US Prepares for Iranian Cyberattacks. 16B Passwords Exposed: What to Do. Cyberattack on WaPo Journalists. Meta's Latest Attack on Privacy. Kudos to DOJ and Europol.
Cybersecurity News of the Week & Patch Report, June 22, 2025
This week's essential cybersecurity and privacy news for the cyber-aware and the cyber-concerned. Designed to educate, support, and advocate.
Sections
Section 1: National and International News
SecureTheVillage: Events. Programs. Guides. Newsletters.
Section 2: Families and Individuals: Let’s Be Careful Out There. And Let’s Help Others Who Aren’t Yet Cyber-Aware.
Section 3: Smaller Businesses and Nonprofits: A Discipline of Cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity Nonprofit of the Week
Section 4: Patch and Update Report
Section 1: National and International News
US critical networks are prime targets for cyberattacks. They’re preparing for Iran to strike. Organizations across the country are stepping up their vigilance as the conflict between Iran and Israel widens. … As the conflict evolves — and particularly now that the U.S. has struck Iran — Iranian cyber actors could turn their attention to U.S. targets.
DOJ seizes record $225 million in crypto tied to global ‘pig butchering’ scams: The Justice Department announced Wednesday the largest-ever U.S. seizure of cryptocurrency linked to so-called “pig butchering” scams that have cost victims billions globally. … Federal prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture action targeting more than $225 million in cryptocurrency traced to a sprawling web of fraudulent investment platforms. Victims were tricked into believing they were investing in legitimate crypto ventures, only to be scammed by criminal networks often operating overseas. … Authorities said the network was connected to at least 400 suspected victims worldwide, including dozens in the U.S. Crypto fraud was responsible for more than $5.8 billion in reported losses last year, according to FBI data.
Police dismantle Archetyp dark web drug market, arrest administrator: International law enforcement agencies have shut down one of the longest-running and most prolific drug marketplaces on the dark web, known as Archetyp Market, and arrested its alleged administrator. … The operation, which took place between June 11 and 13, also targeted the platform’s moderators, top vendors and technical infrastructure, with coordinated raids conducted across Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Sweden, according to a statement by Europol.
Israel-linked group hacks Iranian cryptocurrency exchange in $90m heist: Hackers known as Predatory Sparrow claim responsibility for rendering Nobitex exchange funds inaccessible. … An Israel-linked hacking group has claimed responsibility for a $90m (£67m) heist on an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange. … The group known as Gonjeshke Darande, Farsi for Predatory Sparrow, said on Wednesday it had hacked the Nobitex exchange, a day after claiming it had destroyed data at Iran’s state-owned Bank Sepah.
Cyberattack on Washington Post Strikes Journalists’ Email Accounts: Reporters covering national security and economic policy were among the employees affected. … A cyberattack on the Washington Post compromised email accounts of several journalists and was potentially the work of a foreign government, company officials told some affected staffers in recent days, according to people familiar with the situation. … Staffers were told the intrusions compromised journalists’ Microsoft accounts and could have granted the intruder access to work emails they sent and received, some of the people said. The reporters targeted include those on the national-security and economic-policy teams, including some who write about China, the people said.
Cybercriminals breach Aflac as part of hacking spree against US insurance industry: Cybercriminals have breached insurance giant Aflac, potentially stealing Social Security numbers, insurance claims and health information, the company said Friday, the latest in a spree of hacks against the insurance industry. … With billions of dollars in annual revenue and tens of millions of customers, Aflac is the biggest victim yet in the ongoing digital assault on US insurance companies that has the industry on edge and the FBI and private cyber experts scrambling to contain the fallout.
Major US healthcare data provider hit by data breach - over 5 million patients affected, here's what we know: American healthcare data giant Episource has confirmed suffering a cyberattack in which it lost sensitive data on more than five million people. … The data includes health plans/policies, insurance companies, member/group ID numbers, and Medicaid-Medicare-government payor ID numbers. It also includes health data such as medical record numbers, doctors, diagnoses, medicines, test results, images, care, and treatment, as well as other personal data such as dates of birth or Social Security numbers (SSN).
Massive healthcare data leak exposes millions: What you need to know: Cybernews researchers have discovered a misconfigured MongoDB database exposing 2.7 million patient profiles and 8.8 million appointment records. The database was publicly accessible online, unprotected by passwords or authentication protocols. Anyone with basic knowledge of database scanning tools could have accessed it. … The exposed data included names, birthdates, addresses, emails, phone numbers, gender, chart IDs, language preferences and billing classifications. Appointment records also contained metadata such as timestamps and institutional identifiers.
Telecom giant Viasat breached by China's Salt Typhoon hackers: Satellite communications company Viasat is the latest victim of China's Salt Typhoon cyber-espionage group, which has previously hacked into the networks of multiple other telecom providers in the United States and worldwide. … The company discovered the Salt Typhoon breach earlier this year and has been working with federal authorities to investigate the attack, as Bloomberg first reported.
We caught 4 more states sharing personal health data with Big Tech: Health care exchanges in Nevada, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island shared users’ sensitive health data with companies like Google, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. … The data, including prescription drug names and dosages, was sent by web trackers on state exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act to help Americans purchase health coverage.
Websites are tracking you via browser fingerprinting, researchers show: Clearing your cookies is not enough to protect your privacy online. New research led by Texas A&M University has found that websites are covertly using browser fingerprinting—a method to uniquely identify a web browser—to track people across browser sessions and sites. … The findings are published as part of the Proceedings of the ACM on Web Conference 2025.
SecureTheVillage
Events
July15: Cybersecurity Connect Discussion Group. Preparing for disruption. What your small business / nonprofit can learn from how the military plans ahead. As President & General Dwight Eisenhower famously said, “In going into battle, plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” This month, JC Vega, CISSP, retired Army Colonel and cybersecurity strategist, joins us to unpack what that really means for small businesses and nonprofits faced with the inevitable disruptions of a cyber-event. You’ll walk away with a few battle-tested strategies (and maybe a new way to think about disruption). Cybersecurity Connect is where cybersecurity professionals, IT leaders, attorneys, risk managers, executive leaders, educators, investors, and law enforcement come together to discuss challenges, exchange ideas, and strengthen our collective defenses. July 15, 3:45 - 5:00 PDT.
Programs
Guides for families and individuals
How Hackable Are You? Strengthen your cybersecurity and privacy defenses with our free updated 13-step guide.
Guide to Password Managers. What you need to know to get a password manager that's right for you.
After a Disaster: A Guide to Keep Your Phone Secure, Safeguard Your Information, and Avoid Being Scammed. This is a concise guide on how to protect yourself from scams in the aftermath of a local disaster, whether it's an earthquake, major fire, hurricane, or other crisis.
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Cybersecurity News of the Week & Weekend Patch Report. Our award winning newsletter, now on Substack. Essential cybersecurity and privacy news for the cyber-aware and the cyber-concerned.
Family Protection Newsletter: Our monthly newsletter for non-cyber experts. For your parents, friends, and those who need to protect themselves in a digital world.
Section 2: Let’s Be Careful Out There. And Let’s Help Others Who Aren’t Yet Cyber-Aware.
With the exposure of 16 billion of passwords, it’s more important than ever to follow the SecureTheVillage How Hackable Are You guide. #2: Use multifactor authentication (2FA) whenever possible. #8. Do not reuse passwords. And #3. Always be suspicious.
16 billion passwords exposed in record-breaking data breach, opening access to Facebook, Google, Apple, and any other service imaginable: Several collections of login credentials reveal one of the largest data breaches in history, totaling a humongous 16 billion exposed login credentials. The data most likely originates from various infostealers. … “This is not just a leak – it’s a blueprint for mass exploitation. With over 16 billion login records exposed, cybercriminals now have unprecedented access to personal credentials that can be used for account takeover, identity theft, and highly targeted phishing. What’s especially concerning is the structure and recency of these datasets – these aren’t just old breaches being recycled. This is fresh, weaponizable intelligence at scale,” researchers said.
With MFA, steer away from SMS codes.
Those security codes you ask to receive via text leave your accounts vulnerable. Do this instead: Here are some other, safer ways to verify your identity and sign into your accounts. … It’s increasingly becoming evident that security codes sent by text message may leave our data less secure than we thought. Fortunately, there are other, more secure ways to keep your accounts safe. Here’s why it’s probably a good idea to stop using SMS for your security codes, and what you can use instead.
Another story. Another reason. Hacker Guide, #3. Always be suspicious.
5 riskiest places to get scammed online: Scammers love your smartphone. … They can text you fraudulent tracking links for packages you never bought. They can profess their empty love to you across your social media apps. They can bombard your email inbox with phishing attempts, impersonate a family member through a phone call, and even trick you into visiting malicious versions of legitimate websites. … But, according to new research from Malwarebytes, while scammers can reach people through just about any modern method of communication, they have at least five favored tracts for finding new victims—emails, phone calls and voicemails, malicious websites, social media platforms, and text messages.
Once again, Meta finds a way to make money be selling your private information. Kudos to EFF for uncovering this. Never forget that you are the product.
Protect Yourself From Meta’s Latest Attack on Privacy: Researchers recently caught Meta using an egregious new tracking technique to spy on you. Exploiting a technical loophole, the company was able to have their apps snoop on users’ web browsing. This tracking technique stands out for its flagrant disregard of core security protections built into phones and browsers. The episode is yet another reason to distrust Meta, block web tracking, and end surveillance advertising. … Fortunately, there are steps that you, your browser, and your government can take to fight online tracking.
Kudos to AARP for launching their new initiative: Pause. Reflect. Protect.
AARP’s New Message to Stay Safe From Scams: Pause. Reflect. Protect.: Keep these simple steps in mind — and share them with family and friends — to fight back against today’s sophisticated fraud criminals. … Three elements are common to most scams: unexpected contact, a surge of emotion, and a sense of urgency. Once we teach people that these three elements are triggers, we can teach a safe response to them. We call that response the “active pause.”
Section 3: Smaller Businesses and Nonprofits: A Discipline of Cybersecurity.
NIST Outlines Real-World Zero-Trust Examples: SP 1800-35 offers 19 examples of how to implement zero-trust architecture (ZTA) using off-the-shelf commercial technologies. … The National Institute of Standards and Technology released new guidance on building end-to-end zero-trust architectures (ZTA), providing security teams with practical, real-world examples of how to enhance their organization's defenses. … Developed through a four-year project at the NIST National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence with 24 industry collaborators, SP 1800-35 addresses the reality that every ZTA implementation should be treated as a custom build because every organization's network environment and needs are different.
Cybersecurity Nonprofit of the Week … FightCybercrime
Kudos this week to FightCybercrime, a nonprofit that helps consumers impacted by cybercrime. FightCybercrime fosters collaboration, develops resources and provides training while working within the law enforcement and consumer protection ecosystems to ensure those affected by cybercrime are empowered to recognize, report and recover from scams and online fraud. Like SecureTheVillage, FightCybercrime is a fellow-member of Nonprofit Cyber.
Section 4: Weekend Patch Report
Keeping your computers, smartphones, notepads and other devices patched and updated is #4 on SecureTheVillage's How Hackable Are You Guide. The following lists current versions of common software programs. Items in Bold have been updated. Updates are usually available from within the program. If not, updates can be downloaded from the company's website. Even as patching is increasingly automated, it's important to double-check that it's being done.
7-Zip 24.09.
Adobe Acrobat Reader updated to 25.001.20531
AVG 25.5.3382.
Apple iOS 18.5
Apple iPadOS 18.5
Apple macOS Sequoia 15.5
Apple macOS Sonoma 14.7.6
Apple macOS Ventura 13.7.6
Apple watchOS 11.5
Apple tvOS 18.5
Apple vision OS 2.5
Apple Safari 18.5
Brave updated to 1.79.126.
CCleaner 6.36.11508.
Chrome updated to 137.0.7151.120.
Discord updated to 1.0.9196.
Dropbox 226.4.5094.
Edge updated to 137.0.3296.93.
Evernote 10.142.1.
ExpressVPN updated to 12.103.0.22
Firefox 139.0.4.
Foxit Reader 2025.1.0.27937.
Google Drive for Desktop 109.0.3.0.
iTunes 12.13.7.1.
KeePass 2.57.1.
Malwarebytes 5.3.2.195.
Microsoft 365 & Office updated
Microsoft Windows
Notepad++ 8.8.1.
OneDrive 25.095.0518.0002.
Opera Chromium updated to 119.0.5497.110.
Spotify updated to 1.2.66.447.
Teams updated to 25153.1010.3727.5483.
TeamViewer 15.66.5.
Thunderbird 139.0.2.
Zoom updated to 6.5.0.6118.