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Also: BianLian Ransomware Hackers Aren't Really Mailing You
This week, the U.S. sanctioned the Nemesis admin, Poco RAT spotted in Latin America, Apple challenged a British order to weaken encryption and the FBI warned against scam letters purportedly from BianLian. Also, a Nigerian tax scammer extradited to the U.S., a new botnet and a Webex vulnerability.

Trump's Former Cybersecurity Coordinator Says DOGE Firings Threaten Cybersecurity
Mass firings of federal probationary civil servants instigated by the Department of Government Efficiency will "destroy a pipeline of top talent," said Rob Joyce, a long-time National Security Agency official.

Armis' Purchase of Otorio Enhances On-Prem Security, Active Querying and Compliance
Armis' acquisition of Otorio for $120 million strengthens its on-premises operational technology security capabilities. The deal expands Armis' ability to serve air-gapped and compliance-driven industries while integrating secure remote access and active querying into its security platform.

Probe Into Microsoft's $13 Billion OpenAI Investment Launched in 2023
The U.K. antitrust regulator won't open an investigation into a partnership between computing giant Microsoft and artificial intelligence company OpenAI. U.K. Competition Market Authority concludes that there is no "relevant merger situation."

Provisional Agreement Tied to Ransomware Attack Affecting 2.2 Million Customers
American pharmacy chain giant Rite Aid reached a $6.8 million agreement to settle a data breach class action lawsuit, which includes a pledge to improve its cybersecurity practices. The breach involved a ransomware group stealing data pertaining to 2.2 million customers.

Weigh the Options for Open-Source and Vendor-Backed Solutions and Try Them Out
Open-source tools can be powerful, flexible and budget-friendly, but they are not always the right choice. Understanding their strengths, weaknesses and best use cases will help you decide when to use them and when to consider a commercial alternative.

Quantum computing could bring the next technology "revolution" in healthcare, but organizations will face critical cybersecurity issues when quantum becomes a reality, said attorney Lee Kim, senior principal of cybersecurity and privacy at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

So far, medical devices affected in ransomware attacks have mostly been a casualty of IT networks being taken offline. But the potential nightmare scenario is a targeted device attack in which cybercriminals threaten to kill patients, said Dr. Eric Liederman, CEO of consulting firm CyberSolutionsMD.

iSoon CEO, COO and Sales Director Among 10 Indicted for Cyberespionage, Wire Fraud
A U.S. federal grand jury in Manhattan indicted the senior leadership of a Chinese private sector hacking contractor iSoon for supporting Beijing cyberespionage operations roughly a year after internal documents from the firm leaked online.

CFO Manish Narula Promoted to CEO as Fate of Proposed Trustwave Merger Gets Murky
One of the messiest public spats at a cybersecurity company in recent memory has led to the resignation of its chief executive officer. Erin Gan walked away from Cybereason after seemingly coming up short in his battle to wrestle control of the endpoint security vendor away from a pair of investors.

Prosecutors Accuse Yin Kecheng of 2024 Department of Treasury Hacking
U.S. federal authorities Tuesday seized digital infrastructure traced to two Shanghai hackers operating on behalf of the Chinese government as "Silk Typhoon," responsible for a late 2024 incursion into the Department of Treasury.

Off-Brand Android Devices Come Infected With a Trojan
A botnet infected more than 1 million off-brand Android devices manufactured in China, which reached consumers with a backdoor already installed. Scammers used the devices for programmatic ad fraud, click fraud and converting the devices into a residential proxy.

The Health Sector Coordinating Council is kicking off a health sector mapping initiative aimed at helping the ecosystem avoid massive disruptions in the event of major cyber incidents, said Greg Garcia, executive director for cybersecurity at the Health Sector Coordinating Council.

The majority of significant attacks hitting the health sector involve unpatched vulnerabilities dating back years, a situation cybercriminals are more easily and swiftly able to exploit using AI-based tools, said Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center President and CEO Denise Anderson.

As clinicians move to a model of working anywhere - on many types of devices and under a variety of different internet environments - web browser security is a heightened concern, said John Frushour, vice president and CISO at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and CyberEdBoard member.

Hiatus Could Embolden Moscow
Reports suggesting that the U.S. federal government is going soft on Russia in cyberspace sent shockwaves through the cybersecurity community. Resuming computer network attacks and other exploitation efforts after a pause isn't as simple as flipping a switch.

Code of Practice for Software Vendors Sets Baseline Security Expectations
A British government proposal to strengthen software supply chain security received positive feedback from vendors who said voluntary best practices could strengthen cyber defenses. The guidelines suggest requiring multifactor authentication for developers and timely vulnerability patching.

Gartner's Bart Willemsen on Need to Adopt Post-Quantum Cryptography
Nation-state adversaries will likely harvest stolen encrypted data for decryption using quantum decryption, when available. Bart Willemsen, vice president analyst at Gartner, urges enterprises to transition to post-quantum cryptography algorithms to safeguard their data.

RansomHub, Play, Akira and Clop Among the Groups Claiming the Most Victims
Ransomware operations have collectively claimed what amounts to a surge in new victims. Researchers trace much of this activity to RansomHub, Play and Akira, as well as Clop, which continues to drip-feed details about its attack on users of Cleo Communications' managed file-transfer software.

Fake Error Messages Trick Users Into Deploying a C2 Framework Via PowerShell
A newly discovered phishing campaign is using social engineering to dupe victims into copying, pasting and running the Havoc command-and-control framework on their computers, warn researchers from Fortinet. "ClickFix" displays a fake error message and instructions for its supposed resolution.