Cybersecurity Negotiator Gets 70 Months for Helping BlackCat Extort Victims

Multiple July 2026 incidents: a former ransomware negotiator was sentenced for assisting BlackCat extortion and leaking client data; Microsoft warned of GigaWiper, a destructive Windows backdoor capable of disk wiping, file encryption and remote access; an AI gateway tied to Amazon Bedrock (LiteLLM) was hijacked for cryptomining after exposed SSH activity; Wiz disclosed GhostApproval symlink/approval-bypass flaws in major AI coding assistants that can hide sensitive targets and enable system access; China-linked UNK_MassTraction exploited Roundcube vulnerabilities against US/Canadian academia;