The Gate 15 Podcast Channel

In this week's episode of the Security Sprint, Dave and Andy covered the following topics:
Open:
• TribalHub 6th Annual Cybersecurity Summit, 17–20 Feb 2026, Jacksonville, Florida
• Congress reauthorizes private-public cybersecurity framework & Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 Reauthorized Through September 2026
• AMWA testifies at Senate EPW Committee hearing on cybersecurity

Main Topics:

Terrorism & Extremism
o Killers without a cause: The rise in nihilistic violent extremism — The Washington Post, 08 Feb 2026
o Terrorists’ Use of Emerging Technologies Poses Evolving Threat to International Peace, Stability, Acting UN Counter-Terrorism Chief Warns Security Council United Nations / Security Council, 04 Feb 2026

OpenClaw: The Helpful AI That Could Quietly Become Your Biggest Insider Threat – Jamf Threat Labs, 09 Feb 2026. Jamf profiles OpenClaw as an autonomous agent framework that can run on macOS and other platforms, chain actions across tools, maintain long term memory and act on high level goals by reading and writing files, calling APIs and interacting with messaging and email systems. The research warns that over privileged agents like this effectively become new insider layers once attackers capture tokens, gain access to control interfaces or introduce malicious skills, enabling data exfiltration, lateral movement and command execution that look like legitimate automation. The rise of Moltbook suggests viral AI prompts may be the next big security threat; We don’t need self-replicating AI models to have problems, just self-replicating prompts.
• From magic to malware: How OpenClaw's agent skills become an attack surface
• Exposed Moltbook database reveals millions of API keys
• The rise of Moltbook suggests viral AI prompts may be the next big security threat
• OpenClaw & Moltbook: AI agents meet real-world attack campaigns
• Malicious MoltBot skills used to push password-stealing malware
• Moltbook reveals AI security readiness
• Moltbook exposes user data via API
• OpenClaw: Handing AI the keys to your digital life

Quick Hits:
• Active Tornado Season Expected in the US
• CISA Directs Federal Agencies to Update Edge Devices – GovInfoSecurity, 05 Feb 2026 & read more from CISA: Binding Operational Directive 26-02: Mitigating Risk From End-of-Support Edge Devices – CISA, 05 Feb 2026.
• A Technical and Ethical Post-Mortem of the Feb 2026 Harvard University ShinyHunters Data Breach
• Hackers publish personal information stolen during Harvard, UPenn data breaches
• Two Ivy League universities had donor information breaches. Will donors be notified?
• Harassment & scare tactics: why victims should never pay ShinyHunters
• Please Don’t Feed the Scattered Lapsus$ & ShinyHunters
• Mass data exfiltration campaigns lose their edge in Q4 2025
• Executive Targeting Reaches Record Levels as Threats Expand Beyond CEOs
• Notepad++ supply-chain attack: what we know
• Summary of SmarterTools Breach and SmarterMail CVEs
• Infostealers without borders: macOS, Python stealers, and platform abuse

In this week's episode of the Security Sprint, Dave and Andy covered the following topics:

Opening:
Check out the new SUN format and Subscribe to GRIP! Gate 15’s Resilience and Intelligence Portal
Big News! The Tribal-ISAC Appoints First Executive Director to Advance Cybersecurity for Tribal Governments and Enterprises – Tribal-ISAC | 27 Jan 2026:
Keys & Locks – The Overlooked Security Risk – Fact Sheet — WaterISAC | 28 Jan 2026

Main Topics:
Insider Threats: Assembling A Multi-Disciplinary Insider Threat Management Team — CISA | 27 Jan 2026 (Analysis/Commentary) CISA’s new infographic guides organizations in forming insider threat teams that bring together HR, legal, IT, security, and leadership under a “Plan, Organize, Execute, Maintain” framework.
Savannah Best Buy employee says hacker group blackmailed him into theft ring scheme
Study: Future workers would sell patient data
Former Google Engineer Found Guilty of Economic Espionage and Theft of Confidential AI Technology
Former TD Bank Employee Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes and Laundering $55 Million From Colombia
Two Recent Guilty Pleas Highlight Financial Crime Risks Posed by Bank Insiders
The Evolution of Insider Threat

Ransomware Threat Outlook 2025-2027 — Canadian Centre for Cyber Security | 28 Jan 2026 The Cyber Centre assesses that ransomware against Canadian organizations is increasing and rapidly evolving, with actors almost certainly opportunistic and financially motivated, and essentially all organizations and individuals at risk of being targeted at some point.
Ransomware: How to Prevent and Recover (ITSAP.00.099) — Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
Ransomware Playbook (ITSM.00.099) — Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
Threat Spotlight: Ransomware and Cyber Extortion in Q4 2025
NCC Group Monthly Threat Pulse – Review of December 2025
The Convergence of Infostealers and Ransomware: From Credential Harvesting to Rapid Extortion Chains

FBI Operation Winter SHIELD: 10 Cybersecurity Actions for Critical Infrastructure & FBI Launches ‘Winter SHIELD’ Cyber Campaign — FBI & Infosecurity Magazine, 29 Jan 2026.
NSA Releases Phase One and Phase Two of the Zero Trust Implementation Guidelines
How to prepare and plan your organisation’s response to a severe cyber threat: a guide for CNI
Cyber security considerations for drone use (ITSAP.00.143)
Cyber security advisory AV26-058: OpenSSL Security Advisory
Cyber Incident Reporting Guidelines: Key Information & Sharing Requirements — Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, 2026
DOD: JIATF 401 Publishes New Guidance for Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure (U.S. Department of Defense, Jan 2026)
Spotting malicious email messages (ITSAP.00.100) — Canadian Centre for Cyber Security | Jan 2026

Quick Hits:
2025 Threat Report: Exploitation Grows Across IT, IoT, and OT — Forescout Vedere Labs | 29 Jan 2026
Man arrested after spraying substance on Rep. Ilhan Omar
Ilhan Omar Attack: Suspect Identified as Anthony Kazmierczak Amid Rising Political Violence
Calls to Impeach DHS Secretary Noem Grow After Minneapolis Shootings and Omar Attack
‘No Kings’ march event in Twin Cities & ‘No Kings’ protest march set for March 28
USCP Threat Assessment Cases for 2025 – Source: U.S. Capitol Police, 27 Jan 2026.

In this week's Security Sprint, Dave and Andy talked about the following topics:

Opening:
• WaterISAC to host H2OEx regional exercise to strengthen sector preparedness & WaterISAC merch!
• The Gate 15 Interview EP 66: Chris Camacho: Cyber Risk, Building Communities, Nirvana, and Peruvian Chicken
• Nerd Out EP 66. Terrorism trends and hacktivism in the current geopolitical environment, plus Nerd Movie review

Main Topics:

Rules of Engagement: safety, security and resilience considerations after Minneapolis and the murder of Alex Pretti

Severe Weather Planning & Resilience:
• Winter storm kills 11, leaves more than 800,000 without power as cold tightens grip
• The massive storm has passed, but deep cold remains a danger
• Storm-related power outages (U.S.)
• PowerOutage.us

AI-Powered Disinformation Swarms Are Coming for Democracy (Wired, 23 Jan 2026; Analysis/Commentary) – Wired examines how coordinated “disinformation swarms” powered by generative AI are shifting influence operations from single narratives to adaptive, multi-persona campaigns that probe, learn, and re-target in real time. Rather than pushing one false claim, these swarms test thousands of micro-messages across platforms, identify which narratives gain traction with which audiences, and dynamically reinforce them using synthetic text, images, and increasingly video. Researchers warn this model overwhelms traditional fact-checking and moderation, exploits algorithmic amplification, and blurs the line between foreign and domestic influence, particularly when paired with real grievances.

Quick Hits:
• CISA budget bill would require agency to maintain ‘sufficient’ staffing levels and Congressional appropriators move to extend information-sharing law, fund CISA
• Acting CISA chief defends workforce cuts, declares agency ‘back on mission’
• What to do when your organization has been compromised by a cyber attack (ITSAP00009)

In the latest Episode of Nerd Out, Dave and Alec talked about the following topics:

Trends in Terrorism: What’s on the Horizon in 2026?
https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2026-january-8/
Critical Infrastructure Attacks Became Routine for Hacktivists in 2025⁠
https://cyble.com/blog/hacktivists-critical-infrastructure-attacks-2025/⁠
Severe Winter Weather Forecast to Impact Large Portions of the U.S.
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/#page=ovw⁠
https://www.ready.gov/winter-weather⁠
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maps-winter-storm-snow-cold-weekend/⁠
Talking Nerd Movies and our excitement level, plus a review of A Knight in the Seven Kingdoms.

In this week's Security Sprint, Dave and Andy covered the following topics:

Opening:
• Cyber Insights 2026: Information Sharing (SecurityWeek, 16 Jan 2026)
• ICYMI: Homeland Republicans underscore importance of strong public-private sector partnerships to deter cyber threats — House Homeland Security Committee (Majority) | Jan 17, 2026

Main Topics:

Pro-Russia hacktivist activity continues to target UK organisations & NCSC warns of hacktivist groups disrupting UK online services (UK National Cyber Security Centre, Jan 2026). The NCSC reports sustained, low-sophistication but high-volume hacktivist campaigns—primarily DDoS and website defacements—linked to pro-Russia narratives and opportunistic targeting of UK public- and private-sector organizations. While technically unsophisticated, the activity is persistent, media-aware, and designed to generate disruption, reputational harm, and psychological impact rather than deep network compromise. The NCSC emphasizes preparedness measures including DDoS resilience, clear incident communications, and executive awareness that “noise” activity can still impose real operational cost.
• Russia-linked APT28 targets energy and defense groups tied to NATO
• UAT-8837 targets critical infrastructure sectors in North America
• A Day Without ICS: The real impact of ICS/OT security threats

Ransomware
• Worldwide ransomware roundup: 2025 end-of-year report
• Global ransomware attacks rose 32% in 2025, as manufacturers emerged as top target
• 2025 Shattered Records: Key takeaways from the GRIT 2026 Ransomware & Cyber Threat Report
• DeadLock Ransomware: Smart Contracts for Malicious Purposes

Domestic Operations: Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel (JIATF-CC) established & US Northern Command establishes JTF-GOLD

Quick Hits:
• (TLP:CLEAR) Assessing Terrorism Trends on the Horizon in 2026 — WaterISAC — Jan 15, 2026
• UK NCSC: Designing safer links: secure connectivity for operational technology
• NCSC UK: Secure connectivity principles for OT (collection)
• FBI: Secure Connectivity Principles for Operational Technology (OT) (PDF)
• ACSC (Australia): New publication for small businesses managing cyber risks from AI
• Artificial intelligence for small business: Managing cyber security risks
• Developing your IT recovery plan (Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Jan 2026)
• Improving cyber security resilience through emergency preparedness planning (Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Jan 2026)
• Developing your incident response plan (Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Jan 2026)
• Developing your business continuity plan (Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Jan 2026)