Cyber Brief: Zero day risks, advanced phishing and public sector resilience

Today’s cyber activity highlights three themes shaping UK organisational risk: renewed concern around active zero day exploitation, increasingly sophisticated phishing techniques and persistent resilience gaps in overstretched public sector environments. Each trend demonstrates that attackers continue to target what organisations rely on most - identity, availability and trust.

Increased zero day exploitation prompts defensive caution across enterprises

Several major security vendors issued warnings over the last 24 hours about heightened scanning, probing and suspected exploitation activity targeting recently disclosed vulnerabilities across operating systems and widely used enterprise platforms. Although details remain limited, researchers noted overlaps with previous activity clusters linked to financially motivated and state aligned groups.
The concern stems not only from the vulnerabilities themselves, but from the speed at which attackers are reversing patches and proof of concept materials to identify practical exploitation paths. Organisations that delay patching or rely on manual deployment windows may be exposed, particularly if early reconnaissance began before public advisories were issued.
The broader pattern reflects a long term shift. Zero day exploitation is no longer rare. Attackers increasingly use chained vulnerabilities, misconfigurations and identity weaknesses to move from an initial foothold to high value systems. Environments with legacy infrastructure, inconsistent patching or complex hybrid setups remain especially vulnerable during periods of active threat scanning.

Why it matters
Rapid patching, strong identity controls and segmentation are essential to limiting the impact of zero day exploitation. Organisations should review exposure, validate compensating controls and ensure that monitoring can detect abnormal access patterns.

Source
Global vulnerability and threat analysis reporting

Phishing campaigns become more contextual and harder to detect

Threat intelligence teams have observed a rise in contextual phishing operations that mimic internal workflows rather than rely on generic lures. These campaigns use language patterns, timing and document themes derived from open source intelligence. In some cases, attackers monitored public calendars, job ads and supplier notices to craft emails that blend seamlessly with day to day communication.
Unlike mass phishing, these operations target smaller groups with personalised messages and realistic requests, such as updating access permissions, reviewing contracts or approving internal changes. Attackers then redirect users to cloned portals or capture credentials through staged authentication prompts.
This shift towards behavioural mimicry increases the likelihood of user interaction, even in organisations with strong awareness programmes. It also highlights that technical controls - such as domain protection and filtering - cannot reliably block personalised, low volume attacks crafted from legitimate business context.

Why it matters
Behaviour driven phishing bypasses traditional security layers. Organisations should expand authentication protections, enforce phishing resistant MFA, and enhance anomaly detection around login behaviour and email patterns.

Source
UK and global phishing trend assessments

Public sector resilience concerns rise as resource constraints grow

New assessments of UK public sector cyber maturity highlight ongoing challenges in maintaining resilience amid staffing shortages and ageing infrastructure. Many organisations continue to rely on legacy systems that cannot support modern security controls, while others struggle to sustain patching and backup processes due to limited operational capacity.
These pressures have resulted in slower response times, increased reliance on third party support and gaps in service continuity planning. Several recent incidents across councils and local services show that organisations may detect issues quickly but struggle to contain or recover from them efficiently.
The findings also warn that without sustained investment in foundational security - including identity governance, network segmentation and validated backups - public services may face recurring cycles of disruption, particularly as threat actors target entities with predictable constraints.

Why it matters
Resilience is determined by preparation, not reaction. Organisations should prioritise restore testing, privileged access hygiene, and clear escalation routes. Leadership visibility is essential to drive long term uplift.

Source
UK public sector cyber maturity reviews

Today’s Key Actions

1. Validate exposure to newly disclosed vulnerabilities and deploy patches rapidly.
2. Strengthen phishing protections with phishing resistant MFA and behavioural detection.
3. Review segmentation and limit lateral movement opportunities in hybrid environments.
4. Assess resilience plans, especially backup integrity and restore speed.
5. Reconfirm supplier and public sector dependencies that may face capacity constraints.

Secarma Insight

Attackers continue to target the gaps between technology and process. Timely patching, strong identity defence and realistic resilience planning remain the pillars of a mature security posture. As threats accelerate, organisations that invest in these fundamentals gain the confidence and agility needed to operate securely in a fast moving landscape.

Get in touch with us to prioritise your next steps and strengthen your security posture.