FortiGate

FBI Issues Alert on Active FortiBleed Campaign Harvesting Credentials from Exposed FortiGate Firewalls

The FBI and United States Secret Service have issued a joint alert regarding the FortiBleed campaign, an ongoing operation that targets internet-exposed FortiGate firewalls and SSL VPN gateways. Attackers have already collected 86,644 valid credentials from devices across 194 countries as of June 19, demonstrating the global scale of the indiscriminate scanning effort. The campaign relies on reused or previously leaked credentials combined with legacy SHA-256 password storage that enables offline cracking. Operators employ automated credential stuffing, the Go-based FortigateSniffer tool capable of intercepting 24 authentication protocols, and GPU-accelerated password cracking. Once inside, attackers create unauthorized administrator accounts and often delete legitimate ones, forcing victims to perform full device recovery rather than simple password resets. The activity was first documented in June, with the official alert released on October 7, confirming that scanning continues.

PAYLOAD Ransomware Seizes Active Directory GPO to Disrupt Entire Windows Domain Without Encryption

Researchers at Kaspersky have documented an attack by the PAYLOAD ransomware that paralyzes an entire Windows domain without encrypting a single file. Instead of encryption, the operators leverage native Windows policy mechanisms to enforce disruption across the environment. The core of the attack is a malicious Group Policy Object named PAYLOAD linked directly to the root of the Active Directory domain. This placement allows the policy to reach virtually every connected device, turning it into a corporate-wide disruption tool. Through the GPO, the group distributes ransom notes from SYSVOL, replaces wallpapers and lock screens with extortion images displaying the message Welcome to Payload, and disables local administrator accounts on affected machines. A second policy object named win Firewall Off disables the Windows firewall across the entire fleet, increasing exposure during the operation. Initial access occurred in April 2026 via a compromised legitimate domain account on a FortiGate SSL VPN, with possible entry vectors including phishing, password spraying, and credential stuffing. The victim is a manufacturing company in the Middle East. The extortion model combines data theft with operational shutdown, delivering effects similar to traditional ransomware but without any decryption key to negotiate.

How IT Professionals Risk Leaking Confidential Data When Using ChatGPT and Other LLMs

Artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini have become daily instruments for network engineers, SOC analysts and system administrators who use them to analyze logs, debug configurations and generate scripts. The convenience comes with a serious risk: employees frequently paste large volumes of internal data into these cloud services without considering what information leaves the organization. Real-world examples include SOC teams uploading multi-thousand-line logs containing internal IP addresses, employee emails and authentication tokens, as well as network engineers sending running-config files from Cisco, FortiGate and Palo Alto devices. These files reveal VLAN structures, VPN peers, SNMP community strings and LDAP server addresses, providing attackers with valuable reconnaissance material. The Malwarebytes research team documented concrete cases where the Share function in AI platforms exposed sensitive corporate information. The underlying driver is not negligence but the universal desire to complete routine tasks faster, turning an efficiency tool into a potential data-exfiltration vector for banks, government agencies and healthcare organizations.