Transcript
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From the CISO series. It's Cybersecurity Headlines.
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These are the cybersecurity headlines for Friday, December 5, 2025. I'm Rich Stofalino. Predator spyware spotted across several countries recorded Futures Insect Group reports that while US sanctions against Intel XA's Predator spyware have seemingly slowed its overall use, it's still in use internationally. Researchers found evidence of its use in Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Angola and Mongolia. Meanwhile, previous usage in Botswana, Egypt and Trinidad and Tobago have fallen off. The researchers noted that this might not reflect a decline in actual usage. Instead, IntelLexa made significant infrastructure changes to make it harder to detect. Amnesty International revealed this week that Intellexa can remotely access Predator customer logs from, further exposing the company to liability for misuse. Russia blocks FaceTime Russia's communications regulator Roscommnadzor announced it blocked Apple's video calling app as part of its continued crackdown on foreign tech allegedly used for criminal activity. The country has also recently imposed sanctions on YouTube, WhatsApp, Telegram and Roblox without providing any evidence, the state regulator said. According to law enforcement agencies, FaceTime is being used to organize and carry out terrorist attacks in the country, recruit perpetrators and commit fraud, fraud and other crimes against Russian citizens. So far, there's been no word from Apple. On the move draft U.S. cyber strategy set for January release CYBERSCube Sources say the Trump administration plans to release a five page, six part national cybersecurity strategy next month. This could also be followed by an executive order that would spur implementation. The six pillars in the document continue to focus on offensive cyber operations, making cyber regulations more uniform, strengthening the federal cyber workforce, streamlining procurement, protecting critical infrastructure and planning for emerging tech. Currently, the administration is soliciting feedback on the strategy from industry stakeholders, so the final text may change. Brothers arrested for deleting government databases the U.S. department of justice arrested twin brothers Muneeb and Soheb Akhtar on charges related to insider threat activity against several government agencies. Both brothers worked as engineers at the federal contractor Opexus, using their access to allegedly delete up to 96 government databases impacting the IRS and General Services Administration back in February. In an even more bizarre twist, both brothers had previously pled guilty to charges tied to a US State Department data breach back in 2015, with each serving multi year prison sentences. Both brothers denied wrongdoing in an interview with Bloomberg earlier this year.
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