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You're listening to the Cyberwire Network powered by N2K. At Talas, they know cybersecurity can be tough and you can't protect everything. But with Thales, you can secure what matters most. With Thales industry leading platforms, you can protect critical applications, data and identities anywhere and at scale with the highest roi. That's why the most trusted brands and largest banks, retailers and healthcare companies in the world rely on Talas to protect what matters most applications, data and identity. That's Talas. T H A L E S learn more@talasgroup.com cyber the CBO was hacked by a suspected foreign actor Experts worry Trump's budget cuts weaken US Cyber defenses Regulation shapes expectations Click Fix evolves on macOS Notorious cybercrime groups form a new federated alliance Congressional leaders look to counter China's influence in 6G networks. An edtech firm pays $5.1 million to settle data breach claims. Nevada did not pay the ransom. Our guest is CEO and co founder Ben Nunez from Evercoast, winner of the 8th annual DataTribe Challenge. And the FBI tries to uncover the archivist. It's Friday, Friday, November 7th, 2025. I'm Dave Buettner and this is your Cyberwire Intel Briefing. Thanks for joining us here today. Happy Friday. It's great to have you with us. The Congressional Budget Office, Congress's nonpartisan fiscal analyst, was hacked by a suspected foreign actor, potentially exposing sensitive communications and financial data used in crafting legislation. Officials discovered the breach recently and worry adversaries may have accessed internal emails, chats and correspondence with lawmakers, according to a spokesperson. The CBO quickly contained the incident, added new monitoring, and continues its work while the investigation proceeds. Some congressional offices have reportedly paused email contact with the agency over security concerns. The CBO provides independent economic projections and cost estimates for every bill, serving as a vital counterweight to the White House's budget agencies. Its analyses frequently influence legislative debates and fiscal policy across both chambers of Congress. Experts warn that budget cuts and restructuring under President Trump's administration have weakened U.S. cybersecurity defenses, leaving the nation and economy more vulnerable to attack. A new assessment from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission found declining progress toward key national cyber goals, citing reduced funding and staff at agencies such as CISA and the State Department. The lapse of an information sharing law and the disbanding of key coordination councils have further hampered public private collaboration. Experts say this death by a thousand paper cuts erodes visibility into nation state threats like China's Volt typhoon campaign, even as artificial intelligence accelerates attack capabilities. Analysts warn that cutting federal resources while shifting responsibility to states and industry heightens national cyber risk. According to cnbc, a quiet but profound shift is reshaping Cybersecurity regulation is making accountability a daily expectation rather than a compliance exercise. Frameworks like the EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act, US Secure by Design principles, and new SEC disclosure rules are driving cultural change across organizations. Regulators now demand proof of readiness, transparency in incident response, and evidence that systems were built securely from the start. This evolution pushes security engineering and legal teams to collaborate continuously instead of treating compliance as an annual checkbox. Experts say the focus has moved from bureaucracy to behavior, embedding accountability into design, operations and communication. In this new landscape, transparency and preparedness are emerging as competitive advantages rather than regulatory burdens. Click fix attacks have rapidly evolved on macOS, with threat actors refining fake cloudflare verification popups that mimic legitimate pages and even include instructional videos and countdown timers. The tactic long used against Windows users tricks victims into manually executing malicious commands that install malware, often bypassing security tools. Recent macOS variants, such as one deploying the Shemos infostealer, show greater sophistication and fewer execution steps. Experts warn that user awareness remains the strongest defense as attackers continue adapting. Speaking of ClickFix, cybersecurity researchers uncovered a large scale phishing campaign exploiting booking.com partner accounts to steal customer data. According to Sequoia IO, attackers compromised hotel systems using the ClickFix social engineering tactic, tricking victims into executing PowerShell commands that installed the Pure RAT remote access trojan. The malware enabled credential theft system control and data exfiltration. Stolen credentials were traded or used in payment scams. Fraudulent messages mimicked legitimate booking details, directing victims to fake payment pages. The campaign remains active and highly profitable. A new federated alliance of three notorious cybercrime groups, Scattered Spider, Shiny Hunters and Lapsus, has formed to launch extortion as a service operations, according to researchers at Trustwave. Operating under the handle Scattered LapsesHunters, the coalition combines elite skills in social engineering, lateral movement and data exfiltration, posing a major threat to enterprises. Experts describe this merger as the evolution of cybercrime into coordinated business style operations targeting weak identity controls and legacy multi factor authentication. SLH reportedly plans to release its own ransomware, Shiny Spider, and collaborate with other criminal clusters. Researchers warn this marks a new phase of organized cyber extortion, emphasizing collaboration and efficiency and credential based compromise. Congressional leaders are demanding more transparency from federal agencies on strategies to counter China's growing influence in technology and cybersecurity especially in developing 6G networks. Representative Raha Krishnamoorthy urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to strengthen international coalitions promoting secure non Chinese telecommunications infrastructure and to prevent a repeat of US missteps during 5G's rollout. Lawmakers warn that China is already shaping global 6G standards through partnerships and summits. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans are pressing the Commerce Department to curb Chinese technology in U.S. supply chains, citing risks to infrastructure, AI systems and industrial control networks. Both parties agree that technological dominance and security in next generation communications represent critical national interests requiring coordinated investment, diplomacy and stronger standards. Leadership Educational technology firm Illuminate education will pay $5.1 million and overhaul its security practices to settle claims tied to a 2021 data breach that exposed sensitive student information. The breach, affecting students in 49 states and 3 million in California, stemmed from poor access controls, weak monitoring and unsecured databases. California, Connecticut and New York attorneys general said Elluminate failed to revoke ex employee credentials and misled users about compliance. The company has agreed to strengthen monitoring and data protection measures. Officials in Nevada confirmed the state did not pay ransom after an August ransomware attack that disrupted critical government systems. Working with the FBI, Mandiant and others, the state restored operations in 28 days, recovering about 90% of affected data. The attack began when a state employee unknowingly downloaded a malware laced tool from a spoofed website, part of a search engine optimization poisoning campaign. The attacker gained persistence, moved laterally and deployed ransomware after deleting backups. No data exfiltration was detected and only one file contained personal information. The state spent roughly $1.6 million on recovery costs and overtime. Governor Joe Lombardo praised teams for restoring payroll and essential services without paying criminals, pledging further network segmentation and stronger cybersecurity defenses. Coming up after the break, my interview with the winner of the 8th annual Data Tribe Challenge. CEO and co founder Ben Nunez from Evercoast and the FBI tries to uncover the archivists. Stay with us.