X-Industry

Computers need electricity.  Without electricity, a country will effectively shut down.  In the near future Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will be officially severing their remaining electricity grid connections with Russia and Belarus, marking a significant step in their move away from Moscow’s influence nearly 35 years after leaving the Soviet Union.

This symbolic move, laden with geopolitical significance, accelerates a process that gained momentum following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  “Th

In a significant victory against cybercrime, US and Dutch law enforcement agencies have dismantled 39 domains and their associated servers to disrupt a Pakistan-based network of online marketplaces selling phishing and fraud-enabling tools. The coordinated effort was titled Operation Heart Blocker, which targeted a cybercriminal group known as Saim Raza, also operating under the name HeartSender.

According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the seized domains actively facilitate the sale of

A Russian hacking campaign has exploited a vulnerability in a popular file archiver to infect Ukrainian government and private organizations with SmokeLoader malware, researchers have found.

The bug, tracked as CVE-2025-0411, was discovered in 7-Zip, a free and open-source file archiver developed by Russian programmer Igor Pavlov.  It was identified by researchers at Tokyo-based cybersecurity firm Trend Micro in September and patched two months later, giving hackers ample time to exploit it in t

Shortly after taking office, Donald Trump touted a new private business venture, led by OpenAI, which plans to spend half a trillion dollars over the next four years building the data centers and power production plants that America’s growing AI industry relies on.  “It’s big money and high-quality people,” Trump said during a January 21^st press announcement alongside Sam Altman from OpenAI, Larry Ellison from Oracle, and Masayoshi Son from SoftBank.  The project is “a resounding declaration of

Volt.  Flax.  Salt.  Many typhoons have emerged in the last year and aren’t strictly related to the weather.  But, like their meteorological namesakes, they do cause catastrophic damage.  These typhoons are high-profile state-sponsored cyberattacks.  Recent incidents include exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Versa Director, a software product used by many Internet Service Providers (ISPs), to directly attack Singapore Telecommunications, representing part of ongoing cyberattacks against glo

Enterprise cybersecurity tools, such as routers, firewalls, and VPNs, exist to protect corporate networks from intruders and malicious hackers, something that is particularly important in today’s age of widespread remote and hybrid working. But while pitched as tools that help organizations stay safe from outside threats, many of these products have time and again been found to contain software bugs that allow malicious hackers to compromise the very networks these products were designed to prot

An electric utility serving multiple counties in Mississippi was attacked by cybercriminals last summer in an incident that exposed information of more than 20,000 residents.  The Yazoo Valley Electric Power Association initially warned customers through social media on 26 August 2024 that, due to software problems, they were unable to process payments.  The system was restored by 30 August.

In breach notification letters filed with regulators last week, the utility confirmed it discovered “susp

Chinese car brands are gaining an increasing stronghold on Britain's car market - but older drivers remain skeptical over concerns about privacy risk, market research says. Registrations figures for 2024 show a 14% increase in sales of models from the four major Chinese brands now available in the UK: BYD, MG, Omoda and Ora.  These made up 5% of all new cars bought in Britain last year, representing almost 100,000 motors entering the road.

Many of these are electric vehicles as China continues t

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) published its final rule to introduce cybersecurity requirements for US-flagged vessels, along with port/terminal facilities and outer continental shelf facilities.

The rule takes effect from 16 July 2025 and will commence a 24-month period to achieve full compliance with the standards required in the rule.[1]

Key points:

• It applies only to US-flagged vessels that must comply with 33 CFR Part 104, for example cargo ships greater than 100 gross tons.
• From 16

Threat actors have been observed concealing malicious code in images to deliver malware, such as VIP Keylogger and 0bj3ctivity Stealer, as part of separate campaigns. In both campaigns, attackers hid malicious code in photos uploaded to archive[.]org, a file-hosting website, and used the same .NET loader to install their final payloads. The starting point is a phishing email that masquerades as invoices and purchase orders to trick recipients into opening malicious attachments, such as Microsoft

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned federal agencies about three flaws allowing hackers to use Mitel MiCollab and Oracle WebLogic Server on its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (KEV). This security defect will enable attackers to perform unauthorized administrative actions and access user and network information.

Currently, there is no information on how these flaws are exploited in real-world attacks, who may be exploiting them, or the targets of th

Polish game developer Big Cheese Studio was hit by a hacker attack early on 24 January, its management confirmed to the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

The attack happened around 0400 GMT and the company's website was still down as of 1123 GMT.  Big Cheese Studio has taken security measures and will make an official statement later on Friday, PAP wrote.   It also reported, citing users on social media platform X, that the hackers had gained access to the company's game code systems and personal data

The payment card giant MasterCard just fixed a glaring error in its domain name server settings that could have allowed anyone to intercept or divert Internet traffic for the company by registering an unused domain name.  Customers are not happy.  The misconfiguration persisted for nearly five years until a security researcher spent $300 to register the domain and prevent it from being grabbed by cybercriminals.

Link to full article:  TR-25-026-003_Mastercard.pdf

Character AI, a platform that lets users engage in roleplay with AI chatbots, has filed a motion to dismiss a case brought against it by the parent of a teen who committed suicide after allegedly becoming hooked on the company’s technology.  In October, Megan Garcia filed a lawsuit against Character AI in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, over the death of her son, Sewell Setzer III.  According to Garcia, her 14-year-old developed an emotional attachment to a chatbot on C

The previous six months have seen heightened activity regarding new and emerging ransomware operations. Across the tail end of 2024 and into 2025, researchers have seen the rise of groups such as FunkSec, Nitrogen,, and Termite. In addition, we have seen the return of Cl0p and a new version of LockBit (aka LockBit 4.0).

Within this period of accelerated activity, the Ransomware-as-a-Service offerings HellCat and Morpheus have gained additional momentum and notoriety. Operators behind HellCat, in

In the US, the White House recently announced an Interim Final Rule on Artificial Intelligence Diffusion, a comprehensive framework designed to ensure US leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) while mitigating the risks posed by adversaries misusing advanced AI technologies. The announcement underscores the growing recognition of AI as a "Great Power" technology essential for national security, economic strength, and global influence.

The outgoing administration's fact sheet highlighted AI's

Cyberattacks targeting healthcare organizations are rising, and the financial and operational toll they take is growing. A recent report from Proofpoint found that 92% of healthcare organizations reported experiencing a cyberattack in 2024, up from 88% in 2023, while the average cost of the most expensive attack was $4.7 million. While safeguarding sensitive patient data remains a top concern, malicious actors leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies to make threat

Maybe they should have called it DeepFake, or DeepState, or better still Deep Selloff.  Or maybe the other obvious deep thing that the indigenous AI vendors in the United States are standing up to their knees in right now.  Call it what you will, but the DeepSeek foundation model has in one short week turned the AI world on its head, proving once again that Chinese researchers can make inferior hardware run a superior algorithm and get results that are commensurate with the best that researchers

Our colleagues at Sentinel Labs have again provided expert collection and analysis on the 2024 macOS Malware.  Across 2024, researchers saw a sharp rise in malware campaigns aimed at macOS users in the enterprise.  From infostealers masquerading as business and productivity apps to sophisticated modular backdoors, not to mention plenty of APT activity, threat actors were busier than ever developing and deploying malware to compromise organizations and steal sensitive data.

Linl to full report:  

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has quickly emerged as one of the most transformative digital technologies, and Israel has pioneered its use in military settings. The Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) recently established a dedicated AI and Autonomy Administration under its Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D), also known as MAFAT. This new body will drive innovation in AI and autonomous systems across all military branches, aiming to maintain the current operational advantages of