Cristian Luțic
Cristian Luțic is a cybersecurity professional and Editor-in-Chief of iSec.News, with experience in security enablement, risk analysis, and vulnerability reporting. As Editor-in-Chief, he is responsible for editorial standards, source verification, and publication oversight at iSec News.
From professional sports to cybersecurity, his career path may have been unconventional, but it has been driven by the same core values: discipline, perseverance, and a passion for doing meaningful, impactful work.
iSec.News Motto: “Only news, only information security and privacy news. No fluff.”
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Recorded Future identifies four threat clusters using CastleLoader
Recorded Future’s Insikt Group identified four clusters using the CastleLoader malware loader, assigned the operator the name GrayBravo, and detailed distinct tactics, payloads and a multi-tiered infrastructure while noting the loader’s proliferation among other threat actors.
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Researchers find VS Code extensions that install stealer malware, Microsoft removes packages
Researchers and security firms found two malicious Visual Studio Code extensions that stole credentials, screenshots and browser data; Microsoft removed the packages and analysts warned developers to review extensions and supply-chain risks.
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Ransomware gangs use ‘Shanya’ packer-as-a-service to hide EDR-killing payloads
Security researchers say multiple ransomware groups are using the Shanya packer-as-a-service to deliver in-memory, EDR-disabling payloads that side-load DLLs and deploy kernel drivers to stop security software; Sophos published technical analysis and indicators of compromise.
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FinCEN: Ransomware Payments Fell in 2024 After 2023 Peak, Report Shows
FinCEN reported 4,194 ransomware incidents from 2022–2024 with more than $2.1 billion in payments; activity peaked in 2023 and fell in 2024 after law enforcement disruptions of major gangs.
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Poland detains three Ukrainian nationals over alleged use of advanced hacking equipment
Polish police arrested three Ukrainian nationals, aged 39–43, accusing them of attempting to damage IT systems and obtaining data important to national defence; officers seized hacking equipment including a Flipper device, multiple SIM cards and other electronics, and have detained the men for three months pending trial.
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Google adds User Alignment Critic to Chrome to protect Gemini agentic browsing
Google is introducing a separate, isolated LLM called User Alignment Critic in Chrome to vet actions taken by Gemini-powered agentic browsing. The architecture also uses origin restrictions, user prompts for sensitive steps, prompt-injection detection and automated red-teaming; Google is offering bounties up to $20,000 and has not given a public rollout date.
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Critical Sneeit WordPress plugin RCE actively exploited, security firm reports
A critical remote code execution flaw (CVE-2025-6389) in the Sneeit Framework WordPress plugin is being exploited in the wild; Wordfence said attackers have created admin accounts and uploaded web shells. The issue affects versions up to 8.3 and was fixed in 8.4. Separately, VulnCheck observed an ICTBroadcast exploit delivering a DDoS botnet called “frost.”
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MuddyWater using UDP-based backdoor ‘UDPGangster’ in Turkey, Israel and Azerbaijan campaigns
Fortinet FortiGuard Labs says MuddyWater has been using a UDP-based backdoor named UDPGangster to target users in Turkey, Israel and Azerbaijan via spear-phishing Word documents that rely on macros; the backdoor includes persistence mechanisms and extensive anti-analysis checks before contacting a UDP command-and-control server.
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Leaked Intellexa Materials Link Predator Spyware to Zero-Day Exploits and Diverse Delivery Vectors
Leaked documents and technical analysis link Intellexa’s Predator spyware to exploitation of multiple zero-day vulnerabilities and a range of delivery methods, including messaging links and malicious ads, according to Amnesty International, Google Threat Intelligence and Recorded Future; Pakistan has denied the allegations.
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CISA details BRICKSTORM backdoor used by PRC-linked hackers against vSphere and Windows environments
CISA has published technical details of BRICKSTORM, a Golang backdoor used by PRC-linked threat actors to maintain stealthy, long-term access to VMware vSphere and Windows environments; CrowdStrike and other firms link the tool to UNC5221 and Warp Panda, while the Chinese embassy has denied the allegations.
