Cybersecurity
Voting machine researchers say federal work abruptly ended after Trump ally pushed back on their findings
Mojave Research executives said at DEF CON that the government had been preparing to expand the company’s election security work, and linked Trump adviser Kurt Olsen to pressure they faced after finding election system vulnerabilities but no evidence votes were altered.
New ‘Water Watch Center’ launched to help small utilities stop cyberattacks
The initiative comes as multiple states grapple with intrusions into their water systems that some officials suspect could be tied to Iran.
CISA cautions against rigid rules for future of cyber vulnerability program
A top agency official said formal backing from Congress could strengthen the global vulnerability-tracking system but warned against measures that may limit its ability to adapt to ever-changing hacking threats.
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CISA still finds water system controls exposed online amid multistate hacks
The agency is working with the FBI to help victims but is not attributing the cyber intrusions to any group, acting director Nick Andersen told Nextgov/FCW.
AI advances are pushing governments to treat cyberattacks as routine, Western officials say
The remarks underscore a grim outlook for cyberdefenders showing that AI systems are able to exploit vulnerabilities faster than governments can patch them.
Hugging Face AI breach is ‘most consequential hack’ since Morris Worm, former NSA cyber chief says
AI may let hackers exploit newly disclosed software flaws so quickly that organizations should weigh whether to immediately patch internet-connected devices, even at the risk of causing outages, Rob Joyce said.
Chinese telecom firms kept footholds in US networks despite federal crackdowns, House probe finds
China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom retained equipment, data center space and network ties after FCC restrictions, including a China Mobile-linked network that appeared in routes to Salt Typhoon servers.
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Lawmakers propose giving 2015 OPM breach victims identity protection for life
The federal government’s coverage for 22.1 million people hoovered up in the China-linked breaches is scheduled to end Sept. 30.
Cyber industry coalition urges federal action after suspected Iran-linked water hacks
The group called on CISA to impose baseline security standards across federal operational technology systems and pressed Congress to revive several stalled cyber initiatives.
CISA urges water utilities to take exposed systems down after Minnesota hacks
A memo distributed to water industry members and obtained by Nextgov/FCW makes mention of Iran but does not directly present evidence attributing the latest Minnesota incident to the country.
Anthropic confirms its AI breached 3 organizations during testing
Three Claude models were inadvertently given access to the internet during security evaluations, and each model took a different approach to hacking external systems.
Amazon uncovers broad North Korean hacking campaign against open-source software
New findings connect the same Pyongyang-backed group to four compromises dating to 2025, revealing a larger operation than previously known.
After Hugging Face breach, FedRAMP chief tells slow-to-patch vendors to stay out of government
Pete Waterman cited an incident in which OpenAI models escaped a test environment and broke into AI company Hugging Face as evidence that providers must prepare for attacks moving at AI speed.
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Russian hackers can steal government emails without victims clicking a link, cyber agencies warn
The Russia-linked Laundry Bear group has compromised more than 10 Western organizations through malicious emails that can trigger an exploit when they are viewed or previewed.
Lawmakers get taste of AI-enabled cyberattacks in China-Taiwan war game
Representatives weighed responses to simulated Chinese cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure during a tabletop exercise centered on a Taiwan crisis.
Moving beyond checklists to living digital identity risk management
COMMENTARY | The era of static checklists is over. The future belongs to living, adaptive digital identity programs.
Secret Service is examining apparent Iranian video outlining Trump motorcade routes, assassination opportunities
The agency said it is looking into the Persian-language video, which uses polished, apparently AI-generated graphics to depict supposed motorcade routes in Florida and New York.
Trump stretches declassified China intelligence into broader 2020 election claims
The records provide new details about Chinese intelligence collection on voters and internal analytic debates, but do not undercut longstanding findings on the 2020 election.
White House announces ‘Gold Eagle’ AI clearinghouse for cyber vulnerabilities
The initiative stems from a June 2 executive order that urged advanced AI developers to grant the government early access to their capabilities to address potential vulnerabilities.
AI, once relegated to helping hackers with certain tasks, can now power every stage of a cyberattack
Researchers determined that AI was used in steps across entire cyber operations to identify security flaws, generate commands and carry out parts of intrusions, sometimes with little human oversight. Both U.S. and Chinese AI models have been involved.
Russian hackers exploit weak router security to breach critical infrastructure, Western allies warn
The guidance comes as the United Kingdom and European Union blamed a major Russian intelligence unit for an attempted attack on Poland’s power grid last year.
