DataBreachToday.com

Governments Are Skeptical of Chinese A1 Platform's Data Security Controls
Countries across Asia are racing to ban government officials, national agencies and critical infrastructure organizations from using Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek's open-source chatbot application, citing data security and privacy risks.

CEO: Going Private Will Help SolarWinds Expand Its Operational Resilience Vision
SolarWinds agreed to be bought by Turn/River Capital for $4.4 billion just six years after the observability and IT management software firm went public. The proposed deal will help SolarWinds expand its vision in operational resilience and ensure the company's IT infrastructure remains robust.

SysTrack LsiAgent Installer Flaw Escalates Privileges Locally
A flawed Microsoft software installer application developed by Lakeside Software could enable attackers with lower privileges to gain full system access. The local privilege escalation vulnerability uncovered by Google Mandiant has since been patched.

Summit to Focus on Open-Source, AI Governance and Development
The historic presidential Élysée Palace in Central Paris will host world leaders, tech CEOs and researchers for the French AI Action Summit, a two-day event that will commence on Monday. U.S. Vice President JD Vance, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google's Sundar Pichai will be on hand.

Tom Kellermann's Annual Report on Key Threats to Financial Sector
Zero days. Supply chain attacks. APIs and cloud environments as growing threat vectors. These are among the topics discussed in this seventh annual Modern Bank Heists report, and author Tom Kellermann discusses their impact on financial institutions - and which defensive gaps need to be filled now.

Also: Addressing AI Vulnerabilities and Governance Challenges
DeepSeek, an advanced open-source AI model, is under scrutiny for its safety guardrails failing multiple security tests and a data leak that exposed user information and API keys. Sam Curry, CISO at Zscaler, discusses AI security, risk management and upcoming U.S. policy changes.

Secret Order Seeks to Compel Apple to Weaken Encryption, Washington Post Reports
The British government has unexpectedly reignited the long-running encryption debate, reportedly issuing a secret order to Apple requiring that it provide direct access to global users' fully encrypted cloud backups and prohibited the technology giant from alerting any targeted accountholders.

Also: Researchers Bypass GitHub Copilot's Protections, Deloitte Pays $5M for Breach
This week: A hacker claims to have 20 million OpenAI logins, Sweden clears ship in Baltic cable damage, researchers find ways to bypass GitHub Copilot's protections, Netgear patches router flaws, undetectable Mac backdoor raises alarms, Spain nabs hacker, and Deloitte pays $5M for RIBridges breach.

CISO Buyout Offers, Industry-Wide Skills Shortage Raise Fears of Cybersecurity Gaps
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has reversed an exemption for its staffers to participate in the administration's "Fork in the Road" resignation program, as lawmakers and security experts warn of a growing cyber workforce shortage threatening U.S. national security.

Experts Cast Nervous Eye on Musk and Team's Handling of Health-Related Info
Privacy experts are keeping a nervous eye on the potential for compromises involving Americans' health and personal information resulting from the White House's Department of Government Efficiency - led by Elon Musk - accessing government IT systems containing Medicare and health related data.

Data Security Posture Management Becomes Key to Cloud Visibility But Lacks Controls
The rapid rise of DSPM has fueled deals by major security firms looking to enhance their platforms. Industry leaders see DSPM as crucial for cloud data visibility, security integration and regulatory compliance. But can standalone DSPM vendors survive, or will they be absorbed by larger platforms?

AI-Powered Social Engineering and Deepfake Threats in 2025
Security researchers predict threat actors will use artificial intelligence and large language models to enhance phishing attacks and create convincing fake personas, while defensive AI enters a new phase of semiautonomous operations.

Collapse of LockBit and BlackCat/ALPHV Tied to Ongoing Decline in Big-Game Hunting
Ransomware may still be raking in massive cryptocurrency profits for practitioners, but 2024 turned out to be less of a banner year than predicted, with blockchain researchers reporting that the sum total of known ransom payments to ransomware groups in 2024 plummeted by 35%.

Also: Conviction in £1.5M Fraud, Sentencing in Torture and Theft Case
This week's stories include a critical Ethereum vulnerability, conviction in a £1.5M fraud, sentencing in a torture and crypto theft case, SEC's new roadmap, Jan crypto stats, Coinbase social engineering victims, and U.S. lawmakers' digital assets working group.

Incident Response Firm Reports 25% of Victims Paid - Typically for a Decryptor
The slice of organizations opting to pay extortion after being hit by ransomware dropped to an all-time low of 25%. Underpinning the drop is a combination of better defenses, improved business resilience as well as organizations simply deciding to not pay criminals.

Officials Hope to Curb Global Fraud by Targeting Border Operations in Myanmar
In a drastic move to curb fraud along the Myanmar border, Thailand announced plans to cut power and telecommunications in border areas of Myanmar linked to scam operations. The move is aimed at crippling criminal syndicates running notorious call centers that orchestrate scams, financial fraud and human trafficking.

Mitigate Career Risk With a Self-Audit, Targeted Training and Real-World Testing
Changing jobs or going after that promotion can be difficult, even in a field like cybersecurity where the demand for skilled professionals is high. Often, the biggest career challenge is not that advanced persistent threat or the zero-day vulnerability. It's what we call "mental malware."