Cybersecurity news we picked for the week ending Saturday, October 17, 2026.
Week ending Saturday, October 17, 2026. The stories were published from Monday, October 12, 2026 to Saturday, October 17, 2026. Added on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
We picked these stories. Each summary is in our own words.
A flaw in BeyondTrust software was used before a fix existed, two reports say
Good to know
Reported by SecurityWeek and The Hacker News, both published Friday, October 16, 2026.
Two reports say a China-linked group used a flaw in BeyondTrust's Remote Support software as a zero-day (a flaw attackers use before a fix is out). The Hacker News says the group used it to take control of Remote Support servers. Both put the first attack in late August 2026, and SecurityWeek gives the date as August 29. Both say a patch had reached the company's cloud-service (SaaS) customers by October 9, 2026.
What this means for you
This story is about BeyondTrust's customers and the Remote Support software they use. The reports give advice written for those customers. It matters as news because, as the reports describe it, attackers used the flaw before a fix was out.
Microsoft took over the website addresses of a Chinese-language phishing marketplace, one report says
Something to do
Reported by SecurityWeek, published Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
Microsoft and another group took control of website addresses used by a Chinese-language phishing market, the article reports, after an order from a US court in Florida. The marketplace's three services provided criminals with accounts, phishing kits (ready-made tools for scam messages) and other infrastructure, the article says. The article also says criminals used them to send over a billion harmful messages, starting in January 2026. Microsoft disabled over 20,000 accounts linked to one service, the article says, and is blocking over 100,000 website addresses used to impersonate others and for fraud.
What this means for you
This story is about the services behind phishing messages, which are messages that try to trick someone into giving away information or money. Anyone who gets messages can receive phishing messages. It matters as news because the article describes action against services that the article says criminals used to send many such messages.
What you can do
This step is ours, not the article's.
If a message from a company you have an account with asks you to click a link or open an attachment, contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real, not the contact details in the message.
We based it on this page from the Federal Trade Commission: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams. We read this on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
Fake Microsoft security alerts pushed people to call a support number, two reports say
Something to do
Reported by Cyber Security News, published Friday, October 16, 2026, and by The Hacker News, published Thursday, October 15, 2026.
Two reports say attackers have used more than 20,000 Cloudflare Pages website addresses to show fake Microsoft security alerts. Both say the scams have used disposable Cloudflare Pages sites since April 2026. The pages claim the computer is disabled and give a support number to call. Both say the scammer on the call gets people to install remote access software (a program that lets someone else control the computer). Cyber Security News says the website addresses are not hacked Cloudflare customer accounts.
What this means for you
Anyone who lands on one of these pages could see the fake alert. The reports call the alerts fake and say the number leads to someone posing as a technician.
What you can do
This step is ours, not the article's.
If a security warning pops up on your screen and gives a phone number to call, do not call it.
We based it on this page from the Federal Trade Commission: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-and-report-tech-support-scams. We read this on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
The page's own words: "Real security pop-up warnings and messages will never ask you to call a phone number."
