hacking
Hackers earn $1,298,250 for 47 zero-days at Pwn2Own Berlin 2026
The Pwn2Own Berlin 2026 hacking contest has concluded, with security researchers collecting $1,298,250 in rewards after exploiting 47 zero-day flaws. The competition took place at the OffensiveCon conference from May 14 to May 16 and focused on enterprise technologies and artificial intelligence. Throughout the contest, the hackers targeted fully patched products across web browsers, enterprise applications, local […]
Microsoft Exchange, Windows 11 hacked on second day of Pwn2Own
During the second day of Pwn2Own Berlin 2026, competitors collected $385,750 in cash awards after exploiting 15 unique zero-day vulnerabilities in multiple products, including Windows 11, Microsoft Exchange, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Workstations. The Pwn2Own Berlin 2026 hacking competition takes place at the OffensiveCon conference from May 14 to May 16 and focuses on enterprise technologies and […]
Windows 11 and Microsoft Edge hacked at Pwn2Own Berlin 2026
On the first day of Pwn2Own Berlin 2026, security researchers collected $523,000 in cash awards after exploiting 24 unique zero-days. Today’s highlight was Orange Tsai’s attempt, who was awarded $175,000 in rewards after chaining 4 logic bugs to achieve a sandbox escape on Microsoft Edge. Windows 11 was also hacked three times by Angelboy and TwinkleStar03 (working with the DEVCORE Internship Program), Marcin Wiązowski, […]
Former govt contractor convicted for wiping dozens of federal databases
A 34-year-old Virginia man was found guilty of conspiring to destroy dozens of government databases after getting fired from his job as a federal contractor. In 2016, Sohaib Akhter and his twin brother and co-defendant Muneeb Akhter were also sentenced to several years in prison after pleading guilty to accessing U.S. State Department systems without authorization and stealing the […]
US reportedly charges Scattered Spider hacker arrested in Finland
A 19-year-old dual United States and Estonian citizen arrested in Finland earlier this month faces federal charges in the U.S. alleging he was a prolific member of the notorious Scattered Spider hacking collective. According to temporarily unsealed court records obtained by the Chicago Tribune, the suspect (who used the online alias “Bouquet”) helped extort millions of dollars […]
British Scattered Spider hacker pleads guilty to crypto theft charges
A British man, believed to be the leader of the Scattered Spider cybercrime collective, has pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. In November 2024, U.S. prosecutors accused 24-year-old Tyler Robert Buchanan and four other suspects of stealing at least $8 million in cryptocurrency after hacking at least a dozen companies […]
Man gets 30 months for selling thousands of hacked DraftKings accounts
23-year-old Kamerin Stokes of Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for selling access to tens of thousands of hacked DraftKings accounts. According to court documents, the accounts were hijacked by Nathan Austad (aka Snoopy) with the help of Joseph Garrison (a third accomplice charged in May 2023) in a massive November 2022 credential-stuffing attack that compromised nearly 68,000 DraftKings accounts. U.S. prosecutors […]
Microsoft pays $2.3M for cloud and AI flaws at Zero Day Quest
Microsoft has awarded $2.3 million to security researchers after receiving nearly 700 submissions during this year’s Zero Day Quest hacking contest. Tom Gallagher, Vice President of Engineering at Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), said that over 80 flaws found during the live event at Microsoft’s Redmond campus were high-impact cloud and AI security vulnerabilities. “During the […]
Yanluowang ransomware access broker gets 81 months in prison
A Russian national was sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison after pleading guilty to acting as an initial access broker (IAB) for Yanluowang ransomware attacks. As 26-year-old Aleksey Olegovich Volkov (also known online as “chubaka.kor” and “nets”) admitted in his November guilty plea, he targeted at least eight companies across the United States between July […]
Ex-L3Harris exec jailed for selling zero-days to Russian exploit broker
The former head of Trenchant, a specialized U.S. defense contractor unit, was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in federal prison for stealing and selling zero-day exploits to a Russian broker whose clients include the Russian government. 39-year-old Australian national Peter Williams served as the general manager of Trenchant, a cybersecurity unit of defense […]