My plans to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing were derailed by two days of rain and high winds, so we made a plan B: the Tama lakes track, which has somewhat less exposure but still gets up over 1400m. We’re lucky we didn’t try Tongariro given how tough the conditions were at Tama lakes – driving snow and winds on the ridge. But we were rewarded with good views and improving weather on the return trip. #hiking
In a proposed settlement, the US FTC says crypto bridge Nomad must repay victims of a 2022 cyberattack that led to $186M worth of funds being stolen (Connor Jones/The Register)
https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/17/nomad_ftc_settlement/
Sources: Bay Area radio station KCBS-AM, which faced MAGA backlash over ICE coverage, scaled back political reporting after Brendan Carr's threats of a probe (Byron Tau/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-media-fcc-kcbs-5dbed5c466771d53e2c7…
Check out today's Metacurity for a comprehensive run-down of crucial cybersecurity developments you should know, including
--Yanluowang initial access broker faces up to 53 years in prison following guilty plea,
--CBO breach is considered 'ongoing,'
--Asahi's shipments are at 10% following attack and ahead of holiday season,
--Payments by British insurers for cyber incidents have tripled,
--Chinese national faces UK sentencing this week for money …
Logitech discloses data breach after Clop claims https://therecord.media/logitech-discloses-data-breach-clop
The US, following a directive from President Trump, is withdrawing from several key international cybersecurity and hybrid threat organisations, citing concerns over mismanagement and conflicts with national sovereignty. Experts are worried about the impact on global cybersecurity.
https://www.
BRICKSTORM Backdoor
"The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) analyzed eight BRICKSTORM samples obtained from victim organizations. BRICKSTORM is a custom Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) Go-based backdoor. "
MISP standard and STIX files available at the following location:
🔗 https://cti-tra…
OpenAI Can’t Fix Sora’s Copyright Infringement Problem Because It Was Built With Stolen Content https://www.404media.co/openai-cant-fix-soras-copyright-infringement-problem-because-it-was-built-with-stolen-content/
Looks like Plankey lost his nomination to head CISA and we head into 2026 with no real leader at the cyber agency.
Sean Plankey nomination to lead CISA appears to be over after Thursday vote
https://cyberscoop.com/sean-plankey-cisa-nomination-stalled-senate-ho…
How "porno-troll" Strike 3, owner of porn production company Vixen, made millions by filing copyright suits accusing users of illegally downloading its videos (Tarpley Hitt/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interact…