A leak in the chain of command.

CyberWire Daily covers a DHS leak exposing more than 41,000 employees and contractors, active Cisco and VMware exploitation, a suspected GitHub supply-chain attack, and NIST’s post-quantum cryptography guidance. The episode’s guest, Arnold Cherry, CTO at the Technology Advancement Center (TAC), explains why OT security needs different skills, hands-on training, and faster technology transfer for critical infrastructure teams.

Key points

• A DHS data leak exposed identity and access data on more than 41,000 employees and contractors, increasing phishing and impersonation risk.
• Researchers say Volt Typhoon uses disposable chains of compromised routers and devices, often pivoting across countries in minutes.
• Cisco’s ASA/firepower zero day is actively exploited; admins should patch immediately or disable secondary authentication on affected VPN groups.
• A suspected supply-chain attack targeted 61 public GitHub repositories by hiding commands in issues and pull requests.
• NIST urges agencies to prioritize long-lived sensitive data and start planning now for post-quantum cryptography transitions.
• TAC’s Arnold Cherry says OT security needs hands-on, vendor-neutral training because IT techniques can disrupt physical systems.