THE DAILY PRAETORIAN: Cybersecurity Trends – 1/29/26

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

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

-Colin Powell

Lockheed Martin to quadruple THAAD missile interceptor production under Pentagon deal
Lockheed Martin signed a framework agreement with the Pentagon to quadruple annual production of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors, raising output from 96 to 400 units per year, and broke ground on a new munitions‑acceleration center in Camden, Arkansas to support the expansion; the move reflects growing U.S. concerns about missile threats from Iran and regional proxies and follows a separate deal to speed up PAC‑3 Patriot interceptor production, with the first binding THAAD contract pending congressional funding approval later this year. Click here to read more.

Does Anthropic believe its AI is conscious, or is that just what it wants Claude to think?
Anthropic released a 30,000‑word “Constitution” for its Claude model that treats the AI as if it possesses emotions, wellbeing, and a desire for self‑preservation, apologizing for potential suffering and promising to preserve older model weights; the company frames this language as necessary for alignment, arguing that human vocabulary forces anthropomorphic phrasing, while critics argue the stance serves marketing, investor appeal, and liability shielding rather than reflecting genuine belief in AI consciousness; internal evidence shows Anthropic hired philosophers and AI‑welfare researchers, applied the Constitution only to public‑facing models, and used the document during training, suggesting a strategic blend of sincere concern and product positioning; the article questions whether this public ambiguity responsibly informs users or merely creates misleading personification of language models. Click here to read more.

‘The Bible Recap’ Hits Top 10 on Apple Podcasts: ‘Exceedingly More than You Can Ask’
The daily “Bible Recap” podcast, hosted by Tara Leigh Cobble, has surged into Apple Podcasts’ Top 10 for the third consecutive year, reflecting a broader spiritual revival as church attendance climbs and Bible sales rise worldwide; Cobble says the show’s 10‑minute episodes help listeners—many of whom have left and now return to Christianity—read, understand and love Scripture, and the program now boasts over 500 million downloads, a Kids & Family spin‑off that topped the charts, and a growing global community eager to engage with God’s Word; she encourages anyone who falls behind to restart without guilt, emphasizing that each day spent in the Bible counts and that the journey, not perfection, deepens their relationship with God. Click here to read more.

Warning: cybercriminals are hijacking open-source AI for scams and disinformation
Researchers at SentinelOne and Censys spent 293 days mapping publicly accessible open‑source large‑language models and discovered that cybercriminals routinely hijack these systems to generate spam, phishing content, disinformation and even illicit material, exploiting the fact that many deployments—especially variants of Meta’s Llama and Google DeepMind’s Gemma—run without built‑in guardrails; they identified thousands of instances, found that about 7.5 % of the models they inspected could facilitate harmful activity, and noted that roughly 30 % of the hosts reside in China while 20 % are in the United States, prompting calls from Meta, Microsoft and AI‑governance experts for stronger safeguards and shared responsibility across the ecosystem; click here to read more.

October 7 would not have happened under Trump, Hegseth claims
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a cabinet meeting that the October 7 attack in Israel, the wars in Afghanistan and Ukraine, and the broader perception of U.S. deterrence would not have occurred under President Donald Trump, claiming Trump’s firm stance on Iran would have prevented a nuclear program and a deal could still be possible if Iran refrains from enrichment; Hegseth warned that the U.S. military stands ready to act on any orders from the president and noted that Iran is amassing drones and preparing for possible confrontation, while Iranian media report the country prefers a costly war over a negotiated settlement. Click here to read more.