Friday Wrap Up: 23 January 2025
Another week, another mountain of security incidents to digest. From Fortinet’s double-feature vulnerability showcase to AI systems getting tricked into leaking your calendar (thanks, Gemini!), the headlines remind us that “fully patched” is more of a suggestion than a guarantee.
Highlights? Tesla got pwned for half a million dollars, Microsoft blamed a “coding error” for Outlook crashes (aren’t they all?), and Curl is officially done with AI-generated bug bounty spam. Somewhere, a developer shed a single tear.
The real MVP: Mandiant basically saying “if you’re still using NTLMv1, here’s how to crack it—maybe that’ll motivate you.”
Read the full Friday Wrap Up below for categorized summaries, zero-day drama, and why your firewall configs might already be someone else’s weekend reading.
#FWU #fridaywrapup #CyberSecurity #InfoSec #ZeroDay #ThreatIntel #AIGoneWild
Major Cyberattacks & Incidents
This week saw significant breaches spanning IT giants, automotive systems, and retail sectors.
🚨 Ingram Micro disclosed that a July 2025 ransomware attack exposed data of 42,000 current and former employees, including SSNs and birth dates. (Published on 19-Jan-2026, BleepingComputer). Read More
⚠️ RansomHouse claims data breach at Apple contractor Luxshare, though no evidence has been released and links remain offline. (Published on 20-Jan-2026, Hackread). Read More
🏆 Security researchers hacked Tesla’s Infotainment System and earned $516,500 exploiting 37 zero-days on day one of Pwn2Own Automotive 2026. (Published on 21-Jan-2026, BleepingComputer). Read More
🎣 Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics faces cyber threats with phishing and spoofed websites identified as primary attack vectors. (Published on 21-Jan-2026, Infosecurity). Read More
🔑 LastPass users targeted by backup-themed phishing emails, likely timed to exploit US holiday weekend for increased success rates. (Published on 21-Jan-2026, SecurityWeek). Read More
🔥 Automated attacks targeting Fortinet FortiGate devices create rogue accounts and steal firewall configuration data, according to Arctic Wolf. (Published on 22-Jan-2026, BleepingComputer). Read More
👕 Under Armour investigating data breach affecting customers’ email addresses and other personal information, incident details still emerging. (Published on 23-Jan-2026, SecurityWeek). Read More
âš–ï¸ Russian national Ianis Antropenko pleaded guilty to leading ransomware crew in four-year crime spree affecting 50+ victims, faces 25 years. (Published on 22-Jan-2026, CyberScoop). Read More
Malware & Vulnerabilities Critical flaws and sophisticated malware dominated security disclosures this week.
🕵️ XSS vulnerability in StealC malware control panel allowed researchers to monitor threat actor operations and collect system fingerprints. (Published on 19-Jan-2026, The Hacker News). Read More
📷 TP-Link patched vulnerability in VIGI cameras allowing remote hacking, with over 2,500 internet-exposed devices discovered by researchers. (Published on 19-Jan-2026, SecurityWeek). Read More
📄 PDFSIDER malware discovered using advanced anti-VM checks and hidden techniques for long-term covert system access. (Published on 19-Jan-2026, Infosecurity). Read More
🔧 Three security vulnerabilities disclosed in Anthropic’s MCP Git server enable arbitrary file access and code execution via prompt injection. (Published on 20-Jan-2026, The Hacker News). Read More
☁️ Cloudflare fixed ACME validation bug allowing attackers to bypass WAF controls and directly access origin servers. (Published on 20-Jan-2026, The Hacker News). Read More
🤖 VoidLink Linux malware framework, built with AI assistance by single developer, reached 88,000 lines of sophisticated code. (Published on 21-Jan-2026, The Hacker News). Read More
🔐 GitLab patched high-severity 2FA bypass vulnerability affecting both community and enterprise editions of its development platform. (Published on 21-Jan-2026, BleepingComputer). Read More
⚡ Cisco released critical patches for zero-day CVE-2026-20045 actively exploited in Unified CM and Webex Calling Dedicated Instance. (Published on 22-Jan-2026, The Hacker News). Read More
🏡 RealHomes CRM plugin vulnerability affected 30,000+ WordPress sites by allowing malicious file uploads; patches now released. (Published on 22-Jan-2026, Infosecurity). Read More
🛡️ Fortinet confirms active FortiCloud SSO bypass exploitation on fully-patched FortiGate firewalls, working on complete fix. (Published on 23-Jan-2026, The Hacker News). Read More
Cybersecurity Tools & Techniques Google’s Mandiant took an unconventional approach to forcing security upgrades.
🌈 Mandiant released NTLMv1 rainbow table lookup to demonstrate protocol’s insecurity, enabling credential recovery in 12 hours on $600 hardware. (Published on 19-Jan-2026, CSO Online). Read More
Vulnerability Research & Industry Analysis Researchers showcased both offensive capabilities and defensive innovations.
💰 Pwn2Own Automotive 2026 concluded with researchers earning $1,047,000 for exploiting 76 zero-day vulnerabilities across three days. (Published on 23-Jan-2026, BleepingComputer). Read More
⚙️ Austrian researchers optimized Linux page cache attacks, reviving old exploit techniques with dramatically improved speed and efficiency. (Published on 22-Jan-2026, SecurityWeek). Read More
AI & Policy Artificial intelligence created both security challenges and operational headaches this week.
🤖 Google Gemini bypassed via natural language prompt injection, allowing attackers to create misleading Calendar events and leak private data. (Published on 20-Jan-2026, BleepingComputer). Read More
🇪🇺 EU proposes mandatory 5G cybersecurity measures targeting high-risk telecom suppliers, widely seen as aimed at Chinese vendors. (Published on 20-Jan-2026, SecurityWeek). Read More
🚫 Curl developer ending HackerOne bug bounty program after overwhelming flood of low-quality AI-generated vulnerability reports. (Published on 22-Jan-2026, BleepingComputer). Read More
DDoS, Outages & Infrastructure Microsoft acknowledged a stability issue affecting mobile users.
📱 Microsoft confirmed Outlook for iOS crashes and freezes on iPad devices due to coding error, fix in progress. (Published on 23-Jan-2026, BleepingComputer). Read More
Stay informed and secure in the tech and cybersecurity world. Have a great weekend, and remember to patch and protect your systems!
Both. AI speeds up the cycle and allows attackers to automate faster. It also makes them smarter with the ability to adapt their campaigns and use AI for automated vulnerability discovery.
Hey, great read as always. Your point about 'fully patched' systems really hits home, especially with AI adding new layers to the chaos. Do you think AI is making the security cat-and-mouse game move faster, or just making the mice smarter?