Good morning. I’m not sure how to begin. Let’s start at the beginning. September 7, 2023. 924 days ago. A day that changed my life forever. I launched Financial Guardians. As I joke with so many, I launched Financial Guardians out of anger and spite after a kitchen fire. My goal was to improve security in the financial services industry. And oh my gosh, did we. The entire Financial Guardians community is just shy of 10, 000 people. We have issued hundreds of hours of continuing education credit. Lead in-person sessions totaling over 25,000 people. And we designed the most comprehensive WISP in the industry. My gosh, we have done a lot in 2 ½ years.

And along the way, something changed. The threats are no longer just malicious external actors or internal human errors; threats now come from technology providers with deceptive marketing and broken processes, from social media posts promoting misinformation and watered-down non-compliance, and from deploying technologies (such as AI and automation) without a thorough understanding of their impact. The people claiming to help the industry are actually causing harm.

In other words, the battle has broadened. Cybersecurity, data security, and data privacy are significantly more complicated than people realize; pretending it isn’t only lowers defenses and increases risk. As the landscape of security has changed, my focus must shift as well. Effective April 30, 2026, I will be shutting down Financial Guardians. I will continue to provide support calls and individual assistance to our members through then; you all have truly become an amazing part of my life and I truly value all of you. Please be looking for an e-mail to discuss some final offerings as we wind things down.

What does this mean for the industry? Honestly, after weeks of serious anguish and internal struggles, this has been my hardest question. Please seek out qualified individuals; people who will take you and your client data seriously, not just try to check a box or keep you minimally compliant. After working with over a hundred firms who experienced breaches in the past, I am sincere in stating I never want to see your name on that list. I wish I had a referral, or an organization or person I could reference, but this is such a niche topic that it is challenging to do so. Please find a security advisor, not just a technology generalist, who can work with your firm and your specific needs.

That leaves the only question left. What is next for Brad? Let’s start by discussing my spirit movie, Legally Blonde. Yes, you heard it correctly. Elle Woods. The thing I love about this movie is that every time Elle faces an obstacle or challenge, she doesn’t quit. Instead, she would push herself, find a solution, and elevate herself. In doing so, she surrounded herself by an amazing ragtag team of unique people. Well, let’s just say there are now two things I have in common with Elle Woods. To add to the similarities, I am so excited and nervous to announce that I have been accepted into Law Schol. I will be pursuing a course of studies focused on cybersecurity law and data privacy.

At the core of cybersecurity is data privacy. Every person has the right to control and determine who has access to their data. Software developers, accounting firms, or other organizations who have access to critical data and do not take appropriate measures to protect it are robbing individuals of their right to privacy every day. They need called out. They need held accountable. And that is what I intend to do. Protect privacy and fight for larger, boarder, more comprehensive data protection laws.

I do want to be very clear that my efforts with education, my firm Messner & Fox, and Incite – the most amazing online community tax professionals- will continue and grow.

In closing, I will be sending out a few pieces of communication. But please know that this is not good-bye. My resolve has actually never been stronger. I will be taking a step back from social media as I focus on my health and my new journey. Don’t be shy to reach out.

And if you couldn’t see the tears a few times as I shared here today, know that the security of your firms and the overall security of this industry continues to be my passion and my increased concern.

With that, thank you all so much for the last 924 days and I look forward to the next several weeks working with each one of you. Thank you, and this is Brad logging off.

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Welcome back to Tech 101 with Financial Guardians. In today’s video, we’ll be covering virtual machines. So what is a virtual machine? Depending on your experience with computers, a virtual machine may seem obvious in its definition.

A virtual machine is a software-based emulation of a physical computer, a computer ran within a computer, or sometimes a server, laptop, or similar device. Virtual machines can even run their own virtual machines, like a box inside of a box inside of a box. Technically, a virtual machine is the result of virtualization, a process where the virtual machine uses the same CPU architecture as your PC.

Think of architecture as language. Much easier to use the same language to write instructions, so that both your PC and virtual machine can follow them easily. This ease translates to faster speeds, easier setup, but is restricted to being in the same language only, which also generally means the same operating system, with some exceptions.

In PC terms, this means if you run a VM on Windows, only systems written in the same architecture of Windows can be virtualized. So these are things like Linux or Windows 98, but not Mac OS or Android, for example. The other option is emulation.

Colloquially, these can both be summarized as virtual machines. They both aim to run an operating system in an application, but there is a distinct difference. Emulation allows you to run a completely different architecture, at the cost of performance and simplicity.

This is how someone can run a phone on a PC, for example, or a Nintendo Wii on a PC, or dare I say, Windows on a MacBook. It emulates it, pretends, translates this language. So what are the uses? Uses for virtual machines are plentiful.

In the workspace, a VM can provide an extra layer of protection, as it’s another device to crack. Multiple virtual machines can also be run off of the same computer or hardware, allowing multiple workstations to be created out of a single one. They can operate as test environments, with more destructive or perhaps experimental software contained in this safe box, or perhaps even malware that needs to be studied and documented.

You can easily connect and disconnect multiple facets of computing, such as internet, storage, OS, disks, and more, from the virtual machine. It also serves as a great way to access older systems, perhaps a software that’s only available in Windows XP, for example, due to discontinuation, without the security risks associated with un-updated operating systems. For casual use, emulation has become widely used by users in the video game industry.

Despite its questionable legality, it remains the only way to access certain titles, and a great way to enjoy older video games, and their systems in their entirety, with just a personal computer. This shows just how malleable a virtual machine and emulation really can be, and how much you can apply it to certain scenarios. So you may be thinking this is all some kind of mystical, magical thing.

But is there any true drawbacks? Well, they’re not magic, they have their limitations. Mainly, they’re quite power-hungry, you need a powerful enough machine to run itself and a virtual machine, especially if you’re going to be splitting the hardware into multiple virtual machines. They aren’t quite as fast as running a machine by itself, especially if it’s being emulated.

3D rendering also struggles due to the lack of power, so any kind of AutoCAD software or anything similar generally isn’t advisable to be used on a virtual machine, unless it is using almost all of the hardware. The setup of a VM can be quite tough as well. For those who aren’t familiar with the technology, some forms of virtual machine systems can be quite tough to set up.

Emulation and basic virtual machines, though, are generally quite easy to use. So looking to the future, it’s important to note virtual machines play a crucial role in the cloud area that we’re currently in. Virtualization, native to the cloud, is already offered by many companies and may even be a part of your workflow right now.

Software as a service, infrastructure as a service, these things all use virtual machines on clouds, on the hardware that you connect to from your less powerful hardware. The ability to create specific environments and sandboxes, tailoring them to your needs, is a great asset for those who find themselves requiring that extra bit of security, or maybe need that little bit of an experimental edge for their software.

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Critical Security Update

Claude, Blackbox AI, Windows 10, LastPass, Google, Amazon/AWS

Risk 1: Medium

Issue: Check Point researchers have located a flaw within Claude Code that executed using only metadata and configuration files without event having to execute a line of code.

The flaw allowed: remote execution of commands on users’ machines, permissionless addition and utilization of unauthorized services, and theft of API keys (the same keys that share and access data).

CVEs: 2026-21852, 2025-59536

Resolution: Anthropic states they have corrected the flaws, but this serves as a real reminder that AI platforms are growing and deploying quickly; users need to be more diligent than ever protecting their data.

Risk 2: Medium

Issue: The extremely popular AI coding assistant, Blackbox, which recently exceeded 5m downloads, has had a significant flaw located in its code creation process. When invoked, the flaw will insert malicious code into your AI-code, allowing a remote user to remotely access your development machine. With any data located therein.

The code generated using code-masking schemes to hide the vulnerability, making it extremely difficult for a non-developer to recognize. This continues to set the urgent reminder that it is critical for a skilled and qualified human to review the AI output before testing or implementing.

Blackbox has not corrected the issue and has failed to respond to multiple requests from various organizations.

Until this vulnerability can be corrected, we are recommending an immediate halt usage of the application.

Resolution: Blackbox has not corrected the issue and has failed to respond to multiple requests from various organizations.

Until this vulnerability can be corrected, we are recommending an immediate halt usage of the application.

Risk 3: Medium

Issue: A vulnerability was located in Windows 10 that inhibited some users/machines from accessing the Windows recovery system. This may place their machine at risk if a recovery point is ever necessary. This vulnerability only applies to Windows 10, which is now only supported through extended support.

Resolution: Microsoft has released an update to correct this. Microsoft has not stated if all versions of Windows 10 will be updated or just those supported by extended support.

Risk 4: Low

Issue: A new phishing and credential-stealing campaign targeting LastPass users has been initiated, again. Users should be on guard for any e-mails, texts, or links referencing LastPass. The new attack requests and provides access to the entire user’s vault.

Resolution: Unless this is your first time reason one of our alerts, you are aware that we no longer consider LastPass a viable solution. While LastPass is not responsible for these phishing attacks, the more users can distance themselves, the better.

Risk 5: Low

Issue: Google and Amazon (AWS) have acknowledged data centers were damaged in the Middle East during the recent attacks. Both organizations are stating they have fully recovered and redirected traffic.

Resolution: During times of unrest, it is always safest to ensure you have backup data locations and alternative processes in place should a more extensive attack (or breach) result in the future.

Announced Data Breaches

• Cognizant

• University of Hawaii Cancer Center

Privacy Wins & Updates

• Bitwarden, a popular password manager, has added passkey support for Windows 11 login.

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Unless you have been purposefully trying to avoid technology over the last several years, and especially months, you no doubt have seen the onslaught on new technologies that tax professionals, payroll providers, financial advisors, and more are working with. We see the, “Oh my gosh, I love TaxDome’s workflows,” and, “Holy crap! Have you seen what Claude can do?” The list goes on and on. However, we are only seeing a subset of the entire conversation.

On the backend, we are seeing the hidden message discussed in plain text. If you read the details hidden in the posts, you’ll see messaged like, “I hired a workflow specialist for $7,000,” or “Claude did it so fast for me, but I really don’t understand it.” The side conversations are where the true story comes out.

And, finally, now that we are years into a technological transformation within the industry, we are also seeing professionals shifting and changing the software they are using very quickly. A firm is using and has built out workflows using ChatGPT connected to Zapier; they then switch a few months later to Claude connected to Make and then a MongoDB. Meanwhile, they had invested hours/days/weeks building out their previous technology and processes, as well as invested hundreds or thousands of dollars. This is called technical debt.

What is Technical Debt?

Technical Debt is the phrase coined that describes the implied cost associated with building (or partially) building technology solutions in an expedited manner, usually leaving broken processes that introduce errors or require rework later.

Every time a firm tests new service or product, even while testing it, there is technical debt accrued. This could come in the form of time or cost. Most the time, while testing a new product, this is a few hours of effort and minimal cost; so we write it off. However, if hours and weeks are being spent on testing or building a new solution and it is only used for a short period of time, that effort in cost and hours is not recouped - technical debt is accrued.

The problem expands as this isn’t just a one-off issue. In fact, many firms are migrating from one tool to another within weeks. The amount of effort, time, and research is never quantified.

The debt continues to grow. Dave Ramsey would not be happy. ;-)

Nobody Wants to Know How the Sausage is Made

Outside of the Technical Debt issue, many firms are playing a dangerous game that quickly spreads beyond just the time and effort.

• Inherent Knowledge.
  Most firms do not have in-house knowledge of how these technology platforms work, especially AI solutions. Moreso, many do not partner with external experts or resources, either. It is very dangerous to assume a solution works just because it appears to from a non-technical perspective.

• Security.
  You didn’t think you’d escape me bringing this up, did you? Many of these platforms are being designed quickly and without proper vetting or testing. This leads to flaws within the solution that can easily be exploited. Additionally, loading confidential data into a platform opens a collection of security-related concerns. There may be disclosure requirements. They may not follow industry-required protocols. And, scarily more so, these platforms are targeted more than any other cloud-based platforms. In fact, as I write this, last week, 13 out of 16 breaches were rooted in or by AI platforms.

• Solution Architecture.
  Especially when using vibe-coded solutions, firms typically do not understand how the solutions they built actually work. If the person building the solution cannot explain it, can they provide any guarantee as to the accuracy of the solution.

There is an old saying that once a person has seen sausage being made, they won’t want to eat sausage any more. The same goes for many of these technical platforms. If users saw what and how these solutions actually worked, would they really be ok using them?

Discharge of Debt

Alright, so you may be sitting here thinking, “Well, Brad, you just sound like you don’t want innovation or change or AI.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. I want exposure and understanding and improvement. I want to see this industry improve and be trusted advisors; when more time is spent focused on building solutions than actually delivery, there is a debt problem.

Now is the time. Create a priority list. What are your top concerns? What are you biggest areas of need and greatest opportunities for improvement? Focus there. Build an amazing solution, properly test it, protect it, and deploy it.

There is a reason software requires designers, programmers/engineers, database administrators, and security analysts. Make the right long-term investments and you will drastically minimize the amount of Technical Debt you acrrue.

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Prediction Machines

Authors: Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb
[Preferred - Direct From Author] [Buy on Amazon]


Publisher Description:

Named one of “The five best books to understand AI” by The Economist

The impact AI will have is profound, but the economic framework for understanding it is surprisingly simple.

Artificial intelligence seems to do the im…

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Critical Security Update

All Apple Devices, Microsoft, Microsoft Office 365, Grandstream, Google Chrome

Risk 1: High

Issue: Microsoft announced under CW1226324 that a “bug” has been detected in Copilot, their AI platform integrated deeply into Microsoft 365, that has been reading and summarizing e-mails flagged as sensitive with a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) in place. A DLP is designed to prevent access to this data, but Copilot has been bypassing these policies and reading/summarizing; the sensitive e-mails were then made available in Copilot Chat.

Microsoft is working on deploying an update/fix, but has not released a full timeline.

This on the heels of questions surrounding AI access to data through Claude Cowork continue to increase concerns over what these AI platforms have access to and, ultimately, what are they able to do with it?

Resolution: Sadly, there is no current fix. Even disabling Copilot Chat does not stop Copilot from processing this data.

Risk 2: High

Issue: Grandstream VOIP, a growing provider of internet-based telephony services, has acknowledged a flaw allowing remote attackers to listen-in on calls and conversations. The calls can be flagged as one-way increasing the risk that the listener would never be detected.

Resolution: A fix was deployed last week so Grandstream users should apply the most recent update.

Risk 3: Medium

Issue: Google has announced several severe Chrome vulnerabilities that allow both data capture/collection as well as remote system access. At least 4 mild to severe vulnerabilities have been located.

Resolution: Given the gravity of the potential for breach, anybody with Chrome installed (not just users) should apply the recently-released update.

Yes, this means you with the 500 tabs open, apply the update and restart your browser.

Risk 4: Critical

Issue: Microsoft has pushed out a collection of major and minor updates this week including a fix that had stopped Chrome from launching, a correction to Windows Notepad that allowed remote code to be executed on your machine, as well as a final fix to correct the issue with Windows not fully shutting down. Also in the last several days, Microsoft has pushed out an update of over 100 security related items, including 6 zero-day vulnerabilities (which means the vulnerability is already being utilized).

Resolution: Windows users should immediately apply the most recent update. Last week’s updates require a system restart, but this week’s updates may not.

Risk 5: High

Issue: Apple acknowledged a critical vulnerability in their entire suit of platforms (iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS, and macOC) known as a memory corruption issue that would allow for attackers to gain access to a device’s memory and, in turn, execute code remotely impacting the device as well as potentially access the data on that device.

Resolution: Apple corrected the issue and has released an update. Anybody with an Apple device should apply the most recent update to correct the error.

Announced Data Breaches

• Figure

• Washington Hotel

• Odido

• Eurail

• PayPal

• Volvo

• Conpet

• University of Mississippi Medical Center

Privacy Wins & Updates

• Bitwarden, major password management tool, released an update to allow users to securely share a password with a second user, even if outside of their own organization.

• Louis Vuitton/Dior/Tiffany fined $25m over recent data breach.

Financial Guardians is a proud member of InCite, the recently launched online community exclusively for tax professionals, bookkeepers, and accountants. InCite members receive a 30% discount.

Join today at www.incite.tax.

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Critical Security Update

n8n, MacOS Glassworm, Microsoft Windows

Risk 1: Medium

Issue: Automation platform n8n has announced a vulnerability recently located and disclosed that it is already actively being exploited. This vulnerability allows for an individual to take over the entire automation platform including access to all linked data sources and third-party tools.

Resolution: Anybody using n8n should ensure they have the most recent version (2.5.2) and reset both their encryption keys and credentials.

Given the depth of this update, users are reminded to ensure they perform a backup prior to update.

Risk 2: High

Issue: A new malware of the Glassworm variant is increasing in release, specifically within the macOS platform. This malware gains access to and shares your credentials, passwords, and digital wallet (crypto) data.

Resolution: All major anti-virus / security suite applications have been updated; all individuals should ensure they are operating on the latest package release from their software provider.

Moreso, users should reinforce their general protection protocols in regards to phishing, social engineering, and other security measures targeting users directly.

Risk 3: High

Issue: Microsoft has recently released a large security and feature update including over 120 items. About a dozen of these are critical security updates with many also being minor updates or feature-related updates. Within these updates, Microsoft attempts to correct the known, outstanding failure to reboot incident occurring lately.

Resolution: Windows users should apply the most recent update if you have not already done so.

(Note: When I performed the updates myself, it did require 2 system reboots.)

Announced Data Breaches

• Flickr

• La Sapienza University

• Conpet (Oil Pipeline)

• Substack

• Betterment

• Coinbase

• Step Finance

• Panera Bread

• NationStates

• Marquis

Privacy Wins & Updates

• n/a

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One of my favorite scenes in any movie across all time, this is probably going to surprise a few people, is from The Wizard of Oz. And I’m not talking about just Wicked, I’m talking about the OG, the original Wizard of Oz. And what I love so much is after Dorothy and the Tin Man and Toto and the Scarecrow and the Lion have finally reached the Wizard.

They’ve completed this long journey and they go before the Wizard. They meet this powerful and this scary and this frightening Wizard, only to find out that it’s just a man. That behind the curtain, behind the charade, it is just a man.

And we actually do something very similar in a lot of our own lives when it comes to security. And today’s tech topic is security theater. Now what security theater is, it’s the idea that we want to create an appearance of security.

We want it to feel like we have gone those extra steps, those extra miles. And it’s not necessarily saying that we’re being deceptive with it. Now yes, The Wizard of Oz was being deceptive, but in some cases it’s because we may not understand something, or it’s because we may not necessarily be at the level yet to implement something we want or we need.

But creating that false sense of security or that false security blanket, if you will, is the definition of security theater. And we see this very heavily in our industry because we have such heavy compliance already. So things with the FTC safeguards rule, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, SEC regulations, and so much more.

We tend to focus on what do we need to check off of a list and less about what is the actual security that needs put in place. Yes, I need to check these items off my list, but in a lot of cases there’s more that we could be doing. Just checking an item does not necessarily implement it, let alone implement it correctly.

So we allow security theater to kind of rouse and grow in our world. But what does this ultimately come from? Again, we have a lot of policies. The policies, and let’s be honest here for a moment, we sit there and say, what is the real chance of getting caught? Or what is the real chance that something is going to happen? And I do kind of chuckle at this one because I feel like we get frustrated with our clients for saying the same thing.

The number of times I’ve heard a client say, well, what’s the chance of me even getting audited because they have so few resources? And that frustrates me. But then we turn around and we want to say the same thing with the FTC safeguards rule and say, well, what is the real chance that this will ever get caught or that I’ll get fined? And again, that creates that false sense that, well, maybe we don’t need to do it. But beyond that, we work with a lot of vendors and the vendors don’t always have our best interests in mind.

They need to sell a product and in many cases they will wordsmith or they will give you marketing content, rather than the actual in-depth detailed understanding that you need of how their product operates. In some cases, they are being actually deceptive. In others, they’re just trying to sell and they don’t necessarily understand.

But working with vendors, not performing due diligence is also another means of security theater. Another one, and this one is very near and dear to me, is the lack of education. There’s a lot of free one-hour cybersecurity education out there.

And I’ve been through some. Some aren’t terrible. Some are actually really, really concerning.

Because if we’re being completely honest, one free, extremely high-level course a year that really just reiterates the same four or five topics, really is not ingraining that sense of security or understanding that we need. So we really do need to focus on trying to get better security education as well. We then can look at things such as, are we pushing out multi-factor authentication appropriately? The big push with this lately has been trying to push it out to text or to email, all of which majority of every security provider has stated text and email are no longer secure methods to do multi-factor authentication.

We should be looking at newer means such as pushing past keys and actually physical keys. So continuing an older style is an ongoing version of security theater as it allows us to feel or feign that we are maintaining those high security standards. But as we continue to go through some things that really allow this to persist, if we’re being honest, compliance in a lot of cases is just easier to measure than risk.

We can sit there and say, it’s going to take this to be compliant, but it’s hard to say, well, what is the risk and what is the real protective measure? Sometimes it’s just a visibility matter. There’s a lot that needs to go on. And in many cases, our focus is on a tax return or a planning engagement or running payroll reports and sometimes that visibility just isn’t there.

And if we’re being completely honest, this is the one that I hear a lot and I feel it too, is real effective security is inconvenient. We have to add these new measures. It now takes an extra step to do something and I feel that as well.

I’ve measured and in some cases, it’s taken an hour additional time out of my day managing and implementing security in every single thing I do. It is extremely inconvenient, but if we state that we’re doing something and we’re not, again, that is security theater. So it really comes down to, are we trying to continue the charade like the Wizard of Oz? Are we trying to create this idea that we have security when in fact we’re just trying to hold things together on the back end? And I’m not trying to call anyone out.

I’m not trying to make anyone feel ineffective or down. I’m just trying to be transparent and honest that security theater is a real growing concern. And as compliance grows and as technology and risks continue to grow and expand, the concern over security theater continues to grow as well.

So this is actually one of the reasons why I started Financial Guardians is because there’s so much happening. My goal and my passion is really just to try to educate and partner and help people move from that theater to a real life, hardcore, maybe not hardcore, a real life implementation that is effective, easy to manage, and will protect their client data. So I hope I didn’t scare you too much on this one.

This one was a tough one for me because I really wanted to talk about it, but I also appreciate that it is a very sensitive topic because it’s about decisions we’ve made. So thank you so much for joining. And as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Have a great day, everyone.

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Welcome to Beyond the 10-Key, a regular article discussing powerful and unique ways to utilize AI in the tax, accounting, and financial services industry. With the influx of new AI-based platforms and the ease at which these tools can be used, hardly a day goes by where a typical conversation doesn’t migrate to how AI can improve our processes, client interactions, and more.

Topic: Superpower Your AI With Clawdbot (Well, Maybe...)

While many people are still gaining just a comfort with utilizing an AI-platform through a chat system or integrated into an application they are using, one of hte top questions I receive is, “When can it actually do something for me?” Well, my friends, that time has come!

Many platform providers have been teasing interactive skills, but the actual deployment falls quite sure of their promises and targets. People are looking for the next Jarvis from Iron Man, but have only been getting an 80’s children’s cartoon replica.

But, let me introduce Clawdbot. Clawdbot has taken the technology industry by storm and actually delivers on the promises many other platforms have failed.

Clawdbot is a new AI platform built to make working with information and tasks feel easier and more intuitive. It acts like a smart assistant that can understand requests in plain language and help get things done without needing to dig through complex tools or systems. The focus is on daily use and ease of task management while helping move from questions or ideas to answers and actions quickly, allowing the research to work on the backend.

What sets Clawdbot apart is how it blends into everyday life. It can support planning, communication, research, and problem-solving while staying out of the way, stepping in only when it’s needed for input or clarification.

One of the most powerful features of Clawdbot is that it can be installed locally (we will get to that below) and has long-term, persistent memory.

Ok, but what does that actually mean?

What Clawdbot Can Actually Do

The beauty and power of Clawdbot is that it can be fully customized with added “skills” to expand its ability to interact and control systems as well as gain access to data.

I installed Clawdbot (listed below), configured it, and have worked with it for the last week. During this time, I built out a cool collection of skillsets:

• Added Text-To-Speech capabilities (through an add-on named Qwen) allowing me to speak to the system and for it to respond back to me. This, honestly, gave it the most Jarvis-feel out of anything.

• Much like my dated phone with a pop-up notification, I added text and voice call reminders for important events.

• Connected to my interactive display alarm clock to provide me a weather and calendar summary each morning when I wake up.

• Provides me an 8am summary of the cryptocurrency I currently own and those I am monitoring.

• Connect my X account and focused on receiving updates, although I could have also used it to post. This saved a ton of time from monitoring the individual X accounts manually.

• Connect to my file management (it even helped me locate a file without having to browse through a subfolder labyrinth).

• Connected to my home automation to control my lights, charging, and even my EV.

• Connect to my e-mail (well, e-mails) and provide summaries as well as assist to prioritize certain responses over general tasks.

• Plus about two dozen more that performed a myriad of tasks beyond the above.

Oh my gosh. So I have to be honest here. This has kinda rocked my world. The previous “go fetch feedback from this AI platform” has been replaced with “the AI platform interacts with your data and your world to bring actions and insight to your daily life.”

The Installation

Ok, so before we chat all rainbows and raspberries, we do need to address the most technical piece of Clawdbot and that is the complicated setup.

• I decided to install it on my Mac Mini. While this isn’t a required step, I chose this path to keep a test environment off of my primary computer. Additionally, running Clawdbot on a laptop that may be on/off defeats some of the purpose of its 24/7 features. Additionally, it is relatively resource-heavy tool and I would have noticed a lag on my individual computer running it there. The Mac Mini was $599, so not a huge investment for a tool that saves so much time.

  • The second benefit of using a local machine is that my data was all kept and managed inside of my own firewall, behind the custom configurations I have made to protect my personal environment.

• The install is very technical. I was able to get Clawdbot installed and operational in under 15 minutes, but imagine a non-technical individual might require over an hour. More so, the fears over the potential problems that could arise from a. mis-configured installation are pretty big.

• The most nuanced part of the entire installation is adding, linking, and configuring the skills. Each feature and integration you make requires specific technical skills to install, link it to the systems you already have designed (through an API usually), and then spending effort to configure the skill - all before it can be used.

  

The Good

I have to be real here. There was so much positive here. All of the skills that I have installed, I immediately began using and every skill I configured has proven to be useful.

The data is kept inside my own environment and I control who has access to what depth or level of information that I choose.

Clawdbot uses persistent memory (although I question the true persistence) which means it is supposed to remember everything it knows about you and adapts its work to match your patterns. I am a bit skeptical here, but hopeful.

There are about a dozen messaging apps (iMessage, Telegram, etc) that Clawdbot can interact with. I was able to send a reminder about upcoming calls with some friends directly through the system rather than having to remember myself.

Overall, I would say that Clawdbot is currently saving me a little bit of time; however, given the time it has taken to setup and configure, I am still significantly behind. However, it has acted like a “power-up” to the systems and tools that i use today. And that I am excited about.

The Bad

I am so frustrated to respond here because, as much as Clawdbot has been helping me, it is definitely not mainstream yet. If you are a technophile and don’t mind investing hours in setting up and designing a system, this could be a cool new toy to try.

Secondly, and this one is kinda big. Clawdbot does require pretty deep, intrusive access to your systems and data. It needs this for what it does, but it does introduce a huge security problem and could lead to a significant breach if a vulnerability is ever discovered. More so, a non-technical install may leave gaps and open systems allowing external access. Clawdbot really is designed for the technical user.

Finally, each skill requires additional time and effort to setup. I imagine this being a barrier to entry and growth for the product moving forward if it is not improved.

Brad’s Final Thoughts

Honestly, I love it. I think the product is cool. I think it has saved me effort and empowered me to work better and more efficiently.

However, it is very technical. For that reason, I really would not encourage moving forward until a less technical option is available.

I would love to hear your feedback! Is this the type of tool you are interested in?

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Critical Security Update

Okta Single Sign-On (SSO) Authentication, Microsoft Teams, Lastpass, Tesla

Risk 1: High

Issue: Okta, one of the largest providers of Single Sign-On (SSO) has announced an increased risk using certain forms of SSO protocols. SSO allows you to sign-on to a website or service and then use those same credentials to “automatically” sign-on to another site or service. An example of SSO is the “Sign on with Google” button.

The protocols at heightened risk include e-mail and sms/text authentication as well as authenticator apps with push and one-time codes. New phishing attempts are targeting all of these methods at a rapid pace.

With all SSO requests, even those linked to multi-factor authentication protocols, there is now an increased risk that users may not recognize given the unique way the attacks use local computer code (scripts) to execute the attacks.

Resolution: SSO is no longer consider a ‘safe’ method for authentication. Users should begin using phishing-protected methods such as hardware keys (such as YubiKey) or passkeys.

But keep in mind that both hardware keys and passkeys have vulnerabilities on their own. So, ideally, the more methods you can add, especially for critical systems, the better.

Risk 2: Warning

Issue: Microsoft is adding a fraud detection feature to Teams that will notify users receiving incoming calls/messages if there is a heightened risk of fraud or impersonations.

Resolution: This is just a warning in case you notice something being flagged different within Microsoft Teams.

Risk 3: Medium

Issue: Phishing attacks using Lastpass branding and messaging are increasing in circulation presenting urgent alerts requesting users follow a link to reset their password vault password (yes you read that correctly). Upon clicking the link, the code collects their credentials allowing a malicious actor to gain access to their entire password vault.

Important note: This is not a vulnerability within Lastpass; it is a phishing attack using their branding.

Resolution: Non-Lastpass users should just ignore any message received for a service they do not use.

Lastpass users should not rely upon e-mail communications to warrant a vault password change or review. Keep in mind, Financial Guardians has already issued a warning that users should migrate away from Lastpass.

Risk 4: Low

Issue: This one is more for acknowledgement than anything, but during a recent competition, there were 37 new vulnerabilities discovered in the Tesla automotive ecosystem (within their mobile app, their car operating system, and their hosted system).

Resolution: At this time, Tesla is continuing to work on evolving their systems; however, Tesla users should remain ever aware of the ongoing security issues related to their vehicle.

Announced Data Breaches

• Fortinet

• Zendesk

• PcCompenentes

Privacy Wins & Updates

• n/a

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Well, now that the holidays are behind us and we are quickly working through year-end statements and reports as we prepare for the upcoming filing season, now is the time to do a few last minute

Varonis, a leading global cybersecurity operation that specializes in data security and the analytics connected thereof, recently released their report of the top four cybercrimes to expect in 2026 and the list might surprise you.

We are going to outline the top four upcoming areas to watch in 2026, but be sure to stick around for ways to combat these threats before they hit.

One: Hyper-Personalized Social Engineering

With an over 700% increase in phishing attacks, current countermeasures have been improving. However, when AI is coupled with a phishing campaign, it now has the ability to research the individual’s online data, internal data, social media accounts, and any other data store available to build a profile against the target. Now, instead of sending a generic email or text that appears to come from the USPS, the target will receive an e-mail that appears to come from somebody they know talking about their recent trip to Bali and asking for a hotel suggestion.

For years, we have relied upon increased education and basic scanning tools. These no longer are sufficient. In fact, Gemini recently was tricked through a social engineering campaign to leak data about its user to an external system using a calendar invite.

Detection efforts have proved less successful dropping from 4.2 out of 5 to 2.75 out of 5.

Two: Deepfakes Going Deeper

The idea of deepfakes, or AI-generated content (pictures, audio, video, etc), has been around for a while. Even all the way back during 2020, the concerns over deepfakes being generated from online content such as TikTok continued to arise. Now, years later, with the power of AI-platforms in the hands of anyone, the ability to create hyper-realistic ‘copies’ of somebody is a possibility. Heck, I created a deepfake of myself that was super realistic and it cost me less than $4.

With this lowered cost and increased accuracy, the risk of somebody creating a deepfake for malicious intent is greater than ever. This could be a deepfake audio impersonating a client and calling your office. At the moment, there is about an 85% accuracy rate that the deepfake would pull off the identity verification.

This level of technology is not just for infiltrating large firms; here are a few examples that firms of any size may experience:

• A disgruntled ex-spouse using a deepfake to try and request income documents or contact information to argue support.

• A child using a deepfake to obtain parental tax information for a scholarship or grant; while not malicious in intent, still a breach concern.

• A competitor using a deepfake to try and steal a client (or just client data) for multiple purposes.

Three: Overprivileged AI Platforms

More people are deploying AI platforms into their environments; many of these are even opting for higher-tiered plans promising greater security and data separation. Even more recent platform and models are allowing integration directly into internally-managed data sources including databases, drives shares, and more.

Typically, these environments are built and configured by individuals who are ‘trying out’ the tools and do not have a deep understanding of how they truly operate. As such, small holes and data exposure seep in and create larger, growing complications

Unfortunately, with these environments coupled with the rapid speed of development, breach rates continue to climb. One of the largest AI platforms on the market announced six breaches in 2025.

These threats are multi-tiered. The data can be exposed accidentally within the system through poor coding or testing practices, or a malicious actor can breach the system externally. AI platforms are currently targeted at a rate several multiples greater than other cloud platforms.

Four: Abusing AI Agents and LLMs

This threat is a bit different than the others as it is less about what you can do and more about what the ‘bad guys’ can do.

Instead of using pre-built systems with guardrails such as Gemini, Perplexity, or ChatGPT, malicious actors can download and deploy the same AI models locally in their own environments for free. Most of the core AI models are available for free so hackers will download a model and remove the ethical rails, allowing them to use the powerful platforms for nefarious purposes.

For example, a hacker can download an AI platform and deploy it with multiple AI systems to increase their ability to attack from one system at a time to several hundred. This means that the number of (random or targeted) attacks that a business defends against on a daily basis has now drastically increased. This increases their attack surface by several hundred, stretching the resources of a small business to larger limits.

I guess we could say that the AI Revolution has directly hit cybersecurity. With all of these AI-powered threats, it is more important than ever to stay aware and put safeguards in place.

For Guardian Lite (Paid) Members, stick around for actions to take to protect yourself, your firm, and your client data.

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Critical Security Update

Microsoft Windows 11, Outlook, Cisco, Verizon, Chrome for Android, Telegram

Risk 1: Low

Issue: The recent Windows 11 update is causing the Outlook desktop application to freeze freeze when connecting using the POP email protocol. Most modern e-mail platforms (Google, Microsoft, etc) are not requiring POP to be used. If you use the Outlook mail configuration, you are more than likely NOT using POP.

Secondly, the recent update is also causing some (older) computers to not shut down.

Resolution: Microsoft is working on a deployment/correction.

Now would be a good time to consider migrating to a modern email platform. If you are leveraging a POP protocol, there are still minor significant issues from a performance and security perspective. You can confirm your protocol under Settings in Outlook.

The Outlook web application is not impacted.

For the shut down issue, Microsoft has released an update so please apply the most recent update.

Risk 2: High

Issue: Cisco has updated multiple recent vulnerabilities with both impact stability and security-related hits.

Resolution: Anybody using a Cisco firewall or router should apply the most recent update immediately.

Risk 3: Low

Issue: Verizon had an outage this week and they are blaming the cause related to an internal software issue. No additional details have been released.

Tracking data does show that AT&T, T-Mobile, and Voda also had regional outages. This typically is the result of routing software.

Resolution: No resolution necessary.

Risk 4: Warning

Issue: An upcoming release of Google Chrome for Androids will convert Chrome into an AI-powered (agentic) browser.

Users should determine if this is in-line with their current permitted and expected uses of AI in their environment.

Resolution: Google has not announced if there will be an option to disable this migration or not. We will provide more information as this migration occurs.

Risk 5: High

Issue: Several older Windows security certificates (allowing you to use Cloud-based credentials when logging on are set to expire. If you do not perform the most recent Windows update, you may not be able to log in using those credentials.

Resolution: Windows users should perform an update as soon as possible to ensure these certificates are ready.

Risk 6: Warning

Issue: Telegram, a popular secure messaging app, has revealed that an existing exposure allows the sender’s IP address to be revealed. This could reveal the exact location of the sender, even device-related details.

Telegram has issued a warning, although there has not been a clear statement as to whether they intend to hide this information in the future or not.

Resolution: Telegram users should just be aware that their personal information may not be as hidden as previously believed.

Announced Data Breaches

• Grubhub

• Kyowon

• Cloud Marketplace

• Department of Education, Victoria AU

• Monroe University

• Central Maine Healthcare

• AZ Monica (Hospital)

• Betterment

• Target (development servers)

• University of Hawaii Cancer Center

Privacy Wins & Updates

• The FTC has banned GM form setting driver location data for 5 years.

• France has fined Free Mobile €42 million for improper protection of user data

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Critical Security Update

Microsoft Exchange, Cisco, ChatGPT Ads, D-Link

Risk 1: High

Issue: Microsoft Exchange Online users (typically larger corporate users, but not always) are currently experiencing problems accessing their mailbox. This is a known issue and Microsoft is working to correct it.

Resolution: There is no need to modify or adjust any settings. This is not a known security incident and adjusting settings could hinder your connectivity. If you experience a brief outage, just wait for the service to return.

Risk 2: Medium

Issue: There is a known vulnerability in Cisco Identity Management (ISE) that allows non-authenticated users to gain access to systems. Cisco issued a warning and does not believe this vulnerability has been exploited yet. That is good news, but their announcement will make the vulnerability public and open to greater exploit.

Resolution: Any one using the Cisco Identity Service Engine should ensure they have applied the most recent update (this week).

Risk 3: Low

Issue: OpenAI has begun testing the use of placing ads in ChatGPT. The initial push is just to employees, but they have an aggressive plan to push out to users very quickly. It is clear that the free plan will include adds, but no full explanation has been provided on who will see ads one deployed. There is a high probability that the Go paid plan will, but their other higher paid plans more than likely will not.

Resolution: This serves as notices in case you start seeing ads in the near future.

More so, this is a great time to start finalizing your AI platform selection and purchasing a solid, paid plan.

Risk 4: High

Issue: D-Link, a manufacturer of low-cost firewalls and routers, has once again issued another warning about vulnerabilities connected to their DSL routers. DSL is an internet protocol similar to fiber or cable. These devices can be purchased, but may also have been provided by your internet service provider.

Resolution: We have already issued a stop usage on D-Link devices. Our formal recommendation is to just move away from these devices entirely.

Announced Data Breaches

• Sedgwick

• Brightspeed (under investigation)

• NordVPN (claimed as not a breach)

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Critical Security Update

Fortinet, Glassworm (Crypto Wallets), ClickFix, Gmail

Risk 1: High

Issue: Fortinet, a manufacturer of corporate firewalls, has announced a large vulnerability currently being exploited on their systems that allows for users to bypass multi-factor authentication and gain access to your environment. This vulnerability is several years old, but is still being actively leverage on over 10,000 devices.

Resolution: If you have a Fortinet devices that is current on updates, you should be fine from this vulnerability. However, please confirm that you are currently using the latest version of the Fortinet operating systems and firmware to ensure you are protected.

Risk 2: Medium

Issue: An ongoing, but modified, version of Glassworm (a malware designed to attack cryptocurrency wallets through the use of browser-based extensions) has been increasing in its attack radius. These worms attach themselves to your crypto wallets and syphon your crypto assets. The current line of attacks focus on Apple devices.

Resolution: The most important thing some one can do to avoid this risk is utilize a corporate security suite that scans for malware and viruses.

More so, it is important that wallet holders know and recognize the origins of the browser extensions they download and use. The crypto-market tends to be slightly more aggressive with trying new tools and applications; as such, they need to be just as aggressive on deploying new security measures.

Risk 3: High

Issue: ClickFix attacks have been modified yet again to target unsuspecting users. ClickFix is a social engineering method used to scare or entice people into clicking for help or support and, in return, downloading malicious software. The latest version, ErrTraffic, installs on a webserver and makes the website appear to have a ‘glitch’ or error and displays a pop-up enticing the user to try and correct the problem. Clicking the link downloads malware onto the users’ machines.

Resolution: While a security suite may detect and, hopefully, stop the malware upon download, the best way to stop these types of attacks is through user education and limiting web usage on the machines containing or with access to PII as much as possible.

The usage of ClickFix is growing so ongoing education is important.

Risk 4: Warning

Issue: Google is starting the process of allowing users to change their gmail e-mail accounts. As a result, people you typically contact or from whom you receive communications may adjust their e-mail address. This may create a problem for many spam and filtering software, as well as many inbox rules you may have.

Resolution: This is just a warning to be prepared for this transition as it may cause havoc on some of your systems.

Announced Data Breaches

• Unleash Protocol

• European Space Agency

• Oltenia Energy Complex

• Korean Air

• Rainbox Six Siege (game)

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Cybersecurity for CEOs: What Every Business Leader Needs to Know

Author: Sean Conroy
[Preferred - Direct From Author] [Buy on Amazon]


Publisher Description:
In today’s digital world, cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue; it’s a business survival issue. Cybersecurity for CEOs is a clear, no-jargon guide explicitly designed for time-strapped business l…

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Critical Security Update

BitLocker/Windows 11 Pro, MongoDB, Google Chrome

Risk 1: Low

Issue: MongoDB, a popular NoSQL database system, has recently announced a sever vulnerability that allows for “memory reads” to occur. A memory read allows for a malicious actor to openly see what is currently active in the computer memory. This is a significant risk, especially for those in financial services.

Resolution: If you use an installed or managed version of MongoDB, you should immediately apply the recent update. If you do not have a list of underlying technology used by your vendors, now would be a good time to check if any of your vendors use MongoDB and ensure they have applied the update.

MongoDB is one of the largest and fastest growing “modern web database” platforms on the market today.

Risk 2: Low

Issue: The most recent release-update to Windows 11 Professional (24H2, 25H2) how supports hardware acceleration for BitLocker, Microsoft’s encryption platform for Windows-based devices. This acceleration will only function on very specific hardware devices, but are tracking at a speed of 70% less-processing. That is a massive performance boost for encryption-related hardware that is typically known for being slower in performance. This new process leverages the memory-optimized storage for their cryptographic algorithms as opposed to legacy software-based systems.

Resolution: This is not a vulnerability so no required action.

However, I wanted to list it here since it has a huge performance boost and users should be aware that buying enterprise hardware and software has extreme advantages over retail hardware.

Looking for new equipment? Please check with Financial Guardians to determine if the hardware you are considering qualifies.

Risk 3: High

Issue: Google Chrome has, again, announced another round of highly sensitive extensions being installed that syphons off user data and credentials. While the extensions (connected with names that begin with Phantom) appear to operate correctly, they are stealing data and sharing it to third-parties.

Resolution: Users should double-check their Chrome extensions and ensure that all extensions are known, form reputable sources, and installed from the Google Chrome Store directly.

Additionally, extension malware is a growing trend in Chrome. Users may want to review alternative browser options, such as Brave, to ensure ongoing security.

Announced Data Breaches

• France

• Baker University (2024 data breach now actively being sold)

• University of Phoenix

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Product Review // Oura Ring

Today, on our most recent product review, Shannon Hall review the Oura Ring, one of the latest and most popular products helping people gain exposure to their personal health data.

Well, hello friends, I am here long overdue to talk to you about the Oura Ring. It’s very exciting. I have some feelings about it and I’m going to share them with you.

First of all, let me say that in my lifetime, I think I have tried probably like 15 different wellness trackers and I never stick with them for a number of reasons. First of all, I don’t like Apple watches. You can come for me if you want to.

I also don’t like Android watches, so don’t come for me about that. I like a watch that just tells the time like this one does. And the reason is, like, I found that I was looking at my phone to see what time it was and then I would get sucked into the phone and I would be looking at messages and like wrapped in a Facebook or whatever.

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Hello and welcome to today’s Tech 101. Now before we dive in too deep, let’s actually pause and look at a few scenarios for a moment. Let’s say you’re sitting there and you happen to get a text message and it actually sounds relatively urgent.

We’ve been getting a lot of these lately with the holidays and just overall phone usage in general, but it pops up on your phone that your bank account may have been temporarily disabled and click here to log in or verify your credentials. Or what I’ve actually gotten very recently was the United States Post Office is unable to verify your address. Please click here to update your address so we can deliver your package.

Now what we’ve just experienced is what is called smishing and that is today’s Tech 101 topic. So smishing actually is short for SMS phishing or pretty much text-based phishing. And it’s very similar to the idea we know with phishing, only instead of using it through email, it is done through your text message.

And let’s be honest, how often are you without your phone? And even if you have your phone, are you more likely to check your text messages or your email more frequently? So with an increase in text-based or SMS-based messaging, it only makes sense that now malicious actors are pursuing that as a new threat avenue. So it is one of the fastest growing malicious attacks is smishing. So how does it quite work? You see, most people are slowly getting to the point where we’re a little bit more cautious with our email.

We look at the sender, we look at the email address, we look at the details, the content, and if something doesn’t seem right, there’s a lot of clear signs. Now think about your text messaging. You get emojis, you start getting content that is just, I’ll be honest, I’m not a great typer on my phone.

So when I’m texting someone, there’s a good chance there’s some misspellings, some bad grammar, and because it’s done by text, that’s just kind of accepted. So a lot of the warning signs that we used to have for phishing or email-based attacks, really those red flags go away when we’re looking at smishing attacks. In a lot of other cases, because it comes to your direct phone, it feels more personal and it has an added sense of urgency.

I see this a lot because we’ve recently started communicating with our firm clients more by SMS instead of email, because as soon as they get that SMS, they want to resolve it, they want to fix it very quickly. And they respond much faster if we do SMS instead of email. So this is just one more way that these malicious actors are attempting to attack.

We read text messages more frequently. We get used to alerts and higher, faster warnings coming through text or SMS. And we typically respond because it does feel like it is a greater threat.

Now we’re seeing these growing in popularity. There’s a lot connected to banking. And this is why here, especially here with Financial Guardians, we’ve really been trying to push to stop using email and SMS or text-based multi-factor authentication.

The less that people are using your phone, especially as a text or email-based system, the more secure things are going to be. But right now, a lot of banks and a lot of financial institutions are seeing this as an added threat. We’re seeing this a lot with package delivery, because again, we’re very anxious when a package comes.

So there’s that sense of urgency again. It also is connected to account login and multi-factor warnings, as well as a whole myriad of other scenarios and attacks. So then I guess the real question is what happens if you do happen to click on or press on one of these links? And it could be quite a few things.

Because of the way mobile phones work, you could actually put a small level of risk that you could be passing or sharing your credentials with a remote user. Again, that one is relatively low, but it is not non-existent. Beyond that, you could be triggering a download to download malware.

There’s been a lot of attacks on both Android and iPhone-based systems with malware attacks. This is just one more especially easy way that that malware can get downloaded. It could also just prompt you to try to call or respond with personal information.

And especially because again, it’s coming through a more intimate or personal connection, people tend to respond more likely. All right. So again, a lot of the warning signs that we are used to are not quite there.

But things we want to watch for with smishing, we want to watch for unexpected messages. Don’t just take that text message verbatim. If it says you have a package waiting, go and double check with where you ordered the package from and see if there’s a problem on their website.

Every shipping organization now has websites where you can track. Go to the source and verify. Things that are just adding that urgent sense immediately, there’s a rush, there’s an alert, anything that has that is going to have an added concern.

Something generic like, hello there, or additional warnings. Every time I drive through McDonald’s, I have to laugh because I’ve noticed that my profile says valued customer is my name. So they actually read it that way in the drive-thru.

They’ll say, thank you, valued customer. But that’s a red flag. They don’t have your actual information.

They’re phishing or they’re smishing for it. So just be cautious to spot it with those items. And again, if you get that, double check before you press anything.

Double check before you click or forward. Go to the source and confirm it. Especially because at this moment, a lot of people aren’t putting protection on their mobile devices.

There is a lot of opportunity for reduced security when these people attack a mobile phone. Most people, still most, not all, have some form of protection on their laptop or desktop. Very few people have protection on their actual individual phone.

So smishing is a more advanced form of phishing that targets just your SMS or text-based messaging. It is more focused on urgency and personal connection. So these actually have a much higher press rate than a phishing or an email-based attack.

So please be cautious. And as always, if you get something you aren’t sure about, please share with us and we will try to help you diagnose. Otherwise, have a great day.

And thank you very much for watching.

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Critical Security Update

Microsoft, Cisco, WatchGuard, WhatsApp, Microsoft 365

Risk 1: Low

Issue: A growing concern recently with the usage of WhatsApp is hackers taking advantage of the ease to add additional devices. Once a malicious actor links to. your account and adds it to their (typically virtual) device, they have ongoing 24/7 access to your account.

Resolution: WhatsApp users should ensure they have multifactor authentication enabled and that they are regularly checking the devices connected to their account. Due to the ease of this access, accounts should be checked regularly.

Due to the recent and ongoing concerns connected to WhatsApp, we are downgrading the overall security value linked to WhatsApp. Users should increase ongoing caution when using this app.

Risk 2: High

Issue: Microsoft 365 credentials currently have a raised risk factor through third-party authentication sites using technology known as 0Auth. 0Auth is the technology enabling “Login With Your Microsoft/Facebook/Google/Etc Account”. There has been nearly triple the number of phishing attacks going after Microsoft 365 0Auth accounts.

Resolution: Users should exercise added caution when logging in to accounts using these shared credentials. Similarly, and I sound like a broken record, ensure MFA is enabled on all your shared credential accounts.

Additionally, since the heightened risk is currently connected to phishing attacks, users should go directly to the website they wish to use instead of click a link or redirecting from an e-mail.

Risk 3: Medium

Issue: WatchGuard, a maker of enterprise firewalls, has recently announced a sever vulnerability currently being exploited across their collection of devices. This vulnerability allows full remote access and control over the network behind the firewall. This is a pretty severe vulnerability.

Resolution: WatchGuard has deployed a patch and all WatchGuard users should immediately download and apply the patch/update.

Risk 4: Medium

Issue: A recent vulnerability connected to Cisco VPNs has been located in connection to password spraying attempts. Password spraying is when a large number of passwords are tried against an account, or collection of accounts, trying to find a matching combination. Cisco VPN products are currently under heightened attack.

Resolution: Any Cisco VPN user should ensure they are regularly changing their passwords and using a complicated series of characters. If your version of Cisco VPN permits locking or timing out an account after X failed attempts, you should immediately enable that feature.

Risk 5: Low

Issue: Microsoft has announced that it will begin limiting access to its online services. This first limitation will be users using Exchange Online beginning March 1, 2026. The first push will block access to devices under an iPhone 10. For Android users, Google is currently working with Microsoft to rollback changes to older versions. No details are currently available.

Resolution: For users on Microsoft Online services, they should ensure they are using a modern iPhone to maintain connectivity. Android users will need to verify closer to the cut-off date, but users with devices less than 8 years old can expect to be fine.

Announced Data Breaches

• Denmark

• France

• Coupang

• University of Sydney

• PDVSA

• SoundCloud

• PornHub

• 700Credit

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