CyberWire Daily

Iranian hackers hit LA transit. Chinese cyber operators target Middle East infrastructure. Dutch police take down a 17-million-device botnet. Researchers uncover a phishing risk in ChatGPT. Anthropic prepares its Mythos model for release. Chrome patches 22 critical bugs. Zapier fixes a dangerous vulnerability chain. ShinyHunters claims a Charter breach. A data broker who fueled scams against millions of seniors heads to prison. Maria Varmazis joins Dave Bittner for a look back at a decade of ransomware. A Google insider allegedly went from threat hunting to bet hunting.

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CyberWire Guest

Today CyberWire hosts Maria Varmazis and Dave Bittner take a look at how ransomware has evolved over the past decade, from opportunistic attacks to today’s sprawling criminal enterprises, and discuss the tactics, trends, and turning points that shaped the threat landscape. You can catch the full conversation on Sunday in the CyberWire Daily podcast feed. We hope you’ll join us! 

Selected Reading

Iranian hackers behind March's LA transport cyberattack, Gambit finds (The Jerusalem Post)

Chinese Hackers Exploit Iran War to Target Maritime and Energy Firms (Infosecurity Magazine)

Dutch cops wrest 17M devices from mystery botnet's clutches (The Register)

ChatGPT blindly trusts browser content, turning the page into a payload (The Register)

Anthropic confirms Claude Mythos-class models will roll out to the public (Bleeping Computer)

Chrome 148 Update Patches 151 Vulnerabilities (SecurityWeek)

Zapier fixes bug chain that researchers say risked widespread accou

Cyber Command’s new chief pushes modernization as lawmakers warn commercial location data is exposing U.S. troops. A third-party UK visa site leaks passports and selfies. Microsoft slams unpatched zero-day disclosures. Researchers uncover a new macOS malware campaign targeting crypto developers, while SEO poisoning and AI chatbots spread cryptojacking malware. Carnival confirms a massive breach tied to ShinyHunters. Plus, the alleged VenomRAT developer is extradited to France, and a Romanian hacker is sentenced for breaching Oregon state systems. Our guest is Courtney Guss, Crisis Management Director at Semperis, discussing crisis response planning. The surveillance on the bus goes round and round.

A major takedown disrupts the GlassWorm botnet. The White House rewrites federal cyber logging rules as CISA faces cuts amid rising AI threats. Federal agencies ramp up scrutiny of so-called anti-tech extremism. GCHQ warns Russia is targeting UK infrastructure. Researchers uncover stealthy new malware, AI coding agent supply chain risks, and in-person extortion tactics targeting U.S. law firms. Europe grabs satellite spectrum. Ben Yelin joins us to discuss the bipartisan push for more support of CISA. Hacking your way to the main stage. 

The FBI warns attackers are abusing Microsoft OAuth authentication. India pushes faster patching as AI speeds up cyberattacks. Iranian hackers blend phishing with SEO poisoning. Anthropic’s AI finds thousands of open source flaws, while AI also reshapes bug bounties and fuels supply-chain attacks hitting thousands of GitHub repos. Plus, a new LMS zero-day, bulletproof hosting arrests in the Netherlands, FTC action over bogus “active listening” claims, and another busy week for cyber funding and M&A. Our guest is Kurtis Minder, author, joining us to discuss his book "Cyber Recon: My Life in Cyber Espionage and Ransomware Negotiation.” Please disregard all searches for disregard.

Authors Paul J. Maurer and Ed Skoudis join Caveat podcast co host Ben Yelin to discuss their new book: "The Code of Honor: Embracing Ethics in Cybersecurity." The book is a comprehensive and practical framework for ethical practices in contemporary cybersecurity. Listen to Ben's discussion with Paul and Ed as they explore the ethical dimensions of cybersecurity, the influence of AI, and the responsibilities of cyber professionals. Consider joining Paul and Ed in upholding the highest standards of cybersecurity ethics by signing the Cybersecurity Code they share as part of The Code of Honor. Learn more about the book here.

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Despite being an indispensable technology, traditional GPS remains vulnerable to exploitation and is needed for an update.

Today we are joined by ⁠Sasi Levi⁠, Security Research Lead at ⁠Noma Security⁠, sharing their team's work on "GrafanaGhost: The Phantom Stealing Your Data." Researchers at Noma Security disclosed “GrafanaGhost,” a vulnerability that could allow attackers to silently exfiltrate sensitive business data from Grafana dashboards using indirect prompt injection techniques.

Trump hits pause on an AI executive order. Lawmakers sound alarms over CISA cuts. A sophisticated scareware campaign traps users in fake tech support scams. Ubiquiti patches critical UniFi flaws. The U.S. pours billions into quantum computing. Researchers uncover delayed Google API key revocation. Canadian authorities arrest the alleged Kimwolf botnet operator. Two Americans plead guilty in a global tech support fraud scheme. Our guest is Ankit Kumar Honey, Senior Engineering Manager for Dependabot at GitHub, discussing closing the agentic gap between alert and patch at a global scale. AI generated reports still come up short. 

Microsoft confirms active exploitation of two Defender flaws. Europol dismantles a VPN service tied to ransomware gangs. A nine-year-old Linux kernel bug exposes SSH keys and password hashes. Cisco patches a critical Secure Workload vulnerability, while Drupal fixes a highly critical SQL injection flaw. Android malware quietly signs victims up for premium SMS scams. Webworm upgrades its espionage toolkit with Discord and Microsoft Graph backdoors. Plus, China and Russia deepen cooperation on AI, cybersecurity, and satellite systems. Our guest is Jake Moore, Global Cybersecurity Advisor for ESET, sharing a glimpse into his Infosecurity Europe keynote "The Deepfake Interview." Greg doesn’t even work here anymore…

GitHub confirms a breach tied to a malicious VS Code extension. Anthropic fights a Pentagon blacklist as the White House weighs new AI security rules. Drupal scrambles to patch a critical flaw. Cisco Talos tracks the evolution of BadIIS malware-for-hire. Signal adds anti-phishing safeguards, Microsoft cracks down on malware-signing services, and China says foreign spies hijacked domestic routers for phishing operations. Wireless carriers collaborate to kill dead zones. Our guest is Rob T. Lee, Chief AI Officer, Chief of Research, SANS Institute, discussing The Cloud Security Alliance’s “AI Vulnerability Storm” report. A book about misinformation contains helpful examples.