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Strategies for Safeguarding Data and Reputation at Financial Institutions
In today's increasingly digital world, trust isn't always easy to come by. Businesses no longer have complete control over their technology stack. Instead, they rely heavily on third-party solutions, applications and products to keep operations running smoothly. But those third parties pose risks.

When a large hospital in an urban area is shut down by ransomware, the disruption can be significant, but when a rural hospital faces a similar cyber outage, the impact on patient safety and the community can be extreme, said Nitin Natarajan of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Academics Build AI Agent With OpenAI to Execute Phone Scams at Scale
Hackers can use OpenAI's real-time voice API to carry out for less than a dollar deepfake scams involving voice impersonations of government officials or bank employees to swindle victims, said researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Forrester's Cody Scott on Why 2025 Will Be Pivotal for Security Leaders
Forrester's 2025 Predictions for Cybersecurity, Risk and Privacy report forecasts that security leaders will scale back generative AI investments by 10%. AI productivity gains have fallen short of expectations, forcing CISOs to reprioritize budgets and reassess gen AI’s role in security operations.

Series D Funding on $4.2B Valuation to Support OT, Medical Device Security Growth
Armis has closed a $200 million Series D funding round on a $4.2 billion valuation to drive growth in cyber exposure management with a focus on acquisitions and federal expansion. CEO Yevgeny Dibrov says the funds will accelerate Armis' work in operational technology and medical device security.

US Treasury Issues Regulations Restricting Investments in Foreign Semiconductors, AI
The U.S. Department of Treasury published final regulations Monday for investors planting dollars abroad that aims to restrict investments from the United States into sensitive technologies developed by foreign adversaries while continuing to ensure open investments practices remain intact.

FBI Probing 'Specific Malicious Activity Targeting' Telecommunications Providers
The FBI said Friday afternoon it is investigating Chinese nation-state hacking of commercial telecommunications infrastructure following a news report that Beijing actors targeted data from phones used by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Hackers Backdoor Software Libraries to Deliver Malware
Security researchers found backdoored software packages in the NPM software library, apparent evidence of an ongoing campaign by North Korean hackers to social engineer coders into installing infostealers. Pyongyang hackers have a history of bizarre methods for stealing money.

SMS Impersonation Scam Victims Must Be Made Whole
Singapore regulators gave banks six months to institute real-time detection tools for blocking impersonation scams or else assume liability for stolen funds. A finalized framework published Thursday also shifts liability onto island-nation telecoms unless they block fraudulent SMS messages

Top Tier Capital, HarbourVest Support Concentric's Path to Autonomous Data Security
Supported by Top Tier Capital Partners and HarbourVest Partners, Concentric AI’s $45 million Series B funding round will drive product innovation in identity governance, risk monitoring and data breach investigation - critical areas for enterprises seeking resilient data security solutions.

How Might Election Outcome Affect HHS' Healthcare Cyber Work?
Regardless of who wins the upcoming Presidential election, one thing is apparent: As the final months of the Biden administration wrap up, regulators at the agency charged with enforcing HIPAA are racing to complete unfinished work they deem as critically important to healthcare sector cyber.

Rust-Based Ransomware Employs Aggressive Anti-Detection Tactics
Operators of a Russian-speaking ransomware group launched a new encryptor with enhanced measures for defeating cyber defenders including wiping logs, disrupting backup systems and stopping decryption without insiders knowledge. The same group disrupted London hospitals in a July attack.

While ransomware attacks against medical devices don't happen often, disruptive cyber incidents that affect the availability of the IT systems that medical devices rely on are a big concern that needs the industry's critical attention, said Jessica Wilkerson of the FDA.

Also: Payment Card Theft Trends, Internet Archive Update
This week, bulk data transfers to China, credit card theft, the Internet Archive still recovering and the Change Healthcare tally is now 100M. Ukraine fought phishers, civil society against the UN cybercrime treaty, TA866 and virtual hard drives spread malware. Google verified Sir Isaac Newton.

Mandiant Says High-Severity Flaw Could Give Attackers Remote Unauthenticated Access
Researchers at Mandiant say a new threat cluster, first observed June 27, has been exploiting a Fortinet zero-day that the network edge device manufacturer publicly disclosed Wednesday. Researchers said they can't assess the threat actor's motivation or location.

Effectiv's 30-Person Team to Streamline Identity Services, Help Socure Grow Revenue
Socure has acquired Effectiv, integrating its engineering team of 30 to strengthen identity verification capabilities. The $136 million deal aims to speed up customer onboarding, enhance transaction monitoring, and deliver cross-platform solutions, with the product integration expected in 45 days.

Irish Data Protection Commission Cites Social Platform for GDPR Violations
The Irish Data Protection Commission imposed a 310 million euro fine on LinkedIn for violating a European privacy law stemming from the company's use of customer data. It ordered the social media platform to bring its data processing under compliance.