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Ever wished you could rebuild your network from scratch to make it more secure, scalable and simple? Meet Meter, the company reimagining enterprise networking from the ground up. Meter builds full stack zero trust networks including hardware, firmware and software, all designed to work seamlessly together. The result? Fast, reliable and secure connectivity without the constant patching, vendor juggling or hidden costs. From wired and wireless to routing, switching, firewalls, DNS security and vpn, every layer is integrated and continuously protected in one unified platform. And since it's delivered as one predictable monthly service, you skip the heavy capital costs and endless upgrade cycles. Meter even buys back your old infrastructure to make switching effort, transform complexity into simplicity and give your team time to focus on what really matters, helping your business and customers thrive. Learn more and book your demo@meter.com cyberwire that's M E T E R.com cyberwire. Trump Signs the National Defense Authorization act for 2026 Danish intelligence officials accused Russia of orchestrating cyber attacks against critical infrastructure. Long nosed Goblin targets government institutions across Southeast Asia and Japan. A new Android botnet infects nearly 2 million devices. WatchGuard patches its Firebox firewalls. Amazon blocks more than 1800 North Korean operatives from joining its workforce. CISA releases nine new industrial control system advisories. The U.S. sentencing Commission seeks public input on deepfakes. Prosecutors indict 54 in a large scale ATM jackpotting conspiracy. Our guest is Natay Milner, CEO of Orion Security, discussing the issue with data leaking into AI tools and how CISOs must prioritize DLP and Riot Games Finds cheaters hiding in the BIOS. It's Friday, december 19, 2025. I'm dave buettner and this is your cyberwire intel brief.
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Thanks for joining us here today. Happy Friday. It is great to have you with us. President Donald Trump signed a $901 billion National Defense Authorization act for 2026 that includes major cyber security provisions, and it passed with bipartisan support. The bill authorizes record defense spending and preserves the long debated dual hat leadership of US Cyber Command and the National Security Agency by barring Pentagon funds from weakening the Cyber Command's commander's authority. That provision reinforces a structure Trump previously considered splitting but ultimately abandoned. Trump also nominated Army Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd to lead both organizations. The NDAA allocates roughly $417 million to Cyber Command for digital operations, other activities, and headquarters maintenance. It mandates secure encrypted mobile devices for senior Defense Department leaders following inspector General criticism of insecure communications. The bill also requires reviews of foreign sourced infrastructure components and and orders the Pentagon to streamline its cybersecurity requirements. Danish intelligence officials have accused Russia of orchestrating cyber attacks against Denmark's critical infrastructure as part of a broader hybrid campaign against Western countries. The Danish Defense intelligence service said two pro Russia groups, Z Pentest and Noname O5716, carried out attacks on water utilities and launched DDoS attacks ahead of local elections, aiming to create insecurity and punish Denmark for supporting Ukraine. Officials said the cyber activity is part of a wider influence effort to undermine Western backing of Kyiv, with elections used to attract public attention. Denmark's defense minister called the attacks unacceptable and said Russia's ambassador would be summoned. The warning aligns with broader European concerns echoed by incidents in Norway and a recent joint advisory from US And European agencies about pro Russian hacktivist threats to global critical infrastructure. Researchers have identified a previously unknown China aligned hacking group targeting government institutions across Southeast Asia and Japan. The group, dubbed Long nosed Goblin by ESET, has been active since at least September 2023 and was uncovered during an investigation of a Southeast Asian government network. The hackers abused Windows Group Policy, a legitimate administrative tool to deploy malware and move laterally. Their tools include Nosy Historian, which harvests browser data to identify high value victims, and Nosy Door, a selective backdoor suggesting carefully chosen targets. Researchers warn that a newly identified Android botnet dubbed Kimwolf, has infected more than 1.8 million devices and can launch massive DDoS attacks. Chinese firm Xlab says the botnet mainly targets Android TV set top boxes and focuses on traffic proxying, but issued over 1.7 billion attack commands in late November. Kimwolf is linked to the Turbo Mirai class Isuru botnet and may have powered recent near 30 terabit per second attacks. The malware uses encrypted DNS to evade detection and operates on a globally distributed infrastructure. Watchguard has issued an urgent warning for customers to patch a critical actively exploited remote code execution vulnerability affecting its Firebox firewalls. The flaw impacts devices running multiple versions of fireware OS and allows unauthenticated attackers to execute malicious code remotely through low complexity attacks. WatchGuard caution that devices may remain vulnerable even after certain VPN settings are removed. The company said it has observed active exploitation in the wild and and released indicators of compromise, urging affected users to rotate credentials if compromise is suspected. Temporary mitigations are available for organizations unable to patch immediately. The advisory follows a pattern of similar Watchguard firewall vulnerabilities that were widely exploited and later flagged by CISA. Amazon says it has blocked more than 1800 suspected North Korean operatives from joining its workforce since April 2020, underscoring how widespread the so called fake IT workers scam has become. Chief Security Officer Steve Schmidt said applications linked to North Korea rose 27% quarter over quarter this year. The scheme involves real developers using stolen or fabricated identities, AI generated resumes and even deepfakes to secure remote jobs, then funneling wages back to the regime. Some attackers also steal sensitive data or extort employers. Amazon uses AI screening and human verification to detect the fraud. But Schmidt warned tactics are evolving, including hijacked LinkedIn accounts and US based laptop farms that disguise overseas workers as domestic employees. CISA has released nine new industrial control system advisories covering security vulnerabilities across a wide range of widely used operational technology products. The advisories address systems from major vendors including Inductive Automation, Schneider Electric, National Instruments, Mitsubishi Electric, Siemens Advantech, Rockwell Automation and Axis Communications. Affected products range from SCADA platforms and distributed control systems to industrial networking stacks and camera management software. CISA urged asset owners, operators and administrators to review the advisories for detailed technical information and recommended mitigations to reduce risk in industrial and critical infrastructure environments. The U.S. sentencing Commission is proposing preliminary sentencing guidelines under the Take It Down Act, a bipartisan law passed earlier this year to combat non consensual deepfake pornography. The law makes it a federal crime to distribute real or AI generated intimate imagery without consent and requires platforms to remove reported content within 48 hours, with enforcement authority given to the Federal Trade Commission. It outlines prison sentences of up to two years for deep faking adults and up to three years for minors. With the commission now refining penalties by offense type, proposed updates clarify definitions tied to online services and intent, including abuse or sexual exploitation. The commission is seeking public comment on the guidelines through February 16, 2026. As concern grows over increasingly realistic AI generated media, US prosecutors have indicted 54 individuals for their alleged roles in a large scale ATM jackpotting conspiracy involving mal, malware and coordinated cash theft. A federal grand jury in Nebraska returned two indictments, one in October charging 32 people and another in December charging 22 more. Authorities allege the scheme used Plautus malware to force ATMs to dispense cash, resulting in losses of about $40.7 million as of August 2025. The indictment links the activity to Tren d', Arugua, a Venezuelan criminal syndicate designated as a foreign terrorist organization, accusing it of laundering proceeds to fund broader criminal operations. Investigators say the group conducted surveillance, physically accessed ATMs to install malware, and used techniques designed to evade detection and obscure evidence. If convicted, defendants face sentences ranging from decades to life in prison. Coming up after the break, my conversation with Nite Milner, CEO of Orion Security. We're discussing issues with data leaking into AI tools and Riot Games finds cheaters hiding in the bios. Stick around. What's your 2am Security worry? Is it do I have the right controls in place? Maybe Are my vendors secure? Or the one that really keeps you up at night? How do I get out from under these old tools and manual processes? That's where Vanta comes in. Vanta automates the manual work so you can stop sweating over spreadsheets, chasing audit evidence and filling out endless questionnaires. Their trust management platform continuously monitors your systems, centralizes your data, and simplifies your security at scale. And it fits right into your workflows, using AI to streamline evidence collection, flag risks, and keep your program audit ready all the time. With Vanta, you get everything you need to move faster, scale confidently, and finally, get back to sleep. Get started at vanta.com cyber that's V-A-N-T A.com cyber.
