The Record

Trump nominee to lead Cyber Command, NSA clears key Senate hurdle The Senate voted 68-28 to limit debate on Army Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd, who has been selected for the dual-hat role.

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency is expected to be confirmed Tuesday after lawmakers approved a key measure allowing a final floor vote therecord.media/trump-nomine...

Phobos ransomware leader facing 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to hacking charges Ptitsyn and several others began using the Phobos ransomware in November 2020, attacking more than 1,000 organizations around the world. He was arrested in South Korea and extradited in November 2024.

A 43-year-old Russian national is facing up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud related to accusations that he was a key figure in the Phobos ransomware gang therecord.media/phobos-ranso...

‘We’re not trying to remake the economy’: FTC’s Mufarrige charts new course on tech enforcement The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection chief discussed the agency’s embrace of age verification and how industry should think about data privacy enforcement under his watch.

A top FTC official explained why the agency is taking a bullish approach toward age verification and why advances in technology will make it easier to protect kids online therecord.media/ftc-mufarrig...

Police dismantle major phishing platform blamed for attacks on hospitals and schools International law enforcement agencies have dismantled a major phishing-as-a-service platform used to target hundreds of thousands of accounts worldwide, including those tied to hospitals and schools,...

International law enforcement seized 330 domains used to host phishing sites and operate a service known as Tycoon 2FA, which offered cybercriminals an easy way to steal login credentials and bypass multifactor authentication therecord.media/police-disma...

62 people indicted by Taiwanese prosecutors over ties to cyber scam company Prince Group The Taipei District Prosecutors Office initiated its investigation in October after Chen Zhi, the founder of the Prince Group, was indicted by U.S. prosecutors on money laundering charges.

Taiwan indicted 62 people and 13 companies for their involvement in cyber scam operations organized by the Prince Group — a company accused of running compounds in Cambodia where human trafficking victims were forced to conduct cyberscams therecord.media/62-indicted-...

Google urges Supreme Court to strike down geofence warrants as unconstitutional In its amicus brief, Google called the warrants a violation of people’s rights and said that in recent months it has objected to more than 3,000 geofence warrants on constitutional grounds.

Google told the Supreme Court in an amicus brief that it has objected to thousands of overbroad geofence warrants, including some that would have exposed the location of thousands of innocent people therecord.media/google-urges...

Western allies form 6G security coalition amid tech rivalry with China The Global Coalition on Telecoms (GCOT) — comprising the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Japan and Australia, with Sweden and Finland joining at the launch — unveiled voluntary security and res...

A coalition of Western allies including the U.S. called for stronger containment of cyber threats and support for quantum-resisten cryptography as part of a 6G rollout therecord.media/western-alli...

Florida woman gets 2 year sentence for trafficking Microsoft software labels According to court documents, the defendant purchased millions of dollars of labels but did not sell them with the corresponding software.

A Florida woman was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for buying millions of dollars of Microsoft software authentication labels but reselling them without the corresponding software therecord.media/florida-woma...

Florida woman gets 2 year sentence for trafficking Microsoft software labels According to court documents, the defendant purchased millions of dollars of labels but did not sell them with the corresponding software.

A Florida woman was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for buying millions of dollars of Microsoft software authentication labels but reselling them without the corresponding software therecord.media/florida-woma...

University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center confirms data leak following ransomware attack Part of the breach was traced back to a Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) Study established in 1993, which used driver’s license numbers and voter registration records to recruit participants.

The University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center said over 87,000 participants in a study had information stolen in a ransomware attack, and 1.15 million people may have had personal information exposed due to the way people were recruited for it therecord.media/university-o...

German court convicts alleged mastermind behind global investment scam network The Bamberg Regional Court in Bavaria handed down the sentence last Thursday after an 11-day trial conducted under heightened security measures, according to reports by local media.

A German court sentenced a man to over seven years in prison for running a call center in Albania that defrauded victims of nearly $10 million and distributing software that allowed the fraud to spread globally therecord.media/german-court...

EU lawmakers propose that youth under 16 be barred from social media without parental consent The opinion also states that social media access should not be allowed for children below age 13 under any circumstances.

Euopean lawmakers proposed that a social media ban for children be included in a future law known as the Digital Fairness Act, and also argued for a crackdown on practices like targeted advertising and influencer promotions therecord.media/eu-lawmakers...

Former Air Force officer arrested for conspiring with hacker to provide flight training to Chinese military Gerald Eddie Brown, 65, was arrested in Jeffersonville, Indiana on Thursday after spending nearly three years living in China and allegedly providing combat aircraft training to pilots in the Chinese ...

A 65-year-old former U.S. Air Force officer was arrested after spending nearly three years in China allegedly providing combat aircraft training to Chinese pilots therecord.media/former-air-f...

Wyden blocks Rudd confirmation to lead Cyber Command, NSA Rudd “does not have the background that would allow him to immediately step into” the role of leading Cyber Command, Wyden wrote in a letter that was included in the Congressional Record on Wednesday.

Senator Ron Wyden moved to block the confirmation of Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd as the new head of both U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, citing his lack of cyber and intelligence experience therecord.media/wyden-blocks...

Five Eyes allies warn hackers are actively exploiting Cisco SD-WAN flaws The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive warning of a “cyber threat actor’s ongoing exploitation of Cisco SD-WAN systems,” describing the activity...

Several top cybersecurity agencies issued emergency guidance warning of ongoing exploitation of Cisco SD-WAN vulnerabilities therecord.media/five-eyes-wa...

PowerSchool, Chicago Public Schools to settle student data privacy lawsuit for $17 million In addition to the $17.25 million payout, which will be split between more than 10 million potential class members, the settlement requires PowerSchool to establish a “web governance” committee to mon...

An education software company that was the target of a major hack exposing data on millions of students and teachers will pay part of a $17.25 million settlement and establish a web governance committee therecord.media/powerschool-...

US ‘committed’ to fighting transnational gangs behind Southeast Asian scam compounds: FBI Scott Schelble, the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s International Operations Division, told reporters that he recently met with law enforcement officials in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to di...

The U.S. is working with law enforcement in Southeast Asia in an effort to lead crackdowns on cyber scam compounds that have spread in the region therecord.media/us-committed...

UAE claims it stopped ‘terrorist’ ransomware attack The country’s Cyber Security Council published a statement on Saturday that said they “successfully thwarted organized cyberattacks of a terrorist nature that targeted the country’s digital infrastruc...

The UAE says it disrupted an attack that included an attempt to infiltrate the country's digital infrastructure, deploy ransomware and conduct systematic phishing campaigns therecord.media/uae-claims-i...

Air Côte d'Ivoire confirms cyberattack following ransomware claims Air Côte d'Ivoire did not respond to requests for comment but released a statement on Friday confirming reports that hackers had breached its systems on February 8. Last week, the INC ransomware gang ...

The main airline serving Côte d'Ivoire said it had to call in technical teams to assist with flights and other operations following a cyberattack that disrupted its IT systems therecord.media/air-cote-div...

Global data protection authorities warn generative AI companies against replicating real people The joint statement comes on the heels of the Grok AI chatbot creating and sharing millions of images of “nudified” real people.

Dozens of data regulators from around the globe warned AI companies about distributing nonconsensual intimate imagery, as well as defamatory material created by the platforms therecord.media/data-protect...

FBI: More than 700 ATM jackpotting incidents with losses over $20 million occurred in 2025 In a flash alert on Thursday, the FBI said it has tracked more than 1,900 ATM jackpotting incidents since 2020 and over 700 in 2025 that involved more than $20 million in losses.

The FBI said that criminals are now taking advantage of physical and software vulnerabilities that allow them to deploy malware on hundreds of ATMs and dispense cash without transactions therecord.media/fbi-atm-jack...

Leading Japanese semiconductor supplier responding to ransomware attack The company said it detected unusual activity within its IT environment on Sunday and activated incident response protocols and isolated the impacted systems.

One of the largest manufacturers of test and measurement equipment used in the design and production of semiconductors said it is dealing with a ransomware attack that has impacted several company systems therecord.media/leading-japa...

Attackers breach France’s national bank account database A spokesperson for the French government said potentially 1.2 million accounts were impacted by the incident.

A hacker impersonated a civil servant to gain access to bank accounts opened at French banking institutions, which contained names, addresses and account numbers therecord.media/attackers-br...

New backdoor found in Android tablets targeting users in Russia, Germany and Japan In a report released this week, Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky said it uncovered a previously undocumented backdoor dubbed Keenadu that is built directly into a device’s core software, allowing ...

Kaspersky researchers said they identified a new backdoor that has been spotten in over 13,000 devices that is built directly into a device's core software therecord.media/new-backdoor...

Poland bans Chinese-made cars from entering military sites The instruction to commanders to keep affected cars outside of secured perimeters comes amid growing concerns over motor vehicle network equipment and supply chains that routinely record location and ...

A spokesperson for the Polish Army said Chinese-made cars would be banned from protected military facilities following a risk assessment focused on the way modern cars’ sensors and software could be used to collect sensitive information therecord.media/poland-bans-...

Predator spyware used to infect phone belonging to Angolan journalist, report says The finding is the latest evidence that despite being placed on the U.S. government’s Entity List in July 2023, Predator manufacturer the Intellexa Consortium has continued to operate in the shadows.

A prominent Angolan journalist had his phone infected with Predator spyware after clicking on a malicious link sent via WhatsApp, according to a new report from Amnesty International therecord.media/predator-spy...

Canada Goose says leaked customer transaction data did not come from company systems On Saturday afternoon, the ShinyHunters cybercriminal organization claimed to have stolen more than 600,000 records from the company containing personal information.

Outerwear company Canada Goose said it has seen no indication of a breach of its systems after the ShinyHunters hacking group claimed to have stolen customer data therecord.media/canada-goose...

Over 500,000 VKontakte accounts hijacked through malicious Chrome extensions Researchers said they identified a network of five Chrome extensions, marketed as tools to change themes and enhance the VK user experience, that took control of infected accounts and manipulated sett...

A handful of connected Chrome extensions were designed to automatically subscribe victims to VKontakte groups and exploit weaknesses in the app's security protections to carry out unauthorized actions therecord.media/500000-vkont...

Starlink restrictions hit Russian forces as Moscow seeks workarounds Ukraine's security service said Russia was trying to recruit locals to help restore access to blocked Starlink satellite internet terminals.

Russian forces appear to be seeking illicit ways to regain access to Starlink services by offering cash to civillians in Ukrainian-controlled territory therecord.media/starlink-res...

Ring ends partnership plans with Flock days after privacy blowback from Super Bowl ad Ring and Flock had announced their partnership in October, saying that Ring customers would soon be empowered to share their doorbell camera videos with police through Ring’s Community Requests progra...

Ring cancelled a partnership plan with Flock amid backlash from consumers and lawmakers over a Super Bowl ad that caused concerns about the privacy risks of facial recognition-enabled cameras therecord.media/ring-ends-pa...