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CybersecurityHQ issues and preserves dated, bounded external cyber judgment.
Not news reaction. Not advisory opinion. Not consensus analysis.
The Pressure
Authority granted through trusted roles, channels, and integrations is executing without inline verification. Revocation remains external to the execution path.
Observed Evidence
Ivanti EPMM: Unauthenticated RCE exploited as zero-day. Attackers deployed persistence before vendor disclosure. Permanent fix deferred to Q1 2026. Interim patch does not survive version upgrades.
Sygnia IR manager: Operated as BlackCat affiliate while holding incident response role. Access to victim environments was structurally identical to legitimate engagement until federal prosecution.
Chrome Web Store extensions: Exfiltrated AI chatbot conversations from 900,000 users for months. Distribution channel provided execution authority. Detection occurred post-compromise.
Assumption Under Stress
Trusted channels verify behavior before granting execution authority.
Unresolved Tension
The mechanisms that grant authority do not observe what that authority does. Detection depends on outcomes, not execution state.
AUDIENCE_SCOPE: CISO_ONLY
VERDICT_MODE: INSTITUTIONAL_FRAME
PRESSURE_CLASS: CONVERGENT
Coverage spans ongoing CISO intelligence and versioned decision artifacts.