Tim Starks

NEW: @timstarks.bsky.social spoke with some CyberCorps participants who have had federal agency job and internship offers rescinded this year due to cutbacks. Those who can’t find employment there will see their grants, often reaching six-figure sums, converted into loans after 18 months.

Government and industry must work together to secure America’s cyber future Rep. Andrew Garbarino says the Trump administration and Congress must ensure the private sector has a true seat at the table as we chart a course for long-term cyber resilience.

House Homeland Chairman Garbarino has an op-ed @cyberscoop.bsky.social cyberscoop.com/defending-am...

Ukrainian National Extradited from Ireland in Connection with Conti Ransomware Following his extradition from Ireland, a Ukrainian man had his initial appearance today in the Middle District of Tennessee on a 2023 indictment charging him with conspiracy to deploy Conti, a ransom...

DOJ: 'Following his extradition from Ireland, a Ukrainian man had his initial appearance... on a 2023 indictment charging him with conspiracy to deploy Conti, a ransomware variant... used to attack more than 1,000 victims' cc @gate15.bsky.social www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ukrai... #cybersecurity

CISA, NSA offer guidance to better protect Microsoft Exchange Servers The guide includes security advice previously shared by Microsoft, yet authorities felt it prudent to outline best practices for the critical and widely used technology.

CISA, NSA offer guidance to better protect Microsoft Exchange Servers cyberscoop.com/cisa-nsa-mic...

OpenAI releases ‘Aardvark’ security and patching model The model, currently in beta mode, is designed to automatically scan, analyze and patch vulnerabilities in private and open-source code bases.

The model, currently in beta mode, is designed to automatically scan, analyze and patch vulnerabilities in private and open-source code bases. via @derekbjohnson.bsky.social cyberscoop.com/openai-aardv...

Vertical screenshot from a Russian Interior Ministry video purporting to show arrests of alleged developers of the Meduza Stealer malware. The long legs of a person, lying face down, are in the foreground. They are wearing what looks like black pajama pants with the Hello Kitty logo on them. An officer in body armor is crouched over the person's torso. Another person in jeans, holding what looks like a black leather satchel, is in the upper left corner.

Shoutout to the purported Meduza Stealer suspect in the Hello Kitty pants therecord.media/meduza-steal...

Thanks dude, same to you

CyberCorps talent pipeline buckles under Trump hiring freezes The cornerstone program for training and placing student talent into government cybersecurity positions has been hobbled by recent federal employment logjams, jeopardizing workforce pipelines and leav...

Here's the OG take from @ddimolfetta.bsky.social: www.nextgov.com/cybersecurit...

Cyber scholarship-for-service students say government has pulled rug on them, potentially burdening them with debt Some CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service participants have had federal agency job and internship offers rescinded this year due to cutbacks and freezes. It’s a condition of their scholarship contract ...

CyberCorps participants are feeling betrayed by the promise of the program. My story: cyberscoop.com/cyber-schola...

Government watchdog sues DHS over election official’s records Heather Honey has a long and established record of coordinating with the Trump campaign in 2020 to push false and unproven claims around voter fraud.

Heather Honey has a long and established record of coordinating with the Trump campaign in 2020 to push false and unproven claims around voter fraud. via @derekbjohnson.bsky.social cyberscoop.com/nonprofit-su...

Wait, what? Do these people remember Salt Typhoon?

U.S. agencies back banning top-selling home routers on security grounds The Commerce Department has proposed barring sales of TP-Link products, citing a national security risk from its China ties, people familiar with the matter said.

Scoop: Multiple U.S. agencies backed a proposal to ban the top-selling home routers, from TP-Link, as a national security risk. But the plan has stalled as Trump tries to cut a broad trade deal with China, sources told me. wapo.st/4oiPKBY

Top Trump Officials Are Moving Onto Military Bases Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem, and others have taken over homes that until recently housed senior officers.

A growing list of senior Trump political appointees—at least 6 by our count—now live in military housing, where they are shielded not just from potential violence but also from protest, @michaelscherer.bsky.social Missy Ryan @ashleyrparker.bsky.social report. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Ick on these charges. Alleged 764 member faces up to 69 years in prison for string of suspected violent crimes @mattkapko.com cyberscoop.com/764-tony-chr... @cyberscoop.bsky.social

Open-source security group pulls out of U.S. grant, citing DEI restrictions The Python Software Foundation said the grant would have funded automation and structural improvements to a key open-source programming language.

Open-source security group pulls out of U.S. grant, citing DEI restrictions @cyberscoop.bsky.social by @derekbjohnson.bsky.social cyberscoop.com/python-softw...

Exclusive: OpenAI’s Atlas browser — and others — can be tricked by manipulated web content Researchers are poking holes in OpenAI’s new browser as international standards bodies fear U.S. businesses may be “sleepwalking” into an AI governance crisis.

Researchers poke holes in OpenAI’s new browser as standards bodies fear U.S. businesses are “sleepwalking” into an AI governance crisis. via @derekbjohnson.bsky.social cyberscoop.com/openai-atlas...

US government allowed and even helped US firms sell tech used for surveillance in China, AP finds Even while warning about national security and human rights abuse, the U.S. government across five Republican and Democratic administrations has repeatedly allowed and even actively helped American fi...

US government allowed and even helped US firms sell tech used for surveillance in China, AP finds apnews.com/article/chin...

F5 asserts limited impact from prolonged nation-state attack on its systems The networking software and security company claims most customers are not concerned about their configuration data stolen during the attack.

The networking software and security company claims most customers are not concerned about their configuration data stolen during the attack. via @mattkapko.com cyberscoop.com/f5-attack-li...

CIA cyberattacks targeting the Maduro regime didn’t satisfy Trump in his first term. Now the US is flexing its military might | CNN Politics In the final year of President Donald Trump’s first administration, the CIA carried out a clandestine cyberattack against the Venezuelan government, disabling the computer network used by Venezuelan l...

The CIA hacked and disrupted a computer network used by Venezuela’s security service in Trump’s 1st term, one of a series of covert actions US agencies took or considered taking as Trump increased pressure on Maduro: www.cnn.com/2025/10/29/p...

Former Meta lobbyist’s appointment to Irish data commission ‘conflict of interest,’ complaint alleges An Irish human rights group submitted a formal complaint to the European Commission alleging that Ireland’s appointment of a former Meta lobbyist to its Data Protection Commission is illegal.

Irish nonprofit files complaint with European Commission, seeking to have ex-Meta lobbyist removed from new post as key data protection regulator. EC says the matter is out of its hands.

therecord.media/meta-lobbyis...

Ex-L3Harris exec pleads guilty to selling zero-day exploits to Russian broker An ex-L3 Harris executive pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of trade secrets Wednesday, admitting to selling eight zero-day exploits to a Russian broker in exchange for millions of dollars.

An ex-L3 Harris executive pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of trade secrets Wednesday, admitting to selling eight zero-day exploits to a Russian broker in exchange for millions of dollars.  cyberscoop.com/peter-willia...

Scoop here, by @ajvicens.bsky.social www.reuters.com/business/med...

When people in cybersecurity claim (without evidence) that threat actors are leveraging AI in their attacks, I just hear desperation to not take accountability for the impact of attacks.

I haven't seen a single novel attack using AI (excluding AI vulnerabilities of course). 1/2

The Republican Plan to Reform the Census Could Put Everyone’s Privacy at Risk A little-known algorithmic process called “differential privacy” helps keep census data anonymous. Conservatives want it gone.

US census data is carefully anonymized for good reason. Now Republicans want to change that -- and their plan could put the data of every person living in the US at risk.

Important reporting from @telliotter.bsky.social

Cyber injunctions put victims at risk, experts warn Qantas stands by controversial legal tactic.

Cybersecurity experts are warning that injunctions – an increasingly popular legal tactic flaunted as protecting data breach victims – are putting people at greater risk of cybercrime.

More from @troyhunt.com, Cythera's Euan Prentice, Dvuln's Jamieson O'Reilly and Cyber Cognition's Michael Collins.

Chatbots Are Pushing Sanctioned Russian Propaganda ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok are serving users propaganda from Russian-backed media when asked about the invasion of Ukraine, new research finds.

New with @natashabernal.bsky.social:

ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok have all been founding citing Russian sources—including Russian media sanctioned by the EU—in response to queries about the war in Ukraine

Trump nominates cyber expert for Coast Guard commandant President Donald Trump formally submitted the nomination of Adm. Kevin Lunday for Coast Guard commandant on Oct. 23, 2025.

Trump nominates cyber expert for Coast Guard commandant defensescoop.com/2025/10/27/a...

Hacking Team successor linked to malware campaign, new 'Dante' commercial spyware Kaspersky researchers said Monday that they’ve unearthed a malware campaign they’re linking to the successor company of the infamous Italy-based surveillance tech firm Hacking Team, and at the same ti...

Kaspersky researchers said Memento Labs appears to be behind both the Operation ForumTroll malware and spyware, known as Dante. via @timstarks.bsky.social cyberscoop.com/hacking-team...

Decoherence Media is publishing the first article in our 3 part investigation of the leaked web server for Rope Culture, the in-house magazine of notorious Nazi forum Iron March. There are hundreds of new Nazi email addresses and comments for researchers and journalists to dig through.

Hundreds of People With ‘Top Secret’ Clearance Exposed by House Democrats’ Website A database containing information on people who applied for jobs with Democrats in the US House of Representatives was left accessible on the open web.

New with @lhn.bsky.social:

Thousands of people who applied for jobs with the Democrats in the US House of Representatives have had their data exposed online—including hundreds with "top secret" clearance

Officials say they have launched an investigation into the data exposure