_________________________/\\\\\\\\\\\______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________/\\\/////////\\\____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________\//\\\______\///____________________________________________________________/\\\_____/\\\_________/\\\__/\\\_________________________________________ _______________________\////\\\_____________/\\\\\\\\______/\\\\\\\\__/\\\____/\\\__/\\/\\\\\\\__\///___/\\\\\\\\\\\___\//\\\/\\\__________________________________________ __________________________\////\\\________/\\\/////\\\___/\\\//////__\/\\\___\/\\\_\/\\\/////\\\__/\\\_\////\\\////_____\//\\\\\___________________________________________ _____________________________\////\\\____/\\\\\\\\\\\___/\\\_________\/\\\___\/\\\_\/\\\___\///__\/\\\____\/\\\__________\//\\\____________________________________________ ______________________/\\\______\//\\\__\//\\///////___\//\\\________\/\\\___\/\\\_\/\\\_________\/\\\____\/\\\_/\\___/\\_/\\\_____________________________________________ _____________________\///\\\\\\\\\\\/____\//\\\\\\\\\\__\///\\\\\\\\_\//\\\\\\\\\__\/\\\_________\/\\\____\//\\\\\___\//\\\\/______________________________________________ _______________________\///////////_______\//////////_____\////////___\/////////___\///__________\///______\/////_____\////________________________________________________ _____________________________________________/\\\\\\\\\\\__________________/\\\_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________/\\\/////////\\\_______________\/\\\_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________\//\\\______\///________________\/\\\_________________________/\\\_______________________________________/\\\_______________________________ ___________________________________________\////\\\__________/\\\____/\\\_\/\\\_________/\\\\\\\\\\__/\\\\\\\\\\\__/\\/\\\\\\\___/\\\\\\\\\_____/\\\\\\\\\\\_____/\\\\\\\\____________ ______________________________________________\////\\\______\/\\\___\/\\\_\/\\\\\\\\\__\/\\\//////__\////\\\////__\/\\\/////\\\_\////////\\\___\////\\\////____/\\\/////\\\___________ _________________________________________________\////\\\___\/\\\___\/\\\_\/\\\////\\\_\/\\\\\\\\\\____\/\\\______\/\\\___\///____/\\\\\\\\\\_____\/\\\_______/\\\\\\\\\\\____________ __________________________________________/\\\______\//\\\__\/\\\___\/\\\_\/\\\__\/\\\_\////////\\\____\/\\\_/\\__\/\\\__________/\\\/////\\\_____\/\\\_/\\__\//\\///////_____________ _________________________________________\///\\\\\\\\\\\/___\//\\\\\\\\\__\/\\\\\\\\\___/\\\\\\\\\\____\//\\\\\___\/\\\_________\//\\\\\\\\/\\____\//\\\\\____\//\\\\\\\\\\___________ ___________________________________________\///////////______\/////////___\/////////___\//////////______\/////____\///___________\////////\//______\/////______\//////////____________

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The Security Substrate

Understanding the Pro-Russia Hacktivist Threat to Critical Infrastructure: What You Need to Know

On December 9, 2025, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint alert with the FBI, NSA, Department of Energy, and EPA warning about an active campaign targeting American critical infrastructure. Four pro-Russia hacktivist groups—Cyber Army of Russia Reborn, NoName057(16), Z-Pentest, and Sector16—are exploiting

When Your Security Cameras Become Enemy Artillery Spotters: Understanding Iran's Cyber-Enabled Kinetic Warfare

Threat Level: Critical | Active Since: December 2021 | Attribution: Iranian IRGC & MOIS What You Need to Know In November 2025, Amazon's threat intelligence team revealed something that fundamentally changes how we think about cybersecurity: Iranian nation-state hackers have successfully used compromised security cameras and ship tracking systems to

Storm-0249 Changes Tactics: From Access Broker to Full Ransomware Operator

Severity: High | CVSS: N/A Let Me Explain What Happened You know how some criminals used to just pick locks and sell the keys to burglars? Well, a group we've been watching called Storm-0249 has decided to stop being the locksmith and become the burglar themselves. They'

Ransomware Gangs Are Waiting for Your Team to Take a Break

Severity: High | CVSS: N/A Let Me Explain What Happened You know how burglars sometimes watch a house to see when the family goes on vacation? Well, ransomware criminals are doing the same thing with businesses. They've figured out that the best time to break in is when

CISA Updates Critical Infrastructure Security Roadmap with CPG 2.0

Severity: Informational | CVSS: N/A Let Me Explain What Happened The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) just released an updated set of security guidelines called Cybersecurity Performance Goals 2.0, or CPG 2.0 for short. Think of this like your local fire department updating their safety checklist based

Predator Spyware Targeting Civil Society: What You Need to Know About Intellexa's Attack Campaign

Severity: Critical | CVSS: N/A Let Me Explain What Happened Here's what's going on: a human rights lawyer in Pakistan received a seemingly innocent WhatsApp message with a link from someone they didn't know. That link wasn't innocent at all—it was

React2Shell: A Maximum-Severity Vulnerability Under Active Attack

Severity: Critical | CVSS: 10.0 (CVE-2025-55182 - Root RSC Flaw) Let Me Explain What Happened Here's what's going on: a serious vulnerability has been discovered in React, the JavaScript library that powers countless websites and applications you use every day. Think of React like the foundation

Google Patches Active Chrome Exploit—What You Need to Know

Severity: High | CVSS: N/A Let Me Explain What Happened Google just released an emergency security update for Chrome because someone out there has figured out how to exploit a serious flaw in the browser—and they're actively using it right now. Think of it like discovering that

Pro-Russia Hacktivist Groups Conducting Opportunistic OT/ICS Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure

Severity: High | CVSS: N/A The Situation Pro-Russia hacktivist groups—including Cyber Army of Russia Reborn (CARR), NoName057(16), Z-Pentest, and Sector16—are conducting unsophisticated but persistent attacks against operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS) in critical infrastructure sectors. These actors exploit internet-exposed virtual network computing (VNC) devices