CyberWire Daily

While our team is away from the mic observing the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in the United States, we share this thoughtful discussion from our T-Minus Space Daily team.

Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) is the practice of intercepting and analyzing electronic signals, like phone calls, emails, radar, and telemetry, to gather actionable intelligence for national security, defense, and military operations. It’s primarily conducted by agencies like NSA, but over the last decade many companies in the commercial sector have grown in this vital area of national defense, especially in space. Our guest is Dave DeWalt, CEO of NightDragon, who shared why his firm is investing in tech and space. Dave joins T-Minus Space Daily host Maria Varmazis for this special edition podcast.

You can connect with Dave on LinkedIn, and learn more about NightDragon on their website.

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While our team is observing the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in the United States, please enjoy this CyberWire-X episode featuring the team from Horizon3.ai.

In this CyberWire-X episode, Dave Bittner speaks with Horizon3.ai co-founder and CEO Snehal Antani about how continuous autonomous penetration testing is reshaping security resilience. Antani reflects on his journey from CIO to DoD operator, where he learned that the hardest part of security isn’t patching — it’s prioritizing what matters and proving defenses work before attackers do. He explains why vulnerability scans fall short, how “AI hackers” simulate adversary behavior at machine speed, and why organizations must shift from compliance thinking to attacker-centric validation. Antani shares real-world findings, warns of 77-second domain compromise, and predicts a future of AI fighting AI, with humans by exception.

Resources:

Whitepaper: NodeZero® for Pentesters and Red Teams

Whitepaper: Traditional vs. Autonomous: Why NodeZero® is the Future of Cyber Risk Assessments

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Please enjoy this encore of Career Notes.

Deepen Desai, Global Chief Information Security Officer at Zscaler, shares his story as a doctor that treats computer viruses. He describes how he got into the security field and his work with Zscaler. He says what it's like learning and growing in this field and shares great advice for people who are up and coming in the field. Deepen describes working with an incredible team and how much joy it brings him to see his team learning and growing beyond their roles working with him. He says he want's to be remembered as a mentor among his colleagues. He says "I still remember my first team that I built, 15 years ago. Most of those guys are leading key technologies at many of the major security vendors, and some of them are still with me." We thank Deepen for sharing his story.
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Today we are joined by Ben Folland, Security Operations Analyst from Huntress, discussing their work on "ClickFix Gets Creative: Malware Buried in Images." This analysis covers a ClickFix campaign that uses fake human verification checks and a realistic Windows Update screen to trick users into manually running malicious commands.

The multi-stage attack chain leverages mshta.exe, PowerShell, and .NET loaders, ultimately delivering infostealers like LummaC2 and Rhadamanthys, with payloads hidden inside PNG images using steganography. While technically sophisticated, the campaign hinges on simple user interaction, underscoring the importance of user awareness and controls around command execution.

The research can be found here:

ClickFix Gets Creative: Malware Buried in Images

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Who turned out the lights in Venezuela? The European Space Agency confirms a series of cyberattacks. Dutch police nab the alleged operator of a notorious malware testing service. The U.S. and allies issue new guidance on OT security. Researchers warn of automated exploitation of a critical Hewlett-Packard Enterprise OneView flaw. TamperedChef cooks up trojanized PDF documents to deliver backdoor malware. A bluetooth vulnerability puts devices at risk. Cisco patches a maximum-severity zero-day exploited since November. Jen Easterly heads up RSAC. Our guest is Zak Kassas from Ohio State University, discussing GPS alternatives. Vintage phones face modern problems.

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CyberWire Guest

Today Maria Varmazis from T-Minus pace sits down with Zak Kassas from the Ohio State University to discuss the study “Navigating the Arctic Circle with Starlink and OneWeb LEO Satellites”.This conversation is a preview of tomorrow’s Deep Space episode from T-Minus Space Daily.

Selected Reading

Cyberattack in Venezuela Demonstrated Precision of U.S. Capabilities (The New York Times)

Sensitive European Space Agency Data Leaked to the Dark Web by String of Cyberattacks (IBTimes UK)

Operation Endgame: Dutch Police Arrest Alleged AVCheck Operator (Hackread)

CISA, Allies Sound Alarm on OT Network Exposure (GovInfo Security)

RondoDox botnet exploits critical HPE OneView bug (The Register)

TamperedChef Malvertising Campaign Drops Malware via Fake PDF Manuals (Infosecurity Magazine)

WhisperPair Attack Leaves Millions of Bluetooth Accessories Open to Hijacking (SecurityWeek)

Cisco finally fixes AsyncOS zero-day exploited since November (Bleeping Computer)

Former CISA Director Jen Easterly Appointed CEO of RSAC (SecurityWeek)

iPhone 4 makes comeback — but experts warn of security risks (New York Post)

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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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