Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) shares moved lower Monday after Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) cybersecurity unit, Mandiant, said a notorious hacking group returned to one of Oracle's most widely used enterprise products.
Google's Mandiant said Friday that ShinyHunters has renewed "mass exploitation" of a flaw in Oracle's PeopleSoft software, according to Reuters. The group successfully exploited defenses organizations put in place after an earlier wave of attacks this summer.
The earlier intrusions ran from May 27 through June 9 and mainly hit universities, Reuters reported.
Firewalls Weren't Enough
The new campaign shows the attackers adjusted to guidance published after the first wave. Mandiant said the hackers went after organizations that added web application firewall rules but skipped the update Oracle released to fix the vulnerability.
Mandiant did not name victims. It said the latest activity reached dozens of systems worldwide across higher education, technology, healthcare, agriculture, transportation and government.
The FBI Angle
The timing adds weight to the report. Mandiant's findings landed days after ShinyHunters claimed it had stolen FBI personnel data.
The group has said it reached the FBI data through a PeopleSoft vulnerability. Reuters said it could not corroborate that claim, and Oracle did not respond to the outlet's requests for comment.
In a statement last Wednesday, the FBI said it was "aggressively investigating" the reported breach. ShinyHunters also claimed it took psychiatric and medical records of bureau staff, and Reuters said it partially authenticated some of the files.
A Zero-Day History
The first campaign was a true zero-day. The attacks happened before Oracle issued a security advisory on June 10, so no patch existed at the time, Reuters reported in June.
Google said then that it notified more than 100 organizations with potentially vulnerable endpoints. Most were in the U.S., and 68% were in higher education.
ShinyHunters has a record of targeting global companies for extortion.
Stock Under Pressure
Oracle was already under pressure before Monday. In late June, the stock logged its worst week since 2001 with a 19% drop as investors grew uneasy about the company's debt load and heavy AI infrastructure spending, much of it tied to OpenAI commitments.
The stock has since lost about 58% from its 52-week high of $322.54. It remains above its 52-week low of $114.50.
ORCL Stock Price Action: Oracle stock was down 2.2% to $134.09 at the time of publication Monday, according to Benzinga Pro market data.