As we approach the end of 2025, the Australian cyber threat landscape has experienced a volatile week, with significant incidents rocking the education and healthcare sectors. The last seven days have been defined by the active exploitation of critical vulnerabilities in modern web frameworks and a series of ransomware attacks targeting sensitive patient and staff data. This week’s briefing highlights a major data breach at the University of Sydney, a ransomware attack on fertility provider Genea, and the "React2Shell" vulnerability that is currently reshaping cloud security priorities.

The Australian cyber security landscape has experienced a turbulent week (7–14 December), dominated by a "Critical" alert from the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) regarding widespread vulnerabilities in edge devices and a worrying escalation in AI-assisted development flaws. As we approach the holiday shutdown period—a traditional window for heightened ransomware activity—organisations across Healthcare, Government, and FinTech must urgently prioritise patching and detection. Here is your deep dive into the threats impacting Australian organisations this week.

This week has seen a critical escalation in the Australian cyber threat landscape, dominated by a maximum-severity vulnerability in a widely used web framework and significant breaches in the Defence and Education sectors. The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has issued urgent alerts, and organisations across all sectors—particularly those using React-based web applications—must take immediate action. Here is your deep dive into the threats, incidents, and vulnerabilities shaping the last 7 days (01–07 December 2025).

This week has seen a significant escalation in cyber activity targeting Australian critical infrastructure and supply chains. The most alarming development is a confirmed breach of a major Defence contractor, potentially exposing sensitive naval data. Simultaneously, a sophisticated campaign by the "Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters" group is aggressively targeting SaaS platforms, with Qantas and Zendesk users in the crosshairs. As we approach the holiday season, a new report warns that ransomware operators are leveraging Generative AI to time attacks for weekends and public holidays, specifically targeting periods of reduced staffing in Security Operations Centres (SOCs).