Today’s Cyber Briefing Note
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Cyber Briefing Notes surface time-bound signals and pressure conditions relevant to executive cyber decision-making. These notes inform, but do not themselves constitute, published judgments.
Signal 1 — Cisco AsyncOS unauthenticated root command execution (CVE-2025-20393) Source: Cisco Talos, CISA Patched: January 16, 2026 KEV Added: December 17, 2025 Exploitation: Active (China-linked UAT-9686 since November 2025) Maximum severity flaw in email security appliances exploited for two months prior to patch availability. AquaShell backdoor and tunneling tools deployed for persistent access.
Signal 2 — Reprompt attack enables single-click data exfiltration from Microsoft Copilot Source: Varonis Threat Labs Patched: January 13, 2026 Disclosure: January 14, 2026 Exploitation: Demonstrated (no in-the-wild confirmation) URL parameter injection bypasses safeguards and enables server-driven exfiltration chain invisible to client-side monitoring. Enterprise M365 Copilot not affected.
Signal 3 — Lumen disrupts AISURU/Kimwolf botnet infrastructure Source: Lumen Black Lotus Labs, XLab, Synthient Disruption Period: October 2025 – January 2026 Scale: 550+ C2 servers null-routed, 800,000+ bots at peak Exploitation: Active (DDoS-for-hire, residential proxy abuse) Residential proxy network exploitation enables local network propagation from single compromised Android TV device.
Signal 4 — Coordinated Chrome extensions hijack enterprise HR/ERP sessions Source: Socket Security Detected: January 2026 Platforms Targeted: Workday, NetSuite, SuccessFactors Exploitation: Active Session token exfiltration every 60 seconds. DOM manipulation blocks 44 Workday administrative pages. Bidirectional cookie injection enables MFA bypass.
AUDIENCE_SCOPE: CISO_ONLY VERDICT_MODE: INSTITUTIONAL_FRAME PRESSURE_CLASS: COMPOSITE
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