A Register "On Call" column recounts a reader's account (pseudonym Daniel) of joining a UK school in 2020, after the school's network had been taken offline for three months by ransomware. Recovery relied on external contractors and a months-old backup. His audit found a password policy of six letters with no complexity or expiry, and use…
Huntress explains the compliance obligations of Texas law HB 3834, passed in June 2019. It requires state agency and local government employees, and state contractors, to complete a Department of Information Resources (DIR)-certified cybersecurity awareness training every year. Since September 1, 2025, HB 3512 adds a second annual require…
This sponsored piece from Zscaler argues that UK public services have reached a cyber resilience inflection point. It cites a new Prime Minister, the scrapping of DSIT, and the redistribution of its cyber and digital functions across Whitehall. Three forces are named: policy raising expectations for boards, organizational reform (Local Go…
Trend Micro published its 2024 Cyber Risk Report, based on telemetry from the Trend Vision One Cyber Risk Exposure Management platform. The average Cyber Risk Index (CRI) was 38.4 for the year, down 6.2 points from 2023, and stayed in the Medium Risk zone (31-69). Trend attributes the decline to organizations adopting proactive, risk-base…
An actor using the handle WolfBlxck posted an updated recruitment announcement for Beelzebub ransomware. The actor claims the malware was rewritten from scratch with a stronger focus on disabling endpoint defenses, suppressing telemetry and hindering incident response. The post seeks three more members: a developer, a penetration tester a…
Multiple ransomware groups, including Qilin and INC, are exploiting CVE-2026-0257, an authentication bypass in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS GlobalProtect portals and gateways. Unit 42 has been investigating intrusions since early June across many sectors, including finance, healthcare and manufacturing. The flaw was patched on May 13 and ini…
This SentinelOne weekly roundup (Week 39, 2026) covers one law enforcement success and two active threat campaigns. A US court sentenced Armenian national Karen Serobovich Vardanyan ("Maneeken"/"Karl Lagerfeld"), an initial access specialist for Ryuk ransomware, to two years in prison and over $1.2 million in restitution. SentinelLABS ide…