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"TikTok agrees to $400 million settlement in U.S. child privacy law suit."

Views expressed in this cybersecurity, cybercrime update are those of the reporters and correspondents.  Accessed on 23 August 2026, 0058 UTC.

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Russ Roberts (https://www.hawaiicybersecurityjournal.net).

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TikTok Agrees to $400 Million Settlement in U.S. Child Privacy Lawsuit

Aug 22, 2026Privacy / Regulation

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced on Friday that ByteDance-owned TikTok will pay $400 million to settle a 2024 lawsuit accusing the company of violating child privacy laws in the country. As part of the settlement, the social media platform will pay $300 million immediately, and an additional $100 million "upon entry of an order vacating a prior consent decree entered against TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly," the DoJ said in a press release. A complaint filed back in August 2024 alongside the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused the company of "massive-scale invasions of children's privacy" by knowingly allowing children under 13 to create TikTok accounts and unlawfully collecting data from those who used it in "Kids Mode." It further alleged TikTok and its parent company ByteDance failed to "comply with parents' requests to delete their children's accounts and information." At the time, the company disputed...

14 Trojanized npm Packages Drop RedC2 4.0 Linux Backdoor With AI-Assisted C2

Aug 21, 2026Malware / Threat Intelligence

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a set of trojanized npm packages that masquerade as working calendar and streak utilities but are engineered to stealthily deliver an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Linux implant dubbed RedC2 4.0. "When the module loads, it locates the bundled binary, marks it executable, and launches it as a detached background process," TrendAI, Trend Micro's enterprise cybersecurity business, said in a report published Thursday. "No install hook function call is needed; a single import anywhere in the dependency graph, even a transitive one, is enough to execute the payload." The list of identified packages is below - streak-metrics-math@1.0.0,1.0.1 kit-map-vim@1.0.0 streak-map-cache@1.0.0 streak-map-kit@1.0.0 map-streak-kit@1.0.0 streak-cache-map@1.0.0 streak-calc-metrics@1.0.0 streak-calc-math@1.0.0 streak-math-abz@1.0.0 streak-metricsaz@1.0.0 streak-math-metrics@1.0.0 streak-metrica...

Microsoft Defender's Own Driver Can Be Weaponized to Delete Security Software at Boot

Aug 21, 2026Endpoint Security / Threat Detection

Check Point Research has disclosed a technique that uses Microsoft Defender's own legitimately signed boot-time remediation driver to perform arbitrary kernel-level file and registry operations on Windows systems ranging from Windows 7 through Windows 11 25H2, with no software flaw exploited and no driver imported from outside the machine. The driver, BTR.sys (Boot Time Removal Tool), is a required Windows component, which means it cannot be added to Microsoft's Vulnerable Driver Blocklist or blocked via Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) without disrupting Defender itself. Jiří Vinopal, a threat researcher and reverse engineer at Check Point Research, presented the findings as a main-stage briefing at Black Hat USA 2026 and DEF CON 34 in Las Vegas and published the accompanying research paper alongside a proof-of-concept tool, BTR_CLI, on August 20, 2026. Check Point Research said it found no evidence the technique has been used in real-world attacks. "Dur...

AI changed the job for 68% of practitioners, SANS finds

SANSCybersecurity / AI Security

Up 14 points in a year. Training requirements shifted for 73% of teams too. Read the data.

Android Car Malware Spreads Through Built-In Updaters for Ad Fraud, Proxy Botnet

Aug 21, 2026Malware / Automotive Security

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new malware family that's specifically designed to infect Android-based vehicle head unit firmware developed by DoFun. Kaspersky, which discovered the threat in June 2026, said the end goal of the malware is to serve a multi-stage downloader to enable ad fraud and creation of a proxy botnet. "The malware spread through the built-in updaters of Android-based automotive head unit firmware," security researcher Dmitry Kalinin said. "This is the first documented case of malware found on a car head unit with an infection chain specific to that type of device." The activity has been attributed with high confidence to the MoYu Group , which was outed by the HUMAN Satori Threat Intelligence and Research team last year as part of a broader ad fraud and residential proxy scheme dubbed BADBOX. In July 2025, Google filed a lawsuit against 25 unnamed individuals or entities in China for allegedly operating the BADBOX botnet a...

Wazuh and AI For Enhanced SOC Workflows

Aug 21, 2026Security Operations / Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become one of this decade's defining technologies. From healthcare and finance to manufacturing and education, organizations increasingly rely on AI to automate repetitive tasks, uncover patterns hidden within large datasets, and support faster decision-making. Cybersecurity has experienced a similar transformation. While attackers employ AI to automate cyberattacks and accelerate vulnerability discovery, defenders are adopting AI to improve threat detection and enhance incident response. Security Operations Centers (SOCs) receive a high volume of alerts from endpoints, cloud workloads, network devices, identity providers, and business applications. Although SIEM and XDR platforms provide visibility into these environments, analysts often spend considerable time correlating alerts, searching documentation, and determining the next investigative steps. AI offers a practical way to augment analysts by providing contextual explanations, summarizing ...

11 Real Stories: How Identity Exposure Unlocks Active Attack Paths

XM CyberCloud Security / Identity Security

Map cross-domain privilege escalation to sever breach routes at key choke points.

Cisco Patches Nine Crosswork and Secure Workload Flaws, Five Scoring CVSS 10.0

Aug 21, 2026Vulnerability / Enterprise Security

Cisco has published another round of security updates for Crosswork platforms and Secure Workload Software as part of a continued comprehensive internal security review. Four of the security vulnerabilities affect Crosswork Data Gateway, Crosswork Network Controller, and Crosswork Planning, regardless of the device configuration. A brief description of each of the flaws is below - CVE-2026-20030 (CVSS score: 10.0) - An SQL injection vulnerability CVE-2026-20357 (CVSS score: 10.0) - A missing authentication for critical function vulnerability CVE-2026-20358 (CVSS score: 10.0) - An external control of file system vulnerability CVE-2026-20359 (CVSS score: 9.9) - An insufficiently protected credentials vulnerability The issues affect Cisco Crosswork Release version 7.2.1 and earlier, and have been addressed in version 7.2.1-SP. Cisco has also released fixes to remediate five vulnerabilities affecting Cisco Secure Workload, including Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) a...

GitLab CVE-2026-19478 Comes Under Active Exploitation Within Days of Disclosure

Aug 21, 2026Vulnerability / Enterprise Security

A newly disclosed security flaw in GitLab has come under active exploitation within days of public disclosure, according to watchTowr. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2026-19478 (CVSS score: 9.4), a case of code injection that allows an unauthenticated attacker to modify or delete publicly accessible GitLab projects and rewrite their data under certain conditions without requiring credentials, user interaction, or obscure configuration. The following versions of GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE) are affected by the flaw - 18.2 before 18.11.11 19.0 before 19.0.8 19.1 before 19.1.6 19.2 before 19.2.4 In an alert released earlier this week, GitLab said the issue could be exploited via a GraphQL directive. Fixes for the flaw were rolled out in GitLab CE and EE versions 19.2.4, 19.1.6, 19.0.8, and 18.11.11. Preemptive exposure management firm watchTowr told The Hacker News that it was able to reproduce the vulnerability within minutes of ...

Microsoft Patches Severe Entra ID Flaw (CVSS 10.0) Allowing Remote Code Execution

Aug 21, 2026Vulnerability / Threat Intelligence

Update: The story was updated after publication to note that the vulnerability has not been exploited. Although the security bulletin originally marked the "Exploited" field under the Exploitability Assessment table as "Yes," on August 21, 2026, Microsoft corrected the "Exploited" status to "No" after The Hacker News contacted the company for comment. It also noted, "this vulnerability was not exploited in the wild." "We identified and addressed this issue with a fix and released CVE-2026-69836 for greater transparency . There are no additional actions customers need to take,” a Microsoft spokesperson told The Hacker News. The headline has been edited to reflect this change. The original story follows below - Microsoft on Thursday warned of a maximum-severity security flaw in Entra ID that it said has been exploited in the wild, but noted that no customer action is required. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-69836...

Rust Supply Chain Attack Puts Build-Time Malware in Crates with 245 Million Downloads

Aug 20, 2026Software Security / Supply Chain Attack

The Rust Project has deleted malicious versions of three widely used Rust crates from crates.io after a compromised maintainer account published releases that added a typosquatted dependency whose build script downloaded and executed a remote payload during compilation. The affected releases are arrayref 0.3.10, internment 0.8.7, and append-only-vec 0.1.9, all published from the same owner account on August 20, 2026, and all removed within 86 to 107 minutes. Because the malicious code sat in the build script of the injected dependency, building a project that resolved it was sufficient to run the payload, and nothing from the crates themselves had to be called. Developers are advised to search ~/.cargo/registry/cache for the deleted crate files and to pin arrayref at 0.3.9 or earlier, after the Rust Security Response Team unyanked the maliciously-yanked versions during the response. There is no patched version, no CVE identifier has been assigned, and the RustSec advisories...

Suspected Russian Hackers Abuse Google OAuth and WhatsApp Linking to Hijack Accounts

Aug 20, 2026Phishing / Cyber Espionage

Three distinct suspected Russian cyber espionage threat clusters have been observed leveraging legitimate authentication flows to single out individuals working in academia, aerospace and defense, governments, and think tanks across Europe, as well as academia and think tanks within the U.S. These clusters include UNC6293 , UNC7005 , and UNC5976 . "These clusters engage in persistent, adaptive phishing campaigns, using sophisticated social engineering tactics to compromise personal accounts across multiple platforms," Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) researchers Gabby Roncone and Wesley Shields said in a report published today. UNC6293, first detailed by the tech giant and the Citizen Lab in June 2025, is assessed to be a sub-cluster of Ice Relic (formerly APT29), which is also tracked under the monikers Cozy Bear and Midnight Blizzard. The hacking crew was previously attributed to a campaign that abused a Google account feature called application specific pas...

ThreatsDay: Gogs 10.0 RCE, n8n Workflow-to-RCE, $10M Reward, GLM-5.3 AI Exploit, and More

Aug 20, 2026Hacking News / Cybersecurity News

A lot of this week’s trouble starts with something trusted doing exactly what it was allowed to do. Signed drivers get turned against defenses. Legitimate apps help malware blend in. A weak header check opens a path to code execution. Elsewhere, exposed systems, old bugs, odd hiding tricks, and AI-assisted exploit research keep lowering the effort needed to cause damage. Nothing here needs much decoration. The small gaps are doing enough work already. The threats change every week. Subscribe, and we’ll alert you when each new ThreatsDay Bulletin is out.

AI-Generated Exploit Scripts Target Siemens S7 PLCs in U.S. Critical Infrastructure

Aug 20, 2026Industrial Security / Artificial Intelligence

The U.S. government on Wednesday warned of an "active threat" targeting critical infrastructure organizations in the country using artificial intelligence (AI)-generated exploit scripts. The activity is targeting Siemens S7 SeriesProgrammable Logic Controllers (PLCs) to conduct reconnaissance and capability development using AI-generated scripts disguised as legitimate monitoring tools. That said, the ongoing PLC targeting activity is assessed to be broader in scope than Siemens PLCs. "The actors leverage internet scanning services like Censys and ZoomEye to identify internet-exposed PLCs running outdated software or that are otherwise poorly protected," according to the advisory published by the National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Energy (DOE), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Targets of the activity include Critical Manufacturing, Energy, Wa...

New Cryptographic Context Injection Attack Could Let Web Pages Steal Grok Chat Data

Aug 20, 2026Artificial Intelligence / Data Security

Adversa AI has disclosed an attack technique that it says can cause xAI's Grok chatbot to send a user's name, approximate location, subscription tier, and the prompts from the ongoing conversation to an attacker-controlled server after the user asks it to summarize an ordinary web page. The AI security company, which has codenamed the technique "Cryptographic Context Injection ," said the transfer completed without a confirmation step and with no visible warning in its proof-of-concept demonstration. There is no patch, no CVE identifier, and no user-facing workaround, and the writeup does not report any exploitation in the wild. Asked which build was tested, Adversa told The Hacker News the target was the Grok web chat at grok.com running Grok 4.5 Fast, and that the attack was reproduced once on August 19, 2026. The writeup gives no success rate. The company said it has attempted the attack 20 times since June with a 40% success rate, and that the failures cam...

Isolated-vm Flaw Lets Sandboxed JavaScript Escape to Host for Potential RCE

Aug 20, 2026Vulnerability / Application Security

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a critical security flaw in isolated-vm , a popular open-source sandbox with more than 2,900 stars and 190 forks on GitHub, that could allow attackers to escape the confines of the isolated environment. The vulnerability (" GHSA-864f-rcv7-6rh4 "), which has yet to be assigned a CVE identifier, impacts all versions of the library before and including 7.0.0. It has been patched in versions 6.2.0 and 7.0.1 released earlier this month. Isolated-vm is a Node.js library for running untrusted JavaScript inside a V8 Isolate , an independent instance of the Google V8 JavaScript engine, allowing multiple sandboxed JavaScript environments to run concurrently without sharing data or interfering with each other. The npm package has witnessed nearly 1 million downloads over the past week. Because each V8 Isolate has a separate state and maintains its own heap, it is not possible to directly pass JavaScript objects from the main Node.js threa...

Critical NetScaler Flaw Can Bypass Authentication on Certain Gateway and AAA Servers

Aug 20, 2026Network Security / Enterprise Security

Citrix has released updates to address two security flaws impacting NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway deployments, including a critical-severity authentication bypass vulnerability. According to the cloud computing and virtualization technology company, the issues affect customer-managed NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway, including certain FIPS and NDcPP builds, as well as SecurAccess ZTNA Hybrid deployments that use customer-managed NetScaler instances. It bears noting that the vulnerabilities do not apply to Citrix-managed cloud services or Citrix-managed Adaptive Authentication, as the necessary updates have already been applied. The list of impacted NetScaler versions is below - NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway 14.1 BEFORE 14.1-73.32  NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway 13.1 BEFORE 13.1-63.21  NetScaler ADC FIPS BEFORE 14.1-73.32 FIPS  NetScaler ADC FIPS and NDcPP BEFORE 13.1-37.277  The first of the two vulnerabilities is CVE-2026...

Attackers Exploit Zimbra SNMP Flaw for Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution

Aug 20, 2026Vulnerability / Email Security

A now-patched security flaw impacting Zimbra Collaboration (ZCS) has come under active exploitation in the wild, according to the Polish Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT Polska). The vulnerability in question is CVE-2026-73570 (CVSS score: 8.9), which refers to a case of command injection that can lead to remote code execution. "A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Zimbra Collaboration (ZCS) before 10.1.20 when the optional zimbra-snmp package is installed, and SNMP notifications are enabled," according to a description of the flaw in the NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD). "Due to improper sanitization of untrusted input during SNMP notification processing, an unauthenticated attacker can send specially crafted SMTP requests that may result in execution of arbitrary operating system commands as the Zimbra user." The security issue was patched by Zimbra last month with the release of version 10.1.20. In a bulletin issued earlie...