The first half of July saw threat actors ramp up fast, high-touch intrusions with aggressive ransomware playbooks. UAT-7810 built ORB (Operational Relay Box) meshes by hijacking routers and edge devices for stealthy persistence, while the group known as The Gentlemen leaned into aggressive extortion boosted by AI-driven automation and quick RCE chaining. Identity compromise and edge-device abuse were the two biggest entry points. The takeaway from the Byer Co. team: tighter patching, firmware up