Qilin

Cisco Talos reports on a rising ransomware threat landscape in Japan, with a nearly 5% increase in incidents in the first half of 2026. Two prominent ransomware actors, 'The Gentlemen' and 'Qilin', are driving this surge. Qilin leverages generative AI to accelerate attacks by creating destructive scripts, while The Gentlemen uses legitimate red-teaming tools like AdaptixC2 to blend in and evade detection. Both groups target small- and medium-sized enterprises using double-extortion tactics, emphasizing the need for improved credential management, MFA enforcement, and updated defenses using available Snort rules.

In the first half of 2026, ransomware incidents in Japan increased slightly by 4.7%, with The Gentlemen emerging as the most active group, responsible for 14 incidents. The group operates via a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model and uses a double-extortion tactic, leveraging infrastructure including AdaptixC2 for command-and-control. Evidence from Russian-language artifacts in scripts and bash history suggests Russian-speaking actors are involved. Qilin, the second most active group, showed signs of using generative AI in developing attack scripts, with code exhibiting structured, LLM-like patterns in tools for deploying ransomware and wiping backups.

Multiple threat actors have revived the abuse of Node.js to evade detection by executing malicious JavaScript payloads through the legitimate, signed node.exe runtime. The attacks, observed since February 2026, targeted government departments, technology companies, and hotels. In one campaign, attackers used a ClickFix-style lure to deploy PowerShell scripts, established persistence, and leveraged Node.js to connect to Ethereum blockchain gateways (EtherHiding) for command retrieval. A related intrusion involved the deployment of a Rust-based backdoor, C2Looper, linked to ransomware operations. The same actors used shared infrastructure, including the C2 domain datalayerservice[.]com and IP 45.158.196[.]23:8888, across multiple victims.

Multiple threat actor clusters have exploited two critical vulnerabilities in Cisco's Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) to gain unauthorized access, steal credentials, and deploy ransomware. CVE-2026-20079, a critical authentication bypass flaw (CVSS 10.0), allowed unauthenticated remote attackers to execute scripts and gain root access. CVE-2026-20316, a lower-severity flaw, enabled access via a low-privilege account and was used in conjunction with other vulnerabilities for privilege escalation. Three distinct post-compromise activity clusters were identified: UAT-12197 deployed JSP web shells and JAR-based command executors; UAT-11823 delivered Netcat reverse shells and a Cyclops Blink variant; and UAT-11988, a ransomware operation, used living-off-the-land techniques to deploy Qilin ransomware.

Cisco Talos identified three threat clusters exploiting two recently patched vulnerabilities in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC): CVE-2026-20079 (authentication bypass, CVSS 10.0) and CVE-2026-20316 (static credentials, CVSS 5.3). UAT-11988, linked to Qilin ransomware affiliates, used static credentials to deploy ransomware after reconnaissance and lateral movement. UAT-11823, attributed to the Sandworm APT group, exploited both flaws to deploy a Cyclops Blink variant for persistent access and credential theft. UAT-12197 deployed a JSP web shell and malicious JAR file to steal credentials. Cisco confirmed exploitation of both vulnerabilities in active attacks.

Cisco Talos is tracking active exploitation of two vulnerabilities in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software: CVE-2026-20079, a critical authentication bypass flaw, and CVE-2026-20316, which allows login via a low-privileged account. Three distinct threat clusters have been identified: UAT-12197 deployed a JSP web shell and a JAR-based command executor; UAT-11823, linked to Sandworm, used CVE-2026-20079 and CVE-2026-20316 to deploy Cyclops Blink malware via a Netcat reverse shell; and UAT-11988, a Qilin ransomware operator, leveraged static credentials to conduct reconnaissance, deploy tunneling tools, and execute ransomware. Customers are urged to apply available patches immediately.

CISA has added seven actively exploited vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, including critical flaws in SonicWall SMA 1000, Sangoma Switchvox, JFrog Artifactory, Kludex Starlette, Kestra OSS, and Berri LiteLLM. Threat actors are exploiting these vulnerabilities to deploy reverse shells, execute arbitrary code, steal credentials, and deploy cryptocurrency miners. Exploitation of CVE-2026-83548 and CVE-2026-83549 in SonicWall devices has been confirmed, while CVE-2026-9586 and CVE-2026-82329 are being used to gain administrative access and conduct post-exploitation activities. Microsoft and Wiz report active exploitation of CVE-2026-42271 and CVE-2026-48710 in LiteLLM deployments, with attackers achieving remote code execution and stealing API keys, and CVE-2026-49869 in Kestra being used to establish reverse shells and deploy miners.

Wiz Threat Research observed 90 days of sustained attacks against AI infrastructure through honeypots deployed across services like LiteLLM, Flowise, and LangChain. Attackers exploited vulnerabilities in MCP servers, including authentication bypass and command injection (CVE-2026-59822, CVE-2026-42271), to achieve remote code execution and deploy cryptominers. A second pattern involved blind prompt injection against AI agent frameworks, where attackers used out-of-band DNS callbacks to confirm execution and later fetch payloads from Pastebin. Post-exploitation activity was tailored to AI environments, including in-memory extraction of LiteLLM master keys, model enumeration, and use of environment-specific camouflage to hide malicious binaries.

Gunra ransomware, a Conti-derived operation, has been actively targeting critical infrastructure sectors globally, including healthcare, financial services, and government facilities. The group exploits known vulnerabilities in Fortinet (CVE-2025-24472) and Schneider Electric (CVE-2024-5559) devices to gain initial access, then uses Impacket tools for lateral movement and credential dumping. Gunra employs a double extortion model, exfiltrating data before encryption, and has listed 51 victims on its leak site since April 2025, primarily in South Korea, Brazil, and Europe. The group has ties to affiliate programs, uses WhatsApp for negotiations, and has demonstrated advanced capabilities such as MFA bypass and session hijacking via SSL-VPN manipulation.

In Q2 2026, multiple ransomware groups remained active, with Qilin emerging as the most prolific based on victims listed on data leak sites. Microsoft disrupted a malware-signing-as-a-service operation run by the threat actor Fox Tempest, which was used by several ransomware groups including Rhysida, Akira, and Qilin. CISA added a Windows local privilege escalation vulnerability (CVE-2026-33825, BlueHammer) to its KEV catalog due to active exploitation in ransomware attacks. Check Point attributed zero-day exploitation of a critical vulnerability in its Remote Access VPN (CVE-2026-50751) to the Qilin ransomware group. Additionally, the PayoutsKing group was observed using QEMU to deploy hidden Alpine Linux-based virtual machines as a stealthy backdoor technique.