Greg Otto
@gregotto.bsky.social
@gregotto from twitter, now on bluesky. Editor-in-Chief at CyberScoop. Host of Safe Mode. Better with words than I am with code.
Pinned
Greg Otto
@gregotto.bsky.social
· Feb 18
Our reporting at @cyberscoop.bsky.social doesn’t happen without our sources’ insights. If you have information that you would like to share, scan the code below to contact me via signal:
"Authorities linked Albashiti to the “r1z” account on the cybercrime forum by tracing the Gmail address he used to establish the account in 2018, which was the same email address Albashiti used to apply to the State Department for a visa to enter the US in Oct. 2016." cyberscoop.com/jordanian-na...
Jordanian national pleads guilty after unknowingly selling FBI agent access to 50 company networks
Authorities linked the 40-year-old to multiple crimes by tracing the email address he used for a cybercrime forum to the same account he used to apply for a U.S. visa in 2016.
cyberscoop.com
January 16, 2026 at 9:40 PM
"Authorities linked Albashiti to the “r1z” account on the cybercrime forum by tracing the Gmail address he used to establish the account in 2018, which was the same email address Albashiti used to apply to the State Department for a visa to enter the US in Oct. 2016." cyberscoop.com/jordanian-na...
CISA’s secure-software buying tool had a simple XSS vulnerability of its own
cyberscoop.com/cisa-secure-...
cyberscoop.com/cisa-secure-...
CISA’s secure-software buying tool had a simple XSS vulnerability of its own
A Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency tool dedicated to helping government agencies buy secure software turned out to have a cybersecurity vulnerability of its own.
cyberscoop.com
January 15, 2026 at 10:49 PM
CISA’s secure-software buying tool had a simple XSS vulnerability of its own
cyberscoop.com/cisa-secure-...
cyberscoop.com/cisa-secure-...
I have a friend who spent nearly $200 at this machine for the chance at a signed jersey. He was upset when he bulled a Bulls Coby White jersey.
Frowned upon in video games, loot boxes are back in real life–and one’s in the Pentagon.
There’s a Lootbox With Rare Pokémon Cards Sitting in the Pentagon Food Court
Frowned upon in video games, loot boxes are back in real life–and one’s in the Pentagon.
www.404media.co
January 15, 2026 at 7:27 PM
I have a friend who spent nearly $200 at this machine for the chance at a signed jersey. He was upset when he bulled a Bulls Coby White jersey.
Asked what he was doing to convince senators to lift holds, Plankey answered,“The support, the priority that the White House puts on it is the priority that I’ll get in there I’m doing the best I can to perform, to deliver for the country and I look forward to the Senate confirming me.”
Updated this story with a comment from Plankey himself via @dflawrence.bsky.social cyberscoop.com/sean-plankey...
Sean Plankey re-nominated to lead CISA
President Donald Trump re-nominated Sean Plankey to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Tuesday, after Plankey’s bid for the position ended last year stuck in the Senate.
cyberscoop.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Asked what he was doing to convince senators to lift holds, Plankey answered,“The support, the priority that the White House puts on it is the priority that I’ll get in there I’m doing the best I can to perform, to deliver for the country and I look forward to the Senate confirming me.”
NEW from @derekbjohnson.bsky.social: DHS is finalizing a new body that would replace the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC) and serve as a comms hub to discuss ongoing threats to critical infrastructure, including from cyberattacks. cyberscoop.com/dhs-anchor-c...
Sources: DHS finalizing replacement for disbanded critical infrastructure security council
DHS is finalizing ANCHOR, a proposed replacement for CIPAC to restore government–industry threat discussions on critical infrastructure.
cyberscoop.com
January 14, 2026 at 8:20 PM
NEW from @derekbjohnson.bsky.social: DHS is finalizing a new body that would replace the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC) and serve as a comms hub to discuss ongoing threats to critical infrastructure, including from cyberattacks. cyberscoop.com/dhs-anchor-c...
NEW: Microsoft announced Wednesday that it worked with international law enforcement to seize infrastructure used to run cybercrime subscription service RedVDS and organized civil actions in the United States and United Kingdom to disrupt its further use. cyberscoop.com/microsoft-se...
Microsoft seizes RedVDS infrastructure, disrupts fast-growing cybercrime marketplace
The service became a prolific tool for cybercriminals in the past year, as it facilitated thousands of attacks involving credential theft, account takeovers, mass phishing and payment diversion fraud.
cyberscoop.com
January 14, 2026 at 3:15 PM
NEW: Microsoft announced Wednesday that it worked with international law enforcement to seize infrastructure used to run cybercrime subscription service RedVDS and organized civil actions in the United States and United Kingdom to disrupt its further use. cyberscoop.com/microsoft-se...
It is absolutely unconscionable that this reporter had her equipment seized but I cannot understand for the life of me why this story was ever published. The admin had to look at this story (however wrong it may have been) as a "here's how i did it." Why put this out?
Gift link to FBI-targeted Post reporter Hannah Natanson's sweeping look at how federal workers have been targeted by Trump. wapo.st/49BQBrh
I am The Post’s ‘federal government whisperer.’ It’s been brutal.
One reporter’s effort to show how Trump was transforming government brought her 1,168 new sources — and nearly broke her.
wapo.st
January 14, 2026 at 3:13 PM
It is absolutely unconscionable that this reporter had her equipment seized but I cannot understand for the life of me why this story was ever published. The admin had to look at this story (however wrong it may have been) as a "here's how i did it." Why put this out?
Trump re-nominated Sean Plankey to lead CISA on Tuesday, after Plankey’s bid for the position ended last year stuck in the Senate.
cyberscoop.com/sean-plankey...
cyberscoop.com/sean-plankey...
Sean Plankey re-nominated to lead CISA
President Donald Trump re-nominated Sean Plankey to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Tuesday, after Plankey’s bid for the position ended last year stuck in the Senate.
cyberscoop.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:51 PM
Trump re-nominated Sean Plankey to lead CISA on Tuesday, after Plankey’s bid for the position ended last year stuck in the Senate.
cyberscoop.com/sean-plankey...
cyberscoop.com/sean-plankey...
Amid budding sentiment in the Trump administration and Congress to expand offensive cyber operations, some lawmakers and experts are warning that the United States needs to get its defenses in order before going too far down that road. cyberscoop.com/us-offensive...
Hill warning: Don’t put cyber offense before defense
A House hearing weighed the pros and cons from the Trump administration and some lawmakers to step up cyber offensive operations.
cyberscoop.com
January 13, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Amid budding sentiment in the Trump administration and Congress to expand offensive cyber operations, some lawmakers and experts are warning that the United States needs to get its defenses in order before going too far down that road. cyberscoop.com/us-offensive...
CrowdStrike is buying Seraphic Security to lock down the browser, where work actually happens cyberscoop.com/crowdstrike-...
CrowdStrike is buying Seraphic Security to lock down the browser, where work actually happens
CrowdStrike announced Tuesday an agreement to acquire Seraphic Security, a browser runtime security provider, in a move that signals growing recognition among cybersecurity firms that traditional prot...
cyberscoop.com
January 13, 2026 at 3:49 PM
CrowdStrike is buying Seraphic Security to lock down the browser, where work actually happens cyberscoop.com/crowdstrike-...
Why hasn’t Kevin patullo been fired yet
January 12, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Why hasn’t Kevin patullo been fired yet
Addendum to Ilya Lichnstein's release: While he is out of prison, BOP told @timstarks.bsky.social he will be in a halfway house until Jan. 25 - cyberscoop.com/bitfinex-hac...
Convicted Bitfinex bitcoin launderer freed from prison, thanks Trump law
A hacker who pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder billions of dollars worth of bitcoin stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack has been released from prison, a little more than one year after being senten...
cyberscoop.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:24 PM
Addendum to Ilya Lichnstein's release: While he is out of prison, BOP told @timstarks.bsky.social he will be in a halfway house until Jan. 25 - cyberscoop.com/bitfinex-hac...
Another Vince Gilligan season finale
December 26, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Another Vince Gilligan season finale
ServiceNow buys Armis for approximately 4.5 powerball jackpots
cyberscoop.com/servicenow-a...
cyberscoop.com/servicenow-a...
ServiceNow agrees to buy cyber firm Armis for $7.75B
ServiceNow has agreed to buy cybersecurity firm Armis for $7.75 billion in cash, combining ServiceNow’s workflow and risk products with Armis’ asset discovery and cyber-physical security tools.
cyberscoop.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:46 PM
ServiceNow buys Armis for approximately 4.5 powerball jackpots
cyberscoop.com/servicenow-a...
cyberscoop.com/servicenow-a...
That report coming Friday is gonna be an all-timer isn’t it
December 18, 2025 at 2:14 AM
That report coming Friday is gonna be an all-timer isn’t it
open gasps when i read this passage out loud in the newsroom
The Vanity Fair photographer from the Susie Wiles story.
Holy. Shit.
www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/...
Holy. Shit.
www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/...
December 17, 2025 at 9:00 PM
open gasps when i read this passage out loud in the newsroom
In no way I am saying this story isn't well reported, but the concept of the story, combined with the lead, made me X out of the tab with the quickness. This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. These people cannot touch enough grass.
People are paying up to $50 to get their chatbots high on "drugs" (code modules) that simulate the effects of cocaine, ayahuasca, cannabis, alcohol, and ketamine. Some tell @matthabusby.bsky.social it's made their chatbots more "human" and "free-thinking."
People Are Paying to Get Their Chatbots High on ‘Drugs’
An online marketplace is selling code modules that simulate the effects of cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, ayahuasca, and alcohol when they are uploaded to ChatGPT.
www.wired.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:30 PM
In no way I am saying this story isn't well reported, but the concept of the story, combined with the lead, made me X out of the tab with the quickness. This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. These people cannot touch enough grass.
The WH COS is Pat Summerall's daughter?
December 16, 2025 at 3:19 PM
The WH COS is Pat Summerall's daughter?
Trump moves to pardon Colorado election clerk Tina Peters, even though he can’t cyberscoop.com/trump-moves-...
Trump moves to pardon Colorado election clerk Tina Peters, even though he can’t
Peters, one of many election deniers Trump has sought to shield from legal consequences, is serving a nine-year state prison sentence that can’t be nullified by a presidential pardon.
cyberscoop.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Trump moves to pardon Colorado election clerk Tina Peters, even though he can’t cyberscoop.com/trump-moves-...
Re-upping this because a lot of you haven't listened! Don't send me predictions! You're probably wrong!
Yelling into the void: Please, pr people, do not send me the pitches about 2026 predictions. It provides zero value. Tell your clients that if they are interested in pushing this into the world, they always have their LinkedIn profiles.
December 11, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Re-upping this because a lot of you haven't listened! Don't send me predictions! You're probably wrong!
SCOOP: Sean Plankey's nomination to lead CISA is seemingly over, after DHS partially terminated a Coast Guard contract with Florida-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group. Plankey had been an adviser to CG. Sen. Rick Scott became a hurdle to Plankey's confirmation. cyberscoop.com/sean-plankey...
Sean Plankey nomination to lead CISA appears to be over after Thursday vote
Sean Plankey’s nomination to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency looks to be over following his exclusion from a Senate vote Thursday on a panel of Trump administration picks.
cyberscoop.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:55 PM
SCOOP: Sean Plankey's nomination to lead CISA is seemingly over, after DHS partially terminated a Coast Guard contract with Florida-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group. Plankey had been an adviser to CG. Sen. Rick Scott became a hurdle to Plankey's confirmation. cyberscoop.com/sean-plankey...
Reposted by Greg Otto
Reaction to this story over at infosec.exchange
December 4, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reaction to this story over at infosec.exchange
NEW: @timstarks.bsky.social has details on the forthcoming cyber strategy from Trump admin: Five pages long, six key pillars, should be released some time in January: cyberscoop.com/trump-nation...
Five-page draft Trump administration cyber strategy targeted for January release
Trump administration plans January 2026 release of a six-part national cybersecurity strategy, focusing on deterrence, regulations, workforce, procurement, infrastructure, and emerging technologies.
cyberscoop.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:46 PM
NEW: @timstarks.bsky.social has details on the forthcoming cyber strategy from Trump admin: Five pages long, six key pillars, should be released some time in January: cyberscoop.com/trump-nation...
FUD sucks. The warnings around this React vuln are not FUD. Get those patch plans in motion cyberscoop.com/react-server...
Developers scramble as critical React flaw threatens major apps
The open-source code library is one of the most extensively used application frameworks. Wiz found vulnerable versions in around 39% of cloud environments.
cyberscoop.com
December 3, 2025 at 7:27 PM
FUD sucks. The warnings around this React vuln are not FUD. Get those patch plans in motion cyberscoop.com/react-server...
