Morning Brief

Check Point Research has disclosed a technique that uses Microsoft Defender's own legitimately signed boot-time remediation driver to perform arbitrary kernel-level file and registry operations on Windows systems ranging from Windows 7 through Windows 11 25H2, with no software flaw exploited and no driver imported from outside the machine. The driver, BTR.sys (Boot Time Removal Tool), is a

⬇️ OPEN FOR LINKS TO ARTICLES TO LEARN MORE ⬇️ @endingwithali → Twitch: https://twitch.tv/endingwithali Twitter: https://twitter.com/endingwithali YouTube: https://youtube.com/@endingwithali Everywhere else: https://links.ali.dev Want to work with Ali? hak5@endingwithali.com [❗] Join the Patreon→ https://patreon.com/threatwire 0:00 0 - Intro 1 - Apple’s Threat Notifs 2 - US Hacks Back 3 - Worms R Back 4 - BSides News 5 - Outro LINKS 🔗 Story 1: Apple’s Threat Notifs https://thehackernews.com/2026/08/apple-warns-users-in-110-countries-they.html https://support.apple.com/en-us/102174 🔗 Story 2…

Cisco Meraki scores highest in our 2026 evaluation of automatic Wi-Fi security solutions , combining cloud-managed simplicity with strong policy enforcement, while HPE Aruba leads on enterprise-grade wireless security depth, and Juniper Mist wins on AI-driven operations. Wi-Fi security solutions protect wireless networks through encryption (WPA3), authentication (802.1X), rogue access point detection, and client isolation, and in 2026 they increasingly enforce zero-trust policy at the point of connection. Here are the ten best, scored. The 2026 Wi-Fi Security Scorecard Each platform scored…

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new malware family that's specifically designed to infect Android-based vehicle head unit firmware developed by DoFun. Kaspersky, which discovered the threat in June 2026, said the end goal of the malware is to serve a multi-stage downloader to enable ad fraud and creation of a proxy botnet. "The malware spread through the built-in updaters of

One of the best ways to lower your AWS bill by 99 percent or more is by not checking your keys into public GitHub repositories. Many of us have done this inadvertently over the years, and the defenses against it have improved dramatically (my personal favorite being "using non-ephemeral credentials derived from OIDC or SSO is an anti-pattern"), but it still happens. On Friday, BleepingComputer reported on a Truffle Security finding that hundreds of leaked AWS keys are root keys and are somehow still active and valid. AWS Security is full of very smart people who care deeply about a number of…

The latest wp2shell vulnerability was one of the biggest WordPress security events in history. The critical vulnerability chain combined two flaws that allowed unauthenticated attackers to exploit vulnerable sites and ultimately execute malicious code remotely, potentially taking control of them. In the first week after the disclosure, more than 45 million exploit attempts from nearly 150,000 unique network sources were made. And as the volume continued climbing, we saw just how fast vulnerability disclosure can turn into mass exploitation. For comparison, this scale was roughly 20x what was…

We identified a network of 41 websites impersonating popular games and Windows software, all designed to push visitors towards the same Download Studio installer. The sites advertise everything from Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Fallout, Roblox, PUBG, and The Witcher to VLC, 7-Zip, Paint.NET, VMware, Total Commander, and Foxit PDF. They go to surprising lengths to look convincing, using accurate product information, genuine developer resources, and even real download links. But the link you see isn’t the link you follow. One site promises Counter-Strike. Hover over its download button and the…

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a set of trojanized npm packages that masquerade as working calendar and streak utilities but are engineered to stealthily deliver an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Linux implant dubbed RedC2 4.0. "When the module loads, it locates the bundled binary, marks it executable, and launches it as a detached background process," TrendAI, Trend Micro's

The U.S. government on Wednesday warned of an "active threat" targeting critical infrastructure organizations in the country using artificial intelligence (AI)-generated exploit scripts. The activity is targeting Siemens S7 SeriesProgrammable Logic Controllers (PLCs) to conduct reconnaissance and capability development using AI-generated scripts disguised as legitimate monitoring tools. That

We start this week with Emanuel’s big story about Amazon buying, and destroying, masses of books to train AI. After the break we talk about a couple of wild cases where people are using AI. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about Meta’s new smart glasses patent and research into how perverts are using them. Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or YouTube . Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the…