"One of her 4-year-old twins screamed at the sight of someone holding spray-on deodorant, mistaking it for pepper spray." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/u...

@martinmatishak.bsky.social has been doing great work on the Cyber Command/NSA beat. This is a remarkable story about "some of the most sophisticated action Cyber Command has taken against Iran in its nearly 16-year history." therecord.media/iran-nuclear...

Mind-boggling decision by the Post here. Joe will be an incredible asset to whatever newsroom is smart enough to scoop him up next.

Jiminy criminy

The Trump administration is still deciding how to structure an AI information sharing and analysis center to make it most valuable for govt & industry, a senior CISA official said at a conference today. CISA's Nick Andersen also discussed CIRCIA and more. www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ai-isac...

Senate Commerce RM Maria Cantwell says AT&T & Verizon invoked attorney-client privilege to block Mandiant from sharing its security assessments of their networks — even tho privilege doesn't apply w/ Congress. Cantwell wants chair Ted Cruz to hold a hearing. www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...

National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross today asked the tech industry to help the government streamline cyber regulations, improve info sharing, and otherwise implement Trump's cyber strategy (no release date yet). My report from today's ITI event: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/sean-ca...

“If this goes unchallenged, we are all complicit or vulnerable in allowing the Government to abuse its powers.” www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

"'If somebody said it's business as usual [with federal election security support], he's full of s—t and lying,' [Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes] said. 'That's not true.'" cyberscoop.com/cisa-electio...

"It is so anomalous for the Justice Department to seek a search warrant for reporting material in the first place that there is no established standard for what such applications should address." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...

"Rather than going to senior department or F.B.I. officials, Mr. Trump spoke directly to the frontline agents doing the granular work of a politically sensitive investigation in which he has a large personal stake." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...

Interestingly, this story in which former acting CISA director Bridget Bean talks about the agency's need for "good leadership" subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026... doesn't mention that CISA employees loathed her and felt abandoned by her. My reporting on that: www.wired.com/story/inside...

"As she was on the ground, the agents dumped out her purse, found her U.S. passport and left the scene." www.salemreporter.com/2026/01/31/u...

"A cloak-and-dagger mystery reminiscent of a John le Carré novel is swirling around the complaint, which is said to be locked in a safe. Disclosure of its contents could cause 'grave damage to national security,' one official said." www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

If the U.S. and China go to war, some of Beijing's first cyberattacks will target manufacturing firms critical to national & economy security. Will manufacturers — highly vulnerable & heavily targeted — be ready? My new story w/ my colleague David Jones: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/manufac...

Update here: Noem, Bondi, and Gabbard all backed out of speaking at the National Association of Secretaries of State's winter meeting today, barely 24 hours after NASS said they would attend.

God this sucks. She was sublime. RIP.

As manufacturers face endless cyberattacks (more than any other industry, per many reports), the sector is banding together to harden its defenses. My colleague David Jones and I looked at why the sector is so vulnerable and what it's doing to fight back: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/manufac...

@esetresearch.bsky.social has published a new technical analysis of the wiper malware that it discovered in a recent cyberattack on a Polish energy company: www.welivesecurity.com/en/eset-rese... ESET has tentatively attributed the malware to Russia's "Sandworm" group (part of the GRU).

DNI Tulsi Gabbard "has begun studying information about voting machines, analyzed data from swing states and pursued theories that President Trump has promoted to claim the 2020 election was unfairly taken from him..." www.wsj.com/politics/ele...

I'm at the National Association of Secretaries of State's winter meeting, where the Elections Committee mtg is starting. DHS election integrity official Heather Honey was supposed to attend but canceled this AM. DOJ's Harmeet Dhillon also canceled. We'll see if two listed WH officials show up.

"The distinguishing irony of Ms. Watso’s detention is that she ... and other tribal members are alone among the many players in the immigration operation ... in having a legitimate claim to possessing no immigrant blood." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/u...

Do they have Wi-Fi?

"The move harnesses the investigative power of the Justice Department and the F.B.I. behind baseless claims by Mr. Trump and his supporters that the 2020 election was stolen from him." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/u...

With Trump admin scrapping requirement for software vendors to attest to their products' security, agencies must now decide how (or even whether) to require those assurances. My new story looks at what that could mean for software security in govt & beyond: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/white-h...

Cyber Command knocked some Russian influence operations offline during the 2024 election. But now those kinds of ops may be over as Trump guts offices and initiatives dedicated to election security. Good @snlyngaas.bsky.social story: www.cnn.com/2026/01/28/p...

A person familiar with the matter confirms this story — Madhu Gottumukkala uploaded sensitive documents to public ChatGPT after demanding special permission to use the tool — and says CISA's description of when and how Gottumukkala last used ChatGPT is "just blatantly wrong."

CISA's acting director reportedly uploaded "sensitive contracting documents" to the public version of ChatGPT in violation of government rules, triggering a review. www.politico.com/news/2026/01... The misstep, and the leak about it, are the latest signs that Madhu Gottumukkala is struggling.

"The F.B.I. does not appear to be investigating the sequence of events, even as federal officials have rushed to portray the shootings as justified. The local police are the ones trying to make real inquiries." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/u...

"It’s kind of like living in your own world and living in a second world at the same time...We drove through a snowstorm to get to our family’s house and celebrate dad’s birthday, and then we’re back to the television, watching America fall apart." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...

"[C]limate change encourages extreme weather events by altering the background conditions in the atmosphere. ... As the atmosphere warms, it becomes capable of holding more moisture, and that moisture can then fall dramatically in the form of rain, sleet or snow." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/w...

I missed this on Friday, but OMB has rescinded Biden-era memos requiring agencies to get software security attestations from their suppliers: www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

I know you've all been waiting for snow content of Poppy, so here she is playing with her golden retriever friend Millie. May these photos heal your soul. ♥️

"Still, Dr. Pesta and his fellow race researchers have reason for optimism. The pendulum of public policy, Dr. Pesta said, 'is swinging in terms of acceptance of even asking the questions.'" www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...

"What I saw, as federal agents stormed the city and residents banded together to protect themselves, was a dark, dystopian future becoming reality." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/m...

"[A] Trump administration official confirmed Friday that the White House opposed mandating [ICE] body-cameras as one of 'many unserious poison pill demands' from Democrats in the budget bill." www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

"She spoke to him calmly, telling him he was safe and that help was coming." www.startribune.com/detained-by-...

Color me skeptical that saving taxpayer money is the real reason for this change that CISA only made after RSAC appointed a Biden official as its CEO.

Pursuant to a Trump EO directive (carried over from a Biden EO), CISA has published lists of hardware and software categories in which products (1) currently use or (2) should use quantum-resistant encryption algorithms. www.cisa.gov/resources-to...

Yikes.

As new vulnerabilities flood NIST faster than it can analyze them, the agency is developing a triage process — and planning to cede the responsibility in the long term. My report from NIST's Thursday briefing to an advisory board about a critical project: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/nist-cv...

Good @derekbjohnson.bsky.social story about how NIST is entering 2026 with a shrinking budget and more cybersecurity responsibilities than ever: cyberscoop.com/encryption-n...

"His knowledge of Jewish history makes Trump’s renewed talk of annexing Greenland feel like a familiar pattern, one he knows how to read." forward.com/news/795826/...

"Her skin appears to have been darkened." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...

The House Homeland Security Committee is holding an oversight hearing with three DHS component leaders, including acting CISA chief Madhu Gottumukkala. It's his first time testifying before Congress in his role. homeland.house.gov/hearing/over...

It's notable that the GOP spending bill requires (and earmarks funding for) CISA to restart its election security program, resume funding the EI-ISAC, and refill critical roles in cyber defense, partnerships, and local support. docs.house.gov/billsthiswee... docs.house.gov/billsthiswee...

Interesting tidbit in the federal funding bill: A sliver of CISA's budget will come from zeroing out the $100 million Cyber Response and Recovery Fund created by Biden's infrastructure law. CRRF was meant to help US prepare for widespread digital disaster. docs.house.gov/billsthiswee...

"It is believed to be the first time in a century that the Canadian Armed Forces have created a model of an American assault on this country, a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and a partner with the U.S. in continental air defence." www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

The latest example of CISA getting caught up in apparent Trump administration favoritism: Agency employees are being pressured to vouch for the importance of setting up a SCIF at a university in South Dakota aligned w/ DHS Sec (and former SD governor) Kristi Noem. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...