Investigators are examining a major data breach involving Korean Air after personal records for around 30,000 employees were exposed in a cyberattack on a former subsidiary.
An incident that affected KC&D Service, which previously handled in-flight catering before being sold to private equity firm Hahn and Company in 2020.
The leaked information is understood to include employee names and bank account numbers. Korean Air said customer records were not impacted, and emergency security checks were completed instead of waiting for confirmation of the intrusion.
Korean Air also reported the breach to the relevant authorities.
Executives said the company is focusing on identifying the full scope of the breach and who has been affected, while urging KC&D to strengthen controls and prevent any recurrence. Korean Air also plans to upgrade internal data protection measures.
The attack follows a similar case at Asiana Airlines last week, where details of about 10,000 employees were compromised, raising wider concerns over cybersecurity resilience across the aviation sector of South Korea.
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Trust Wallet has urged users to update its Google Chrome extension after a security breach affecting version 2.68 resulted in the theft of roughly $7 million. The company confirmed it will refund all impacted users and advised downloading version 2.69 immediately.
Mobile users and other browser extension versions were unaffected.
Blockchain security firms revealed that malicious code in version 2.68 harvested wallet mnemonic phrases, sending decrypted credentials to an attacker‑controlled server.
Around $3 million in Bitcoin, $431 in Solana, and more than $3 million in Ethereum were stolen and moved through centralised exchanges and cross‑chain bridges for laundering. Hundreds of users were affected.
Analysts suggest the incident may involve an insider or a nation-state actor, exploiting leaked Chrome Web Store API keys.
Trust Wallet has launched a support process for victims and warned against impersonation scams. CEO Eowyn Chen said the malicious extension bypassed the standard release checks and that investigation and remediation are ongoing.
The incident highlights ongoing security risks for browser-based cryptocurrency wallets and the importance of user vigilance, including avoiding unofficial links and never sharing recovery phrases.
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Cybercriminals are exploiting trust in India’s traffic enforcement systems by using fake e-Challan portals to steal financial data from vehicle owners. The campaign relies on phishing websites that closely mimic official government platforms.
Researchers at Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs say the operation marks a shift away from malware towards phishing-based deception delivered through web browsers. More than 36 fraudulent websites have been linked to the campaign, which targets users across India through SMS messages.
Victims receive alerts claiming unpaid traffic fines, often accompanied by warnings of licence suspension or legal action. The messages include links directing users to fake portals displaying fabricated violations and small penalty amounts, with no connection to government databases.
The sites restrict payments to credit and debit cards, prompting users to enter full card details. Investigators found that repeated payment attempts allow attackers to collect multiple sets of sensitive information from a single victim.
Researchers say the infrastructure is shared with broader phishing schemes that impersonate courier services, banks, and transportation platforms. Security experts advise users to verify fines only through official websites and to avoid clicking on links in unsolicited messages.
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Authorities in France are responding to a significant cyber incident after a pro-Russian hacker group, Noname057, claimed responsibility for a distributed denial-of-service attack on the national postal service, La Poste.
The attack began on 22 December and forced core computer systems offline, delaying parcel deliveries during the busy Christmas period instead of allowing normal operations to continue.
According to reports, standard letter delivery was not affected. However, postal staff lost the ability to track parcels, and customers experienced disruptions when using online payment services connected to La Banque Postale.
Recovery work was still underway several days later, underscoring the increasing reliance of critical services on uninterrupted digital infrastructure.
Noname057 has previously been linked to cyberattacks across Europe, mainly targeting Ukraine and countries seen as supportive of Kyiv instead of neutral states.
Europol led a significant operation against the group earlier in the year, with the US Department of Justice also involved, highlighting growing international coordination against cross-border cybercrime.
The incident has renewed concerns about the vulnerability of essential logistics networks and public-facing services to coordinated cyber disruption. European authorities continue to assess long-term resilience measures to protect citizens and core services from future attacks.
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Regulators worldwide are being urged to adopt stronger oversight frameworks for AI in capital markets after an IMF technical note warned that rapid AI adoption could reshape securities trading while increasing systemic risk.
AI brings major efficiency gains in asset management and high-frequency trading instead of slower, human-led processes, yet opacity, market volatility, cyber threats and model concentration remain significant concerns.
The IMF warns that AI could create powerful data oligopolies where only a few firms can train the strongest models, while autonomous trading agents may unintentionally collude by widening spreads without explicit coordination.
Retail investors also face rising exposure to AI washing, where financial firms exaggerate or misrepresent AI capability, making transparency, accountability and human-in-the-loop review essential safeguards.
Supervisory authorities are encouraged to scale their own AI capacity through SupTech tools for automated surveillance and social-media sentiment monitoring.
The note highlights India as a key case study, given the dominance of algorithmic trading and SEBI’s early reporting requirements for AI and machine learning. The IMF also points to the National Stock Exchange’s use of AI in fraud detection as an emerging-market model for resilient monitoring infrastructure.
The report underlines the need for regulators to prepare for AI-driven market shocks, strengthen governance obligations on regulated entities and build specialist teams capable of understanding model risk instead of reacting only after misconduct or misinformation harms investors.
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Users of popular AI chatbots are generating bikini deepfakes by manipulating photos of fully clothed women, often without consent. Online discussions show how generative AI tools can be misused to create sexually suggestive deepfakes from ordinary images, raising concerns about image-based abuse.
A now-deleted Reddit thread shared prompts for using Google’s Gemini to alter clothing in photographs. One post asked for a woman’s traditional dress to be changed to a bikini. Reddit removed the content and later banned the subreddit over deepfake-related harassment.
Researchers and digital rights advocates warn that nonconsensual deepfakes remain a persistent form of online harassment. Millions of users have visited AI-powered websites designed to undress people in photos. The trend reflects growing harm enabled by increasingly realistic image generation tools.
Most mainstream AI chatbots prohibit the creation of explicit images and apply safeguards to prevent abuse. However, recent advances in image-editing models have made it easier for users to bypass guardrails using simple prompts, according to limited testing and expert assessments.
Technology companies say their policies ban altering a person’s likeness without consent, with penalties including account suspensions. Legal experts argue that deepfakes involving sexualised imagery represent a core risk of generative AI and that accountability must extend to both users and platforms.
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Many small businesses in the US are facing a sharp rise in cyber attacks, yet large numbers still try to manage the risk on their own.
A recent survey by Guardz found that more than four in ten SMBs have already experienced a cyber incident, while most owners believe the overall threat level is continuing to increase.
Rather than relying on specialist teams, over half of small businesses still leave critical cybersecurity tasks to untrained staff or the owner. Only a minority have a formal incident response plan created with a cybersecurity professional, and more than a quarter do not carry cyber insurance.
Phishing, ransomware and simple employee mistakes remain the most common dangers, with negligence seen as the biggest internal risk.
Recovery times are improving, with most affected firms able to return to normal operations quickly and very few suffering lasting damage.
However, many still fail to conduct routine security assessments, and outdated technology remains a widespread concern. Some SMBs are increasing cybersecurity budgets, yet a significant share still spend very little or do not know how much is being invested.
More small firms are now turning to managed service providers instead of trying to cope alone.
The findings suggest that preparation, professional support and clearly defined response plans can greatly improve resilience, helping organisations reduce disruption and maintain business continuity when an attack occurs.
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Fraudulent investment platform Nomani has surged, spreading from Facebook to YouTube. ESET blocked tens of thousands of malicious links this year, mainly in Czech Republic, Japan, Slovakia, Spain, and Poland.
The scam utilises AI-generated videos, branded posts, and social media advertisements to lure victims into fake investments that promise high returns. Criminals then request extra fees or sensitive personal data, and often attempt a secondary scam posing as Europol or INTERPOL.
Recent improvements make Nomani’s AI videos more realistic, using trending news or public figures to appear credible. Campaigns run briefly and misuse social media forms and surveys to harvest information while avoiding detection.
Despite overall growth, detections fell 37% in the second half of 2025, suggesting that scammers are adapting to more stringent law enforcement measures. Meta’s ad platforms earned billions from scams, demonstrating the global reach of Nomani fraud.
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US insurance firm Aflac has confirmed that a cyberattack disclosed in June affected around 22.65 million people. The breach involved the theft of sensitive personal and health information; however, the company initially did not specify the number of individuals affected.
In filings with the Texas attorney general, Aflac said the compromised data includes names, dates of birth, home addresses, government-issued identification numbers, driving licence details, and Social Security numbers. Medical and health insurance information was also accessed during the incident.
A separate filing with the Iowa attorney general suggested the attackers may be linked to a known cybercriminal organisation. Federal law enforcement and external cybersecurity specialists indicated the group had been targeting the insurance sector more broadly.
Security researchers have linked a wave of recent insurance-sector breaches to Scattered Spider, a loosely organised group of predominantly young, English-speaking hackers. The timing and targeting of the Aflac incident align with the group’s activity.
The US company stated that it has begun notifying the affected individuals. The company, which reports having around 50 million customers, did not respond to requests for comment. Other insurers, including Erie Insurance and Philadelphia Insurance Companies, reported breaches during the same period.
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Mandatory facial verification will be introduced in South Korea for anyone opening a new mobile phone account, as authorities try to limit identity fraud.
Officials said criminals have been using stolen personal details to set up phone numbers that later support scams such as voice phishing instead of legitimate services.
Major mobile carriers, including LG Uplus, Korea Telecom and SK Telecom, will validate users by matching their faces against biometric data stored in the PASS digital identity app.
Such a requirement expands the country’s identity checks rather than replacing them outright, and is intended to make it harder for fraud rings to exploit stolen data at scale.
The measure follows a difficult year for data security in South Korea, marked by cyber incidents affecting more than half the population.
SK Telecom reported a breach involving all 23 million of its customers and now faces more than $1.5 billion in penalties and compensation.
Regulators also revealed that mobile virtual network operators were linked to 92% of counterfeit phones uncovered in 2024, strengthening the government’s case for tougher identity controls.
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