THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 12/3/25

THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 12/3/25

by | Dec 3, 2025 | THE DAILY PRAETORIAN

Image Credit: iStock / Olena Bartienieva | Imagery Disclaimer

Securing Tomorrow: Your Daily Dose of Cyber Safety, Tech Trends, National Security News, and Inspiration.

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.”

 

-Frederick Douglass

I. National Security: Key developments in national security, particularly cyber and technological warfare.

  • U.S. Deploys Shahed-136 Clones To Middle East As A Warning To Iran

  • The U.S. has activated Task Force Scorpion Strike, a special‑operations unit equipped with Low‑Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones—reverse‑engineered from Iran’s Shahed‑136 and built by Arizona firm SpektreWorks—for the first time in the Middle East, fielding about two dozen troops and a swarm‑capable, $35 k platform that can be launched from catapults, rockets or vehicles and operate beyond line of sight; officials say the unit is intended to “flip the script” on Iran and its proxies, providing a scalable, low‑cost strike capability that could also be used against Houthi forces and other regional threats while paving the way for broader U.S. adoption of similar kamikaze drones. Click here to read more.

     

II. Tech Trends: Updates on emerging technology trends shaping the digital world.

  • It works on its own: Amazon introduces three new AI agents

  • Amazon Web Services unveiled three “frontier” AI agents at re:Invent 2025—Kiro AI, which can autonomously handle development tasks for days by interpreting high‑level goals, generating code across multiple repositories, testing and creating pull requests while learning from existing code; an AWS Security Agent that spots vulnerabilities during coding and suggests fixes; and a DevOps Agent that resolves and prevents incidents to improve system reliability and performance, all designed to operate with minimal human supervision. Click here to read more.

     

III. Inspiration: Articles centered on faith that offer guidance and reflection.

  • ‘Nothing but a Miracle’: Cops Save Unconscious Man From Burning Car With Seconds to Spare

  • South Brunswick, New Jersey police officers Yash Shroff and Thomas Sites rescued an unconscious 26‑year‑old driver, Safwan Islam, from a burning car after his vehicle crashed into a tree and ignited; the officers smashed a window, pulled him out just before the car erupted in flames, and his father called the rescue “nothing but a miracle,” with Islam expected to make a full recovery. Click here to read more.
     

IV. Cyber Safety: A focus on the latest cybersecurity threats, tips, or breaches impacting individuals and organizations.

  • Chrome, Edge Extensions Caught Tracking Users, Creating Backdoors

  • A threat actor known as ShadyPanda has been publishing malicious Chrome and Edge extensions for about seven years, amassing over 4 million downloads and using the add‑ons to inject affiliate‑tracking code on sites like eBay, Amazon and Booking.com, log browsing data via Google Analytics, read cookies and capture search‑box inputs, and then exfiltrate the information to remote servers; after initially posing as harmless tools, the extensions were later updated to act as a remote‑code‑execution backdoor that checks an external server hourly and can run arbitrary JavaScript, allowing the attacker to pivot to ransomware, credential theft or espionage, prompting Google and Microsoft to remove the offending extensions from their stores. Click here to read more.

V. Shield of Israel: Coverage from The Jerusalem Post, providing an Israeli perspective on ongoing conflicts.

  • Israel, Lebanon hold first senior-level talks in decades as US pushes engagement

  • Israeli Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Division Uri Reznik met in Nakura, Lebanon, with U.S. Lebanon‑affairs adviser Morgan Ortagus and Lebanese civilian envoy Simon Karam—an anti‑Hezbollah lawyer and former ambassador—to hold the first senior‑level Israel‑Lebanon talks since the 1991 Madrid conference; the parties said the meeting was positive, discussed ideas for future economic cooperation, and pledged to reconvene, while Israel reiterated that Hezbollah’s disarmament remains a prerequisite for any further progress. Click here to read more.

     
Tags: Information Security, Information Technology, News, Security
THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 12/2/25

THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 12/2/25

by | Dec 2, 2025 | THE DAILY PRAETORIAN

Image Credit: iStock / SweetBunFactory | Imagery Disclaimer

Securing Tomorrow: Your Daily Dose of Cyber Safety, Tech Trends, National Security News, and Inspiration.

“Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy.”

 

-Benjamin Franklin

I. National Security: Key developments in national security, particularly cyber and technological warfare.

  • How America can outproduce and outlast adversaries

  • The ReForge Commission, co‑chaired by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks and former House Armed Services Committee chair Mac Thornberry, aims to revitalize America’s industrial base—spanning critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, energy, logistics, software and the broader innovation ecosystem—so the nation can outproduce and outlast adversaries, with a three‑pillar approach that (1) assesses current security‑driven demand, (2) crafts a resilient, software‑driven supply‑chain and manufacturing strategy, and (3) aligns incentives to draw innovation, capital and talent into defense before crises force rapid mobilization. Click here to read more.

     

II. Tech Trends: Updates on emerging technology trends shaping the digital world.

  • OpenAI CEO declares “code red” as Gemini gains 200 million users in 3 months

  • OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman issued a “code red” warning as Google’s Gemini app surged to 650 million monthly active users—up from 450 million in July—closing the gap with ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users, while OpenAI grapples with a $1 trillion cloud‑computing bill and no profit‑generating ad revenue, prompting the company to seek fresh capital, stake investments and a partnership with Accenture even as it prepares to launch a new reasoning model that could outpace Gemini 3. Click here to read more.

     

III. Inspiration: Articles centered on faith that offer guidance and reflection.

  • US military becoming more religious as nation remains more secular: study

  • A new analysis of Cooperative Election Study data shows that weekly church attendance among active‑duty U.S. service members rose from 21 % in 2010‑12 to 28 % in 2022‑24, with 45 % attending at least once a week, while civilian attendance stayed flat at 16 % and overall importance of religion among military personnel increased to 44 % versus a decline to 30 % among civilians; researchers attribute the gap to selection effects, noting that the all‑volunteer force draws heavily from Southern states that tend to be more religiously active. Click here to read more.
     

IV. Cyber Safety: A focus on the latest cybersecurity threats, tips, or breaches impacting individuals and organizations.

  • Cricket Wireless nationwide retailer, MobilelinkUSA, claimed by DragonForce ransomware

  • DragonForce, a Russian‑linked ransomware cartel that recently allied with Qilin and a revived LockBit, has claimed to have exfiltrated over 5 TB of data from Mobilelink USA—the largest authorized Cricket Wireless dealer operating 550 stores across 21 states—and posted a six‑day countdown on its dark‑web leak site demanding payment before publishing the data, which could expose millions of customers’ personally identifiable and financial information; the gang, which has attacked 185 victims in 2025, is also linked to high‑profile breaches of UK retailers, Marks & Spencer and others, and is known for “hostile takeovers” of rival ransomware groups. Click here to read more.

V. Shield of Israel: Coverage from The Jerusalem Post, providing an Israeli perspective on ongoing conflicts.

  • ‘Hezbollah disarms or Israel acts’: Netanyahu, Ortagus meet as Israel-Lebanon tensions flare

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Lebanon‑affairs envoy Morgan Ortagus, Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Intelligence Chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder to discuss escalating border tensions as Hezbollah’s ranks and missile stockpiles grow, warning that without a dramatic change by the end of the cease‑fire period—December 31—another round of fighting in the north is “almost inevitable”; Israeli officials say Lebanon’s government and army are failing to disarm Hezbollah, and the U.S. and Israel plan to reassess options after the deadline, with Ortagus set to convey a stark ultimatum that Hezbollah must disarm or Israel will act. Click here to read more.

     
Tags: Information Security, Information Technology, News, Security
THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 12/1/25

THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 12/1/25

by | Dec 1, 2025 | THE DAILY PRAETORIAN

Image Credit: iStock / Marat Musabirov | Imagery Disclaimer

Securing Tomorrow: Your Daily Dose of Cyber Safety, Tech Trends, National Security News, and Inspiration.

“A Dorito asks nothing of you, which is its great gift.”

 

-Aimee Bender

I. National Security: Key developments in national security, particularly cyber and technological warfare.

  • Celebrate The Air Force’s Newest ‘Flying Dorito’ With This T-Shirt

  • The new “Waritos” holiday T‑shirt celebrates the B‑21 Raider—nicknamed the “Flying Dorito” for its wedge‑shaped stealth design—by pairing the bomber’s silhouette with a festive graphic, while the limited‑run merch also reissues popular designs like “On A Silent Night,” “Stealthier Things” and “Tonopah Canyons,” all available for a short window before the sale ends on Monday. Click here to read more.

     

II. Tech Trends: Updates on emerging technology trends shaping the digital world.

  • Oxford’s word of the year is here, and it says everything about the current social media landscape

  • Oxford University Press named “rage bait” its 2025 Word of the Year, defining it as online content deliberately crafted to provoke anger or outrage in order to boost clicks and engagement; the term’s usage has tripled over the past year, reflecting growing awareness of how digital platforms manipulate emotions rather than merely sparking curiosity, while the runners‑up were “biohacking” (self‑experimenting with technology) and “aura farming” (curating a charismatic public persona). Click here to read more.

     

III. Inspiration: Articles centered on faith that offer guidance and reflection.

  • Biblical “Better to Give than to Receive” Explains Black Friday Burnout

  • The commentary urges readers to resist Black‑Friday consumerism and instead embrace the biblical principle that “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” noting that the holiday shopping frenzy fuels spiritual emptiness and financial stress for many Americans, while generosity—whether through time, service or modest gifts—offers lasting joy and aligns with Jesus’ teachings about storing up heavenly treasure rather than earthly possessions. Click here to read more.
     

IV. Cyber Safety: A focus on the latest cybersecurity threats, tips, or breaches impacting individuals and organizations.

  • Facial Recognition’s Trust Problem

  • Facial‑recognition technology faces a major trust gap because public‑surveillance deployments capture images without consent, store them in opaque databases and have repeatedly proved insecure—examples include Clearview’s GDPR violations, the 2018 Mexico‑City hack that let criminals track FBI informants, and recent breaches of license‑plate‑scanner operators—while access‑control uses are more consensual but still raise privacy concerns; solutions such as ZeroTier’s encrypted mesh networking can isolate camera feeds to prevent lateral hacks, and Alcatraz.ai’s “privacy‑first” approach stores only irreversible facial‑map hashes rather than images, enabling secure, consent‑based authentication without exposing personal biometrics. Click here to read more.

V. Shield of Israel: Coverage from The Jerusalem Post, providing an Israeli perspective on ongoing conflicts.

  • Israeli defense giants climb int’l ranks, record double-digit revenue growth in 2024, report says

  • Israeli defense firms Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit Systems each posted double‑digit revenue growth in 2024, lifting their combined arms sales by 16 % to $16.2 billion and moving up the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Top 100 list—Elbit rose to 25th, IAI to 31st and Rafael to 34th—while the overall Top 100 recorded a record $679 billion in sales, driven by conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and rising tensions in East Asia, showing that geopolitical backlash over Israel’s Gaza actions has not dampened global demand for its weapons. Click here to read more.

     
Tags: Information Security, Information Technology, News, Security
THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 11/26/25

THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 11/26/25

by | Nov 26, 2025 | THE DAILY PRAETORIAN

Image Credit: iStock / MikeMareen | Imagery Disclaimer

Securing Tomorrow: Your Daily Dose of Cyber Safety, Tech Trends, National Security News, and Inspiration.

“God created war so that Americans would learn geography.”

 

-Mark Twain

I. National Security: Key developments in national security, particularly cyber and technological warfare.

  • Japan’s Plan To Put SAMs On Strategic Island 70 Miles From Taiwan Could Be Just The Beginning

  • Japan is moving ahead with plans to install medium‑range Chu‑SAM surface‑to‑air missiles on Yonaguni Island—just 70 miles from Taiwan—while Japanese fighters have repeatedly scrambled to intercept Chinese drones near the island, the U.S. Marine Corps has set up a forward arming and refueling point there, and both Tokyo and Washington are bolstering regional defenses amid rising Sino‑Japanese tensions and concerns that the island could become a forward staging site for additional air‑defense and missile systems; Chinese officials have condemned the move as provocative, and the deployment marks a significant escalation in the strategic contest over the first island chain. Click here to read more.

     

II. Tech Trends: Updates on emerging technology trends shaping the digital world.

  • Plex’s crackdown on free remote streaming access starts this week

  • Plex is tightening its remote‑streaming policy this week, moving away from free, unrestricted access in order to cover rising infrastructure costs, fund new features such as Common Sense Media integration, a bespoke server‑management app and an open API, and boost subscription revenue after nearing profitability and raising $40 million in 2024; the change may push longtime users who rely on Plex as a free media‑server solution toward alternatives like Jellyfin, while the company hopes the new model will satisfy investors and sustain its growth. Click here to read more.

     

III. Inspiration: Articles centered on faith that offer guidance and reflection.

  • The Pilgrims Brought the Values that Shaped Freedom-Loving America

  • The documentary “The Pilgrims” argues that the 1620 Mayflower settlers forged America’s core values—religious liberty, self‑government and a Bible‑based moral framework—by fleeing England’s enforced Anglicanism, signing the Mayflower Compact as a prototype of democratic rule, forging peaceful treaties with Native Americans, and enduring a brutal first winter that cemented a willingness to die for their faith; the film highlights how those early principles seeded the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the nation’s enduring emphasis on freedom, noting that roughly 30 million Americans trace ancestry to the original 51 pilgrims. Click here to read more
     

IV. Cyber Safety: A focus on the latest cybersecurity threats, tips, or breaches impacting individuals and organizations.

  • Asus urges immediate updates: patches released for millions of computers, routers

  • Asus has released urgent patches for a critical privilege‑escalation flaw (CVE‑2025‑59373, severity 8.5) in its preinstalled MyASUS utility that could let low‑privilege attackers execute code as SYSTEM on both ARM and x64 PCs, and also issued firmware updates for its routers to fix an authentication‑bypass issue in AiCloud and other vulnerabilities; users are urged to apply the updates via Windows Update or the Asus support site and to disable internet‑facing services on older, unsupported router models. Click here to read more.

V. Shield of Israel: Coverage from The Jerusalem Post, providing an Israeli perspective on ongoing conflicts.

  • ‘Time to end the Oslo illusion’: Minister Strock says Israel must scrap PA security apparatus

  • National Missions Minister Orit Strock argued that Israel must abandon the Oslo‑era framework and dismantle the Palestinian Authority’s armed security apparatus, condemning PA legislation that pays families of prisoners, its school curriculum that she says incites hatred, and prisons that allegedly serve as safe havens for terrorists, while proposing a return to the pre‑1994 “municipal” model in which Israel retains full civil and security control over the West Bank and only non‑violent Palestinians participate in local governance, noting that such a shift would require political will and could be presented to a renewed Trump administration as the only responsible path forward. Click here to read more.

     
Tags: Information Security, Information Technology, News, Security
THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 11/18/25

THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 11/18/25

by | Nov 18, 2025 | THE DAILY PRAETORIAN

Image Credit: iStock / Bill Chizek | Imagery Disclaimer

Securing Tomorrow: Your Daily Dose of Cyber Safety, Tech Trends, National Security News, and Inspiration.

“There’s a way to do it better – find it.”

 

-Thomas A. Edison

I. National Security: Key developments in national security, particularly cyber and technological warfare.

  • F-22 Raptor pairs with Avenger drone in combat flight test

  • An F‑22 Raptor pilot successfully commanded a General Atomics MQ‑20 Avenger unmanned jet during an Oct. 21 flight test, demonstrating crewed‑uncrewed teaming that could expand air‑superiority capabilities; the Avenger’s stealthy design, internal payload bay for drones or weapons and low radar/infrared signature allow it to penetrate defenses and deliver up to 3,000 lb of precision munitions, while the pilot used a tablet and L3Harris BANSHEE datalink to control the drone, a proof‑of‑concept effort led by Lockheed’s Skunk Works in partnership with General Atomics and L3Harris. Click here to read more.

     

II. Tech Trends: Updates on emerging technology trends shaping the digital world.

  • What does ‘agentic’ AI mean? Tech’s newest buzzword is a mix of marketing fluff and real promise

  • “Agentic AI” refers to systems that go beyond chat‑based language models by autonomously planning, acting and learning to achieve high‑level goals without step‑by‑step human instruction, a concept highlighted in a new MIT‑Boston Consulting Group report that surveyed 2,000 executives and described these agents as “autonomous teammates” capable of multistep processes; industry leaders such as Amazon’s AWS, OpenAI, Google and Microsoft argue that combining large‑language models with task‑execution capabilities will let agents handle complex workflows—from purchasing and travel booking to managing medical bills or filtering spam—while critics note the term’s recent marketing hype and emphasize the need for clear definitions and safeguards as these agents gain more freedom and responsibility. Click here to read more.

     

III. Inspiration: Articles centered on faith that offer guidance and reflection.

  • 2,000 Profess Christ at Site of Charlie Kirk Assassination as Greg Laurie Preaches Hope

  • Pastor Greg Laurie brought his Harvest Crusade to Utah Valley University, accelerating the event after Charlie Kirk’s assassination to offer hope through the Gospel; he preached that Jesus cleanses sin, urged attendees to seize the moment, and reported that over 1,000 people in the arena and another 1,000 online professed faith, framing the tragedy as a turning point that could inspire a generation to turn to Christ. Click here to read more.
     

IV. Cyber Safety: A focus on the latest cybersecurity threats, tips, or breaches impacting individuals and organizations.

  • Microsoft tries to head off the “novel security risks” of Windows 11 AI agents

  • Microsoft has introduced an “experimental agentic features” toggle in a new Windows 11 Insider build that enables Copilot Actions—AI agents designed to handle tasks like file organization, meeting scheduling and email drafting—while isolating them in separate user accounts, requiring user approval for data access, logging all actions and providing visible activity summaries to mitigate novel security risks such as unauthorized instructions or confabulation; the feature remains optional and off by default as Microsoft balances productivity gains with safeguards against potential misuse. Click here to read more.

V. Shield of Israel: Coverage from The Jerusalem Post, providing an Israeli perspective on ongoing conflicts.

  • Reporter’s Notebook: The Post embeds with foreign armies visiting the IDF

  • Israel invited roughly 130 foreign military officials from nations including the United States, Canada, European allies, India, Japan and several Middle‑Eastern and Eastern‑European states to a series of IDF briefings, war‑games demonstrations and technology showcases that featured everything from artillery and drone coordination to cutting‑edge virtual‑reality battle‑zone simulators, giving visitors insight into Israel’s urban‑warfare tactics, micro‑level land‑air integration and counter‑terror methods while also sparking candid, though private, discussions about civilian casualties, the challenges of asymmetric conflict and the future role of the newly ratified International Stabilization Force; the tour aimed to reinforce military cooperation, showcase Israeli innovations and earn renewed respect amid ongoing scrutiny of the war in Gaza. Click here to read more.

     
Tags: Information Security, Information Technology, News, Security

Pin It on Pinterest