DataBreachToday.com

Also: Netskope's High-Stakes IPO, How AI Sovereignty Threatens Our Shared Reality
In this week's update, four ISMG editors discussed explosive whistleblower claims about alleged mishandling of Americans' sensitive U.S. Social Security data, Netskope's push for an initial public offering and the global fight over the geopolitical sovereignty of artificial intelligence platforms.

Absolute Dental Says Breach Involved Third-Party Managed Services Firm
A Nevada dental practice is notifying more than 1.2 million individuals of a hacking incident that compromised sensitive health and personal information. The incident involved "inadvertent execution of a malicious version of a legitimate software tool," said Absolute Dental.

Defense Department Suspends, Reviews Microsoft 'Digital Escorts' Program
The Pentagon is reviewing Microsoft's decade-long use of "digital escorts" - U.S.-based staff who review code from Chinese engineers - into military cloud systems, a workaround now deemed a "breach of trust" that may have exposed sensitive but unclassified government data.

Cisco Visionary, HPE Juniper Challenger in Inaugural Hybrid Mesh Firewall Ranking
Network security behemoths Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet and Check Point Software topped Gartner's first-ever Magic Quadrant for hybrid mesh firewalls. Gartner said the firewall market is moving toward centralized orchestration, interoperability and AI-powered automation.

FPT's Leonard Bertelli on the Shift From Reactive Monitoring to Predictive Insight
Observability has now become a mission-critical capability for enterprises operating complex, distributed and AI-driven systems. Leonard Bertelli, senior vice president at FPT Americas, shares how observability is changing and why both culture and technology must align to move enterprises forward.

AI Giants Evaluated Each Other's Newer Models for Safety Risks
OpenAI and Anthropic evaluated each other's AI models in the summer, testing for concerning behaviors that could indicate misalignment risks. Both companies released their findings simultaneously: no model was severely problematic, but all showed plenty of troubling behavior in testing scenarios.

Oslo University Hospital CSO Torkel Thune on Nordic Threat Landscape
Torkel Thune, head of the department for architecture, operational IT security and chief security officer at Oslo University Hospital, discusses how global shifts are affecting cybersecurity for the Nordic region, and how healthcare is especially vulnerable.

CISO Tammy Klotz Discusses the Value of Peer Support in Advance of ManuSec 2025
Manufacturers face many challenges in securing OT and IT systems, from legacy technology to managing vulnerabilities. Tammy Klotz, CISO at Trinseo and last year's ManuSec Summit event chair, discusses the value of sharing firsthand insights with a cybersecurity community.

Senate HELP Committee Leaders Ask Insurer: What Went Wrong in the Cyberattack?
A U.S. Senate committee is demanding details from insurance giant Aflac about the company's recent cyberattack that compromised the personal and health information of a yet undisclosed number of Americans. Senators last year gave the same scrutiny to the Change Healthcare mega-breach.

Also: DSLRoot Turns Homes Into Proxies, Cyberattack Disrupts Swedish Towns
This week: TransUnion incident affects 4.5 million, DSLRoot residential proxies, Operation Serengeti 2.0, ZipLine campaign exploits contact forms, a cyberattack disrupts 200 Swedish municipalities, Maryland Transit Administration hit by ransomware, TAG-144 escalated attacks in South America.

US Cyber Defense Agency Deploys Support to Nevada Following Ransomware Incident
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FBI are aiding Nevada after a cyberattack disabled state services, exposing how local governments - amid surging ransomware, IT shortfalls and federal funding cuts - are increasingly reliant on strained national cyber defense resources.

Buying Spanish Startup Brings Real-Time Data Pipeline Tech to Boost SOC Efficiency
CrowdStrike announced plans to acquire Spanish startup Onum Technology for $290 million. The move brings advanced data pipeline tools into its Falcon platform, speeding up threat detection and consolidating SOC workflows for customers leaving legacy SIEMs.

Concerns About Enterprise AI Are Opening New Opportunities for Problem-Solvers
Some organizations are hesitant about implementing artificial intelligence tools in their enterprises because of accuracy, security and privacy concerns. That hesitation creates opportunities for professionals who can bridge the gap between technical potential and practical deployment.

Threat actors now use AI for scaling organized retail crime and to make bot detection more difficult. How can defenders use AI to respond? Jackie Deloplaine of RH-ISAC and Derek Dykens of Splunk share insight and optimism on the use of AI to detect and combat ORC.

US and Allies Warn About Persistent and Long Term Access to Network Equipment
The Chinese hackers responsible for breaking into telecom networks across the globe capitalize on already documented vulnerabilities, principally in Cisco routing equipment, warn a slew of national cybersecurity agencies. Hackers use publicly known vulnerabilities with CVE designations.

HHS Shifts 42 CFR Enforcement Duties to Office of Civil Rights Amid Massive Reorg
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has put its Office for Civil Rights in charge of investigating and penalizing organizations that breach the confidentiality of substance abuse disorder records. Some fear the agency doesn't have the bandwidth to enforce both HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2.