CyberWire Daily

Drone strikes hit a key chip supply chain. China-linked hackers target Southeast Asian militaries. Attackers race ahead with AI. ShinyHunters claim a massive Telus breach. Microsoft issues a hotpatch. Malware turns up on Steam. Fileless attacks grow. Airline miles become cybercrime currency. Monday business breakdown. Tim Starks from CyberScoop unpacks the Stryker attack and the nebulous nature of Iranian cyber activity. AI playmates puzzle preschoolers. 

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CyberWire Guest

Our guest is Tim Starks from CyberScoop discussing how the Stryker attack highlights the nebulous nature of Iranian cyber activity amid joint U.S.-Israel conflict. You can read more in Tim’s article here. 

Selected Reading

Drone strikes halt a third of the world's helium supply, threatening chip production (TechSpot)

China-Linked Hackers Hit Asian Militaries in Patient Espionage Operation (SecurityWeek)

Attackers are exploiting AI faster than defenders can keep up, new report warns (CyberScoop)

Telus Digital confirms breach after hacker claims 1 petabyte data theft (Bleeping Computer)

Microsoft releases Windows 11 OOB hotpatch to fix RRAS RCE flaw (Bleeping Computer)

The FBI is investigating malware hidden inside games hosted on Steam (TechCrunch)

New XWorm 7.1 and Remcos RAT Attacks Abuse Windows Tools to Evade Detection (Hackread)

Airline miles become underground currency in loyalty fraud schemes | brief (SC Media)

Kevin Mandia-founded Armadin launches with $190 million. (N2K Pro Business Briefing)

AI toys for young children need tighter rules, researchers warn (BBC News)

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Please enjoy this encore of Career Notes.

Christian Lees, CTO at Resecurity, shares his story and insight on coming into the cybersecurity world. He considers himself a late bloomer because he did not go to college until he was 23. He wasn’t sure of what he wanted to do, and a family friend gave him a computer and the rest was history, he says. He fell in love with computers and started working at different companies trying to get ahead. He says it's not always textbook, and sometimes you just need to cut your teeth on something to get where you're going. Throughout his journey, he was constantly questioning whether he made the right decision, and in the end he says you have to be willing to "define friction points in it, you may join security field, not knowing what you're gonna do, but by being that curious person and breaking things and putting it back together, you'll find the right way and just never stop being curious." We thank Christian for sharing his story.
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This week, we are joined by Or Eshed, Co-Founder and CEO from LayerX Security, discussing their work on "How We Discovered A Campaign of 16 Malicious Extensions Built to Steal ChatGPT Accounts." Researchers uncovered a coordinated campaign of 16 malicious browser extensions posing as ChatGPT productivity tools while secretly stealing user accounts.

The extensions intercept ChatGPT session authentication tokens and send them to attacker-controlled servers, allowing threat actors to impersonate users and access their conversations, files, and connected services like Google Drive or Slack. The findings highlight how AI-focused browser extensions are creating a new attack surface, emphasizing the need for organizations to closely monitor and restrict third-party AI tools.

The research can be found here:


⁠⁠⁠How We Discovered A Campaign of 16 Malicious Extensions Built to Steal ChatGPT Accounts

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Europol dismantles the SocksEscort proxy service. Cyber operations highlight imbalance in the war in Iran. Google rushes Chrome zero-day patches. Veeam fixes critical backup flaws. A former incident responder faces ransomware charges. Thomson Reuters staff push back on an ICE contract. Attackers abuse backup tools for data theft. CISA flags a critical n8n vulnerability. Maria Varmazis is joined by Jack R. Bialik, engineer and author, to discuss the hidden risks of a fully-digital society, and talk about his book "In Lost in Time: Our Forgotten and Vanishing Knowledge." A Phony photo fuels a phantom flight fiasco.

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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.

CyberWire Guest

N2K CyberWire’s Maria Varmazis is joined by Jack R. Bialik, engineer and author, to discuss the hidden risks of a fully-digital society, and talk about his book "In Lost in Time: Our Forgotten and Vanishing Knowledge."

Selected Reading

Europol and international partners disrupt ‘SocksEscort’ proxy service - Joint operation targeted malicious proxy service exploiting residential routers worldwide (Europol)

War in Iran – asymmetry in cyberspace (IISS)

Google fixes two new Chrome zero-days exploited in attacks (Bleeping Computer) 

Veeam warns of critical flaws exposing backup servers to RCE attacks (Bleeping Computer)

Former Employee of Cybersecurity Companies Charged in ALPHV (BlackCat) Ransomware Extortion Case (TechNadu)

They Don’t Want Their Company’s Surveillance Tool Used by ICE (The New York Times)

Data Exfiltration and Threat Actor Infrastructure Exposed (Huntress)

CISA adds n8n RCE flaw to list of known exploited vulnerabilities (SC Media)

Cyber National Mission Force to get new commander amid broader leadership turnover (The Record)

AI Used to Promote Non-Existent Evacuation Flights From the Middle East (Bellingcat)

Share your feedback.

What do you think about CyberWire Daily? Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey. Thank you for helping us continue to improve our show. 

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N2K CyberWire helps you reach the industry’s most influential leaders and operators, while building visibility, authority, and connectivity across the cybersecurity community. Learn more at sponsor.thecyberwire.com.

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

As cybersecurity has matured, the field has become more formalized within businesses with CISOs leading the way. However, despite the value of the CISO and its widespread adoption, the role has continued to lose agency with other board members. In this episode of CISO Perspectives, host ⁠Kim Jones⁠ sits down with Patty Ryan, the CISO at QuidelOrtho, to assess the value of the role. Throughout the conversation, Patty and Kim will discuss the challenges facing CISOs, why the role has lost its agency, and what can be done to reverse the current trajectory.

Want more CISO Perspectives?:

Check out a companion ⁠⁠blog post⁠⁠ by our very own Ethan Cook, where he breaks down key insights, shares behind-the-scenes context, and highlights research that complements this episode. It’s the perfect follow-up if you’re curious about the cyber talent crunch and how we can reshape the ecosystem for future professionals.
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