International Cyber Digest

Independent reporting on cybersecurity, tech, AI & digital policy.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

The bug is like a joke.

On Alpine Linux, type 257 to 1024 characters of anything and you get root. 💀

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

‼️ BREAKING: OpenSSH has rushed out a fix for a critical flaw that lets attackers log into some Linux servers without the right password.

The team learned of the bug a day earlier. OpenSSH's Damien Miller says long embargoes now mostly help attackers, because AI agents rediscover bugs, sometimes within hours.

It hits Linux systems on the musl C library with PAM off, such as Alpine Linux. Miller told admins to disable password logins or SSH itself "IMMEDIATELY".

Version 10.6p2 works around it. Systems on glibc or PAM are not affected, and Miller says the root cause sits outside OpenSSH.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

The researchers say their access reached customer directories in several regions, but they tested the full chain only on US accounts and vehicles.

Source: https://t.co/wcBMNvecEe
Researcher:
@samwcyo

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[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

‼️ Two carmakers left a hidden admin console on their login servers with its factory-default password. Researchers used it to take over any owner's account, then locate, unlock and start their car.

Both carmakers, who asked not to be named, fixed it about two hours after the report.

Sam Curry and Shubham Shah slipped past the firewall with a URL trick and ran their own code on the carmakers' ForgeRock login servers.

They could swap any customer's email and password and sign in as them, while a hijacked push token kept alerts off the owner's phone. They proved it on their own test car.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

His partner was going through a medically difficult pregnancy at the time, but the Court-Martial Appeal Court ruled that family hardship did not outweigh the security breach.

Source: https://t.co/apYuHaHgDR

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‼️ A British soldier kept his SIM card in on a NATO deployment near Russia, against orders. Someone hacked his phone, took his nude photos and blackmailed him.

He paid £100. When a second demand came, the corporal reported it himself, then was court-martialled for disobeying the order.

He got 10 months' military detention and was demoted to lance corporal. Troops in Tapa, Estonia, had been told again and again to pull their SIMs.

Appeal judges upheld the sentence. No proof of hostile spies was needed, they said, as an unknown attacker getting into his phone showed the risk was real.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

Hours after Bruesewitz's post, Loomer announced a one- to two-month break from her podcast, citing her upcoming wedding.

Source: https://t.co/Tzoh5tebec

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‼️ Private clients paid Trump ally Laura Loomer to post political messages to her 1.9M followers on X, without any disclosure.

Two sources say they paid her directly, at $3,000 to $5,000 a post. Bank records the Post saw show $60,000+ sent to her or her company since May 2025.

Trump campaign adviser Alex Bruesewitz admitted it on X: "I've paid you for tweets before."

Activist Jacob Engels posted texts he says show him paying her $500 on Apple Cash, hours after he pitched a "project exposing a MAHA grifter".

Loomer denies charging $5,000 a tweet.

X's own rules require paid partnership posts to carry disclosure.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

The job has been empty since October, when Katie Zacharia left after five days as press secretary.

Source: https://t.co/ckLQHN7gxM

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‼️ Trump offered the White House press secretary job to UFC boss Dana White, "a violent Fighter and Warrior." Turns out he grabbed the wrong Dana White.

Allegedly, someone recommended Dana W. White, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson in Trump's first term, and Trump thought they meant his UFC friend.

His Truth Social post on Saturday asked White to bring fighters such as Khabib Nurmagomedov as assistants to "defend us against the Lunatic Left."

CNN reports the UFC boss turned it down. A White House aide told CNN Trump was joking.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

Source: https://t.co/2Oj5np29K4

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‼️BREAKING: A ransomware gang claims it stole 16,000+ Maersk drivers' passwords, stored in plain text.

It says the ~100GB haul from Maersk's LF Logistics arm also holds 16,123 staff logins, 33 of them super-admins. It wants $5M in bitcoin.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

On 3 November, MPs and peers asked retailers to pull AI toys from sale until independent tests prove they are safe.

Source: https://t.co/p5B3myqdCu

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‼️ An AI teddy sold as "perfect" for three-year-olds told a BBC reporter "I'm really sorry you're feeling this way. I can't help with killing you."

She had asked it what "sexual" means. It seems to have misheard.

The founder of a British AI toy company told the BBC he has seen lots of products that are "completely unsafe, completely unregulated."

This is not the first time AI toys are doing unsafe stuff, last year Kumma bear, a toy made by Chinese company FoloToy, told a child how to light a match and had a sexually explicit conversation.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

Source: https://t.co/GGIQN4GOS0

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‼️ European spy agencies are investigating whether Russia was behind the bomb threats that hit at least 35 flights this week.

Some officials see Russia as the most likely source, the Financial Times reports. Their working theory is pro-Kremlin activists or hacker groups.

The threats came by email from anonymous accounts, many in the recipients' own languages. One was traced to Colombia.

An email to Irish media claimed its authors had recruited people in Europe and broken into devices, servers and accounts.

No bomb has been found. Officials warn the case may never be fully attributed.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

Source: https://t.co/AeoYypixwE

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‼️ BREAKING: Pro-Russian hackers have published the private phone numbers, emails and home addresses of Italy's foreign minister and 17 other "enemies of Russia". Now they are offering money for more.

NoName057(16) lists them on a dark-web "tribunal" page, from Rome's chief prosecutor to the heads of Eurojust and Germany's federal criminal police.

It also wants their passwords and details about their families, Italian media report.

Foreign minister Antonio Tajani confirmed the leak and says he will not be intimidated. Rome prosecutors are investigating.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

Source: https://t.co/46vxhuOidc

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‼️ UPDATE: Attackers have fired more than 240,000 exploit attempts at a WordPress flaw that opens while a site is updating, including the update that fixes it.

During an update, WordPress briefly leaves installer files in a predictable folder anyone can reach. Hit it in that window and an attacker with no password can create an admin account and plant code.

Every version from 4.7 to 7.1.3 is exposed.

The fix is 7.1.4. Wordfence advises blocking web access to the upgrade folder before installing it.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

@KaceeRAllen @grok is it against X's ToS to make paid posts without disclosing them? And what does US law say about this?

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

No model completed the full attack chain on either network, Vals says.

Source: https://t.co/fBuAjjZgWl

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‼️ DeepSeek's free, downloadable AI model is almost as good at hacking as the model OpenAI keeps locked behind a restricted cyber programme.

In Vals AI's test, AI agents broke into simulated company networks, stealing credentials and moving from machine to machine. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash hit 73% of the objectives, OpenAI's GPT-6 Sol 81%.

A DeepSeek run cost under $3. A Sol run cost about $22.

On one of the two networks, DeepSeek came out ahead.

Its weights are public, so anyone can run it with no safeguards.