TCLBANKER targets 59 financial platforms using WhatsApp worms and Outlook phishing, increasing banking credential theft risks. (.
Category: finance
Fake Call History Apps Stole Payments From Users After 7.3 Million Play Store Downloads
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered fraudulent apps on the official Google Play Store for Android that falsely claimed to offer access to call histories for any phone number, only to trick users into joining a subscription that provided fake data and incurred financial loss.
The 28 apps have collectively racked up more than 7.3 million downloads, with one of them alone accounting for over 3 million downloads, before they were taken down from the official app storefront. The activity, codenamed CallPhantom by Slovakian cybersecurity company ESET, primarily targeted Android users in India and the broader Asia-Pacific region.
“The offending apps, which we named CallPhantom based on their false claims, purport to provide access to call histories, SMS records, and even WhatsApp call logs for any phone number,” ESET security researcher Lukáš Štefanko said in a report shared with The Hacker News. “To unlock this supposed feature, users are asked to pay — but all they get in return is randomly generated data.”
New TCLBanker malware self-spreads over WhatsApp and Outlook
A new trojan named TCLBanker, which targets 59 banking, fintech, and cryptocurrency platforms, uses a trojanized MSI installer for Logitech AI Prompt Builder to infect systems.
Additionally, the malware includes self-spreading worm modules for WhatsApp and Outlook that automatically infect new victims.
The new banking trojan was discovered by Elastic Security Labs, whose researchers believe it’s a major evolution of the older Maverick/Sorvepotel malware family.
New PCPJack worm steals credentials, cleans TeamPCP infections
A new malware framework called PCPJack is stealing credentials from exposed cloud infrastructure while actively removing TeamPCP’s access to the systems.
Among the targeted services are Docker, Kubernetes, Redis, MongoDB, RayML, and vulnerable web applications. In many cases, the threat actor moves laterally on the network.
SentinelLabs researchers say that PCPJack appears designed for large-scale credential theft, and likely monetizes its activity via financial fraud, spam operations, credential resale, or extortion.
Quantum Entangles the Heavens
As the United States, Europe, and China compete to shape the future of the Earth-Moon corridor, strategic advantage will depend not only on launch capacity or lunar infrastructure, but also on advances in quantum technologies. Just as secure systems are critical on Earth, satellites and space-based systems underpin high-value, high-impact operations from financial transactions and navigation to scientific discovery and classified military missions.
Quantum technologies, which enable new levels of speed, sensitivity, and security, are emerging as critical tools to improve existing extraterrestrial systems. Modern digital communications are secured by encryption built on math problems that are extremely difficult for regular computers to solve, but that sufficiently advanced quantum computers could eventually crack. Quantum communications technologies could add a new layer of protection by making it easier to detect when someone is trying to intercept sensitive information. Quantum sensors can measure position and time with an accuracy that GPS only approximates. Lastly, quantum computers could unlock new capabilities beyond current computational limits, from designing advanced materials to optimizing increasingly complex satellite networks.
Countries are racing to match their space and quantum ambitions with national strategies. The White House is reportedly drafting an executive order to strengthen US competitiveness in quantum technologies. The rumored draft directs multiple US government bodies, including NASA, to develop a five-year roadmap to expand quantum sensing and networking capabilities. The EU’s 2025 Quantum Europe Strategy highlights “Space and Dual-Use Quantum Technologies” as one of its five strategic focuses, and China’s 15th Five-Year Plan has called for expanding the country’s ground-to-space quantum communications network.
Silicon oscillators solve computer problems that would take thousands of years using semiconductors
In the era of big data and artificial intelligence, a new approach has emerged for solving combinatorial optimization problems, which involves finding the most efficient solution among many possible options and can otherwise take thousands of years to compute.
A KAIST research team has developed computational hardware that can be implemented entirely using existing silicon processes, enabling deployment on existing fabrication lines without additional facilities. This is expected to enable faster and more accurate decision-making across various industries, including logistics, finance, and semiconductor design.
The research is published in Science Advances.
Vimeo data breach exposes personal information of 119,000 people
The ShinyHunters extortion gang stole personal information belonging to over 119,000 people after hacking the Vimeo online video platform in April, according to data breach notification service Have I Been Pwned.
Vimeo is a video hosting and streaming platform publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock market, with over 300 million registered users and over 1,100 employees, and reported revenues of $417 million for FY2024.
The company disclosed on April 27 that customer and user data had been accessed without authorization following a recent breach at Anodot, a data anomaly detection company.
Mechanochemistry simplifies synthesis of challenging conductive organic molecules
Mechanochemistry is a growing field for chemical reactions that proceed in the solid state in the absence, or with minuscule amounts, of solvent added. For decades, solvents have been considered conventional for the progression of modern chemistry; nonetheless, researchers are increasingly demonstrating that mechanochemistry can synthesize complex molecules more effectively. With more progress, mechanochemistry could alleviate solvent-related environmental and financial burdens in chemical industries.
Using mechanochemistry, researchers from Nagoya University, including Koya M. Hori, Yoshifumi Toyama, and Hideto Ito successfully developed a two-step synthetic method for dihydrodinaphthopentalenes (DHDPs), conductive organic molecules that are considerably challenging to synthesize. These findings were recently published in the journal RSC Mechanochemistry on February 5, 2026. The results are expected to advance the synthesis of compounds with applications in organic materials.
Conductive organic molecules are used in increasingly essential technologies such as OLEDs in smartphone screens, solar cells for renewable energy, anti-static polymer coatings, and more. Perhaps due to their complex and expensive synthesis, however, DHDPs have not been integrated into any commercialized products.
Why Doctors Say OpenEvidence Is A ‘Game Changer’
What is Open Evidence? It is a chatbot specialized for doctors to use to help speed up their work. 50 percent of all American doctors so far are signed up for it.
Chatbots, when utilized properly have great potential to help in the field.
From oncology to cardiology, AI platform OpenEvidence is helping physicians keep pace with medical breakthroughs while focusing on their patients. The software is used by around half of all American doctors, and is proving a game changer for physicians.
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