Welcome back to Cybersecurity Decrypted, your weekly breakdown of the top cybersecurity industry news.
In this week’s issue:
- 🇺🇸 New research shows the scale of US Gov data breaches
- 🐶 Security vulnerabilities found in… robot dogs?
- 🌐 Big news from Cloudflare
- 🌎 Our top takeaways from ESET World 2025
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📰 Top Stories
- 75% of US government departments and agency websites have suffered data breaches, with 53.7% scoring a ‘D’ or worse for cybersecurity according to research this week. 🔗
- AI will make it even easier to automate credential theft, with the time taken to take over accounts being reduced by 50% according to new Gartner research. 🔗
- The Trump administration wants state and local government agencies to play a bigger role in protecting critical infrastructure against cyberattacks, outlined in a new executive order. 🔗
- A new cybercrime platform dubbed ‘Atlantis AIO’ is offering ‘automated’ credential stuffing services targeting 140 online platforms including email services, e-commerce sites, and VPNs, says Abnormal Security. 🔗
- Browser-based phishing attacks surged by 140% last year, with over 750,000 incidents identified, according to Menlo Security threat research. AI is likely to have been a key contributor. 🔗
💡 Insights From ESET World
Our reporter Caitlin Harris has been in Las Vegas this week at ESET World.
- Our reporter Caitlin Harris has been at ESET World this week, covering thought leadership on AI in cybersecurity, the latest in detection and response, and compliance. We’ve recapped the unmissable top takeaways – and what it all means for your business: ESET World 2025: Key Takeaways
- 🎙️Don’t miss our latest podcast with threat intelligence researcher Robert Lipovsky, and leading security evangelist Tony Anscombe, recorded live at ESET World.
📡 Threat Watch
- Over the last year there has been a 6.5% increase in cyber-attacks targeting third-party vulnerabilities, accounting for 35.5% of all breaches, according to SecurityScorecard research. 🔗
- CISA has issued a warning for US federal agents to secure against a high-severity vulnerability in NAKIVO’s backup software that would allow attackers to read arbitrary files. (CVE-2024-48248) 🔗
- Bad dog? China-built robot dogs have been shipped with a pre-installed remote access tunnel, enabling full remote control and potential network access according to security researchers. The robots are used in academic, corporate, and defense environments. 🔗
- New methods to ‘jailbreak’ LLMs have been identified by Cato Network threat researchers. Researchers were able to trick GenAI tools into generating malware via ‘narrative engineering’ – essentially asking the GenAI platform to play a role with assigned tasks and challenges. 🔗
- Traditional secure email gateways miss an average of 67.5 phishing emails per 100 mailboxes every month, according to new research from IRONSCAES. 🔗
🚨 Industry News
- Cloudflare has closed all HTTP ports on api.cloudflare.com and now only accepts secure encrypted HTTPS connections– preventing sensitive information being accidentally exposed. 🔗
- Microsoft has announced an update to Security Copilot – adding new AI agents that can autonomously assist teams when dealing with phishing, data security, and identity management. 🔗
- OpenAI is raising its maximum bug bounty payment to $100,000 USD for finding high impact vulnerabilities. 🔗
- Island – a security focused enterprise browser platform – has announced a $250 million USD Series E funding round. The company is now valued at almost $5 billion. 🔗
- Dataminr – a real-time event, risk and threat discovery platform – has raised $85 million USD to accelerate AI development, bringing the total raised to over $1 billion. 🔗
- SplxAI – an AI security startup that delivers automated security testing to secure internal and customer facing AI systems – has announced a $7 million USD seed funding round. 🔗
🏛️ Cybersecurity Policy
- The Trump administration wants state and local government agencies to play a bigger role in protecting critical infrastructure against cyberattacks, outlined in a new executive order. 🔗
- Katherine Sutton, currently chief technology advisor to the commander of Pentagon Operations at US Cyber Command, has been nominated to be assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy. 🔗
- The FFC (Federal Communications Commission) has announced it has begun an investigation into whether Chinese telecommunication providers such as Huawei, ZTE, and Hikvision are still operating in the USA after being banned in 2021. 🔗
🌎 Around The World
- 🇬🇧 The UK Government has announced new plans to tackle cyber-enabled fraud by tapping the power of AI to help automate casework. 🔗
- 🇪🇺 Europol has warned this week that organized crime networks are increasingly using AI to automate tasks and stay ahead of law enforcement. 🔗
- 🇬🇧 DrayTek router users in the UK and Europe have been stuck in a bootloop this week, causing a headache for many ISPs, with speculation it may have something to do with recently disclosed security vulnerabilities. 🔗
- 🇳🇬 Multiple African law enforcement agencies have arrested 306 suspects as part of an international crackdown on cross-border cybercriminal gangs. 🔗
- 🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur International Airport has been hit by a ransomware attack, confirmed Malaysia’s PM. The threat actors demanded a $10 million USD ransom – which has been rejected. 🔗
🎙️ Expert Insights: Latest From Us
Don’t miss this week’s round of interviews & insights with cybersecurity experts and thought leaders.
- NordLayer’s Vakaris Noreika on Evolving Dark Web Threats and Effective Monitoring Strategies
- Is XDR Replacing SIEM – The Future of Security Operations
- Email Archiving Buyers’ Guide 2025
That’s all for this week! 👋
Expert Insights’ Cybersecurity Resources
- Top RMM Solutions For MSPs
- Top Mobile Device Management (MDM) Solutions
- Top Email Security Gateways
- Top Email Security Solutions For Office 365
- Top Identity And Access Management Solutions
- Top Phishing Protection Solutions
- Top Phishing Simulation And Testing Solutions
- Top Cyber Threat Intelligence Solutions
