CyberWire Daily

The White House bans foreign-made drones. African law enforcement agencies crackdown on cybercrime. A new phishing campaign targets Russian military personnel and defense-related organizations. A University of Phoenix data breach affects about 3.5 million people. A pair of Chrome extensions covertly hijack user traffic. Romania’s national water authority suffered a ransomware attack. A cyberattack in France disrupts postal, identity, and banking services for millions of customers. NIST and MITRE announce a $20 million partnership for AI research centers. A think-tank says the U.S. needs to go on the cyber offensive. Tim Starks from CyberScoop discusses the passage of the defense Authorization Bill and a look back at 2025. In high school, it’s no child left unscanned. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. 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 Today we are joined by Tim Starks from CyberScoop discussing the passage of the Defense Authorization Bill and a look back at 2025. Selected Reading Trump Administration Declares Foreign-Made Drones a Security Threat (The New York Times) Hundreds of Arrests as Operation Sentinel Recovers $3m (Infosecurity Magazine) Cyber spies use fake New Year concert invites to target Russian military (The Record) University of Phoenix Data Breach - 3.5 Million+ Individuals Affected (CybersecurityNews) Malicious extensions in Chrome Web store steal user credentials (BleepingComputer) Ransomware Hits Romanian Water Authority, 1000 Systems Knocked Offline (Hackread) Cyberattack knocks offline France's postal, banking services (BleepingComputer) NIST, MITRE announce $20 million research effort on AI cybersecurity (CyberScoop) US Must Go on Offense in Cyberspace, Report Warns (Govifosecurity) AI Bathroom Monitors? Welcome To America's New Surveillance High Schools (Forbes) 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. Want to hear your company in the show? 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this CISOP episode of CSO Perspectives, Host Kim Jones sits down with John Funge, venture capitalist at DataTribe, to explore how investors view the cybersecurity landscape. Kim reflects on the tension between innovation, profit motives, and the real needs of security practitioners—raising questions about whether the industry prioritizes mitigation over true solutions. John offers a candid look inside the VC decision-making process, breaking down how teams, market fit, and long-term defensibility shape investment choices. Together, they examine how founders, investors, and CISOs can better align to drive meaningful, effective security innovation. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NATO suspects Russia is developing a new anti-satellite weapon to disrupt the Starlink network. A failed polygraph sparks a DHS probe and deepens turmoil at CISA. A look back at Trump’s cyber policy shifts. MacSync Stealer adopts a stealthy new delivery method.  Researchers warn a popular open-source server monitoring tool is being abused. Cyber criminals are increasingly bypassing technical defenses by recruiting insiders. Scripted Sparrow sends millions of BEC emails each month. Federal prosecutors take down a global fake ID marketplace. Monday business brief. Our guest is Eric Woodruff, Chief Identity Architect at Semperis, discussing "NoAuth Abuse Alert: Full Account Takeover." Atomic precision meets Colorado weather. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. 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 Today on our Industry Voices, we are joined by Eric Woodruff, Chief Identity Architect at Semperis, discussing "NoAuth Abuse Alert: Full Account Takeover." Tune into the full conversation here. Selected Reading Starlink in the crosshairs: How Russia could attack Elon Musk's conquering of space (AP News) Project West Ford (Wikipedia) Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation (POLITICO) Dismantling Defenses: Trump 2.0 Cyber Year in Review (Krebs on Security) MacSync macOS Malware Distributed via Signed Swift Application (SecurityWeek) From ClickFix to code signed: the quiet shift of MacSync Stealer malware (Jamf)  Hackers Abuse Popular Monitoring Tool Nezha as a Stealth Trojan (Hackread) Cyber Criminals Are Recruiting Insiders in Banks, Telecoms, and Tech (Check Point) Scripted Sparrow Sends Millions of BEC Emails Each Month (Infosecurity Magazine) FBI Seizes Fake ID Template Domains Operating from Bangladesh (Hackread) Adaptive Security raises $81 million in a Series B round led by Bain Capital Ventures. (N2K Pro) NIST tried to pull the pin on NTP servers after blackout caused atomic clock drift (The Register) 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. Want to hear your company in the show? 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please enjoy this encore of Career Notes. Principal consultant and pen tester at Secureworks, Eric Escobar, shares his career path translating his childhood favorite Legos to civil engineering and pivoting to cybersecurity. Eric was always headed toward engineering and got both his bachelor and master degrees in civil engineering. Upon breaking into a network with a friend, he was bitten by the cybersecurity bug. Making the switch to the red team and basically becoming a bankrobber for hire, Eric tests the security of many companies' networks. He feels that curiosity is an essential trait for cybersecurity and collaboration is key as no one person knows everything. He advises those interested in cybersecurity to just start. We thank Eric for sharing his story with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darren Meyer, Security Research Advocate at Checkmarx, is sharing their work on "Bypassing AI Agent Defenses with Lies-in-the-Loop." Checkmarx Zero researchers introduce “lies-in-the-loop,” a new attack technique that bypasses human‑in‑the‑loop AI safety controls by deceiving users into approving dangerous actions that appear benign. Using examples with AI code assistants like Claude Code, the research shows how prompt injection and manipulated context can trick both the agent and the human reviewer into enabling remote code execution. The findings highlight a growing risk as AI agents become more common in developer workflows, underscoring the limits of human oversight as a standalone security control. The research can be found here: ⁠Bypassing AI Agent Defenses With Lies-In-The-Loop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices