Morning Brief

Google has been fined €403 million for breaking the EU's data protection law, the GDPR, in the way three of its features handled people's location data from May 2018 to February 2020. Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC), Google's lead regulator in the EU, also ordered the company to make its processing comply with the law within 6 months. The DPC has not said publicly which

Microsoft is retiring SMS first-factor sign-in for Microsoft Entra ID workforce tenants worldwide and requires organizations to migrate affected users before February 1, 2027. The security-focused change will prevent employees from using a registered telephone number and SMS one-time passcode as their primary sign-in method, potentially disrupting Microsoft 365 and other Entra-protected services if administrators fail to prepare. SMS first-factor authentication, internally identified as SignInNoPassword, allows a user to enter a registered phone number instead of a username and password…

A fake LastPass Authenticator installer offered on GitHub installs a Windows kernel driver that shuts off antivirus and other security software before a password stealer runs if a victim downloads and runs it, researchers at LastPass and Delphos Labs said on September 17. Microsoft's own hardware-compatibility program signs the driver, scored zero detections on VirusTotal when researchers

A PAYLOAD ransomware attack used Active Directory Group Policy Objects to disrupt an entire Windows domain without encrypting files or deploying ransomware binaries. The operation targeted a manufacturing organization in the Middle East. It relied on domain-level control, stolen credentials, and malicious GPOs to display ransom demands, disable defenses, and lock down administrator access. In April 2026, the attackers reportedly accessed the organization through its FortiGate SSL VPN using a valid but compromised domain account. The source of the credential theft remains unconfirmed. However…

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: New Android malware uses AI to steal bank logins and PINs Did an AI really try to break free from human control? Fake parcel delivery messages steal your card and bank details Flock cameras are tracking people as well as cars Revolut phishing texts appear days after data breach 12 celebrity deepfake websites seized by Manhattan DA T-Mobile rewards points expiry texts are a phishing scam Google Pixel owners urged to patch actively exploited modem flaw AI helps scammers build convincing antivirus renewal pages How to opt out of AI chatbot training HBO Max’s…

A browser. A plugin. A package. A login screen. Normal stuff. That is basically the problem this week. The trouble keeps showing up inside things people already trust: code that takes a bad turn, old payloads coming back, exposed systems, weak checks, fake fixes, and attack paths that look almost too easy. Even the research side is getting messy, with more findings, more automation, and not

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Friday added three security flaws impacting the Linux kernel to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerabilities are listed below - CVE-2025-39682 (CVSS score: 9.8) - An improper check for unusual or exceptional conditions vulnerability in the TLS receive path