Defender's Corner

Microsoft has updated its free Zero Trust Assessment tool to include a dedicated AI security pillar, according to Help Net Security.

Zero trust (a security model built on the principle of "never trust, always verify" — no user or system is trusted by default, even inside your own network) is increasingly relevant as organisations deploy AI agents with access to sensitive tools and data.

The tool automatically scans your Microsoft security configuration, identifies gaps, and now produces a prioritised roadmap covering identity, devices, data, network, and AI systems. It is free for Microsoft environment users.

If your organisation uses Microsoft 365 or Azure, run the assessment at Microsoft Security. Pay particular attention to the AI pillar if you have deployed any Copilot or AI agent tools. The results will tell you exactly what to fix first.

Cloudflare has announced AI agent wallets with built-in spending controls, according to Help Net Security. The feature lets you create a Virtual Wallet for any AI agent you run, with hard caps on how much it can spend, which services it can pay for, and per-transaction limits — all controlled by you through an Account Wallet.

This directly addresses a real risk: AI agents given open access to APIs and payment methods can rack up unexpected charges or be manipulated into spending beyond their intended scope.

Handle reservations are open now at Cloudflare. If you use AI agents for any work task, reserve a handle and review what spending permissions your current agents already have. Giving an AI agent uncapped access to APIs or services is roughly equivalent to handing a new employee an unlimited corporate card without a receipts policy.

The full announcement is at helpnetsecurity.com.

NuGet is Microsoft's software package repository for .NET developers — think of it as an app store for code libraries. Starting 17 August 2026, new API keys (passwords that allow developers to publish software packages) will expire after 30 days instead of 365, according to Help Net Security.

Why does this matter? A stolen long-lived key is a skeleton key that stays valid for a year. A recent attack used stolen credentials to push a malicious package that was downloaded 6,000 times in 36 minutes. Shorter lifetimes cap the damage window.

If you are a developer publishing to NuGet.org, audit every workflow that uses an API key and replace any key created before 17 August before 1 November 2026. Better still, migrate to NuGet Trusted Publishing — it uses short-lived, automatically expiring credentials instead of permanent keys.

Malware on Windows and macOS can quietly write fake enterprise policy keys to your system, then use those keys to force-install browser extensions that replace your search engine or new tab page — and Chrome treats them as administrator-approved, making them impossible to remove. Google is preparing a fix, as reported by Bleeping Computer.

The feature is not live in stable Chrome yet, but when it ships, it will automatically block these fake policy installs on personal devices and uninstall hijacking extensions that were previously locked in.

What to do right now: If your Chrome shows "Managed by your organisation" and you do not work on a company device, that is a red flag. Type chrome://management in your address bar. If it says your browser is managed but you do not recognise the organisation, run a malware scan with Malwarebytes Free. Keep Chrome updated so the new protection arrives as soon as Google ships it.

A live AMOS (Atomic macOS) stealer campaign is targeting Mac users through fake "macOS toolkit" websites. The trick is simple: a site presents copy-paste instructions that look like a legitimate software setup step. You open Terminal (Mac's command-line tool), paste the text, and unknowingly install a credential-stealing app that harvests passwords, browser data, and cryptocurrency wallet files.

According to SANS ISC, the malware phones home to a remote server and begins collecting data immediately.

The fix is equally simple: never paste anything into Terminal from a website unless you have read it character by character and understand what it does. Legitimate software installers do not require this. If a site tells you to open Terminal and paste something, close the tab.

If you have already done this, change your passwords and check your accounts for unusual activity today.

CISA issued an urgent alert after attackers disrupted more than 30 community water systems in Minnesota by targeting internet-exposed PLCs (programmable logic controllers — the industrial computers that manage physical equipment like pumps and valves), according to Bleeping Computer.

Attackers changed passwords to lock operators out, modified IP addresses to disconnect devices, and forced some utilities to switch to manual operations.

CISA's primary instruction is simple: remove these devices from direct public internet exposure immediately. If that is not possible, place them behind a VPN (a secure, encrypted access tunnel) or gateway device. Change all default passwords and restrict access to a known list of approved IP addresses.

This matters beyond utilities. The same principle applies to any remotely accessible device you manage — routers, smart home hubs, or office equipment. Anything reachable from the public internet without a barrier is a target.

What you can do today: Check whether any devices in your home or workplace are directly accessible from the internet. Your router's admin interface is a good place to start.

Most security advice focuses on keeping attackers out. A real incident documented by Huntress, covered on Bleeping Computer, shows why what happens next matters just as much.

In the case Huntress investigated, the attacker gained entry through a SQL injection flaw (a vulnerability where a website passes user-typed input directly into a database without checking whether it is safe), then quietly created a new admin account, enabled remote desktop access, disabled Windows Defender, and installed malware on the web server — all before anyone noticed.

The takeaway for non-technical readers: attackers rarely rush. They settle in.

What to do: Check your active user accounts periodically and remove any you do not recognise. If you manage a website, ask your hosting provider whether input validation and web application firewall protections are in place. Huntress offers free resources for small businesses at huntress.com.

Research from Vanson Bourne surveying 600 senior IT security professionals found that 73% of organisations admit they would not be fully prepared if a serious cyberattack happened tomorrow, according to The Hacker News. The biggest gap is not tools — it is coordination. Legal, communications, and executive teams often arrive late when speed matters most.

The fix is a tabletop exercise: a scripted, hypothetical attack scenario that your team walks through together without any real systems at risk. Think of it as a fire drill for a breach.

You do not need a security consultant to start. CISA publishes free tabletop exercise packages at cisa.gov/resources-tools/services/cisa-tabletop-exercise-packages. Pick a scenario that fits your organisation, schedule two hours, and get legal and leadership in the room. The goal is to find the gaps before an attacker does.

CISA, the FBI, and their Australian counterparts have published free guidance called CI Fortify — Advice for Isolating Vital Systems, aimed at helping organisations disconnect critical systems from their networks during an attack while keeping essential services running. Read it here via Bleeping Computer.

The core exercise it recommends translates directly to smaller operations and even households: map every connection your most important systems have to the outside world, and decide in advance exactly where you would cut them if something went wrong.

For a small business, that means knowing which systems matter most, which vendors and cloud services they depend on, and how long you could operate manually if those connections were severed. For individuals, it is worth knowing where your router admin panel lives, what your ISP support number is, and whether your most critical files exist somewhere offline.

Knowing the answer before an incident is the difference between a plan and a panic.

A supply chain attack (where hackers poison a software package that developers trust and use, sending malicious code downstream to every project that installs it) is one of the most effective ways to compromise thousands of organisations at once.

GitHub and PyPI — the Python Package Index, the main repository where Python software packages are published — have both introduced new protections, according to Security Week.

GitHub's automated dependency tool, Dependabot, now waits three days before updating your project to a brand-new release. That gap gives security researchers time to catch a poisoned version before it reaches your codebase. PyPI is now blocking new files from being added to releases older than 14 days, closing a gap where an attacker with a stolen publishing token could quietly poison a long-trusted package version.

What to do: If your team uses Dependabot, check that your dependabot.yml configuration is not overriding the new cooldown behaviour. If you maintain Python packages on PyPI, no action is needed — the protection applies automatically.