All news with #news tag

🎓 Microsoft is offering a free 12-month subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal for U.S. college students, including community college attendees, with the offer available through October 31, 2025. The subscription includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook with the Copilot AI assistant, plus 1 TB of OneDrive storage and ransomware protection. Students must verify enrollment via a school email or documentation, and a 50% discount is available if they keep the plan after the first year. Microsoft also announced educator grants, community college certifications, AI training, and expanded Copilot access for U.S. schools.

📣 Sendmarc has appointed Rob Bowker as North American Region Lead to drive regional expansion and deepen MSP and VAR partnerships. Bowker brings over two decades of experience in email infrastructure, deliverability, and security, including implementation of DMARC, SPF, and DKIM. He will focus on accelerating DMARC adoption across enterprise and mid-market customers, empowering MSPs to protect SMBs, and executing a partner-first growth strategy. The move aims to broaden Sendmarc’s enterprise footprint and support faster DMARC compliance.

🔒 Chess.com disclosed a data breach after threat actors gained unauthorized access to a third-party file transfer application used by the platform. The intrusion persisted from June 5 to June 18, 2025, and was discovered on June 19, prompting an investigation and engagement of outside experts. Chess.com says its own infrastructure and member accounts were not affected; just over 4,500 users may have had names and other PII accessed. No financial information appears exposed, and affected members are being offered 1–2 years of free identity theft and credit monitoring.

🔔 CISA announced the appointment of Nicholas Andersen as Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity, naming him to lead efforts to address major cyber threats and bolster critical infrastructure resilience. Andersen brings extensive public- and private-sector experience, including senior roles at Invictus and Lumen Technologies Public Sector, and prior service at the Department of Energy. He began at CISA on September 2, 2025; Chris Butera will assume the role of Acting Deputy Executive Assistant Director.

🏆 With only 12 days until the 12 September 2025 nomination deadline, the CSO30 ASEAN Awards invite senior security leaders to submit entries that demonstrate outstanding leadership, innovation, and measurable business value. Categories include Business Value, Leadership, and Public‑Private Partnership. Winners will be honoured at an in‑person ceremony in Singapore and join a global community of top CISOs and security executives.

🔍 Microsoft says its August 2025 security update, KB5063878, is not connected to recent reports of SSD and HDD failures. After internal testing and telemetry analysis, Redmond said it could not reproduce the corruption or drive losses and found no increase in disk failures following the Windows 11 24H2 update. Microsoft is working with storage partners and controller vendors and will continue to monitor customer feedback while investigating any new reports.

📅 CSO's editors compile a curated calendar of leading and niche cybersecurity conferences worldwide, spanning September 2025 through April 2026. The list identifies event names, dates and locations, and notes in-person, virtual and hybrid formats as well as events run by CSO’s parent company, Foundry. Use this guide to prioritize training, vendor demos and networking opportunities tailored to your region and role.

🔗 The latest Threat Source newsletter reflects on the value of the cybersecurity community after Black Hat USA 2025 and DEF CON 33, encouraging practitioners to seek local, affordable alternatives like Bsides, student clubs and hackathons. It summarizes Talos telemetry showing a 1.4× surge in ransomware activity in Japan during H1 2025, with Qilin most active and the new actor Kawa4096 emerging. The edition also highlights major headlines such as an exploited Git vulnerability, updated CISA SBOM guidance, and early reports of an AI-powered ransomware project called PromptLock.

🔍 The US Director of National Intelligence reports that the UK government is dropping a proposed mandate requiring a backdoor into the Apple iPhone, a development attributed in early accounts to reporting by Tulsi Gabbard. If accurate, the announcement would mark a significant retreat from proposals that would compel vendors to weaken device security. The decision is described as provisional and underscores continuing tensions between privacy advocates, technology vendors, and law enforcement over access to encrypted communications.

🔒 In the August 2025 edition, ESET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe highlights major global developments that affect defenders and users alike. Key items include WhatsApp's takedown of 6.8 million scam-linked accounts in H1 2025, the UK government's reversal on an Apple cloud decryption demand, attacks on water facilities in Norway and Poland, and Nigeria's deportation of over 100 foreign nationals tied to a large cybercrime syndicate. He also notes auctions of active police and government email credentials on criminal forums and underscores lessons for resilience, encryption policy, and international cooperation.

🛡️ The federal government plans to present a draft bill by year-end aimed at strengthening cyber defense across Germany. The proposal would expand cyber-defense powers for security agencies and deepen cooperation between civilian and military bodies, with joint exercises planned between the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Defence. It also calls for the development of a Cyber-Dome, an automated system to detect and respond to online attacks, as Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt warned of daily cyberattacks and rising hybrid threats.

🔒 CISA and public- and private-sector partners are assisting Nevada following an August 24 cyber attack, focusing on restoring networks that support lifesaving and critical services. At the state's request, CISA Threat Hunting teams are actively examining systems to determine the full scope of impact and mitigate threats. The agency also advised on FEMA emergency response grants, and the FBI is supporting the investigation.

🦑 The short entry presents the bobtail squid’s natural history—its bioluminescent symbiosis, nocturnal habits, and adaptive camouflage—in a crisp, approachable summary. As with other 'squid blogging' posts, the author invites readers to use the item as a forum for current security stories and news that the blog has not yet covered. The post also reiterates the blog's moderation policy to guide constructive discussion.

🔐 Jim Sanborn is auctioning the original solution to Part Four (K4) of his Kryptos sculpture, with RR Auction estimating a winning bid of $300,000–$500,000 for the lot. The sale, scheduled for Nov. 20, includes the handwritten plaintext, related papers, and a 12-by-18-inch copper proof-of-concept plate with 1,800 hand-cut letters. Sanborn hopes the buyer will preserve the secret and assume verification duties, potentially by implementing an automated review process.

🎧 In episode 64 of The AI Fix, hosts Graham Cluley and Mark Stockley survey a lively mix of AI breakthroughs, quirky robotics, and high-profile industry rows. Highlights include machine-learning work that uncovers unexpected results in dusty plasmas, a mudflat robocrab contest, a laundry-folding robot demo, and a contentious public spat involving Elon Musk and Sam Altman. The episode also touches on Geoffrey Hinton’s warnings about superintelligence, UK government advice on old emails, and recent research from Anthropic and Figure AI. Listeners are invited to support the show and follow on podcast platforms and Bluesky.

📰 The HBO Max documentary Most Wanted: Teen Hacker features interviews with Brian Krebs and examines the criminal trajectory of Julius Kivimäki, a Finnish hacker convicted for extensive data breaches and later mass extortion. The four-part series traces his early role in the Lizard Squad, high-profile DDoS attacks, swatting incidents, and the Vastaamo psychotherapy breach and patient extortion. Directed by Sami Kieski and co-written by Joni Soila, episodes will stream weekly on Fridays throughout September.

📣 At Black Hat USA 2025, founder Jeff Moss and veteran researcher Mikko Hypponen framed the conference around the interplay of technology, corporate culture, and measurable cyber risk. Moss asked whether companies let technology shape culture or adapt technology to preserve values, warning that AI-driven customer service can damage brand trust when poorly implemented. Hypponen argued that security failures often reflect system gaps—malicious links should be stopped before reaching users—and cautioned that apparent success (when nothing happens) can lead to complacency and cyclical underinvestment.

🔐 CISA and FEMA announced the availability of more than $100 million in grant funding to bolster state, local, and tribal cybersecurity capabilities. The FY2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity includes the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) with $91.7 million and the Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program (TCGP) with $12.1 million. Awards may support planning, exercises, hiring cybersecurity experts, network hardening, and improvements to services provided to citizens. Applicants should consult CISA application resources to prepare proposals.

🛡️ In July 2025, ESET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe highlighted major cybersecurity incidents, including exploitation of ToolShell zero‑day vulnerabilities in on‑premises Microsoft SharePoint and the confirmed return of Lumma Stealer. Other critical stories included a ransomware attack that closed UK transport firm KNP, a massive data exposure in McDonald's hiring chatbot McHire, and the discovery of PerfektBlue Bluetooth flaws affecting vehicles. The UK also proposed banning ransom payments by public bodies.

🔒 Microsoft has expanded the .NET Bounty Program, increasing maximum awards to $40,000 and broadening coverage to include all supported .NET and ASP.NET versions, adjacent technologies like F#, templates, and GitHub Actions. The program simplifies award tiers, aligns impact categories with other Microsoft bounty programs, and defines report quality as complete (working exploit) or not complete, encouraging detailed, actionable submissions.