When your pet goes missing, it can be totally heartbreaking.

So hearing that they’ve been found is no doubt very welcome news. Even better to see a photo of them looking safe and well.

But while the photo may look exactly like your pet, that doesn’t mean the person who sent it has your pet or even ever saw it.

The BBC reports how criminals are sending owners AI-generated images of their missing pets, demanding money for their return, and sometimes threatening to harm the animals when owners refuse to pay.

The BBC interviewed two targets of this scam who were both contacted after posting a missing pet message on social media. The scammers sent them pictures of their beloved pets and demanded a ransom for their safe return.

Messages like these exploit two powerful emotions in quick succession: relief that a beloved pet has been found, followed by fear that something terrible will happen unless the owner acts immediately.

The scam typically follows this pattern:

• A scammer finds a missing pet appeal, which is typically posted to social media or local sites with an accompanying photo and contact details.
• The scammer contacts the owner and claims to have found the animal. An image fabricated with the help of AI makes the claim appear more convincing.
• They ask for money which may be described as a reward or as payment for emergency treatment.
• They add pressure. They might refuse to meet until payment arrives, or threaten to sell or harm the pet.

Our data backs this report up. Over the last month, people anonymously submitted three distinctive types of pet related scam attempts to Malwarebytes Scam Guard:

• “We found your missing cat” message, with photos: Someone claimed to have found a user’s missing cat and had images of it.
• Found pet callback lure: A voicemail claimed to have found a lost cat and supplied a callback number.
• Humane Society impersonation and payment demand: A caller claimed a missing cat needed emergency surgery, and demanded successive Zelle payments.

How to stay safe

Sadly, while it can be very useful to use social media to retrieve lost pets, it also attracts scammers and other abuse.

You don’t have to stop asking for help online, but you can put some safeguards between an unexpected message and any payment.

• Keep some identifying details private. Leave a distinctive feature out of the public description so you can ask a supposed finder about it later.
• Do not pay in advance to secure a reunion. Be particularly wary of someone who insists that you send money before they will let you see the animal. Arrange any legitimate handover in a safe, public location, and verify that it is your pet before paying a reward.
• Verify veterinary claims independently. If someone says your pet is at an animal hospital, find the hospital’s contact details yourself and call it directly. Do not rely on the number or payment link in the message.
• A second pair of eyes can help you assess a demand without the same emotional pressure. Malwarebytes Scam Guard can help you identify whether a message might be a scam and how to proceed.
• If someone is threatening your pet, remember that when they make threats to your pet, it is very likely they don’t have a clue where it is either, so don’t let them extort you.

Something feel off? Check it before you click.  

Malwarebytes Scam Guard helps you analyze suspicious links, texts, and screenshots instantly.  

Available with Malwarebytes Premium Security for all your devices, and in the Malwarebytes app for iOS and Android.  

Try it free → 

Unit 42 details recent threat intelligence, highlighting cyberespionage, financial extortion, and the rapid adoption of AI across offensive workflows.

The post Unit 42 Threat Intelligence Highlights - Nov. 2, 2026 appeared first on Unit 42.

Hackers reduced the GMO Internet ransom demand from $50M to $1M and leaked victim files after the Japanese conglomerate ignored multiple bug warnings.

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The post GMO Internet Ransom Demand Slashed After Cloud Breach appeared first on Daily CyberSecurity.

This week on the Lock and Code podcast…

At just 17 years old, Jordan DeMay was murdered by strangers online.

That’s how Jordan’s father, John DeMay, described what happened to his son four years ago. At home in Michigan, Jordan was readying for a weekend trip when he received a friend request on Instagram. The invite was sent by a user named “dani.robertts” whose profile showed an attractive young woman. After accepting the request, Jordan and the account chatted about nothing in particular—teenage matters, getting to know one another—before “dani” became flirtatious, eventually sending Jordan what she claimed was a nude photograph of herself.

Jordan responded in kind with an explicit photograph of himself.

But here, a trap was revealed.

“Dani Robertts” was not a young, friendly, interested woman. Dani Robertts was several men, sending messages from thousands of miles away in Lagos, Nigeria, who had followed a script to pressure young men into handing over their money. This was not the first time these men had run this scam. But with a great deal of investigative work, it hopefully has become the last.

What happened to Jordan can happen to anyone—and it has happened to far too many young men and women today. It is a type of attack commonly referred to as “sextortion.”

Today, on the Lock and Code podcast with host David Ruiz, we speak with John DeMay about his son Jordan, his family’s relationship with social media, and what parents should know.

Tune in today to listen to the full conversation.

Show notes and credits:

Intro Music: “Spellbound” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Outro Music: “Good God” by Wowa (unminus.com)

Listen up—Malwarebytes doesn’t just talk cybersecurity, we provide it.

Protect yourself from online attacks that threaten your identity, your files, your system, and your financial well-being with our exclusive offer for Malwarebytes Premium for Lock and Code listeners.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a complaint accusing Digital Forensics Corporation of exploiting people already targeted by sextortionists.

We have talked about sextortion and recovery scams in the past, but we never looked specifically at the combination. Apparently, there is a lot of money to be made for those ruthless enough to take money from victims already in a state of panic.

The FTC has accused Digital Forensics Corporation, its owner Dmitry Belkin, and affiliated companies of misleading sextortion victims into paying at least $60 million for assistance that, in numerous instances, they did not provide. A federal court has temporarily halted the defendants’ activities while the case proceeds.

Most of the time, sextortion emails are a bluff sent to a large number of targets to see if one takes the bait. But sextortion can also involve intimate images that someone really possesses. In those cases, a criminal threatens to share the material unless the victim pays, sends more images, or complies with other demands.

In those cases, victims can feel desperate, especially when the demands keep coming, and may look for help to make it stop. According to the FTC, Digital Forensics targeted people searching for that help through advertisements on Google, YouTube, X, and other platforms. The company allegedly claimed it could track down criminals worldwide, identify perpetrators, and provide law enforcement with evidence needed to make arrests.

Digital Forensics allegedly charged between $1,499 and $20,000 for a “Phase 1” package. That was supposed to include communicating with the sextortionist, tracking their location, producing an investigative report, and reporting the crime to law enforcement.

According to the FTC, Digital Forensics Corporation changed the victims’ account settings to block the sextortionist, fabricated chat transcripts, and presented pre-saved coordinates, often in Nigeria or the Philippines, as the sextortionist’s location.

After collecting the first payment, the company allegedly pressured customers to purchase “Phase 2” services, supposedly providing ongoing account monitoring and further assistance. The FTC says the company did not follow through on those promises either.

Another huge red flag was that the company also allegedly discouraged victims from blocking their blackmailers, contrary to law enforcement and expert advice.

The allegations against Digital Forensics Corporation have not yet been decided by the court.

How to stay safe

Be wary of anyone who promises to stop the threats or pressures you to pay immediately. Help should offer clear information and realistic options. It should not turn your fear into another payment deadline.

If someone is threatening to share intimate images, you do not have to handle it alone.

• Preserve the threats and account details. Keep the messages, usernames, and payment demands. Block the offender but do not delete your account or the messages, since they may help real investigators.
• Stop communicating and block the blackmailer. Do not pay them or give them access to your devices or financial accounts. Report the account using the platform’s safety tools.
• Tell someone you trust about the sextortion. A friend, family member, counselor, or other trusted adult can provide support while you decide what to do next.
• Report the crime. Contact local police. In the US, you can also report sextortion to the FBI. If it involves a minor, report it through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline.

If you have already paid a service that you believe misled you, keep its ads, messages, contract, and receipts, and report your experience to the FTC through ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

If you’re unsure whether something is a scam or not, ask Malwarebytes Scam Guard. It can help you assess it and provide advice on next steps.

Something feel off? Check it before you click.  

Malwarebytes Scam Guard helps you analyze suspicious links, texts, and screenshots instantly.  

Available with Malwarebytes Premium Security for all your devices, and in the Malwarebytes app for iOS and Android.  

Try it free → 

ShinyHunters PeopleSoft attacks are back. A one-letter WAF bypass lets the group exploit CVE-2026-35273 and plant web shells on unpatched servers.

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The post ShinyHunters Renews Oracle PeopleSoft Attacks With One-Character WAF Bypass appeared first on Daily CyberSecurity.

What Happened

• On 25 August 2026, Manchester Airports Group (MAG), the operator of Manchester Airport, London Stansted Airport, and East Midlands Airport, reported they recently suffered data breach.
• Personal information belonging to approximately 8.7 million customers was reportedly accessed. The majority of affected records involve email addresses collected via in-airport Wi-Fi sign ups, alongside customer data from car parking, airport lounge, and Fast Track security bookings.
• According to BBC reports, the cybercriminals behind the attack issued a ransom demand to MAG. MAG said it had to temporarily suspended access to its online "Manage My Booking" service but importantly said that passenger safety, aviation security, and flight operations remained uncompromised and operated normally.
• On 30 August, the MAG breach was then claimed by an known data extortion group called FulcrumSec, which told BleepingComputer that it stole approximately 86 GB of data. 
• The FulcrumSec group claims it obtained access using airport-specific Iterable API credentials exposed in client-side JavaScript and that the stolen material includes nearly 200,000 records related to upcoming travel during the remainder of 2026.

• In mid-2026, an emerging cybercriminal group known as ExfilSquad launched a high-profile extortion campaign targeting prominent UK organisations across the public sector, education, and law enforcement, as well as other firms worldwide.
• Unlike traditional ransomware groups, ExfilSquad does not deploy encryptors or destructive malware. Instead, they operate as a pure data extortion group, stealing data and threatening to publish it on their onion-based Data Leak Site (DLS) if a ransom is not paid.
• Several prominent UK entities have confirmed breaches linked to the group:
• UK Department for Education (DfE): Approximately 600,000 records stolen from its Help Portal containing parent and staff contact details (names, emails, phone numbers, job titles), plus around 7,000 records from the Turing Portal.
• Police National Legal Database (PNLD): Stole 1.9 GB of data (around 135,000 records) containing contact information for over 100,000 serving police officers, staff, and criminal justice professionals, alongside around 21,000 "Ask the Police" public inquiry records.
• Newcastle University: Approximately 440,000 records compromised containing applicant and student contact information, personally identifiable information (PII), and admissions database records caused by a technical configuration flaw connecting to an admissions system.
• Analysis of the details left on the data leak site revealed that ExfilSquad's primary attack vector involves exploiting misconfigurations in cloud portals, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, internal case management systems, as well as Microsoft Power Pages data tables left publicly accessible without proper authentication.
• To force compliance and prove their claims are real, ExfilSquad uploaded multi-gigabyte torrent files for each victim to their TOR leak site. Resecurity noted that ExfilSquad assigns a distinct Torrent Tracker and initial Web Seed per victim.

Analyst Comment

While ExfilSquad is a new group, they appear to be already experienced at running these types of attacks, suggesting they have a history of cybercrime. Plus, ExfilSquad’s recent campaign highlights the growing trend of transitioning from file-encrypting ransomware to extortion driven entirely by cloud and SaaS misconfigurations. Organisations that have invested in defending against endpoint-based threats are often leaving critical business application interfaces exposed.

SaaS platforms continue to be primary targets of English-speaking cybercrime communities. In recent years,  customers of major SaaS providers, such as Salesloft, Salesforce, and Snowflake have all been extorted. Microsoft Power Pages portals, CRM databases, and customer support helpdesks frequently hold vast repositories of sensitive contact data and interaction histories. When internet-facing API endpoints or data table permissions are left unauthenticated or unpatched, cybercriminals can systematically scrape massive volumes of data without ever needing to drop a payload or escalate privileges internally.

ExfilSquad’s reliance on torrent distribution further amplifies reputational and operational damage. While gangs like LockBit, Clop, and Akira have previously utilised torrents, ExfilSquad’s operational twist of assigning unique Torrent Trackers and dedicated Web Seeds to individual victims ensures that leaked files distribute rapidly across P2P networks, making it extremely difficult to perform a takedown.

While ExfilSquad’s breaches have largely compromised contact directories and administrative support records, the real-world risks remain significant. Exposing work emails, names, and organisational structures for over 100,000 police officers and civil servants poses distinct social engineering, spear-phishing, and physical security concerns that impacted institutions will have to manage long after the breach occurs.

Defensive Takeaways

• Audit Microsoft Power Pages and Public SaaS Tables: Regularly review public data table permissions, web API settings, and unauthenticated browser views across Microsoft Power Pages, CRMs, and customer support portals to ensure backend data tables are not exposed to the public internet.
• Harden CRM and Case Management Integrations: Treat external-facing admissions portals, helpdesks, and case management systems as high-risk platforms. Implement strict access controls, conduct routine configuration audits, and enforce proper API token security.
• Deploy External Attack Surface Management (EASM): Utilise continuous external attack surface scanning to detect newly exposed web endpoints, misconfigured database connectors, and publicly exposed storage buckets before malicious actors locate them.
• Incorporate Pure Extortion into Incident Response Plans: Security teams must adapt incident response playbooks for data-theft-only scenarios. Organisations may seek to establish protocols for monitoring peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and managing public disclosures when stolen data is distributed via torrents.

Relevant Sources

1. https://www.computing.co.uk/news/2026/security/newcastle-university-data-breach-exfilsquad
2. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/who-are-exfilsquad-hackers-cyberattacks-dtzhvvzgj
3. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2026/07/statementonpotentialunauthoriseddataaccess/
4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6dmgrp21po
5. https://www.pnld.co.uk/article/?id=7ebf3c0e-598e-f111-8077-7ced8d3aa78f

Relevant CTI Sources

1. https://www.ransomware.live/group/ExfilSquad
2. https://www.resecurity.com/blog/article/exfilsquad-targets-new-victims-shares-data-via-torrents
3. https://socradar.io/blog/dark-web-profile-exfilsquad/
4. https://www.sans.org/blog/hunting-saas-threats-insights-for589-course-cybercriminal-campaigns

Operation Jackal IV Targets West African Organized Crime Groups

Major Arrests and Financial Crime Investigations

Sextortion and Crime-as-a-Service Emerge