CyberWire Daily – "When Encryption Meets Enforcement"

Date: January 26, 2026
Host: Dave Bittner
Guests: Maria Vermazes (T Minus Space Daily), Brandon Karpf (NTT & former CyberWire colleague)

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the intersection of privacy, law enforcement, and cybersecurity, opening with the news that Microsoft granted the FBI access to BitLocker-encrypted laptops following a court order. The episode transitions to cover major industry news—ranging from supply chain vulnerabilities and AI content moderation to geopolitical cyber threats. The latter half features a detailed conversation with Maria Vermazes and Brandon Karpf about the evolving challenges of tracking orbital assets and the critical role automation and information-sharing will play in the future of space safety and national security.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Law Enforcement, Encryption, and User Privacy

• [02:00] A federal case in Guam revealed that Microsoft provided the FBI with BitLocker recovery keys stored in the cloud after authorities obtained a warrant.
• Many users back up BitLocker recovery keys to their Microsoft accounts for convenience, enabling lawful access by Microsoft.
• Insight: Convenience versus control—users wanting maximum privacy should store recovery keys offline.

Quote:

"The case underscores a familiar trade off between convenience and control." – Dave Bittner [03:00]

2. Global and Industry Cybersecurity Highlights

• [03:30] The EU is investigating X’s AI model, Grok, for generating explicit images, including those involving minors, under the Digital Services Act.
• [04:45] Reports from Iran describe brief glimmers of internet access amid government blackouts during protests, which have hampered reporting and communication.
• [06:00] Coy Security warns that post-Shai Hulud mitigations for NPM package management remain flawed; malicious configurations can still bypass protections.
• [07:15] Microsoft investigates reports of Windows 11 devices failing to boot after January updates.
• [08:00] CISA adds multiple actively exploited vulnerabilities to its catalog, flagging flaws in Versa, Zimbra, JavaScript frameworks, and VMware vCenter.
• [09:00] ESET attributes a major cyberattack on Poland’s energy sector to Russia’s Sandworm APT, utilizing destructive "DynamicNowiper" malware.

3. Space Situational Awareness & Traffic Management

The Challenge of Tracking Objects in Orbit

• [13:55] Maria Vermazes explains that global tracking of satellites and space debris is a patchwork effort with no single authoritative body.
  • Geostationary satellites are well tracked, low Earth orbit (LEO) remains more chaotic.
  • Multiple governments and private companies contribute to tracking, but there's no “central traffic control.”
  • The US Dept. of Commerce’s Trax system is the closest to a central repository, but is still incomplete.

Quote:

"Our view of what's going on in space is not as complete as I think most people would think it is... There is no complete knowledge of everything that's up there." – Maria Vermazes [13:55]

About the Trax System

• [15:34] Trax: A beta system run by the Department of Commerce, intended to centralize space situational awareness.
  • Faced a near-shutdown in 2025, but industry lobbying saved it.
  • Still not the definitive solution; many private organizations continue independent tracking.

Growth of Space Traffic and Risks

• [17:27]–[19:21] Brandon Karpf describes the exponential increase in orbital conjunction alerts:
  • His anecdote: “One a day” conjunction warnings a decade ago, now over 600,000 daily due to a massive increase in satellites (“approx. 14,000 now, potentially 100,000 in four years”).
  • Managing this volume far exceeds human monitoring capacity.

Quote:

"We get one [conjunction warning] like one a day maybe... Today we have 14,000 satellites up there... Now conjunction messages have increased... to over 600,000 every single day." – Brandon Karpf [18:13–19:21]

4. Policy and Access to Space Data

Strategic Implications & Transparency

• [21:46] Discussion on whether space situational data should be fully open or restricted for security reasons.
  • Military satellites' positions are physically observable and thus, secrets are limited to their capabilities, not their existence.
  • Expansion of commercial providers mirrors the “democratization of exquisite data” (e.g., commercial Earth observation, SIGINT).

Quote:

"This is kind of democratization of exquisite data is nothing new... What's unique here... is this is being provided by the government..." – Brandon Karpf [23:30]

Money and Management

• [20:51] Funding remains a challenge, with the government raising revenue by charging space companies according to the mass they launch.

5. Automation, Cybersecurity Parallels, and the Future

• [25:47]–[27:54] Tracking and managing orbital objects is now too complex for manual oversight—automation is essential.
  • Parallels drawn to cybersecurity’s evolution: security operations centers (SOCs) automating the triage of billions of alerts.
  • Techniques and tools from cybersecurity could directly inform space operations ("security orchestration, automation and response" for “space ops”).

Quote:

"No human staff can review all those alerts. So you have to implement a layer of automation... The same kind of tools that the cybersecurity industry has been forced to innovate... could be incredibly helpful." – Brandon Karpf [27:43, 27:55]

• [28:15] Dave Bittner observes: "It strikes me that we're playing a bit of catch up when it comes to this stuff..."

6. Industry News & Market Brief

• [10:10] Wave of cybersecurity funding and M&A activity:
  • Akido ($60M Series B), Project 11 ($20M), mergers among Infoblox, Delinea, and Thinkst Canary.
  • Investment focuses: identity security, managed services, AI governance, proactive threat detection.

7. CISA Sits Out the RSA Conference

• [29:57] CISA announces it will not attend RSA Conference 2026 for the first time, sparking confusion in the community.
  • CISA cites focus on statutory duties and aligning with presidential priorities, despite RSA being the industry’s major annual event.
  • The timing is notable: former CISA Director Jen Easterly recently took the helm as RSAC’s CEO.

Quote:

"For an agency tasked with national cyber coordination, opting out of the one place everyone coordinates feels less strategic and more baffling." – Dave Bittner [30:50]

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• [03:00] "The case underscores a familiar trade off between convenience and control." — Dave Bittner
• [13:55] "Our view of what's going on in space is not as complete as I think most people would think it is..." — Maria Vermazes
• [18:13–19:21] "We get one [conjunction warning] like one a day maybe... Now... over 600,000 every single day." — Brandon Karpf
• [23:30] "This is kind of democratization of exquisite data is nothing new... What's unique here... is this is being provided by the government..." — Brandon Karpf
• [27:43, 27:55] "No human staff can review all those alerts. So you have to implement a layer of automation... The same kind of tools... could be incredibly helpful." — Brandon Karpf
• [30:50] "For an agency tasked with national cyber coordination, opting out of the one place everyone coordinates feels less strategic and more baffling." — Dave Bittner

Conclusion

This episode highlights the ongoing tension between privacy and law enforcement in the digital realm (with BitLocker and Microsoft as a case study), the rapidly evolving threats facing the cybersecurity landscape, and the critical intersection of space operations and cyber tools. The expert panel draws direct lines between the challenges of automating security for digital networks and the urgent need to automate “space situational awareness” to avoid catastrophic orbital incidents. As commercial and state actors expand in both domains, the need for effective coordination, transparency, and automation becomes ever more pressing.