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Strategic Plan Includes Human Risk Management Platform Expansion, IPO Preparation
Bryan Palma outlines his vision to grow KnowBe4 beyond security awareness training by investing in agentic AI, expanding email and behavioral tools and positioning the company for IPO readiness. He highlights Vista Equity's support and platform depth as key assets.

Also: Cyber IPOs and the Investment Climate, the Urgency of AI Explainability
In this week's update, ISMG editors unpacked Trump's teased "grand cyber plan" amid budget cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, key business takeaways from RSAC Conference 2025 and why explainability in artificial intelligence is becoming critical to trust and security.

Government Officials Sound 'Wake Up' Alarms
A rash of cyber incidents felt by British businesses add up to a wake-up call that cybersecurity is an absolute priority, top government officials warned during an annual conference hosted by the National Cyber Security Centre. The NCSC unveiled cyber resilience measures timed for the conference.

After Vendor Paid for Data-Deletion Promise, Criminals Extort Schools Directly
Students, gather round for the sad story of how PowerSchool got schooled by hackers, who stole data on students and teachers. After PowerSchool paid a ransom for a guarantee that the data would be deleted, the bad hackers failed to honor their promise.

Not Just Ransomware But Verbal Disclosure of Personal Data Common, Watchdog Finds
Two decades after California Senate Bill 1386 introduced the world to data breach notifications, organizations have collectively battened down their cybersecurity hatches and fixed the problem once and for all. Of course, I'm joking, with the results of recent data breach root cause report in hand.

Union Health System Among Many Cerner Legacy Data Clients Affected by Breach
An Indiana health system is among the first healthcare organizations notifying regulators and thousands of people affected by the Oracle hack in January. Attackers compromised legacy patient data hosted by Cerner servers that were set to migrate to Oracle's cloud environment.

CISOs Seek Real Value as Vendors Tout the Latest Batch of AI-Driven Solutions
As the conversation shifts from generative to agentic AI, it's clear that AI holds tremendous potential to ease zero trust fatigue, but only when guided by business context, quality data and human oversight. CISOs see AI as a "basket of opportunities but plenty of "vendor blind spots."

Srivatsan Replaces Prakash Panjwani, Who Led WatchGuard's Push Beyond the Network
The former chief operating officer of SentinelOne and chief strategy officer of Palo Alto Networks has been named interim leader of MSP security stalwart WatchGuard. WatchGuard tapped Vats Srivatsan to serve as interim CEO beginning Wednesday and tasked him with scaling its platform.

Also: Iberian Blackout, Delta Faces Lawsuit Linked to CrowdStrike Outage
Every week, ISMG rounds up cybersecurity incidents and breaches around the world. This week: Mirai Botnet Exploits Flaws in GeoVision, the Iberian blackout under investigation, dueling cybersecurity advisories from India and Pakistan, Delta must face a lawsuit linked to CrowdStrike outage.

Masimo Told SEC Hack Affects On-Premises Systems, Operations and Distribution
A cyberattack against on-premises systems is affecting product manufacturing, fulfillment and distribution operations of Masimo, a manufacturer of patient monitoring devices, the California-based company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

Funding Will Fuel R&D Push Into Automated Remediation and Risk Prioritization Tools
With code increasingly generated by AI and attackers using AI for exploits, OX Security raised $60 million to scale R&D and help developers prioritize critical vulnerabilities. The company aims to close detection gaps and reduce time-to-remediation in application security.

FIDO-Based Authentication to Replace SMS-Based Verification, Says UK NCSC
The U.K. government is set to replace SMS-based verification systems for digital services with passkeys later this year in a bid to shore-up cyber defenses. The authentication initiative is being developed by the U.K. National Cybersecurity Center using FIDO standards.

Agentic AI Is More Than Just the Latest Cybersecurity Buzzword at RSAC Conference
At RSAC 2025, the message came through loud and clear: Agentic AI is no longer just a concept. It's being deployed today. While much of the buzz focused on performance gains and trust concerns, another story emerged - one that speaks directly to security professionals and those entering the field.

Loss of 5% of Staff Is Cybersecurity Industry's Second-Largest Workforce Reduction
CrowdStrike plans to axe 500 employees as the endpoint security behemoth looks to operate more efficiently. Saying its use of AI technology "flattens our hiring curve," the company revealed plans to reduce its nearly 10,000-person staff by 5% to scale its business with more focus and discipline.

NCSC Expects Attack Volume by 'Advanced Threat Actors' to Rise Sharply by 2027
Proliferation of AI-enabled technology will widen access to offensive tools by nation-state groups and other hackers. The volume of attacks is expected to rise significantly by 2027, and British critical infrastructure will be a prime target, the National Cybersecurity Center said.

California Man Pleads Guilty to Two Felony Charges Related to Hacking Employee's PC
A California man agreed to plead guilty to hacking a Disney employee's personal computer and stealing over one terabyte of confidential company data. Authorities say the man posted a malicious artificial intelligence art application online and used it to steal an employee's credentials.

NIH, CMS Project Raises Patient Data Privacy Concerns, Advocates Say
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it will build a data platform "allowing researchers to 'securely'" access data from Medicare and Medicaid claims, patient electronic medical records and consumer wearables to better understand autism spectrum disorder causes and treatments.

Don't Fall for Easy Social Engineering Traps, Advises Mandiant
The teenage hackers behind Scattered Spider tend to launch attacks in waves against specific sectors - and it may be the retail sector's turn. High street British mainstays Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Harrods have all felt a wave of incidents.

Homeland Security Secretary Accuses Cyber Agency of Failing to Stop China Hacks
U.S. President Donald Trump will "shortly" reveal a "grand cyber plan," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers Tuesday, even as the administration seeks to cut the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency budget by $500 million. "CISA’s mission is to hunt and harden," Noem said.