Ransomware activity remained elevated in Q1 2026, continuing the trend established over the past year. According to the State of Ransomware Q1 2026 report from Check Point Research, overall attack volume stayed near historic highs. At the same time, the structure of the ransomware ecosystem changed materially. After two years of increasing fragmentation, activity is consolidating around a smaller number of dominant groups. For organizations, this shift reduces the number of active actors but increases the potential impact of individual incidents.  Key Findings: 2,122 organizations were listed on ransomware data leak sites in Q1 2026, making it the second-highest Q1 on record The top […]

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As we recognize World Password Day in 2026, the traditional advice to “use a complex password with numbers and symbols” feels hopelessly outdated. Today, a 16-character password is useless if an infostealer malware extracts it directly from a browser cache, or if an employee willingly pastes it into an unmanaged AI chatbot. Welcome to the real World Password Day 2026. Not the one where we remind you to add an exclamation mark to “Password123.” The one where we pull back the curtain on the global industrial marketplace that has quietly been built on the back of our collective password failures — a […]

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Cyber security and operational resilience go hand-in-hand. Organizations have invested heavily in defending against breaches, ransomware, and service disruptions, building layered defenses designed to keep attackers out and systems running. But recent geopolitical developments are forcing a broader and more uncomfortable realization – the next major disruption may originate in the physical world rather than in code. As cloud infrastructure becomes more deeply embedded in the fabric of global economies and national systems, it is no longer just a platform for operations, but an extension of the attack surface. And it is this shift that introduces an entirely new category […]

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A new generation of frontier AI models is fundamentally changing how cyber attacks are created and executed, introducing a level of speed, scale, and accessibility the industry has not faced before. Early testing of advanced models, including Claude’s Mythos model, shows that they can identify vulnerabilities in code, connect them into viable attack paths, and generate working exploits with minimal effort. What once required deep expertise and significant time can now be executed rapidly, and at scale, across a wide range of environments. These are not simply AI-assisted attacks, they are attacks powered by frontier AI models. The new models […]

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We’re proud to announce that Check Point has earned GovRAMP Authorization for the Check Point Infinity Platform for Government. This is a big milestone for the company and is a reflection of our unparalleled prevention-first capabilities, which were recently ranked #1 for the fourth consecutive year in Miercom’s 2026 Hybrid Mesh Network Security Assessment (Check Point achieved the top overall security effectiveness score of 99.8%, with 100% phishing detection and 99.9% AI-powered malware prevention versus leading competitors).  Combined with FedRAMP Authorization achieved in 2025, this means Check Point now delivers security-vetted protection across federal, state, local, and tribal governments, providing a consistent, trusted cyber security framework across all levels of U.S. public sector operations.  This […]

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Do not pay the ransom. VECT permanently destroys large files rather than locking them. Even the attackers cannot recover them. Payment will not restore your data  VECT partnered with TeamPCP and BreachForums to build one of the largest ransomware affiliate networks ever assembled, giving them a ready-made pipeline to thousands of potential victims  The encryption flaw exists across all versions. Windows, Linux, and ESXi variants are all affected. The bug has been present since before the public 2.0 release and has never been fixed  Advertised features don’t work. Encryption speed modes, anti-analysis protections, and other capabilities are either unimplemented or broken  Check Point Threat Emulation and Harmony Endpoint provide full protection against all known […]

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AI is changing how software works. Applications no longer just process requests. They reason, make decisions, and take action. AI agents now retrieve data, invoke tools, and execute workflows across systems in real time. That shift introduces a new kind of risk. Because in an agentic world, security is no longer just about who has access. It’s about what AI is allowed to do. A new control point for agentic systems in Google Cloud Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform provides a centralized control point for agentic systems enabling identity, access, policy enforcement, and observability across how agents operate. This […]

The post From Access Control to Outcome Control: Securing AI Agents with Check Point and Google Cloud appeared first on Check Point Blog.

Today’s enterprises demand Zero Trust security, everywhere. Cloud security teams require high-performance protection without the burden of managing firewalls at scale. For this reason, organizations are seeking managed network security solutions that reduce operational overhead while improving consistency, visibility, and prevention across complex multi-cloud environments. Responding to that demand, Check Point is continuing rollout of an AI-powered cloud firewall as a service now available for preview on Google Cloud, as well as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.  There will be demos of the new firewall service at the Check Point Booth #3101 in the Google Next Solution Expo.  Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service eliminates the complex overhead of managing firewall software infrastructure, giving busy DevOps and Security teams time to focus on policy management, compliance, and other strategic initiatives.   Continued Evolution of Cloud Firewalls  Cloud Firewall as a Service on Google Cloud marketplace delivers the power of Cloud Firewall (formerly Guard Network Security) with advanced threat prevention, AI-driven security intelligence, automated policy […]

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Anthropic’s reported development of Claude Mythos signals a shift: AI is compressing attack timelines by accelerating vulnerability discovery, exploit development, and multi-step attack planning. More broadly, AI is increasing the speed and scale of attacks across malware, phishing, and vulnerabilities. Attackers can now run these vectors in parallel, reducing time to compromise and increasing exposure. AI also enables more targeted phishing, faster malware iteration, and rapid vulnerability discovery, exposing gaps in detection and exposure management earlier and requiring prevention-first controls and real-time detection. To see how these challenges translate into real-world performance, and how leading security vendors handle them under […]

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The global manufacturing sector entered 2025 facing one of the most aggressive cyber threat environments in its history. Digital transformation, smart factories, and interconnected supply chains have expanded operational efficiency to places 50 years ago we wouldn’t have thought possible. But, this comes with unprecedented cyber risk. According to the Manufacturing Threat Landscape 2025 report, cyber incidents targeting manufacturing increased sharply year over year, placing the industry at the center of global ransomware activity. Manufacturing Becomes the Primary Ransomware Target In 2025, global ransomware incidents reached 7,419 documented cases, representing a 32 percent increase year over year. Manufacturing was the […]

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With the current Iran crisis at its peak, cyber activity is a relevant part of the threat picture alongside kinetic and political pressure. Iran’s ecosystem includes multiple clusters aligned with state entities, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), as well as deniable operators and “hacktivist” groups. This ecosystem supports a broad set of objectives: espionage to gain intelligence and footholds; disruption and destructive activity, including DDoS attacks, pseudo-ransomware, and data wipers to impose costs; and information operations that pair destructive activity or data leaks with coordinated online amplification. This activity is expected to intensify and broaden across the Middle East, the United States, and […]

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