Daily Cyber Threat Brief Ep. 1107 – April 9, 2026

Host: Dr. Gerald Auger (Simply Cyber Media Group)
Special Segment Host: James McQuiggin (Cyber Career Hotline)
Main Theme:
Today’s episode delivers real-time breakdowns of eight top cybersecurity headlines, relevant for both industry insiders and newcomers. The panel emphasizes not just what happened, but why it matters, highlighting lessons, patterns, and actionable takeaways for GRC pros, analysts, and leaders. Community engagement and laughs weave through the content, with crowd shout-outs and cyber career advice.

Key News Stories & Insights

1. Ransomware Hits Dutch Healthcare Vendor

[12:02]

• Summary: Chipsoft, which provides patient record software to 80% of Dutch healthcare facilities, is hit by ransomware. At least 11 hospitals take systems offline.
• Gerald’s Breakdown:
  • The dramatic impact is less about Chipsoft itself, more about how deeply vendors are embedded in customer operations.
  • Quote [12:40]:
    “It’s not really the software company that makes the big news story. It is the customers of the software company that get impacted.”
  • Draws parallels to the CrowdStrike incident where downstream effects were massive.
  • Actionable Insight: Use as a teaching moment for board-level vendor risk conversations, especially in healthcare tech.

2. APT28's DNS Hijacking & Ongoing Campaigns

[16:42]

• Story: Operation Masquerade disables Russian APT28 (Fancy Bear) use of hacked routers for espionage and C2. A new “Prismax” malware suite is targeting Ukraine, using techniques like steganography and LNK file phishing.
• Gerald’s Commentary:
  • “Russian Fancy Bear, one of the A teams. Not to be confused with Hannibal and Mr. T A team, but pro-level.”
  • Takeaway:
    • Spear phishing is still extremely effective; LNK files are flagged as a warning.
    • “Never in my life has an LNK file attached to an email been something that I needed. Yet somehow APT28 is going whole hog and it’s working.” [18:30]
  • Historical footnote on the Melissa virus—macro-enabled Office document attacks haven’t changed, just evolved.

3. CIA Quietly Elevates Its Cyber Espionage Mission

[24:02]

• Story: CIA creates a full “Mission Center” focused on cyber-espionage, reporting directly to Director John Ratcliffe, signaling increased strategic importance.
• Insight:
  • “United States is playing catch up; cyber and asymmetric warfare is the new norm.”
  • Suggestion:
    • Young people interested in cyber should consider time at the CIA/NSA for skill-building.
    • “This has nothing to do with any of us in chat. We are not doing anything different here today.” [27:00]

4. Hack-for-Hire Campaign Targeting Middle East/North Africa

[28:53]

• Story: Group “Bitter” linked to Indian interests is implicated in spearphishing activists, journalists, and civil society with customizable Android spyware (ProSpy).
• Gerald’s Insight:
  • “Spyware is so hot in 2026 that Hansel’s so hot right now.”
  • Abuse of spyware by repressive regimes and private actors is highlighted.
  • “It’s bull crap that I’m all up in cybersecurity and it still took me a long time to figure this out… Spyware is legal because there are law enforcement, parental, and stress-testing use cases.” [36:00-37:00]
  • Warning: NGOs, journalists, activists—and those supporting them—need heightened operational security.

5. Mos Jesu Botnet DDoS-for-Hire in the Wild

[42:12]

• Story: New botnet (Mas Jesu) for rent on Telegram, harnessing IoT vulnerabilities, especially in Vietnam and several other nations, using process forking and self-renaming to evade detection.
• Gerald’s Comments:
  • DDoS remains varied; “denial of service” encompasses bandwidth attacks to malware that wipes devices.
  • “Being enrolled in a botnet doesn’t mean your device no longer works. It just means it can be utilized on demand by a threat actor.” [47:00]
  • Home users are unlikely to notice unless services break, so the incentive to fix is low.
  • Advice: Check for weird cron jobs as detection tactic. IoT security is often neglected.

6. AI Finds a 13-Year-Old Apache Bug

[50:42]

• Story: With new LLMs (like Anthropic's Mythos), researchers quickly discover and chain old vulnerabilities. A longstanding Remote Code Execution (RCE) flaw is found in ActiveMQ, with AI assistance.
• Major Point:
  • “Vulnerability discovery and bug bounties—the entire industry around it—is going to change.”
  • AI-driven low-effort vuln submissions flood bug bounty platforms, shifting the remediation bottleneck.
  • “The bigger story here is that vulnerabilities’ bottleneck is not discovery, it’s actually remediating vulnerabilities.” [51:50]

7. NHS Scotland Domains Serving Illicit Content

[55:18]

• Story: Ex-cybersecurity engineer Nick Hatter finds NHS Scotland and Shetland GP domains hosting porn/illegal streams—likely DNS/WordPress compromises.
• Key Lesson:
  • “This is a perfect example of why you have to maintain your infrastructure. …Anytime someone brings up anything new, ask: Who’s going to maintain it?” [56:11]
  • Cautions against unchecked tech debt and ignored legacy assets.

8. Minnesota Calls in National Guard After Cyberattack

[58:58]

• Story: After a major ransomware incident in Winona County, MN, the governor deploys the National Guard’s cyber unit to help maintain essential services.
• Gerald’s Take:
  • “Minnesota has been getting ramrodded repeatedly… Leave Brittany—sorry, leave Minnesota alone!” [59:27]
  • Increasing trend: U.S. states turning to National Guard cyber units for incident response.
  • No specific organizational action, but underscores the growing realism of government cyber disruptions.

Notable Quotes & Community Moments

Teachable Moments:

• “Just because it’s business, just because it’s cybersecurity, doesn’t mean it has to be boring and sterile and suck.” [05:10]
• “People in power like to retain power. …That’s true for cyber, true for politics, true for project management.” [31:50]

Career Gems:

• “If you work for a tech software company, use these stories as a ‘canary in the coal mine’ to drive investment in resilience.” [15:35]
• “It’s not cool to be the guy who says, ‘Who’s going to maintain this after we deploy it?’ But you have to be that person.” [56:20]

Humor & Vibe:

• Frequent “So hot right now” references and “Welcome to the party, pal” for first-timers.
• Meme of the Week [38:34]:
  • Custom meme by Dan Reardon: “When Jerry hits that runner’s high…”
• “If your Ring doorbell gets enrolled in a botnet, would you care? On principle, maybe. But when it still works—you won’t.” [48:00]

Community Q&A & Career Hotline Highlights

[Post-show segment with James McQuiggin at 62:36]

• How often review cyber tools?
  • At least yearly; use maintenance reviews to manage tech debt.
  • “If you’re not happy with the vendor, go somewhere else. Always be looking ahead." [71:44]
• What if I feel underqualified for a new job offer?
  • “They hired you for your initiative and professional skills. Your head, heart, and gut—listen to all three.” [74:20]
• Best resources for Cyber Threat Intelligence skills?
  • Read: Operationalizing Threat Intelligence (Will Hoyt)
  • Watch: Podcasts like Simply Cyber; also Wade Wells’ Simply Defense.
  • Practice: Work with MITRE ATT&CK and ATLAS.
• OT Security Resources:
  • SANS Institute OT section; follow experts like Mike Holcomb on LinkedIn.
• Identity Governance Landscape:
  • “It’s fragmented. Use ISACs for sector info, write policies with LLM assistance, look for industry groups.”
• Vibe Coding vs. ‘Real’ Coding:
  • Embrace LLMs for efficiency, but review code before deploying to Prod.

Memorable Moments & Community Shoutouts

• First Timers Welcomed With Signature Sound Effects [Starts at 00:50 and throughout]
  • “Welcome to the party, pal!” whenever someone new joins.
• Career Gratitude:
  • “Every episode is worth half a CPE. Half the time we fool around, half the time, it’s dead serious business.” [05:10]
• Minneapolis/Minnesota Hockey and Curling Jokes:
  • Community laughs about MN’s misfortunes but respect for their resilience.

Important Timestamps

• [12:02] Ransomware disables Dutch Healthcare vendor
• [16:42] APT28 router campaign thwarted; Prismax spearphishing
• [24:02] CIA cyber mission elevated
• [28:53] Hack-for-hire campaign using spyware
• [42:12] Mos Jesu IoT botnet DDoS-for-hire
• [50:42] AI finds years-old Apache RCE bug
• [55:18] NHS Scotland domains hijacked, tech debt lessons
• [58:58] Minnesota calls National Guard after ransomware attack
• [62:36] Cyber Career Hotline with James McQuiggin: career and tooling Q&A

Overall Tone & Vibe

The show is energetic, upbeat, and community-driven, mixing actionable cyber insights with dad jokes, memes, encouragement for newcomers, and practical cybersecurity advice. There’s a self-deprecating thread (“Ain’t nobody got time for prep”), making the news accessible yet valuable.

Gerald’s Guiding Mission:
“Just because it’s business, just because it’s cybersecurity, doesn’t mean it has to be boring and sterile and suck… We like to say that half the time we fool around and half the time we’re down to serious business.” [5:10]

Final Thought

If you’re new or a long-timer, this episode is your daily shot of threat intelligence, industry wisdom, and positive vibes.
Tune in live at 8 AM Eastern for news and career insight—plus a meme, a laugh, and maybe a new CPE to log.