The CyberWire Daily

Please enjoy this encore episode of Career Notes.

Business Information Security Officer at S&P Global Ratings, Alyssa Miller, joins us to talk about her journey to become a champion to create a welcoming nature and acceptance of diversity in the cybersecurity community. Starting her first full-time tech position while still in college, Alyssa noted the culture shock being in both worlds. Entering as a programmer and then moving to pen testing where she got her start in security, Alyssa grew into a leader who is committed to elevating those around her. Some stumbling blocks along the way gave her pause and helped point her in her current role where Alyssa works to bring more diverse views to improve the problem-solving in the space, something she sees as a key to success for the industry. We thank Alyssa for sharing her story with us.

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This week, we are joined by Jon Williams, Vulnerability Researcher from Bishop Fox, discussing "Tearing Down (Sonic)Walls: Decrypting SonicOSX Firmware." Bishop Fox researchers reverse-engineered the encryption protecting SonicWall SonicOSX firmware, enabling them to access its underlying file system for security research.

They presented their process and findings at DistrictCon Year 0 and released a tool called Sonicrack to extract keys from VMware virtual machine bundles, facilitating the decryption of VMware NSv firmware images. This research builds upon previous work, including techniques to decrypt static NSv images and reverse-engineer other encryption formats used by SonicWall.

• Tearing Down (Sonic)Walls: Decrypting SonicOSX Firmware

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Mozilla patches Firefox flaw similar to actively exploited Chrome vulnerability. Russia-based RedCurl gang deploys ransomware for the first time. Ukraine's railway operator recovers from cyberattack. India cracks down on Google’s billing monopoly. Morphing Meerkat's phishing kit abuses DNS mail exchange records. 300,000 attacks in three weeks. Our guest is Chris Wysopal, Founder and Chief Security Evangelist of Veracode, who sits down with Dave to discuss the increase in the average fix time for security flaws. And Liz Stokes joins with another Fun Fact Friday. 

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Chris Wysopal, Founder and Chief Security Evangelist of Veracode, discussing increase in the average fix time for security flaws and percent of organizations that carry critical security debt for longer than a year.

After Chrome patches zero-day used to target Russians, Firefox splats similar bug (The Register)

Microsoft fixes Remote Desktop issues caused by Windows updates (Bleeping Computer)

Firefox fixes flaw similar to Chrome zero-day used against Russian organizations (The Record)

RedCurl's Ransomware Debut: A Technical Deep Dive (Bitdefender)

Ukraine’s state railway restores online ticket sales after major cyberattack (The Record)

Google App Store Billing Policy Anti-Competitive, India Court Rules (Bloomberg)

Morphing Meerkat PhaaS Platform Spoofs 100+ Brands - Infosecurity Magazine (Infosecurity Magazine)

Fresh Grandoreiro Banking Trojan Campaigns Target Latin America, Europe (SecurityWeek)

Malware distributed via fake DeepSeek ads on Google (SC Media)

GorillaBot Attacks Windows Devices With 300,000+ Attack Commands Across 100+ Countries (Cyber Security News) 

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China’s FamousSparrow is back. A misconfigured Amazon S3 bucket exposes data from an Australian fintech firm. Researchers uncover a sophisticated Linux-based backdoor targeting industrial systems. Infiltrating the BlackLock Ransomware group’s infrastructure. Solar inverters in the security spotlight. Credential stuffing gets automated. CISA updates the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. The UK’s NCA warns of online groups involved in sadistic cybercrime and real-world violence. Authorities arrest a dozen  individuals linked to the now-defunct Ghost encrypted communication platform. Our guest is Tal Skverer, Research Team Lead from Astrix, discussing the OWASP NHI Top 10 framework. Remembering our friend Matt Stephenson. 

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We are joined by Tal Skverer, Research Team Lead from Astrix, who is discussing the OWASP NHI Top 10 framework and how teams can use these as they implement NHIs into their systems.

Chinese Spy Group FamousSparrow Back with a Vengeance, Targets US (Infosecurity Magazine)

Aussie Fintech Vroom Exposes Thousands of Records After AWS Misconfiguration (HackRead)

New Sophisticated Linux Backdoor Targets OT Systems via 0-Day RCE Exploit (GB Hackers)

Blacklock Ransomware: A Late Holiday Gift with Intrusion into the Threat Actor's Infrastructure (Resecurity)

Dozens of solar inverter flaws could be exploited to attack power grids (Bleeping Computer)

Threat Actors Using Powerful Cybercriminal Weapon 'Atlantis AIO' to Automate Credential Stuffing Attacks (Cyber Security News)

CISA Adds of Sitecore CMS Code Execution Vulnerability to List of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (Cyber Security News)

NCA Warns of Sadistic Online “Com” Networks (Infosecurity Magazine)

12 Cybercriminals Arrested Following Takedown of Ghost Communication Platform (Cyber Security News)

Matt Stephenson remembrance (LinkedIn) 

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Researchers uncover a new Windows zero-day. A covert Chinese-linked network targets recently laid-off U.S. government workers. Malicious npm packages are found injecting persistent reverse shell backdoors. A macOS malware loader evolves. DrayTek router disruptions affect users worldwide. A new report warns of growing cyber risks to the commercial space sector. CISA issues four ICS advisories. U.S. Marshals arrest a key suspect in a multi million dollar cryptocurrency heist. Our guest is Brian Levine, Co-Founder and CEO of FormerGov.com, speaking about creating a networking directory for former government and military professionals. The UK’s NCSC goes full influencer to promote 2FA.

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Brian Levine, Co-Founder and CEO of FormerGov.com, speaking about the importance of networking and creating a directory for former government and military professionals.

New Windows 0-Day Vulnerability Let Remote Attackers Steal NTLM Credentials - Unofficial Patch (cybersecuritynews)

Exclusive: Secretive Chinese network tries to lure fired federal workers, research shows (Reuters)

New npm attack poisons local packages with backdoors (bleepingcomputer)

macOS Users Warned of New Versions of ReaderUpdate Malware (securityweek)

DrayTek Routers Vulnerability Exploited in the Wild – Possibly Links to Reboot Loop (cybersecuritynews)

ENISA Probes Space Threat Landscape in New Report (Infosecurity Magazine)

CISA Warns of Four Vulnerabilities, and Exploits Surrounding ICS (cybersecuritynews)

Crypto Heist Suspect "Wiz" Arrested After $243 Million Theft (hackread)

NCSC taps influencers to make 2FA go viral (The Register) 

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Critical Remote Code Execution vulnerabilities affect Kubernetes controllers. Senior Trump administration officials allegedly use unsecured platforms for national security discussions. Even experts like Troy Hunt get phished. Google acknowledges user data loss but doesn’t explain it. Chinese hackers spent four years inside an Asian telecom firm. SnakeKeylogger is a stealthy, multi-stage credential-stealing malware. A cybercrime crackdown results in over 300 arrests across seven African countries. Ben Yelin, Caveat co-host and Program Director, Public Policy & External Affairs at the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security, joins to discuss the Signal national security leak. Pew Research Center figures out how its online polling got slightly forked.

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We are joined by Ben Yelin, Caveat co-host and Program Director, Public Policy & External Affairs at the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security, on the Signal national security leak.

IngressNightmare: critical Kubernetes vulnerabilities in ingress NGINX controller (Beyond Machines)

Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities in Ingress NGINX (Wiz) 

Ingress-nginx CVE-2025-1974: What You Need to Know (Kubernetes) 

Trump administration is reviewing how its national security team sent military plans to a magazine editor (NBC News)

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans (The Atlantic)

How Russian Hackers Are Exploiting Signal 'Linked Devices' Feature for Real-Time Spying (SecurityWeek)

Troy Hunt: A Sneaky Phish Just Grabbed my Mailchimp Mailing List (Troy Hunt)

'Technical issue' at Google deletes some customer data (The Register)

Chinese hackers spent four years inside Asian telco’s networks (The Record)

Multistage Info Stealer SnakeKeylogger Attacking Individuals and Businesses to Steal Logins (Cyber Security News)

Over 300 arrested in international crackdown on cyber scams (The Record)

How a glitch in an online survey replaced the word ‘yes’ with ‘forks’ (Pew Research)

We want to ensure that you are getting the most out of the podcast. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey as we continually work to improve the show. 

You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here’s our media kit. Contact us at [email protected] to request more info.

The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc.

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Money laundering runs rampant in Cambodia. Privacy advocates question a new data sharing EO from the White House. An NYU website hack exposes the data of millions. A game demo gets pulled from Steam after users report infostealing malware. The Cloak ransomware group claims a cyberattack on the Virginia Attorney General’s Office. 23andMe files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Medusa ransomware is using a malicious driver to disable security tools on infected systems. Clearview AI settles a class-action lawsuit over privacy violations. A look back at the CVE program. In today’s Industry Voices segment, we are joined by Joe Ryan, Head of Customer Enablement at Maltego Technologies, who is highlighting how to help analysts in resource-constrained environments overcome training gaps and use investigative tools more effectively. Luring AI bots into the digital labyrinth.

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Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you’ll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn.

In today’s Industry Voices segment, we are joined by Joe Ryan, Head of Customer Enablement at Maltego Technologies, who is highlighting how to help analysts in resource-constrained environments overcome training gaps and use investigative tools more effectively.

How Scammers Launder Money and Get Away With It (New York Times) 

Trump order on information sharing appears to have implications for DOGE and beyond (The Record)

Over 3 million applicants’ data leaked on NYU’s website (Washington Square News)

Steam pulls game demo infecting Windows with info-stealing malware (Bleeping Computer)

Ransomware Group Claims Attack on Virginia Attorney General’s Office (SecurityWeek)

23andMe Files for Bankruptcy Amid Concerns About Security of Customers’ Genetic Data (New York Times)

Medusa Ransomware Uses Malicious Driver to Disable Security Tools (SecurityWeek)

Clearview AI settles class-action privacy lawsuit worth an estimated $50 million (The Record)  

Despite challenges, the CVE program is a public-private partnership that has shown resilience (CyberScoop)

Trapping misbehaving bots in an AI Labyrinth (Cloudflare)

We want to ensure that you are getting the most out of the podcast. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey as we continually work to improve the show. 

You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here’s our media kit. Contact us at [email protected] to request more info.

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Please enjoy this encore of Career Notes.

Historian and Curator at the International Spy Museum. Dr. Andrew Hammond, shares how he came to share the history of espionage and intelligence as a career. Starting out in the Royal Air Force when 9/11 happened, Andrew found himself trying to understand what was going on in the world. Studying history and international relations gave him some perspective and led him on his career path which included an introduction to museum industry at the 9/11 Museum. After a stint in academia in the UK, Andrew found his way back to the US and eventually ended up at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. He said one of the "greatest parts of the job being able to engage with the artifacts" and share their stories. We thank Andrew for sharing his story with us.

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This week, we are joined by Tom Hegel, Principal Threat Researcher from SentinelLabs research team, to discuss their work on "Ghostwriter | New Campaign Targets Ukrainian Government and Belarusian Opposition." The latest Ghostwriter campaign, linked to Belarusian government espionage, is actively targeting Ukrainian military and government entities as well as Belarusian opposition activists using weaponized Excel documents.

SentinelLabs identified new malware variants and tactics, including obfuscated VBA macros that deploy malware via DLL files, with payload delivery seemingly controlled based on a target’s location and system profile. The campaign, which began preparation in mid-2024 and became active by late 2024, appears to be an evolution of previous Ghostwriter operations, combining disinformation with cyberattacks to further political and military objectives.

• Ghostwriter | New Campaign Targets Ukrainian Government and Belarusian Opposition

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Over 150 government database servers are dangerously exposed to the internet. Threat actors are exploiting a vulnerability in CheckPoint’s ZoneAlarm antivirus software. Albabat ransomware goes cross-platform. ESET reports on the Chinese Operation FishMedley campaign. VanHelsing ransomware targets Windows systems in the U.S. and France. CISA issues five ICS advisories warning of high-severity vulnerabilities across critical infrastructure systems. A former NFL coach is indicted for allegedly hacking into the accounts of thousands of college athletes. Brandon Karpf joins us with a look at cyberspace in space. A fraud detection firm gets shut down for fraud. 

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Brandon Karpf, friend of N2K CyberWire, joins T-Minus Space Daily host Maria Varmazis for the Space and Cyber March segment.

Over 150 US Government Database Servers Vulnerable to Internet Exposure (GB Hackers)

White House Shifting Cyber Risk to State and Local Agencies (Data Breach Today)

Cybercriminals Exploit CheckPoint Driver Flaws in Malicious Campaign (Infosecurity Magazine)

Albabat Ransomware Attacking Windows, Linux & macOS by Leveraging GitHub (Cyber Security News)

Chinese I-Soon Hackers Hit 7 Organizations in Operation FishMedley (SecurityWeek)

VanHelsing Ransomware Attacking Windows Systems With New Evasion Technique & File Extension (Cyber Security News)

CISA Releases Five Industrial Control Systems Advisories Covering Vulnerabilities & Exploits (Cyber Security News)

Former NFL, Michigan Assistant Coach Matt Weiss Charged With Hacking for Athletes' Intimate Photos (SecurityWeek)

AdTech CEO whose products detected ad fraud jailed for fraud (The Register) 

We want to ensure that you are getting the most out of the podcast. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey as we continually work to improve the show. 

You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here’s our media kit. Contact us at [email protected] to request more info.

The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc.

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