CyberSecurity Knuggets
Jan 17, 2026
Here are summaries and key points for 6 emails based on the provided text content:
Email 1: Risky Bulletin – DRAM price hikes impacting firewalls
Date: Jan 15, 2026
Source: risky-biz@ghost.ioD
Summary:
– DRAM prices have surged 60-70% last year with forecasts of another 50% increase in Q1 2026, driven largely by AI companies buying up supply for data centers.
– Firewall makers like Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point face higher component costs, likely leading to higher prices, thinner profit margins, and potential weaker sales.
– This affects the cybersecurity market broadly, joining PCs and smartphone vendors who also struggle from supply constraints and price hikes.
– Micron has exited consumer DRAM to focus strictly on AI/data center markets; SK Hynix considering similar moves.
– Industry implications include increased costs for enterprise cybersecurity defenses and stock market headwinds for firewall companies.
– Additional news: China bans US/Israeli cybersecurity products, Microsoft takes down RedVDS RDP marketplace, Trump re-nominates Sean Plankey for CISA Director.
– Podcasts on historical hacking and recent cyber events linked.
Email 2: Hacker Newsletter #778
Date: Jan 16, 2026
Source: kale@hackernewsletter.comD
Summary:
– Curated Hacker News highlights including AI automation for incident response, anti-AI hype discussions, development tools, and tech culture pieces.
– Topics: self-hosting with CLI agents, markdown’s dominance, memory games teaching piano, SolidWorks AI applications, browser automation, and large Reddit data offline self-hosting.
– Resources include links to books, design insights, learning articles, senior engineer lessons, software engineering outlooks, and games.
– Classifieds and promotions for developer cloud credits and software tools.
– Engages community with Ask HN topics and shows supporting tech creativity.
Email 3: Metacurity – Trump officials may boycott RSAC due to Jen Easterly’s CEO position
Date: Jan 16, 2026
Source: info@metacurity.comD
Summary:
– Top Trump administration cyber officials might boycott the RSA Conference (RSAC) 2026 in protest of Jen Easterly’s appointment as CEO due to her Biden-era background and controversies involving alleged ties to disinformation and opposition figures.
– Grubhub confirms a data breach involving extortion by ShinyHunters; sensitive financial data not affected.
– Chinese hacking group “UAT-8837” breached multiple critical infrastructure orgs in North America using zero-days and compromised credentials.
– Critical WordPress plugin Modular DS has a maximum severity authentication bypass exploited actively; patch issued quickly after disclosure.
– AMD CPU flaw “StackWarp” affects virtualization environments allowing malicious hyperthread access to secure VM info; patches released.
– Google Gemini AI’s “Personal Intelligence” integrates Gmail, Photos, Search, YouTube for smart answers.
– AWS Console vulnerability “CodeBreach” could have led to massive supply chain attack; mitigations implemented.
– Eurail/Interrail data breach notification; sensitive customer info potentially exposed.
– South Korea Coupang faces business suspension threats for massive data breach impacting 33.7 million users; company issues limited-use compensation vouchers.
– Anchorage Police Department data incident involving third-party provider; no confirmed system compromise but monitoring ongoing.
– DeadLock ransomware abuses Polygon blockchain smart contracts for proxy rotation to evade takedown.
– Gootloader malware increasingly evades detection using complex ZIP archive concatenation.
– Cisco patches critical AsyncOS zero-day exploited since Nov 2025.
– Senate confirmation hearing for Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd discusses efficiency of dual-hat cyber leadership role (Cyber Command and NSA).
– Ransomware attacks worldwide increased 32% in 2025; manufacturing hardest hit.
– Iran attempts satellite jamming and GPS spoofing against Starlink internet, impacting connectivity.
Email 4: SecurityWeek Webinar Invitation – Email Security for Mid-Sized Organizations
Date: Invite for Jan 22, 2026 webinar
Source: news@securityweek.comD
Summary:
– Webinar addresses evolving email security needs for mid-sized organizations facing AI-driven phishing, vendor fraud, and sophisticated multi-channel impersonation.
– Legacy email security tools are inadequate against modern attacks blending into communication patterns.
– Webinar focus: current maturity of email security, emerging threats in 2026, and AI-driven detection models essential for defense.
– Registration encouraged for live session, along with additional upcoming events on cloud security, ransomware resilience, and AI agent security.
Email 5: N2K CyberWire – Maduro capture demonstrated US cyber capabilities
Date: Jan 16, 2026
Source: editor@newsletter.n2k.comD
Summary:
– The US conducted cyber operations during the January 3 capture of Venezuelan President Maduro, causing precise power outages and radar disruptions in Caracas.
– The operation was carefully calibrated to limit collateral damage; hospitals had backup power and no fatalities reported. This is one of the most public US offensive cyber operations in recent years.
– Chinese threat actor Mustang Panda uses Venezuela-themed spearphishing lures against US gov. entities, delivering LOTUSLITE backdoor malware with espionage aims.
– Dutch police arrested a suspect running AVCheck malware-scanning site, which helped malware authors evade antivirus detection; site was shut down May 2025.
– Promotion for RSA Conference 2026 and sponsored content included.
– Selected reading includes Cisco zero-day patch, botnet exploits, and malvertising reports.
Email 6: SecurityWeek – Cisco patches Chinese hacker exploited vulnerability
Date: Jan 16, 2026
Source: news@securityweek.comD
Summary:
– Cisco has patched a critical vulnerability exploited by Chinese hackers targeting Cisco AsyncOS, affecting Secure Email Gateway and Secure Email/Web Manager appliances.
– Jen Easterly appointed CEO of RSAC 2026 (RSA Conference).
– Highlighted expert insights from security leaders on 2026 priorities, including supply chain security and AI behavioral governance.
– Recap of recent security news: Microsoft Copilot “reprompt” attack, Eurail data breach, flawed AI agents producing vulnerable code, new StackWarp attack on AMD CPUs, and vulnerabilities in multiple infrastructure products.
– Register for upcoming Ransomware Resilience & Recovery Summit event.
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Stay Well!
