Author: HackWatchit

The European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO) announced Wednesday that Joanna Świątkowska has been appointed as its new Secretary General, effective 1 July 2025. The decision was made during the ECSO Board of Directors meeting held on 25 June as part of The ECSO Days 2025. Dr. Świątkowska will succeed Dr. Luigi Rebuffi, ECSO’s founding Secretary General. With over 16 years of experience in cybersecurity, Dr Świątkowska brings a unique cross-sector perspective to her new role at ECSO. Her career spans leadership positions across the private sector, academia and civil society, and close collaboration with public administration nationally and internationally.  She…

Trend Micro launched Scam Radar, a new feature within the Trend Micro ScamCheck app. Scam Radar offers real-time protection by identifying scam tactics utilized by cybercriminals as they happen, alerting users early and empowering them to take action before any harm is done. A recent study by Trend Micro found that 30% of consumers reported having been a victim of an online scam and 39% of victims did not even realize they had been scammed until they lost a significant amount of money. The study was conducted in June 2025 among 6,632 consumers in 6 countries. Unlike traditional scam detection…

LapDogs: China-nexus hackers Hijack 1,000+ SOHO devices for espionage Pierluigi Paganini June 28, 2025 Over 1,000 SOHO devices were hacked in a China-linked spying campaign called LapDogs, forming a covert network to support cyber espionage. Security researchers at SecurityScorecard’s STRIKE team have uncovered a cyber espionage campaign, dubbed LapDogs, involving over 1,000 hacked SOHO (small office/home office) devices. These compromised devices formed a hidden network, called an Operational Relay Box (ORB), used to support long-term spying operations linked to China-nexus hacking groups. “SecurityScorecard’s STRIKE team has identified a previously unreported Operational Relay Box (ORB) Network—LapDogs—a novel and prolonged espionage infrastructure…

The following is a guest post and opinion of Rob Viglione, CEO of Horizen Labs.In 2009, Bitcoin was born from a radical vision: a decentralized, transparent financial system designed to empower individuals over institutions.Yet somewhere along the way, that vision was clouded by short-term profiteering, insider deals, and misaligned incentives.To reclaim its transformative potential, crypto must return to its founding principles. That means embracing fair launches and sustainability-focused structures that align participation with long-term value creation.We’ve Lost Our Way from Crypto’s Early IdealsBitcoin emerged as a reaction to centralized banking’s failures during the 2008 financial crisis. Satoshi Nakamoto’s creation was…

U.S. and international authorities have arrested a British national who allegedly was the notorious hacker “IntelBroker” and four other individuals believed to be operators of the BreachForums online marketplace for stolen data.The hacker IntelBroker, identified in an indictment as 25-year-old Kai Logan West, was arrested in France in February but the details of the case were only released this week by the by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ). In addition, French authorities this week announced they detained four people who were identified by their online handles – “ShinyHunters,” “Noct,” “Depressed,” and “Hollow.”All are accused of being involved in a range…

Gail Menius // My husband set me up with GPG and Thunderbird and it was too hard. Ethan said it was cool. Lots of people gave it good reviews. It’s open source. John thought a blog post about mailvelope would be a good idea. 1. My husband set me up with GPG and Thunderbird and it was too hard to use. When I first started working for BHIS, I told my husband that I needed a key or something for email and I also needed to encrypt my hard drive.  Here is the explanation he gave me… “Give me your…

“When are they going to get over this?” Someone asked me this recently, referring to our firefighter-paramedics and a tragic incident that shook our community to its core. That question made it clear how important it is to keep speaking up about what this work demands from the people who answer those calls. What Trauma Really Does Have you ever wondered if you’re a cold person because nothing seems to affect you? I know I have, and so have some of my closest friends. In this profession, it can feel like an occupational hazard. Over time, I realized it’s not…

Suspected high-ranking members of one of the world’s largest online marketplaces for leaked data have been arrested by French police.According to local media reports, French cybercrime cops detained four prominent members of the BreachForums site.The suspects – who are said to go by the online handles of Depressed, Hollow, Noct, and Shiny Hunters – were arrested earlier this week by Franche’s Cybercrime Brigade (BL2C).A fifth suspect, a British national who used the online handle IntelBroker, was arrested in France in February according to a report by DataBreaches.net although not made public until now.A US Department of Justice press release, has…

TL;DR: with data-intensive architectures, there often comes a pivotal point where building in-house data platforms makes more sense than buying off-the-shelf solutions. The Mystical Pivot Point Buying off-the-shelf data platforms is a popular choice for startups to accelerate their business, especially in the early stages. However, is it true that companies that have already bought never need to pivot to build, just like service providers had promised? There are reasons for both sides of the view: Image by Author Need to Pivot: The cost of buying will eventually exceed the cost of building, as the cost grows faster when you…