Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

Santa Cruz

Cybersecurity Editor at The Register

Cybersecurity Editor @TheRegister / @SitPub twins mama, outdoor lover, book worm, and coffee snob. Find me at Bluesky: @jessicalyons.bsky.social

Articles

Security experts say US-China trade war could hit cyberspace

2 weeks ago | theregister.com | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

World War Fee As the trade war between America and China escalates, some infosec and policy experts fear Beijing will strike back in cyberspace. Shortly after the US tariff on imported Chinese goods increased to 104 percent on Wednesday, China boosted its duty on American imports to 84 percent.
Wyden blocks Trump's CISA boss nominee over 'cover up'

2 weeks ago | theregister.com | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

Uncle Sam's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, aka CISA, has been "actively hiding information" about American telecommunications networks' weak security for years, according to Senator Ron Wyden. The Oregon Democrat said he will block the nomination of Sean Plankey to lead the agency until CISA releases an unclassified 2022 report on the matter.
Google's got its eye on Microsoft's $20B+ security biz

2 weeks ago | theregister.com | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

Google will today reveal a new unified security platform that analysts think can help it battle Microsoft for a bigger chunk of the enterprise infosec market. It's called Google Unified Security (GUS) and is said to combine the search giant's existing threat intelligence, security operations, and cloud security services, plus Chrome Enterprise. Because this is 2025 it also adds agentic AI.
Don't open that file sent via WhatsApp for Windows just yet

2 weeks ago | theregister.com | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

A bug in WhatsApp for Windows can be exploited to execute malicious code by anyone crafty enough to persuade a user to open a rigged attachment - and, to be fair, it doesn't take much craft to pull that off. The spoofing flaw, tracked as CVE-2025-30401, affects all versions of WhatsApp Desktop for Windows prior to 2.2450.6, and stems from a bug in how the app handles file attachments.
Scattered Spider adds new phishing kit, malware to its web

2 weeks ago | theregister.com | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

Despite several arrests last year, Scattered Spider's social engineering attacks are continuing into 2025 as the cybercrime collective targets high-profile organizations and adds another phishing kit to its arsenal along with a new version of Spectre RAT malware. Plus, in welcome news to anyone who isn't a Rick Astley fan, it appears the miscreants have given up on Rickrolling their victims, at least as of February, according to threat detection firm Silent Push.
CISA braces for more cuts, threat-intel efforts are doomed

2 weeks ago | theregister.com | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

Analysis Slashing staff at the US govt's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, aka CISA, and scrapping vital programs, isn’t exactly boosting national security, say infosec and national security officials watching America’s digital defenses unravel in real time.
Stolen SpotBugs tokens sparked the massive GitHub attack

2 weeks ago | theregister.com | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

That massive GitHub supply chain attack that spilled secrets from countless projects? It traces back to a stolen token from a SpotBugs workflow - exposed way back in November, months earlier than previously suspected.
Suspected Chinese snoops hijacking buggy Ivanti gear — again

3 weeks ago | theregister.com | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

Suspected Chinese government spies have been exploiting a newly disclosed critical bug in Ivanti VPN appliances since mid-March. This is now at least the third time in three years these snoops have been pwning these products. Plus, post-exploit, the Beijing-backed crew deployed on compromised Ivanti equipment two new malware strains along with variants of the Spawn software nasty, we're told.
Unknown scanners probing Juniper and Palo Alto products

3 weeks ago | theregister.com | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

Someone or something is probing devices made by Juniper Networks and Palo Alto Networks, and researchers think it could be evidence of espionage attempts, attempts to build a botnet, or an effort to exploit zero-day vulnerabilities. On Wednesday, SANS Institute's Johannes Ullrich said he noticed a surge in scans for the username "t128," which, when accompanied by the password "128tRoutes," is a well-known default account for Juniper's Session Smart Networking products.
For healthcare orgs, DR means making sure MDs can save lives

3 weeks ago | theregister.com | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

When IT disasters strike, it can become a matter of life and death for healthcare organizations – and criminals know it. Then there was the Change Healthcare intrusion that paralyzed claims and payment systems for weeks across hundreds of thousands of medical clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies in the US. That disaster left many Americans unable to acquire prescription medicine as usual.