Cybersecurity News: UK drops Apple backdoor mandate, Allianz Life breach impacts 1.1M, attack stifles speed cameras

In today’s cybersecurity news…

UK agrees to drop ‘backdoor’ mandate for Apple devices

Britain dropped its demand that Apple build a “backdoor” into its encrypted services, following months of talks with U.S. officials. U.S. spy chief Tulsi Gabbard said the deal, reached with US and UK leaders, resolves concerns that the order violated privacy protections and a bilateral agreement. Apple had strongly opposed the mandate, warning it would weaken security and expose users to cyber threats. (Reuters)

Massive Allianz Life data breach impacts 1.1M people 

After attackers stole data from Allianz Life customers in a July Salesforce breach, the company now reports personal data from 1.1 million Allianz Life customers were affected, linked to the ShinyHunters extortion group. This includes names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and in some cases tax IDs, which have since been leaked online. Allianz Life has around 2,000 employees in the US and is a subsidiary of Allianz SE, which has over 128 million customers worldwide and ranks as the world’s 82nd largest company based on revenue. (Bleeping Computer)

Speed cameras knocked out after cyber attack

A July cyberattack on the Netherlands’ Public Prosecution Service forced the agency offline, disabling many of the country’s speed cameras. The breach was reported as part of Citrix vulnerabilities and disrupted fixed, average, and portable speed checks, leaving only phone-use cameras operational. The outage also slowed legal processes, with staff needing to use paper communication. (Bitdefender)

iPhone users able to send encrypted texts to Android friends with iOS 26?

Code in the iOS 26 beta spotted by Android Authority notes Apple may soon bring end-to-end encryption to RCS messages between iPhone and Android users. The code references RCS encryption, building on Apple’s earlier pledge to support secure cross-platform messaging. RCS already enables richer features like larger files, better media, and read receipts, but doesn’t have true encryption. The GSM Association’s new RCS standard, based on Messaging Layer Security, would make it the first cross-provider messaging format with E2EE. (ZDNET)

Huge thanks to our sponsor, Conveyor

Public exploit released for critical SAP NetWeaver flaw

A critical SAP NetWeaver flaw is being actively exploited after public exploit code was released, allowing unauthenticated remote code execution from the metadata uploader endpoint. CISA added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Organizations should apply appropriate SAP Security Notes, restrict the vulnerable endpoint, and monitor for signs of compromise. (Infosecurity Magazine)

Microsoft: August security updates break Windows recovery, reset

Microsoft confirmed that its August 2025 Windows security updates are breaking reset and recovery functions on Windows 10 and older Windows 11 versions. The issue affects features like “Reset my PC” and RemoteWipe, and applies to various updates. Microsoft says it plans to deliver fixes via out-of-band updates in the coming days. (Bleeping Computer)

DripDropper Linux malware cleans up after itself

Security company Red Canary reports that the Linux malware DripDropper exploits an old Apache ActiveMQ vulnerability to gain persistent access on cloud systems, then unusually patches the same hole to block other malware and hide its presence. It uses encrypted binaries, Dropbox-based command and control, and alters SSH settings for root access, letting attackers mine cryptocurrency or move laterally. Organizations should patch ActiveMQ, harden systems, restrict SSH/root access, and monitor cloud activity to detect compromises. (ZDNET)

Middletown recovers from cybersecurity incident, some services unavailable

Middletown, Ohio, is recovering from a weekend cybersecurity incident that disrupted several city services, including police/public records, utility billing, income tax, and the health department. In-person services at the Middletown City Building remain closed, though online utility payments are still accepted, and no services will be cut off for non-payment. Emergency services like 911 and the Municipal Court continue to operate normally. (Spectrum News 1)

Elastic rejects claims of a zero-day RCE flaw in Defend EDR

Elastic has rejected claims from AshES Cybersecurity that its Defend EDR product contains a zero-day RCE vulnerability. After reviewing the report, Elastic said it couldn’t reproduce the exploit and noted that AshES didn’t provide a reproducible proof-of-concept. Elastic says it takes security reports seriously and maintains a bug bounty program, having paid over $600,000 to researchers since 2017. (Bleeping Computer)