Cyber Briefing: 2025.04.24

Explore the latest cybersecurity updates : GitLab and SonicWall flaws, Google Forms phishing, major healthcare breaches, UK child safety rules, FBI cybercrime losses, and Microsoft AI bug bounties.

Apr 24, 2025

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Welcome to Cyber Briefing, the newsletter that informs you about the latest cybersecurity advisories, alerts, incidents and news every weekday.

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🚨 Cyber Alerts

1. GitLab Urges Users to Patch Critical Bugs

GitLab has released critical security updates for its Community and Enterprise Editions to patch several high-risk vulnerabilities. These include cross-site scripting flaws, a denial-of-service risk, and a bug that could lead to account takeovers if exploited. The affected components include the Maven dependency proxy and issue preview features, which could allow attackers to inject scripts or crash services. Although GitLab.com and Dedicated users are already protected, self-managed users are strongly urged to upgrade immediately to avoid potential breaches.

2. Cybercriminals Use Google Forms for Phishing

Cybercriminals are increasingly using Google Forms to launch phishing campaigns that evade traditional email filters. Because Google Forms operates under the trusted *.google.com domain and uses HTTPS, many security tools classify it as safe. Attackers exploit this trust by creating fake login pages styled to mimic services like Microsoft 365 or banking sites. These malicious forms harvest credentials and transmit them using webhooks, making detection more difficult for security teams.

3. SonicWall Warns of Remote Crash Flaw

SonicWall has issued an urgent advisory regarding a critical vulnerability in its SSLVPN Virtual Office interface. The flaw, identified as CVE-2025-32818, allows unauthenticated attackers to remotely crash firewalls, leading to potential network disruptions. This issue impacts SonicWall’s Gen7 and TZ80 product lines, with a CVSS v3 score of 7.5. The vulnerability is caused by a Null Pointer Dereference in SonicOS, which triggers a denial-of-service (DoS) condition when exploited. SonicWall recommends immediate patching, as there are no workarounds available, to prevent exploitation and ensure network security.

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💥 Cyber Incidents

4. Yale New Haven Health Breach Hit 5.5M People

Yale New Haven Health System, based in New Haven, CT, disclosed a major data breach affecting 5.5 million people. The breach occurred in March 2025, with data exfiltrated from the system by an unauthorized third party. The stolen information included personal details such as names, addresses, and Social Security numbers, but not financial data. Yale New Haven Health has offered credit monitoring and is working to enhance its security measures to prevent future breaches.

5. Blue Shield of California Reports PHI Breach

Blue Shield of California reported a breach involving the unauthorized sharing of 4.7 million individuals' protected health information with Google Ads. The issue, which occurred due to a misconfigured Google Analytics setup, lasted from April 2021 to January 2024. Information potentially exposed included medical details, insurance plan data, and personal identifiers. Blue Shield severed the connection between Google Analytics and Google Ads in January 2024 and reviewed its security protocols.

6. Kelly Benefits Reports Data Breach Incident

Kelly Benefits, a Maryland-based provider of payroll and benefits services, reported a significant data breach impacting nearly 264,000 people. Hackers accessed company systems between December 12 and December 17, 2024, and exfiltrated sensitive files containing names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, tax IDs, and health and financial information. The breach affected several of Kelly Benefits’ clients, including Amergis, Beam Benefits, and CareFirst, with notifications now being sent to impacted individuals.

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📢 Cyber News

7. Ofcom Sets New Child Safety Rules Online

Ofcom has unveiled a sweeping new code of practice to enforce child safety requirements under the UK’s Online Safety Act. The Protection of Children Codes and Guidance outlines 40 detailed measures aimed at shielding young users from harmful online content. These include mandatory content filtering through recommender systems, stricter age verification, and more power for children to manage their online interactions, such as blocking users or disabling comments. Tech firms must also make it easier for children to report problematic content and must clearly explain terms of service.

8. FBI Reports $16.6 Billion Lost to Cybercrime

In 2024, the FBI recorded a staggering $16.6 billion lost to cybercrime, marking a 33% increase. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) processed nearly 860,000 complaints, with older Americans being heavily impacted by fraud. Ransomware was the leading threat, increasing by 9% compared to the previous year, and fraud made up the majority of reported losses. The FBI warned that the reported figures represent only a fraction of the actual cybercrime losses, as many incidents remain unreported.

9. Microsoft Expands AI Bug Bounty Program

Microsoft has introduced an expanded bug bounty program offering rewards up to $30,000 for uncovering critical AI vulnerabilities in its enterprise products, specifically Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. The initiative seeks to enhance the security of AI systems by incentivizing ethical hackers to report flaws before they can be exploited by malicious actors. Microsoft uses a specialized classification system to evaluate reported vulnerabilities, focusing on areas like prompt injection, model manipulation, and inferential information disclosure.

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💡 Cyber Tip

Watch Out for Phishing Attacks Using Trusted Platforms Like Google Forms
Cybercriminals are abusing Google Forms to create convincing phishing pages that bypass email security by leveraging Google’s trusted domain and HTTPS encryption.

✅ Actions You Should Take:

Inspect form links – Don’t trust forms just because they’re hosted on google.com. Always verify the source.
Educate users – Train employees to spot fake login prompts, even on trusted domains.
Use email filtering rules – Configure filters to flag unexpected Google Forms, especially those requesting credentials.

Why it matters: These phishing attacks look highly authentic and often bypass traditional security tools, making them effective at stealing sensitive login information.