Author: HackWatchit

You’ve probably noticed AI popping up literally everywhere lately, haven’t you? From the little chat window when you’re trying to buy something online to some seriously complex stuff like helping doctors or playing the stock market. It’s pretty amazing, really. And what even is AI? They’re just super clever computer models, honestly, built to munch through tons of data and make decisions way faster than our human brains ever could. But here’s where things get a bit… hazy. A lot of the time, AI feels like this total “black box.” It gives us the answer – “Yep, loan approved!” or…

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | RSS Join John as he covers what he and the BHIS Systems team have been working on lately – creating a C2/Implant/Malware test bed. Testing our C2/malware solutions is important because vendors tend to over-hype their capabilities. He’ll cross reference some different malware specimens with the MITRE ATT&CK framework and cover how you can use these techniques to test your defensive solutions at both the endpoint and the network. Slides available here: https://blackhillsinformationsecurity.shootproof.com/gallery/7613320/ Find out when our next LIVE webcast is by signing up for…

What Does A Proactive NHIDR Strategy Look Like? A proactive Non-Human Identity and Data Rights (NHIDR) strategy involves anticipating potential threats and challenges instead of waiting for them to occur. It covers facets like security, data privacy, risk management, and compliance. This approach aids in the effective management of machine identities and secrets, reduces the chance of costly breaches, and keeps an organization one step ahead of cybercriminals. Why is Proactive Security Important for NHIDR? The proliferation of machine identities on cloud platforms has necessitated a proactive security outlook for Non-Human Identities. These machine identities, if not properly managed, can…

It’s well that what we eat matters — but what if when and how often we eat matters just as much? In the midst of ongoing scientific debate around the benefits of intermittent fasting, this question becomes even more intriguing. As someone passionate about machine learning and healthy living, I was inspired by a 2017 research paper[1] exploring this intersection. The authors introduced a novel distance metric called Modified Dynamic Time Warping (MDTW) — a technique designed to account not only for the nutritional content of meals but also their timing throughout the day. Motivated by their work[1], I built a full implementation of MDTW from scratch using Python. I applied…

PowerSchool paid ransom after a major data breach; now hackers are targeting teachers and schools with direct extortion threats for more payment. On December 28, 2024, education tech giant PowerSchool experienced one of the biggest data breaches in U.S. school history, compromising the personal information of over 60 million students and 9.5 million teachers. The company responded by paying an undisclosed ransom. But the fallout didn’t stop there. Months later, hackers are now contacting schools directly, targeting teachers in particular, and threatening to leak stolen data unless more payments are made. The breach began when attackers exploited PowerSource, a customer…

Members of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security reached out to Kristi Noem, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, requesting a comprehensive threat assessment concerning the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) expanding intelligence and security collaboration with the Republic of Cuba (Cuba). At least four PRC-linked signals intelligence facilities have been established in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.  “The security risks posed by these developments are particularly acute across the air, space, and maritime domains,” Mark E. Green, a Republican representative from Tennessee and House Committee on Homeland Security chairman, John Moolenaar, a Republican from…

Polish authorities arrested 4 people behind DDoS-for-hire platforms Pierluigi Paganini May 08, 2025 Polish police arrested 4 people behind DDoS-for-hire platforms used in global attacks, offering takedowns for as little as €10 via six stresser services. Polish authorities arrested 4 people linked to 6 DDoS-for-hire platforms, Cfxapi, Cfxsecurity, neostress, jetstress, quickdown, and zapcut, used to launch attacks worldwide for as little as €10. The platforms were used to carry out thousands of attacks against multiple organizations, including schools, government services, businesses, and gaming platforms, between 2022 and 2025.  “In the latest blow to the criminal market for distributed denial of…

Cisco has fixed a maximum severity flaw in IOS XE Software for Wireless LAN Controllers by a hard-coded JSON Web Token (JWT) that allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to take over devices. This token is meant to authenticate requests to a feature called ‘Out-of-Band AP Image Download.’ Since it’s hard-coded, anyone can impersonate an authorized user without credentials. The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2025-20188 and has a maximum 10.0 CVSS score, allowing threat actors to fully compromise devices according to the vendor. “An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTPS requests to the AP image download interface,” reads Cisco’s…

Joff Thyer// Mobile is everywhere these days. So many applications in our daily life are being migrated towards a cloud deployment whereby the front end technology is back to the days of thin clients. As the pendulum swings yet again, our thin client can be anything from a JavaScript browser framework to a mobile-enabled frontend such as Objective-C on Apple iOS, or Java-based on Android. Looking at malware, our friends at Apple continue to maintain the 5-guys in a cave paradigm of attempting to vet all apps that enter the iOS app store. While it is a noble effort, there…