CyberWire Daily

Show Notes:

Cybersecurity has continued to grow and mature as a field over the past decade which has given rise to numerous degree pathways across dozens of collegiate institutions; however, the value of these degrees has continued to be a topic of debate. In this episode of CISO Perspectives, host ⁠Kim Jones⁠ sits down with Dr. Lara Ferry, the Vice President of Research at Arizona State University, to explore higher education's role in cyber. Throughout the conversation, Lara and Kim will discuss the challenges facing degree programs, the disconnects between organizations and institutions, and how the gap can be better addressed.

Want more CISO Perspectives?:

Check out a companion ⁠⁠blog post⁠⁠ by our very own Ethan Cook, where he breaks down key insights, shares behind-the-scenes context, and highlights research that complements this episode. It’s the perfect follow-up if you’re curious about the cyber talent crunch and how we can reshape the ecosystem for future professionals.
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Israel claims a strike on Iran’s cyber warfare headquarters. The Trump administration releases a new national cyber strategy.  DHS shakes up its IT and cybersecurity leadership. Velvet Tempest uses ClickFix to drop loaders and RATs. Researchers uncover a Linux cryptocurrency clipboard hijacker. The DOJ brings a Ghanaian romance scammer to justice. Online advertising enables government tracking. Monday business breakdown. Our guest is Jon France, CISO from ISC2, sharing some insights and findings from their 2025 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study. An Apple II app gets audited by AI. 

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CyberWire Guest

Joining us today is Jon France, CISO from ISC2, sharing some insights and findings from their 2025 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study. For further detail, you can also check out ISC2’s just released Women in Cybersecurity report.

Selected Reading

Iranian cyber warfare HQ allegedly hit by Israel | brief (SC Media)

Iran internet blackout reaches 6th day as rights groups call for end to digital shutdown (The Record)

The long-awaited Trump cyber strategy has arrived (CyberScoop)

DHS CISO, deputy CISO exit amid reported IT leadership overhaul (FedScoop)

Termite ransomware breaches linked to ClickFix CastleRAT attacks (Bleeping Computer)

ClipXDaemon: Autonomous X11 Clipboard Hijacker Delivered Via Bincrypter-Based Loader (Cyble)

Ghanaian Pleads Guilty to Role in $100m Romance Scam (Infosecurity Magazine)

The Government Uses Targeted Advertising to Track Your Location. Here's What We Need to Do. (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Zurich Insurance Group intends to acquire UK cyber insurer Beazley for approximately $11 billion. (N2K Pro Business Briefing)

Microsoft Azure CTO says Claude found vulns in Apple II code (The Register)

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In this special Reporter’s Notebook, Maria Varmazis⁠⁠⁠⁠, host here at N2K CyberWire, takes listeners behind the scenes of our three-part series on Cyber Coalition 2025 in Tallinn, Estonia. After exploring real-time incident response, cross-border coordination, and the broader stakes of collective cyber defense, this episode offers a more personal, behind-the-scenes look at how the reporting came together.

Hosted by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence, the exercise brought together allied military, government, and industry teams inside NATO’s secure cyber range. Here, Maria reflects on moments that didn’t make the final cut — the atmosphere inside the facilities, the pace of covering a live exercise, and the small, human details that added texture to the larger story.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to listen to all three episodes of the series to hear the full story from the ground at Cyber Coalition 2025.

Episode one can be found ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

Episode two can be found ⁠here⁠. 

Episode three can be found ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. 
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Please enjoy this encore of Career Notes.

Anna Belak, Director of Thought Leadership at Sysdig, shares her story from physics to cyber. Anna explains how she went into college with the thinking of getting a physics degree and then for her PhD decided to switch to material science and engineering. Both were not something she enjoyed and ultimately decided to go into cyber. She shares some advice on how you should never limit yourself to your degree, as well as always learning new skills and honing in on skills you already have. She say's by doing these things it will make you into a unicorn, meaning if you are good at one thing and teach yourself to be good at something else, you will become that much more valuable. Anna hopes she makes an impact with the people she works with, she hopes they will want to work with her even long after she leaves a company. We thank Anna for sharing her story.
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This week we are joined by Marcelle Lee, cybersecurity consultant and researcher, discussing "CTI tradecraft: Investigating a mobile scareware campaign." She details how a routine click on a Google News story led to a mobile scareware pop-up—and a deeper investigation into a broader campaign.

Using free tools like Censys, URLScan, VirusTotal, and CyberChef, she pivoted from two domains to uncover more than 100 related domains, shared infrastructure, and links to questionable antivirus apps in the Google Play Store. The findings are mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, showing how freely available resources can power meaningful, actionable threat intelligence.

The research can be found here:


⁠CTI tradecraft: Investigating a mobile scareware campaign

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