There’s a moment on a long drive or a hike where you realize the biggest risks aren’t the obvious ones — they’re the small, familiar things you stopped paying attention to. That’s the theme running through this week’s cybersecurity news.
From a widely exploited WinRAR vulnerability quietly granting persistence, to urgent patching for SolarWinds and Fortinet flaws already under active attack, to ransomware disrupting a local police department’s day-to-day operations — none of this is exotic. It’s fundamentals being missed, delayed, or assumed to be “handled.” Even the FBI’s warning about scammers impersonating prosecutors reminds us that attackers still succeed by exploiting trust, urgency, and routine.
This is where security philosophy meets reality. Strong programs aren’t built on panic or perfection — they’re built on doing the basics well and constantly validating that they still work.
🔒 Security Tip of the Week:
📌 This Week’s Outlook in a Shareable Statement:
Actively exploited vulnerabilities, delayed patching, and abuse of trusted processes continue to drive real-world impact. The fastest way to reduce risk right now is tightening fundamentals and verifying controls already in place.
Hope this helps frame the week’s conversations — whether that’s in a SOC standup, a leadership meeting, or a quick “what matters right now” discussion.
📰 Weekly News Roundup:
Here is the most recent Cybersecurity news for the past week:
🗜️ Google Detects Active Exploitation of WinRAR Vulnerability The Google Threat Intelligence Group has identified widespread exploitation of a critical path traversal vulnerability (CVE-2025-8088) in WinRAR. Attackers are leveraging this flaw to bypass security controls and drop malicious files into the Windows Startup folder, effectively granting them persistent access to compromised systems.
🆘 SolarWinds Patches Critical Web Help Desk Flaws SolarWinds has released urgent security updates for its Web Help Desk (WHD) software to address multiple critical vulnerabilities, including remote code execution and authentication bypass issues (CVE-2025-40551). Security experts advise immediate patching, as these flaws could allow unauthenticated attackers to take full control of affected servers.
🚨 CISA Warnings on Fortinet and FortiCloud Exploits The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added a new Fortinet vulnerability (CVE-2026-24858) to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. The agency warns that threat actors are actively targeting this authentication bypass flaw in FortiCloud SSO to gain unauthorized access to corporate networks.
🚓 Connecticut Police Department Hit by Ransomware The New Britain Police Department in Connecticut suffered a significant ransomware attack that disrupted the city’s network servers and forced officers to rely on manual dispatching procedures. City officials confirmed the “NightSpire” ransomware group was responsible and are working with federal authorities to restore critical services.
⚖️ FBI Warns of Scammers Impersonating Federal Prosecutors The FBI has issued a public safety alert regarding a surge in fraudsters impersonating federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials to extort money from victims. These sophisticated social engineering campaigns often use spoofed phone numbers and official-looking documents to threaten individuals with arrest unless immediate payments are made.