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Positive Technologies
Kimi K3 Open Model Surpasses Closed GPT and Anthropic Systems on Independent Benchmarks
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Positive Technologies Offers Up to 500,000 Rubles for Bypassing PT Application Firewall
Vulnerabilities & Exploits
LunaSpy Android Spyware Masquerades as FSB Antivirus and Bundles Right Dialer
Malware & BotnetsPositive Technologies Adds LLM Firewall Module to PT Application Firewall for AI Service Protection
Positive Technologies has developed the LLM Firewall module as part of its PT Application Firewall solution to secure AI services against prompt injection attacks and data leakage. The module inspects both user requests sent to large language models and the responses generated by those models, detecting attempts to bypass restrictions, extract system instructions, or misuse agent capabilities. It specifically targets prompt injections hidden in documents or direct inputs that could override the model's original instructions. Additional detection covers personal data, passwords, access keys, and toxic or prohibited content in both directions of communication. The solution integrates via OpenAI-compatible APIs and is already available in PT AF Cloud, with deployment in PT AF PRO planned for later. Organizations can configure separate policies for different AI services, choosing between monitoring and blocking modes for requests and responses independently.
PT AF Cloud Uses Machine Learning to Detect Shifts in Web Attack Patterns from Millions of WAF Events
Positive Technologies has detailed how its PT AF Cloud service applies anomaly detection to WAF events, turning tens of millions of daily security events into actionable weekly alerts for SOC teams. The system builds traffic profiles based on the distribution of triggered protection rules for each tenant and compares current hourly or daily profiles against a weighted historical baseline using Jensen-Shannon distance. This approach identifies meaningful changes in attack composition even when overall event volume remains stable, catching the start of scans, exploitation of newly published vulnerabilities, or post-release application changes that trigger new rules. Two detection modes operate in parallel: an hourly mode for rapid spikes and a daily mode for gradual shifts distributed across multiple hours. Alerts include comparative tables of top rules, unique attack vectors, and direct links to the relevant events in the PT AF interface. Over four weeks the detector surfaced roughly 1,100 anomalies across the cloud, with expert review confirming that 69 percent indicated either an attack or a protection misconfiguration.
Innostage Lab Benchmarks PT NGFW 1.10.3 Performance in Eight Load Scenarios
Innostage researchers conducted extensive performance testing of PT NGFW version 1.10.3, the certified release at the time of trials. The evaluation covered TCP connection setup rates, concurrent session capacity, and throughput on a custom EMIX traffic profile with varying security modules enabled. Tests used Cisco TRex generators and a high-rule-count policy of 100,000 entries to simulate realistic enterprise conditions. Results showed the device sustaining 700,000 CPS and 6.4 million concurrent connections, matching or approaching vendor claims under HA-cluster configuration. Throughput remained above 27 Gbps even with IPS, application control, antivirus, NAT, URL filtering, and logging active. The report highlights differences in test methodology compared with vendor figures, including packet sizes and clustering setup.
CTEM Without the Hype: Understanding Gartner's Continuous Threat Exposure Management Framework
The article explains the evolution of vulnerability management from basic scheduled scanning to risk-based approaches and finally to Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM). It positions CTEM as a comprehensive program introduced by Gartner in 2022 that integrates asset management, EASM, CAASM, automated pentesting, and business-context prioritization. The five-stage cycle of Scoping, Discovery, Prioritization, Validation, and Mobilization is detailed with practical examples such as protecting customer databases in an e-commerce environment. Gartner predicts organizations prioritizing CTEM will suffer three times fewer breaches by 2026, though only 16% have reached operational maturity. The piece also covers common implementation pitfalls and the emergence of the first Magic Quadrant for Exposure Assessment Platforms featuring vendors like Tenable, Qualys, and Rapid7.
Hacker or Engineer? Reconstructing Attack Chains in Industrial OT Networks
Positive Technologies expert Anton Kutepov presents a detailed educational scenario from the Standoff online polygon to demonstrate how security teams can trace an attack from initial perimeter compromise to unauthorized writes on a PLC. The case begins with an unexpected SCADA server command to a hydrocracking unit controller outside the maintenance window. By correlating network traffic, endpoint telemetry, authentication logs, and asset context, analysts reconstruct the full path: exploitation of a vulnerable DMZ system, lateral movement via Kerberoasting and Active Directory certificate abuse, RDP access to an engineering workstation, and finally weakening of Windows Defender on the SCADA server before issuing the control command. The analysis shows that a single permitted industrial protocol operation becomes suspicious only when placed in the context of prior defensive control changes and anomalous access routes. The article stresses that protecting OT environments requires continuous asset inventory, unified telemetry from traffic and endpoints, and pre-approved response playbooks that avoid disrupting the physical process.
Positive Technologies to Explore AI Attacks and Autonomous SOC Advances at PSD 2026
Positive Technologies will host Positive Security Day 2026 in Moscow on October 15-16, focusing on how artificial intelligence is reshaping cybersecurity. The event will highlight new product developments in MaxPatrol O2 and the company's push toward an autonomous SOC. Attendees will examine Security Lakehouse as a method for handling large volumes of security data to train models. Practical sessions will allow participants to attack AI technologies, investigate incidents, and disassemble products with engineers. The business program will address how organizations can automate security without creating new risks that require manual explanations after incidents. The conference takes place at the Mechta complex in Gorky Park and offers both in-person and online participation.
Ghost Assets in Vulnerability Management: How Identification, Merging and Asset History Eliminate Anomalies in MaxPatrol VM
Positive Technologies experts explain how infrastructure changes create duplicate, merged and phantom assets that distort vulnerability management. The article details three core mechanisms inside MaxPatrol VM: unique asset identification across scan sources, non-destructive merging of new and existing data, and full lifecycle history with configurable aging policies. It describes how the system distinguishes assets using prioritized keys such as system ID, FQDN, MAC address and VM ID, then applies recursive merging rules that respect multiple data sources. Policies allow teams to set freshness and obsolescence thresholds, automatically hiding assets after 90 days while preserving historical snapshots for PDQL queries. The piece also covers practical cloning and partial-scan scenarios that can produce misleading duplicates or lingering collections.
Positive Technologies Releases MaxPatrol SIEM 28.0 with Major Resource Optimizations and AI Enhancements
Positive Technologies has launched MaxPatrol SIEM 28.0, enabling security operations centers to process significantly more security events without requiring additional hardware. Internal tests show the new version consumes up to 26% less CPU and 52% less RAM compared to the previous release. Optimized components for event processing and data storage now allow the system to handle 40,000 events per second instead of 20,000 on comparable servers. The architecture has been refined so that unnecessary roles can be omitted when MaxPatrol SIEM operates independently from other platform products such as MaxPatrol VM. The behavioral analysis module MaxPatrol BAD received the new HackTracker component, which detects attackers by behavior patterns rather than only by tools, and now supports Unix event analysis with linked activity chains. The PT Naira AI assistant has been simplified for easier configuration, helping analysts write normalization rules, explain events, and search documentation, with claims of reducing investigation time by up to 50% and rule creation effort by up to 90%. Analysts also benefit from added context in correlation rule cards, quick navigation links, and a native dark theme.
AI Reshapes Cybersecurity Jobs: Automation of Routine Tasks, Rising Demand for Architects and AI Defenders
The cognitive revolution driven by AI technologies is transforming the information security job market rather than eliminating it. Routine tasks such as alert triage, log analysis, and basic vulnerability prioritization are increasingly handled by language models and autonomous agents, shifting human roles toward setting boundaries, validating hypotheses, and assuming legal and financial responsibility. Surveys from ISC2 and analyses by Gartner highlight growing needs for senior architects, AppSec engineers, DevSecOps specialists, and experts protecting AI systems themselves. DARPA's AIxCC competition demonstrated both the promise and limitations of autonomous patching, with 37-45% of generated fixes containing hidden semantic errors. Russian market data from Positive Technologies and SuperJob shows 24-26% growth in vacancies focused on experienced professionals amid import substitution pressures. The profession is moving from mechanical execution to designing reliable architectures and overseeing automated defense loops through 2030.
Enterprise-Grade Web Protection on a Budget: How Cloud WAF Lowers Barriers for SMBs
A new overview from Reg.cloud explains how cloud-based Web Application Firewalls reduce the cost and complexity of protecting websites, APIs, and web applications for small and medium-sized Russian businesses. According to Positive Technologies data cited in the article, 75% of successful web application attacks in 2025 disrupted organizational operations, while 82% of SMBs faced cyber incidents in the past year. The piece details the differences between traditional on-premises WAF deployments and cloud offerings, emphasizing ready-made protection profiles for CMS platforms, SaaS services, and digital agencies. It outlines a three-stage operational model covering preparation, DNS-based traffic redirection, and ongoing policy tuning that can be handled by existing DevOps or development teams without dedicated security staff. The service currently offers a free tier supporting up to three applications at 50 requests per second, along with seven preconfigured security profiles and dual audit/blocking modes. The article concludes by stressing that WAF remains only one layer and must be combined with patching, access controls, and separate DDoS or anti-bot solutions.
EASM Uncovers Forgotten Perimeter Assets Including 11-Year-Old Servers Invisible to Standard Scanners
EASM solutions continuously discover external attack surfaces by starting from public data such as company names, domains, WHOIS records, Certificate Transparency logs, and internet-wide scanners like Shodan and Censys. Unlike traditional vulnerability scanners that only check assets from a predefined list, EASM maps unknown shadow IT including forgotten test servers, abandoned marketing subdomains, exposed APIs, and cloud buckets left open to the internet. The technology follows the same reconnaissance path used by attackers and has become essential for mature vulnerability management programs after years of being considered exotic. Major vendors including Palo Alto Networks Cortex Xpanse, CyCognito, Qualys, Rapid7, and Tenable now lead the market, while Russian providers such as Positive Technologies PT EASM, BI.ZONE EASM, and CyberOK PenOps have grown rapidly since 2022. Without an established process for prioritization and remediation, EASM implementations risk generating overwhelming alert volumes rather than reducing risk. The approach is now viewed as a core component of Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) frameworks.
K2 Cloud Adds Native OVN Traffic Mirroring for NTA/NDR Deployment in Public Cloud
K2 Cloud has implemented traffic mirroring for virtual machine interfaces inside overlay networks built on OVN, solving a long-standing gap that prevented NTA/NDR systems from operating in Russian public clouds. The company contributed the feature upstream, and the patch was accepted into the main OVN codebase. The solution supports source, destination, and mirroring session objects together with optional match/action filters that eliminate duplicate packets, reduce load on sensors, and allow traffic distribution across multiple analyzers. Testing with Positive Technologies PT NAD showed sustained throughput above 3 Gbit/s with approximately 400 000 packets per second and minimal packet loss. The feature works inside a single availability zone; multi-AZ deployments require one PT NAD sensor per zone. Management is available through the web console, an EC2-compatible API, and the official Terraform provider.
EVTX Record Recovery: Advanced Carving Techniques for Damaged Windows Event Logs
Positive Technologies researchers detail methods for carving EVTX records directly from raw disk images, memory dumps, and virtual machine snapshots when standard file system access fails. The approach bypasses corrupted MFT structures or wiped partitions by scanning for ElfChnk and record signatures. Their Go-based library parses both intact and damaged EVTX files, recovering events even when checksums mismatch. The article explains the three-layer EVTX structure including file headers, 64 KB chunks, and BinXML records with template substitution for space efficiency. Two carving strategies are presented: chunk-level recovery that restores full field names via per-chunk caches, and record-level extraction that pulls values without templates. The work supports faster incident reconstruction in ransomware cases where attackers encrypt entire VDI or VHDX images.
Positive Technologies Discontinues Active Development of PT AF 3, Shifts Focus to PT AF PRO and PT Cloud AF
Positive Technologies is halting active development of its PT Application Firewall 3 product and redirecting resources toward PT AF PRO and the cloud-based PT Cloud AF. Existing customers of the legacy WAF will continue to receive technical support, though no significant new capabilities are expected. The company cites the dramatic expansion of modern web infrastructure, which now spans hundreds of applications, APIs, and microservices across data centers, clouds, branches, and subsidiaries. Positive Technologies notes that exploitation of internet-facing web application vulnerabilities remains the leading initial access vector, accounting for 36 percent of successful corporate network intrusions. PT AF PRO, developed from the ground up over more than six years, is positioned as the new flagship solution for large-scale, distributed environments. The cloud offering PT Cloud AF provides a hardware-free alternative that organizations can manage themselves or fully outsource to partners. Client adoption of PT AF PRO has doubled over the past year.
Positive Technologies Acquires Stake in CyberOK to Advance EASM and PentOps Technologies
Positive Technologies has acquired a stake in cybersecurity developer CyberOK, with the size of the investment and deal terms remaining undisclosed. The partnership will focus on developing External Attack Surface Management (EASM) solutions and PentOps technologies that identify overlooked external assets and validate whether attackers can exploit them. Collaboration between the companies began in 2026, with CyberOK technologies already integrated into PT EASM and the PT X cloud platform. In less than six months, pilot projects for PT EASM exceeded 70, and Positive Technologies expects 80 percent of successful trials to convert into deals by late 2026 or early 2027. The Russian EASM market is projected at 2-2.5 billion rubles by the end of 2026, potentially reaching 8 billion rubles by 2031 when combined with continuous security validation solutions. PentOps will provide continuous cloud-based penetration testing that automatically verifies exploitability of discovered issues, moving beyond simple vulnerability lists. In 96 percent of pilots, unaccounted IT assets with critical vulnerabilities were identified, and CyberOK continues to develop the Vulnum knowledge base along with AI agents and Offensive SOC capabilities.
10 Non-Obvious S3 Integration Vulnerabilities Exposed in Web Application Bug Bounty Research
Security researcher Sergey Bobrov, known as BlackFan, published a detailed analysis of S3 misconfigurations when integrated into web applications via proxies such as nginx. The article examines ten laboratory setups demonstrating issues ranging from stored XSS and bucket takeover to rewrite rule bypasses and cache poisoning. Key findings highlight how nginx path normalization differences, missing trailing slashes, and variable usage like $uri enable attackers to reach arbitrary buckets or inject HTTP request splitting payloads. The research covers both direct S3 client usage and proxy-based integrations, emphasizing ACL and Bucket Policy errors that expose data to any authenticated S3 user worldwide. Practical demonstrations include exploitation of Ceph RGW path traversal with ../ sequences and cache key collisions via response-content-type parameters. The work provides fingerprinting tables for identifying S3-compatible systems including MinIO, Ceph RGW, and Yandex Cloud based on headers and error responses.
Exploiting SSTI Vulnerability in Messenger Machine on Standoff 365 Leads to RCE and Corporate Chat Access
A detailed writeup published by Positive Technologies researcher Seven11eleven demonstrates a full attack chain against the vulnerable Messenger machine on the Standoff 365 platform. The researcher began with network reconnaissance using nmap and directory fuzzing with ffuf, uncovering Swagger documentation and JWT-protected endpoints. After identifying user enumeration through the friend search feature, the team discovered a Server-Side Template Injection flaw in the friendship summary functionality powered by the Mako template engine. The SSTI was escalated to remote code execution by injecting Python expressions that leveraged the self.module.cache.util chain to call os.popen commands. With initial access obtained via reverse shell, the attacker pivoted to neighboring services including Gitness, RabbitMQ, and Redis to achieve the defined business risks of accessing developer corporate messaging and extracting the city messenger encryption key.
Drama RAT: Advanced Android Banking Trojan with RAT Capabilities Analyzed by Positive Technologies
Positive Technologies researchers have detailed Drama RAT, a sophisticated Android banking trojan distributed via phishing messages in messengers and disguised as VPN services or banking apps. The malware uses droppers that request installation of fake updates, then deliver a full-featured payload capable of stealing credentials, recording screens, and performing overlay attacks. Drama RAT automatically grants itself Accessibility permissions while hiding the process behind opaque overlays and employs multiple persistence mechanisms including AlarmManager alarms and Doze mode bypass. Communication occurs primarily over mTLS WebSocket with a fallback CDN channel, while anti-analysis features include over 1200 junk artifacts, broken AndroidManifest.xml, Frida hooking detection, and per-class string obfuscation. The trojan supports keylogging, SMS interception, VNC screen sharing, microphone and camera recording without indicators, and participation in DDoS attacks. Positive Technologies notes that removal is extremely difficult without ADB or safe mode because the malware redirects users away from settings screens.
Positive Technologies Develops Dynamic Crawler for Single-Page Applications in PT BlackBox Scanner
Positive Technologies engineers have detailed the development of a dynamic crawler for their PT BlackBox DAST scanner to handle modern single-page applications built with frameworks such as React and Vue. The crawler must discover attack surface elements that only appear after user interactions because static parsing of initial DOM fails on SPAs where navigation occurs without URL changes. Key challenges include identifying interactive elements whose handlers are attached via JavaScript, detecting state changes after clicks or inputs, and managing combinatorial explosion of states caused by independent UI toggles. The team models the application as a labeled transition system and defines state equivalence using sets of 64-bit fingerprints of interactive elements rather than raw HTML similarity or URL values. This equivalence relation satisfies reflexivity, determinism from external observations, cheap hash-based comparison, slower growth than action count, and preservation of enabled actions across equivalent states. The approach allows the crawler to visit representatives of equivalence classes instead of every reachable state, keeping scans finite and practical within action budgets of several thousand interactions.
Researcher Achieves SSTI-Based Defacement of First Partner Bank Web Service on Standoff 365
A security researcher known as grizzzer detailed a full attack chain that resulted in defacing the authorization page of the First Partner Bank digital banking service inside the Standoff 365 online polygon. The demonstration began with a successful DNS zone transfer against the fpb.stf domain, revealing the dbo.fpb.stf host that hosted the target application. After identifying the Node.js, Express, and React stack, the researcher discovered that the receipt generation endpoint accepted an undocumented pretty parameter that was passed directly into the Pug template engine. This led to a server-side template injection vulnerability that was escalated to a Node.js reverse shell. With code execution, the attacker located and modified the translation.json localization file, replacing the welcome message with the string pwned by VON visible to all users. The write-up concludes with concrete hardening recommendations including disabling zone transfers, avoiding direct spread of req.query into templates, and restricting outbound connections.
Grep_Tribe Blue Team Shares SOC Defense Lessons from Standoff 17 Cyber Battle
The Grep_Tribe team participated in Standoff 17 for the third time, defending the RetailSTF Group infrastructure in a simulated State F environment against continuous red team attacks. They handled 37 confirmed incidents, 22 detected incidents, five investigated critical events, and maintained 88 percent average infrastructure availability. The team used familiar Positive Technologies tools alongside the new R-Vision SOAR platform to automate routine responses such as IP blocking and file sandboxing. Work was organized through a tribal system with role-based preparation and dynamic small-group investigations for complex attack chains. Participants highlighted how the event tested prioritization, Threat Intelligence attribution, and automation under high-intensity conditions unlike daily SOC operations. The experience reinforced plans to expand SOAR playbooks for repetitive tasks in their real internal SOC environment.
Starting in Bug Bounty: Understanding 1-Day Vulnerabilities
Mikhail Klyuchnikov, known in the bug hunting community as n1, shares his decade-long experience at Positive Technologies leading a team focused on software security analysis. The team specializes in discovering new zero-day vulnerabilities while also reproducing known 1-day issues to support penetration testing engagements. Klyuchnikov is also a member of the PT SWARM team, which regularly publishes technical articles, tips, and timely vulnerability breakdowns. With extensive participation in international bug bounty platforms and the Russian Standoff Bug Bounty program, he aims to explain the practical role of 1-day vulnerabilities for newcomers entering bug bounty hunting. The article provides foundational knowledge on how security researchers leverage publicly disclosed vulnerabilities in real-world testing scenarios.
Positive Technologies Enhances PT Dephaze with Local LLM for Automated Credential Discovery and Attack Expansion
Positive Technologies has released a major update to its automated penetration testing system PT Dephaze, integrating a local large language model that actively searches for login credentials and develops attacks. The LLM analyzes configuration and text files across network shares to locate potential usernames and passwords, then validates them against discovered corporate services while discarding invalid combinations. Working credentials are immediately used to extend the simulated attack chain, including privilege escalation on Unix and Linux systems and credential reuse across multiple services. The update also adds support for FreeIPA directory services commonly found in import-substituted infrastructures, enabling anonymous user enumeration when configurations permit. All processing occurs locally within the product distribution, ensuring no data leaves the customer environment. Positive Technologies positions this LLM integration as the first step in expanding AI-driven attack techniques, with future plans focused on Russian operating systems.
Positive Technologies Wraps Up Third Positive Hack Camp with 81 Students from 20 Countries
Positive Technologies has completed the third edition of its international Positive Hack Camp cybersecurity training program. More than 80 students from 20 countries traveled to Moscow at their own expense to receive intensive instruction in ethical hacking and information security. The two-week program featured 30 practical sessions delivered by experts from Positive Technologies and invited instructors from Lebanon. Participants studied attack modeling, network traffic analysis, privilege escalation in web applications, operating system security, and reverse engineering of complex devices. The camp also included cultural activities and concluded with examinations where all students passed and received diplomas. The initiative aims to strengthen global cyber resilience and build an international community of white hackers, with previous participants already contributing to national cybersecurity efforts in Algeria.
Why Automation Alone Fails to Improve SOC Efficiency: The Case for Managed Operational Models
Mature security infrastructure does not guarantee protection against cyber threats, as attacks can still cause downtime, crisis recovery, and financial damage even when key controls are deployed. Automation of routine tasks helps speed up responses but cannot raise SOC effectiveness without clear decision criteria, defined responsibilities, and repeatable incident-handling processes. Organizations using an average of 83 security tools from 29 vendors face fragmentation that automation alone cannot resolve. A managed SecOps model covering the full incident lifecycle—from detection and prioritization through investigation, response, closure, and post-incident improvement—is required. Positive Technologies highlights that SecOps platforms such as MaxPatrol 360 provide the unified environment needed to link context, processes, coordination, automation, metrics, and continuous improvement.
Positive Technologies Adds Unified Console to PT X for Centralized Incident and Asset Management
Positive Technologies has introduced a single console within its PT X platform that combines incident management, asset control, and security posture assessment. Customers can now monitor attack attempts around the clock, view possible causes, track response status, and prioritize events without switching between multiple interfaces. The system lets organizations predefine which assets Positive Technologies may act upon and choose between manual customer response, automatic PT X actions, or approval-based workflows, with full audit reports generated afterward. A dedicated dashboard highlights coverage gaps by showing hosts protected by MaxPatrol EDR and flagging assets without agents installed. Machine learning capabilities have been expanded through a combination of large language models and classical ML to accelerate early attack detection and automate handling of low- and medium-severity incidents. Additional features include external perimeter analysis that reveals internet-facing resources from an attacker’s perspective and a bug-bounty-style cyber testing program that rewards researchers for identifying unacceptable events.
Positive Technologies Uncovers Disinformation Factory Linking 45 Domains and 74 Telegram Channels
Researchers at Positive Technologies have exposed an integrated disinformation operation that combined fake government emails with a network of pseudo-news websites and synchronized social media channels. The campaign began with emails sent from lookalike domains such as minpromtorg.digital and gosuslugi.digital, requesting employee lists and salary data to prepare targeted phishing attacks. Parallel to the email activity, operators maintained at least 45 domains including rulenta.live and crime24.live that mixed genuine stories with fabricated content and cited nonexistent sources. These sites were amplified through dozens of Telegram channels and accounts on VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, creating a self-reinforcing loop where fabricated claims were quoted back as credible reporting. Investigators noted a possible infrastructure overlap with the cybercriminal group Rare Werewolf, although direct attribution remains unconfirmed. The operation demonstrates a complete information pipeline from initial reconnaissance via email to wide distribution of disinformation across multiple platforms.
Malicious npm Packages Deploy Multi-Stage Trojan with Embedded GitLab Keys
Positive Technologies researchers uncovered a campaign in which an attacker published multiple trojanized packages to the npm registry under the accounts alex05255, mdrafiqulislamrabby, b.w1001, abdev8773 and mollspotwood54400. The affected packages include svg-fetcher, tradepilot, polytrade, polymarket-kit, react-svg-chunk, gamified-trading-system, font-huge, font-hub, mdb-vite, router-processor and route-processor. Each package concatenates several constants to build a C2 URL, downloads the next stage identified as token versions 106, 107, 108 and 116, and sends the hardcoded value logo in the bearrtoken header. Later stages contain heavily obfuscated JavaScript that collects username, hostname and operating-system information before establishing a WebSocket channel for command execution. Releases 106 and 116 also embed a public-private key pair belonging to a private GitLab instance operated by the threat actor, suggesting the use of CI/CD pipelines for code obfuscation and stage generation. The findings highlight the continued risk of supply-chain attacks through popular open-source repositories and the value of automated package monitoring.
Star in the Machine Fog: How AI Became Weapon, Target and Voice in the Browser
AppSec engineer Yuri Tumanov from Rostelecom, together with Igor Korkin of Positive Technologies and Oksana Dokuchaeva of FMBA Russia, examines how generative AI reshapes attack economics and defensive controls. The article outlines five distinct roles of AI in cybersecurity: accelerator of attacks, trusted assistant under compromise, leakage vector, protective shield, and direct target of prompt injection and data poisoning. It stresses that AI does not invent new threats but removes friction from social engineering, code generation and tool orchestration while expanding the attack surface through browser sessions, retrieval corpora and agent permissions. The authors advocate deterministic policy engines, provenance tracking, step-up approvals and device posture checks rather than relying on system prompts alone. The piece is framed as a cyberpunk narrative grounded in real AppSec, blue-team and threat-modeling practices for authorized testing environments.