CyberWire Daily

The EU imposes sanctions after cyberattacks. DHS boosts surveillance spending. AI firms recruit weapons-risk experts. Stryker disruption, no patient impact. LeakNet leans on ClickFix. Sears chatbot data spills. A Chinese security firm leaks a private key. Tech giants team up on scams. Teens sue xAI over alleged AI-generated abuse. On today’s Threat Vector segment, David Moulton and guest Erica L. Shoemate, founder of The EN Strategy Group, explore how AI is fundamentally reshaping the security landscape. Cyber crooks cause a complimentary curbside convenience. 

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Threat Vector

What if the choices we make about AI security today determine who holds power tomorrow? On this Threat Vector segment, David Moulton and guest Erica L. Shoemate, founder of The EN Strategy Group, explore how AI is fundamentally reshaping the security landscape, from compressed decision-making timelines and asymmetric threat capabilities to the erosion of trust that creates strategic vulnerabilities. You can listen to David and Erica's full conversation here and catch new episodes of Threat Vector from Palo Alto Networks each Thursday on your favorite podcast app.

Selected Reading

EU Sanctions Iranian and Chinese Firms for Cyberattacks Against European Networks (TechNadu)

DHS-built surveillance apparatus to surge in year ahead, documents show (FedScoop)

AI firm Anthropic seeks weapons expert to stop users from 'misuse' (BBC)

Stryker attack wiped tens of thousands of devices, no malware needed (Bleeping Computer)

LeakNet ransomware uses ClickFix and Deno runtime for stealthy attacks (Bleeping Computer)

Sears Exposed AI Chatbot Phone Calls and Text Chats to Anyone on the Web (WIRED)

China's biggest cybersecurity firm accidentally leaked an SSL key in a public installer (Neowin)

Google has signed the Industry Accord Against Online Scams and Fraud. (Google)

Teenage girls sue Musk’s xAI, accusing Grok tool of creating child sexual abuse material (The Guardian)

Free parking in Russia after Distributed Denial-of-Service attack knocks city's parking system offline (Bitdefender)

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In this mid-season episode, Kim takes a step back to reflect on the journey so far—revisiting key conversations, standout moments, and recurring themes that have shaped the season. During the episode, Kim sits down with N2K's own Ethan Cook to connect the dots across episodes, uncovering deeper patterns and takeaways. Whether you're catching up or tuning in weekly, this episode offers a thoughtful recap and fresh perspective on where we've been—and what's still to come.
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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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The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc.

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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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