Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

A threat actor once again proved the importance of enforcing strict password management practices by torpedoing a 158-year-old UK transportation company by hacking a password and then effectively shutting it down with ransomware. According to published reports, the threat group Akira gained access to KNP's system in June when it was able to determine a single employee's password. Once access was gained, Akira injected ransomware, which shut down the network and encrypted access to its files and backups.

In today’s volatile cyber landscape, having a cyber incident response playbook is not a luxury— it’s a necessity. For CISOs and IT leaders across industries like healthcare, BFSI, public sector, and telecommunications, a well-crafted playbook is the backbone of organizational resilience. It empowers teams to respond effectively, mitigate damage, and recover swiftly from breaches.

AI penetration testing is changing how organizations identify and exploit vulnerabilities. Instead of relying on traditional manual tests or basic automated scans, autonomous systems now simulate attacker behavior continuously and at scale. These systems use agentic AI to execute real-world exploits, reduce noise, and shift security left, all while keeping human experts focused on the creative flaws machines can’t yet catch.

Top tips is a weekly column where we highlight what’s trending in the tech world and list ways to explore these trends. This week, we will explore ways on how to strengthen any company's first line of defense against cyberattacks. No matter how advanced your cybersecurity tools are, they’re only as strong as the people using them. Phishing scams, social engineering, and weak passwords are threats that often succeed not because systems fail but because humans do.

Shadow AI refers to the unauthorized or unmonitored use of AI tools (like ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, and Gemini) by employees in the workplace. It’s now one of the fastest-growing data exfiltration vectors. Employees are pasting source code, customer or patient data, contract terms, and even M&A info into gen AI tools, often without realizing the risk. And many legacy DLP tools are still catching up.

On July 22, 2025, Microsoft published an overview of a series of critical vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft SharePoint Server (CVE-2025-49704, CVE-2025-49706, CVE-2025-53770, and CVE-2025-53771). These vulnerabilities opened a dangerous window for threat actors to gain access to internal resources, execute code remotely, and take over SharePoint deployments.

High-performance blockchains are quickly becoming critical infrastructure for institutions and fintechs building the next generation of payment rails, DeFi, and low-latency applications. As demand grows for faster and more scalable environments (with full EVM compatibility), new entrants are building innovative solutions tailored to institutional needs. This is what Monad aims to deliver: a next-gen blockchain designed for high throughput, low latency, and seamless developer experience.