Another zero-day patched just in time for no one to notice. Because apparently the IT culture has decided that security is something you “get around to” after your next meeting, your next budget request, and your next vendor demo with the reassuring slides. Pour yourself a drink. Something smoky. Maybe scotch. Preferably the kind you only open when you have time to reflect on how we keep doing this to ourselves.
The Top Story Theme: Attackers Are Staffing Up, You Are Not
The featured chaos in this batch is not one big elegant exploit. It is the usual blend: opportunistic malware spreading through internet-facing weaknesses, and social engineering that turns “help desk” into an accomplice. You know, the two things defenders repeatedly prove they cannot manage consistently under real-world pressure.
Botnet Gossip: C0XMO and the DD-WRT Router Flaw
Let’s start with the botnet item: C0XMO spreading via a DD-WRT router firmware flaw, with the fun twist that it can pivot across device types and CPU architectures. Translation: attackers found a seam, squeezed it, and then discovered the joy of not stopping at one door.
Routers. The modern equivalent of leaving the front door open because “the camera is probably fine.” Every time we see router-focused infections, the same corporate refrain follows: “We didn’t expect this.” Sure. You did not expect it. That is why it worked. The responsible move would be basic firmware hygiene, segmentation, and reducing exposure. The typical move is buying a compliance checkbox and calling it a day.
If you want the most realistic security roadmap, it is not “deploy AI-powered remediation.” It is “harden the edge, inventory the crap you installed, and patch what you actually run.” Otherwise, your incident response plan is just a motivational poster.
Social Engineering, the Old Favorite: Silent Ransom and Fake IT Calls
Next up is the social-engineering angle: the Silent Ransom group targeting law firms with fake IT support calls, often leading to data theft within hours of initial contact. That is the part that should make every security leader sweat through their polo shirt.
This is not “state of the art.” It is “state of the obvious.” Attackers call, impersonate authority, apply urgency, and harvest access. And somehow, despite a decade of training content that taught you how phishing works, organizations still fall for the phone version of it. Meanwhile, vendors keep selling “secure identity” and “AI assistance,” while your humans answer suspicious calls like it is 2012 and they just learned about MFA last week.
What should you do? Establish call verification procedures, enforce least privilege, and train for real behaviors, not theater. If your security program cannot survive a phone call, it is not a security program. It is a spreadsheet with feelings.
AI Everywhere, Accountability Nowhere
Also in this newsletter: an AI-powered terminal idea and funding for AI-driven vulnerability remediation. Look, AI is fine for many things. But “AI remediation” is not a substitute for patch discipline, secure configuration, and closing the human attack surface. Whiskey doesn’t fix bad policies either. It just makes the truth more tolerable.
Read the original coverage here: Intelligent Terminal – Read more.
