ZERO DAY

Mystery Around Venezuelan Cyberattack Deepens, with New Discovery of "Highly Destructive" Wiper

The mystery around a cyberattack that struck Venezuela's state-owned oil company in December is growing, following an announcement by researchers this week that they had discovered a "highly destructive" wiper program that appears to have been designed to target the oil company and may have been

national security Featured

The Sad Decline of Trenchant Exec Who Had Everything, Before Deciding to Steal and Sell Zero Days to Russian Buyer

Peter Joseph Williams, a former L3 Trenchant executive recently convicted of secretly selling zero-day exploits to a Russian broker, says he was suffering anxiety, burnout, years of depression, and financial difficulties when he decided to steal exploits from his US employer and sell them to the Russian buyer. Williams, who

Iranian Hacktivists Strike Medical Device Maker Stryker in "Severe" Attack that Wiped Systems

Stryker, a leading maker of medical devices, was hit early this morning with a cyberattack that has reportedly caused the company's systems to shut down globally. The company has acknowledged the attack and called it "severe" in communication with employees. A known Iranian hacktivist group named

Trenchant Exec Who Sold His Employer's Zero-Day Exploits to Russian Buyer Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison

A former Trenchant executive who pleaded guilty last year to selling his company's software hacking tools to a zero-day broker in Russia was sentenced today to seven years and three months in federal prison. The US Treasury Department simultaneously announced today that it was sanctioning the owner of

Polish Grid Systems Targeted in Cyberattack Had Little Security, Per New Report

The hackers behind a cyberattack that targeted Poland's grid infrastructure met little resistance when they hit systems at a heat-and-power plant and wind and solar farms last month. The intruders were able to easily access numerous systems at the affected facilities because the systems were configured with default

Attack Against Poland's Grid Disrupted Communication Devices at About 30 Sites

The hackers behind a cyberattack that targeted Poland's grid infrastructure in December disabled communication devices for at least 30 sites across a number of energy facilities in different parts of the country.  The hackers succeeded in disabling the communication systems, known as remote terminal units or RTUs, that

Booz Allen Tech Contractor Took IRS Job Specifically to Leak Trump's Tax Records

The US Treasury Department announced yesterday that it was canceling all contracts it holds with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton because the company failed to prevent one of its contractors from stealing and leaking tax records years ago when he was working on behalf of the firm for the Internal

Cyberattack Targeting Poland’s Energy Grid Used a Wiper

A cyberattack that targeted power plants and other energy producers in Poland at the end of December used malware known as a “wiper” that was intended to erase computers as part of an operation intended to cause a power outage and other disruption to services, says European security firm ESET,

Former Trenchant Exec Sold Stolen Code to Russian Buyer Even After Learning that Other Code He Sold Was Being "Utilized" by Different Broker in South Korea

The former executive of Trenchant who pleaded guilty this week to selling his company's software hacking tools to a zero-day broker in Russia, sold at least one of these tools to the Russian firm even after learning that a previous tool he sold the broker was being used

John Bolton Indictment Provides Interesting Details About Hack of His AOL Account and Extortion Attempt

The investigation into former national security advisor John Bolton's handling of classified material stemmed in part from an admission Bolton made to the FBI in July 2021 that hackers – believed to be from Iran – had breached his private AOL email account and tried to extort him over classified

Voting Machine Company Smartmatic Charged in Federal Indictment That Previously Only Charged Executives

The Justice Department has filed charges for the first time against a voting machine company whose systems are used in Los Angeles County, one of the largest election jurisdictions in the country. The company – UK-based Smartmatic and its parent company SGO – is charged, along with the former president of the

How the Infamous APT-1 Report Exposing China’s PLA Hackers Came to Be

This is the first in a series of pieces I’ll publish that take an in-depth look at significant events, people and cases in security and surveillance from the past. If there’s something you think would make a good topic for this series, reach out to me at countdowntozeroday@

UAE Recruiting US Personnel Displaced by DOGE to Work on AI for its Military

A UAE brigadier general received permission from the Pentagon to recruit former members of the Defense Digital Service to work on artificial intelligence for the UAE military — despite past warnings from US spy agencies and federal lawmakers that UAE could share AI technologies with China

Trump Signs Memorandum Revoking Security Clearance of Former CISA Director Chris Krebs

President Donald Trump today signed a Presidential Memorandum revoking any active security clearance currently held by Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, who famously rumbled publicly with Trump over the latter's false allegations of election fraud during and after the 2020 presidential

Did Trump Admin Order U.S. Cyber Command and CISA to Stand Down on Russia? (Story updated)

Two blockbuster stories published on Friday that appear to confirm what many Americans suspected would occur under the Trump administration – that the new regime is going to be softer on Russia than previous administrations, particularly with regard to the threat that Russia poses in cyber space. Since publication, however, one

DOGE

Court Documents Shed New Light on DOGE Access and Activity at Treasury Department

New court documents shed light on what a 25-year-old DOGE worker named Marko Elez did inside Treasury Department payment systems, including what Treasury staff did to limit his access. The documents indicate that the situation is more nuanced than previously reported.

U.S. Government Disclosed 39 Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in 2023, Per First-Ever Report

What the government didn't reveal is how many zero days it discovered in 2023 that it kept to exploit rather than disclose. Whatever that number, it likely will increase under the Trump administration, which has vowed to ramp up government hacking operations. In a first-of-its-kind report, the US

Anatomy of a Nuclear Scare

How fake radiation readings in New York and New Jersey, coupled with a mysterious drone swarm, fueled a nuclear scare and became a harbinger for things to come The ongoing mystery around a New Jersey drone swarm ignited a number of theories last month about who owned the drones and

Voting Machine Company Involved in Bribing Scandal Has Long History of Controversy

Last week the U.S. Justice Department charged three current and former executives of a U.S.-founded voting machine company with paying bribes to win lucrative election contracts in the Philippines. Roger Piñate, a Venezuelan citizen and president and co-founder of Smartmatic, a voting machine vendor founded in Boca

Kaspersky Lab Closing U.S. Division; Laying Off Workers

Russian cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky Lab, has told workers in its U.S.-based division that they are being laid off this week and that it is closing its U.S. business, according to several sources. The sudden move comes after the U.S. Commerce Department announced last month that it

New Government Ban on Kaspersky Would Prevent Company from Updating Malware Signatures in U.S.

The U.S. government has expanded its ban on Kaspersky software in a new move aimed at getting consumers and critical infrastructure to stop using the Russian company’s software products, citing national security concerns. The ban, using new powers granted to the U.S. Commerce Department, would prohibit the

Apple Chip Flaw Lets Hackers Steal Encryption Keys

A group of researchers has found a serious security vulnerability in Apple’s M-series of chips that would allow attackers to steal secret keys from Mac and iPad devices. The problem affects Apple M1, M2 and M3 chips — which have been used in Apple desktops, notebooks and tablets since late

Zero Day Moves to Ghost

Hi Everyone, This is an update and announcement to let you know that I've moved Zero Day from Substack to Ghost. The migration took a couple of months to complete, and I still have some design tweaks I need to do to the new site and some kinks

Nevada AG Asks Court to Ban Meta from Providing End-to-End Encryption to Minors

Nevada's attorney general filed a motion this week to prevent Meta from providing end-to-end encryption to users under eighteen who reside in his state. The request is intended to combat predators who target minors for sexual exploitation and other criminal purposes, the AG states, and to allow law

Newsletter

European Standards Body Votes to Release Secret Algorithms

After hit with criticism earlier this year for keeping its encryption algorithms secret, the European standards body behind the TETRA algorithms has decided to open them to the public for scrutiny.