This week, we are joined by Matt Poto, Associate Triage Analyst at Huntress, discussing their work on "Grand Theft Auto VI Hype Leads to Malware." Threat actors are exploiting the hype surrounding the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA6) by distributing fake leaked game downloads designed to infect unsuspecting gamers. Huntress identified malicious ISOs promoted through search engine poisoning, gaming forums, torrent sites, and social media that contain multiple types of malware, including remote access trojans (RATs), an infostealer, and ransomware. The malware can steal credentials and personal information, give attackers control of compromised systems, and encrypt or destroy files, with evidence suggesting the campaign may be targeting Russian-speaking gamers.

FBI attributes $6 billion Binance heist to North Korea. Apple warns German politicians of spyware targeting.

Federal agencies warn of cyberattacks on industrial refrigeration systems. Healthcare cybersecurity could get a post-midterm boost. Chainalysis exposes customer credentials, and DigiCert discloses a breach. OpenAI's latest model learns to respect boundaries. D-Link warns of unpatched switch vulnerabilities. The EU accuses TikTok of leading users down harmful rabbit holes, while tech giants challenge California's child safety law. Federal prosecutors charge three suspects in a $129 million AI-powered impersonation scheme. Our guest is Greg Notch, CTO of Expel, sharing thoughts on how pacing AI won't stop the bad actors. Meta's AI feeding frenzy gets put on a diet.

OpenSSH rolls out emergency patches for authentication bypass flaw. Chainalysis breach affected all customers.

Claude Dispatch opens the door to hijacking. Residential proxies turn up on White House networks. Asian airlines suffer a wave of data breaches. Cisco and WatchGuard roll out critical patches. GhostMap traps Android phones in endless reboot loops. Hackers exploit a Zyxel zero-day to compromise nearly a thousand devices. Ukraine's scam call center crackdown ensnares senior security officials. AI-powered scammers prey on owners of missing pets. A former U.S. government IT worker admits to spying for Ethiopia. Our guest is Rebecca Krauthamer, CEO and co-founder of QuSecure, with insights on the NIST PQC roadmap. Voters pull the plug on data centers.

Nvidia orders data center clients to reduce China exposure.

Multiple Asian airlines disclose third-party breaches. GhostMap can disable Android phones via malicious apps.

N2K Networks today announced that Authorized Intelligence, the new premier podcast from Rubrik, will join the N2K CyberWire podcast network. Hosted by AI risk management expert Cal Al-Dhubaib, the podcast features conversations with leading voices across the AI ecosystem on how organizations can embrace frontier AI opportunities while navigating an increasingly complex security landscape.

In this episode, host Elliot Volkman is joined by Carly Sherrod of Microsoft’s Detection and Response Team (DART) and Spencer McIntyre, Director of Exploit Development at VulnCheck to break down the critical PHP2Shell vulnerabilities. They explore how the exploits work, the reality behind reports of widespread attacks, and how AI is accelerating exploit development. The conversation also covers what security teams should look for, how to assess potential exposure, and why patching alone may not be enough to protect vulnerable systems.

AI-enabled attacks are on the rise, your analysts are drowning in alerts, and vendors are positioning an autonomous SOC as the solution. But what can AI agents actually do today? How will analyst roles evolve? And how much autonomy can you safely give? Cybersecurity researcher Jon Oltsik joins Johnny and Dustin to separate AI automation from AI autonomy. They explore what it takes to bring AI agents into the SOC safely, from testing agents in shadow mode to establishing clear guardrails and human oversight, and why trust in an agent has to be earned through proven performance.

This week, Dave and Ben look at two AI-related stories. The first involves the recent bankruptcy of Character.AI and the DoJ's privacy concerns related to the sale of AI chats. The other story looks at a lawsuit involving ChatGpt being sued after its chatbot allegedly contributed to a woman's seizure.

This week, hosts of N2K CyberWire ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Maria Varmazis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dave Bittner⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ alongside ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Joe Carrigan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ are discussing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. We start with some follow up from Adina, who shares a few more examples of things that become more complicated the more you learn about them, including statistics and the real-world effects of changes to complex systems. Dave adds quantum physics to the list. Maria covers new research from Akamai showing that online scam detections doubled in the past year, overtaking phishing for the first time in the company's data. Dave explores the case of a Brazilian man who traveled nearly 2,000 kilometers to meet a woman he fell in love with online, only to discover she was an AI-generated personality. Joe examines a phishing email disguised as a Calendly notification that claims to provide access to an official Social Security statement and potentially delivers malware. Our Catch of the Day features two suspicious emails, including an unsolicited donation offer supposedly from a billionaire.

Election Day brings typical cyber threats, technical glitches, and misinformation. Hackers tamper with European refrigeration systems. OpenAI faces questions over years of security warnings. Nvidia reportedly restricts business with Chinese data center customers. Binance details a six-billion-dollar heist attributed to North Korea. Barracuda patches critical security flaws. Gartner predicts an engineering-heavy future for security operations. Canadians face charges for hacking U.S. universities. Our guest is Heather Ceylan, CISO at Box, discussing Enterprise AI in 2026: what security leaders learned — and what comes next. AI takes the pitch, misses the point.

Heather Ceylan, CISO at Box, joins Dave Bittner on the CyberWire Daily podcast for a sponsored Industry Voices to reflect on what security leaders have learned about enterprise AI adoption in 2026. Heather explains why trustworthy AI depends on a strong information foundation, including governed content, access controls, and auditability, and how organizations can build governance and resilience into their AI strategies from the start. She also explores how the CISO's role is shifting toward enabling responsible innovation as AI governance becomes a growing board-level priority.

Sentra has secured $150 million in a strategic capital investment led by Capital One Ventures.

Barracuda warns customers to patch two flaws. US indicts two Canadians for hacking universities.

⁠David Ebner⁠, president and founder of Content Workshop, is back on the show to talk about AI systems. Content Workshop just launched the ⁠AI Maturity Model⁠, a 10-question survey that benchmarks where your marketing team sits on the AI adoption scale compared to peers. David walks through the five stages, from solo prompting to fully systematized loop factories where agents handle the work and a QA agent named Karen checks everything. He also covers the new ⁠AI marketing courses ⁠Content Workshop is offering and what he is bringing to CyberMarketingCon including MD file giveaways that replace the traditional worksheet and a mysterious third booth.

CISA scales back its Election Day role. Google takes down a massive Android TV botnet. The UK warns of AI-powered attacks on critical infrastructure. German lawmakers face potential spyware threats. An AI-enabled infostealer ranks its victims. Ivanti patches more exploited zero-days. NATO launches cyber war games in Estonia. A Harvard breach exposes data linked to 850,000 email addresses. Our guest is Alex Weinert, Chief Product Officer at Semperis, on protecting the identity fabric in the AI era. Democracy is calling. And texting.

Alex Weinert, Chief Product Officer at Semperis, joins Dave Bittner on the CyberWire Daily podcast for a sponsored Industry Voices conversation about how agentic AI is expanding the identity attack surface. Alex discusses the risks introduced by rapidly growing non-human identities, how AI agents can expose and exploit weaknesses in identity infrastructure, and the practical steps organizations can take to harden their environments, detect threats at machine speed, and strengthen identity resilience without sacrificing the productivity benefits of AI.

Apple warns German politicians of spyware targeting. New VOLTA malware uses AI to automate victim analysis.