During routine threat research and monitoring of Chinese-language underground distribution channels, our team identified a malicious RAR archive. Specifically, this archive abuses a critical WinRAR directory traversal vulnerability to achieve arbitrary file write and persistence on Windows systems. To accomplish this, the archive leverages a combination of NTFS Alternate Data Streams (ADS) and directory traversal logic.

In 2026, one theme will become impossible for security and infrastructure leaders to ignore. The architecture that once secured the enterprise no longer aligns with how the enterprise actually works. Users are everywhere. Applications are everywhere. Data is everywhere. Threats are everywhere. What is not everywhere is consistency.

For decades, enterprise security strategy revolved around a simple assumption: if you could build a strong enough perimeter around your network, everything inside would remain safe. Firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and VPNs became the bedrock of corporate defenses. The perimeter was the castle wall, and sensitive data lived safely inside.

“Super-app” WeChat offers a wealth of functionality—from instant messaging, text and voice messaging, and video calls to mobile payments, ride booking, ordering food deliveries, paying bills and even accessing government services. Provided by Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent, WeChat has become deeply integrated into daily life in China and usage has been spreading globally. The app now boasts over 1.4 billion active users (24.8% of total internet users).

As organizations accelerate toward 2026, the cybersecurity landscape is becoming more complex, more unpredictable, and more heavily influenced by fast-evolving technologies like generative AI. Threat actors are moving with unprecedented speed, regulatory demands are increasing, and the tools and techniques needed to defend modern environments are shifting just as rapidly.

Data exfiltration is no longer limited to elite external hackers — it’s a common occurrence in everyday business operations. Employees share files externally, upload documents to personal cloud accounts, copy source code to USB drives, or paste sensitive text into browser-based AI tools. Most of the time, these actions are unintentional.

Today, anyone can find a picture of absolutely anybody and it is also not difficult to find a sample of their voice. By combining these it is shockingly easy to create a realistic AI deepfake video of that person. The video may not be perfect, and an experienced AI deepfake enthusiast might be able to see signs of it not being real, but it will be good enough to fool 99% of people. Cybercriminals have been creating and using AI-enabled deepfake technologies since early 2024 to socially engineer people.