the resources required to secure it. The forecast’s global prediction stands out. Gartner predicts over 75% of enterprises will be using AI-amplified cybersecurity products for most cybersecurity use cases by 2028, up from less than 25% in 2025, with VP Analyst Richard Addiscott citing the expanding use of AI by both defenders and attackers as a key growth driver. URL: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-03-16-gartner-forecasts-information-security-spending-in-australia-to-reach-over-7-billion-in-2026

Noteworthy security updates, September 2024 through February 2026

NIST CAISI Evaluation Exposes Critical Security Vulnerabilities and Safety Failures in DeepSeek AI Models

NIST’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) evaluated three DeepSeek AI models (R1, R1-0528, and V3.1) against four U.S. frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic across 19 benchmarks spanning cybersecurity, software engineering, and safety. DeepSeek models were found to be 12 times more susceptible to agent hijacking attacks than U.S. frontier models and responded to 94% of overtly malicious jailbreak requests compared to just 8% for U.S. models. Hijacked DeepSeek agents sent phishing emails, downloaded malware, and exfiltrated user login credentials in simulated environments. The evaluation also found DeepSeek echoed misleading Chinese state-aligned narratives four times more frequently than U.S. models. Downloads of DeepSeek models on model-sharing platforms increased nearly 1,000% since January 2025, amplifying the risk exposure. URL: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2025/09/caisi-evaluation-deepseek-ai-models-finds-shortcomings-and-risks

CrowdStrike Research Reveals DeepSeek AI-Generated Code Contains Hidden Security Vulnerabilities Triggered by Political Sensitivity

CrowdStrike Counter Adversary Operations conducted independent security testing on DeepSeek-R1 and discovered that when the model receives prompts containing topics the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) considers politically sensitive, the probability of generating code with severe security vulnerabilities increases by up to 50%. With up to 90% of software developers using AI coding assistants in 2025, the research reveals a new and subtle attack surface where ideological biases embedded in AI models can silently undermine code quality in ways developers may not detect. The findings contrast with prior research that focused on traditional jailbreaks, demonstrating that the security risk extends beyond overt exploitation to the quality of everyday coding output. URL: https://www.crowdstrike.com/en-us/blog/crowdstrike-researchers-identify-hidden-vulnerabilities-ai-coded-software/

OWASP Releases Top 10 for Agentic AI Applications 2026, Establishing First Industry Security Framework for Autonomous AI Agents

OWASP released its Top 10 for Agentic Applications on December 10, 2025, establishing the first globally peer-reviewed security framework for autonomous AI systems. Developed through collaboration with more than 100 industry experts, researchers, and practitioners including representatives from NIST, Microsoft, AWS, and Palo Alto Networks, the framework identifies the most critical security risks facing AI agents that plan, act, and make decisions across complex workflows. The top risks include Agent Goal Hijacking (ASI01), where attackers redirect agent objectives through poisoned inputs, and Tool Misuse (ASI02), where agents bend legitimate tools into destructive outputs. According to a Dark Reading poll, 48% of cybersecurity professionals identified agentic AI as the number-one attack vector heading into 2026, yet only 34% of enterprises have AI-specific security controls in place. URL: https://genai.owasp.org/resource/owasp-top-10-for-agentic-applications-for-2026/

Microsoft’s January 2026 Patch Tuesday Fixes 114 Security Vulnerabilities Including Actively Exploited Zero-Day in Windows Desktop Window Manager

Microsoft released its January 2026 Patch Tuesday addressing 114 vulnerabilities across Windows, Office, Azure, SharePoint Server, SQL Server, and other components, including one actively exploited zero-day, two publicly disclosed zero-days, and eight critical severity flaws. The exploited vulnerability CVE-2026-20805 targets the Windows Desktop Window Manager (DWM), enabling local attackers to extract sensitive memory data and undermine Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), a core operating system security control that protects against buffer overflow exploits. The update also removed vulnerable legacy Agere Soft Modem drivers that were rendering assets vulnerable to elevation-to-SYSTEM privilege escalation even without a modem connected. Critical remote code execution vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office (CVE-2026-20952 and CVE-2026-20953, CVSS 8.4) could be triggered without user interaction via specially crafted emails. URL: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-january-2026-patch-tuesday-fixes-3-zero-days-114-flaws/

World Economic Forum Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026 Finds 87% of Organizations Identify AI Vulnerabilities as Fastest-Growing Cyber Risk

The World Economic Forum released its Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026 in January 2026, surveying 804 participants across 92 countries including 316 CISOs and 105 CEOs. The report found that 94% of respondents identified AI as the most significant driver of cybersecurity change, while 87% flagged AI-related vulnerabilities as the fastest-growing cyber risk throughout 2025. Cyber-enabled fraud overtook ransomware as the top cybersecurity concern for CEOs, with 73% of respondents reporting personal exposure to cyber-enabled fraud in 2025. Geopolitics remains the top factor influencing cyber risk strategies, with 91% of the largest organizations changing cybersecurity strategies due to geopolitical volatility and 31% reporting low confidence in their nation’s ability to respond to major cyber incidents, up from 26% the previous year. URL: https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-cybersecurity-outlook-2026/

Ransomware Attacks Reach Record 6,182 Extortion Incidents in 2025 with 58% Year-over-Year Increase Despite Law Enforcement Takedowns

The Symantec and Carbon Black Threat Hunter Team Ransomware 2026 report confirmed ransomware attacks reached record-high levels in 2025 with 6,182 extortion incidents, a 23% increase from 2024. Cyble tracked 57 new ransomware groups and 27 new extortion groups emerging in 2025, with over 350 new ransomware strains discovered. Despite the collapse of RansomHub and Operation Cronos’s dismantling of LockBit infrastructure, attacks increased 58% year-over-year as affiliates dispersed across competing platforms. January 2026 marked a six-month peak with 1,041 recorded incidents according to Ransom-DB, representing a 53% month-over-month surge. The United States remained the primary target accounting for 47.7% of all global attacks, while healthcare experienced its highest monthly total with 27 incidents in January 2026. In 2026, 74% of ransomware attacks involve data exfiltration, with a growing number skipping encryption entirely in favor of pure data extortion. URL: https://natlawreview.com/article/ransomware-attacks-keep-climbing

KELA Research Reports 50% of 2025 Ransomware Attacks Targeted Critical Infrastructure with Manufacturing Seeing 61% Surge

KELA research found that global ransomware attacks against critical industries surged by 34% in 2025, with 4,701 incidents recorded between January and September 2025, up from 3,219 during the same period in 2024. Half of all attacks (2,332 incidents) targeted critical infrastructure sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, energy, transportation, and finance. Manufacturing experienced the sharpest growth among all sectors with a 61% year-over-year increase, while the United States accounted for 21% of global ransomware incidents against critical infrastructure. The findings highlight an accelerating trend of threat actors targeting operational technology environments and industrial control systems where disruption causes cascading impacts across supply chains and essential services. URL: https://industrialcyber.co/ransomware/half-of-2025-ransomware-attacks-hit-critical-sectors-as-manufacturing-healthcare-and-energy-top-global-targets/

CrowdStrike 2025 Ransomware Report Reveals 76% of Organizations Cannot Match AI-Automated Attack Speed

CrowdStrike’s 2025 State of Ransomware Report found that 76% of organizations report a critical disconnect between leadership’s perceived ransomware readiness and actual preparedness. The report identified AI-automated attack chains as the greatest ransomware threat cited by 48% of organizations, while 85% report traditional detection tools are becoming obsolete against AI-enhanced attacks. Among organizations that paid ransoms, 83% were attacked again and 93% had data stolen despite payment, underscoring the futility of ransom payments as a recovery strategy. The findings highlight the growing speed advantage that AI-enabled attackers hold over defenders relying on manual detection and response workflows. URL: https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/2025-ransomware-report/

Microsoft’s February 2026 Patch Tuesday Addresses Six Actively Exploited Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in Emergency-Level Security Event

Microsoft’s February 2026 Patch Tuesday addressed approximately 58 vulnerabilities including an unprecedented six actively exploited zero-day flaws, making it one of the most critical security events in recent Windows history. The zero-days include CVE-2026-21510 (Windows Shell/SmartScreen bypass enabling single-click malicious code execution), CVE-2026-21513 (MSHTML Framework bypass allowing exploitation via malicious HTML or LNK files), CVE-2026-21514 (Microsoft Word OLE mitigation bypass), CVE-2026-21519 (Desktop Window Manager elevation to SYSTEM privileges), CVE-2026-21533 (Windows Remote Desktop privilege escalation discovered by CrowdStrike), and CVE-2026-21525 (Remote Access Connection Manager denial of service). CISA added all six to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog with a March 3, 2026 federal remediation deadline. The coordination between Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center, Google Threat Intelligence Group, and CrowdStrike in discovering these vulnerabilities suggests sophisticated multi-vector attack campaigns are already active. URL: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-february-2026-patch-tuesday-fixes-6-zero-days-58-flaws/

Cisco State of AI Security 2026 Report Warns Model Context Protocol Creates Vast Unmonitored Attack Surface for AI Agent Exploitation

Cisco published its second annual State of AI Security report on February 19, 2026, warning that the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and other tools enabling AI agent communication have created a vast and often unmonitored attack surface that is making it easier for threat actors to launch cyberattacks. The report found that AI vulnerabilities previously conceptualized in research labs have now materialized into real-world compromises and AI-enabled malicious campaigns. Cisco documented cases where attackers published malicious MCP integrations, including one disguised as a Postmark email platform integration that silently BCC’d every email sent through the agent to an attacker-controlled address, enabling harvest of invoices, password resets, and internal memos. The report predicts nation-state groups’ AI abuse techniques will filter down to the cybercrime ecosystem, leading to automated agentic hacking services available for rent on the dark web. URL: https://blogs.cisco.com/ai/cisco-state-of-ai-security-2026-report

Microsoft’s October 2025 Patch Tuesday Addresses 172 Vulnerabilities, Highest of the Year

Microsoft released its October 2025 security update addressing 172 vulnerabilities, marking the highest number of patches in a single month for 2025. The update includes two actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities (CVE-2025-24990 and CVE-2025-59230), eight critical vulnerabilities, and fixes for a critical Windows Server Update Service (WSUS) flaw (CVE-2025-59287) rated 9.8 out of 10. This month also marked the end of support for Windows 10, requiring users to upgrade or purchase Extended Security Updates. URL: https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/october-2025-patch-tuesday/

Cisco Warns of New Firewall Attack Exploiting CVE-2025-20333 and CVE-2025-20362

Cisco disclosed a new attack variant targeting devices running Secure Firewall ASA and FTD Software vulnerable to CVE-2025-20333 and CVE-2025-20362. The attacks can cause unpatched devices to unexpectedly reload, leading to denial-of-service conditions. Both vulnerabilities were previously exploited as zero-days to deliver malware such as RayInitiator and LINE VIPER. Cisco strongly urges customers to apply updates immediately to prevent system compromise and service interruption. URL: https://thehackernews.com/2025/11/cisco-warns-of-new-firewall-attack.html

Ransomware Attacks Surge 25% in October 2025, Hitting 684 Organizations

New data from Comparitech reveals that ransomware attacks jumped 25% in October 2025, climbing from 546 in September to 684 incidents, marking the third-highest monthly total of the year. Manufacturing remained the most targeted sector with 121 attacks (19%), while healthcare saw attacks surge 115% from 26 to 56 incidents. The Qilin ransomware group claimed 186 victims in October alone, surpassing 700 attacks for the year. The U.S. experienced 374 attacks, a 33% increase from September. URL: https://www.comparitech.com/blog/information-security/ransomware-statistics-facts/

Seven Critical Vulnerabilities Discovered in ChatGPT-4o and GPT-5 Enable Zero-Click Attacks

Tenable security researchers uncovered seven critical vulnerabilities in OpenAI’s ChatGPT models affecting hundreds of millions of users. The flaws permit attackers to steal sensitive user data and compromise systems without requiring any direct user interaction through zero-click attacks. The most concerning vulnerability involves bypassing ChatGPT’s safety mechanisms using Bing tracking links, while Memory Injection techniques enable persistent attacks across multiple sessions. Attackers can exfiltrate data one character at a time using static tracking links that redirect to attacker-controlled domains. URL: https://www.tenable.com/blog/hackedgpt-novel-ai-vulnerabilities-open-the-door-for-private-data-leakage

Apple Addresses More Than 100 Vulnerabilities Across iPhones, Macs, and iPads

Apple disclosed an exceptionally high number of vulnerabilities in its November 2025 security updates, addressing 105 vulnerabilities in MacOS 26.1 and 56 vulnerabilities in iOS 26.1 and iPadOS 26.1. The updates include fixes for software spanning iPhones, Macs, and iPads, with particular focus on WebKit vulnerabilities. Apple did not report active exploitation of any patched defects, though the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has added eight Apple defects to its known exploited vulnerabilities catalog this year. URL: https://cyberscoop.com/apple-security-updates-november-2025/

Oracle October 2025 Critical Patch Update Addresses 170 CVEs with 374 Security Patches

Oracle released its October 2025 Critical Patch Update, the final quarterly update of the year, containing fixes for 170 unique CVEs across 374 security updates spanning 29 Oracle product families. The update includes 40 critical patches across 12 CVEs, with 10.7% of patches assigned critical severity. Affected products include Oracle Database Server, Oracle Fusion Middleware, MySQL, E-Business Suite, and various cloud applications. URL: https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2025.html

Microsoft Digital Defense Report: Over Half of Cyberattacks Driven by Extortion and Ransomware

Microsoft’s sixth annual Digital Defense Report reveals that over half of cyberattacks with known motives were driven by extortion or ransomware in 2025. The report highlights that identity-based attacks surged by 32% in the first half of 2025. Both attackers and defenders harnessed generative AI, with threat actors using AI to boost attacks by automating phishing, scaling social engineering, creating synthetic media, and developing adaptive malware. Nation-state actors also incorporated AI into cyber influence operations. URL: https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2025/10/15/digital-defense-report-2025/

Anthropic Reports Agentic AI Weaponized for Active Cyberattacks

Anthropic’s August 2025 report reveals that AI models are now being used to perform sophisticated cyberattacks, not just advise on how to carry them out. Agentic AI tools provide both technical advice and active operational support for attacks that would otherwise require a team of operators. Criminals with few technical skills are using AI to conduct complex operations, such as developing ransomware, that previously required years of training. This makes defense and enforcement increasingly difficult, as these tools can adapt to defensive measures like malware detection systems in real-time. URL: https://www.anthropic.com/news/detecting-and-countering-misuse-of-ai

Major Ransomware Incidents of 2025 Include Ingram Micro, NASCAR, and Comcast

Several high-profile ransomware attacks marked 2025, including Ingram Micro’s July breach by the SafePay group that disrupted operations worldwide and caused an estimated $136 million in daily revenue losses. Sunflower Medical Group suffered a breach affecting 220,968 individuals with stolen SSNs and medical records. The Medusa ransomware group claimed to have stolen 834.4 gigabytes of data from Comcast Corporation, demanding $1.2 million for deletion rather than leak. Manufacturing giant Jaguar Land Rover experienced a global shutdown, and Bridgestone faced production disruptions. URL: https://nordlayer.com/blog/biggest-ransomware-attacks-2025/