Can Politics Affect Cybersecurity?
Welcome to the 137th edition of HX Weekly. When we first launched this newsletter, our editorial team made a deliberate choice to steer clear of political content. But as the digital landscape has evolved, it’s become undeniable that major cybersecurity shifts are deeply intertwined with political dynamics, government policies, and fiscal limitations. While cyber threats don’t care about politics, the response to them often is political—proving that cybersecurity is an issue everyone should support, regardless of party lines.
The Week in Threats: Social Engineering & Infrastructure Pressures
This week’s headlines show how geopolitical shifts, sophisticated fraud, and infrastructure changes are colliding:
- Healthcare & Public Phishing: Beware of convincing fake MyChart emails featuring alarming test results designed to trick patients into installing malware. Meanwhile, North Korean and Iranian threat actors are expanding fraudulent recruiting schemes into healthcare, sales, and cross-platform Remote Access Trojans (RATs) delivered via coding tests.
- Deceptive Technical Traps: Campaigns like TerminalFix are utilizing fake Cloudflare CAPTCHAs to deploy reverse-tunnel backdoors, while malicious software installers are actively working to disable Windows Update and weaken Microsoft Defender.
- Massive Data Breaks & RMM Campaigns: The FBI is actively probing a service that leaked over 153 million driver’s licenses, and the U.S. has become the top target in a massive RMM (Remote Monitoring and Management) phishing campaign spanning 46 countries.
- Critical Infrastructure Shifts: Texas is looking to the private sector for water cybersecurity help via its “Watershed 250” test program, even as CISA reportedly scraps six free cybersecurity assessments for critical infrastructure operators.
What Now? Staying Informed in a Changing Landscape
When public sector resources shift and threats scale globally, individual awareness becomes your strongest shield:
- Stay in the Know: Understanding what’s happening behind the headlines is one of the best ways to protect yourself. Awareness builds resilience.
- Lean on Dedicated Institutions: In times of shifting political and fiscal landscapes, independent resources and educational institutions like the Hexagon Center are more vital than ever for keeping the public safe.
- Know Your Recovery Steps: Catch our featured PSA this week, “What to do if you think you’re a victim of vishing?”, and explore our latest More You digital detox video on how to use “digital circuit breakers” to protect your mental health and cyber hygiene.
Inside Hexagon: Expanding Our Creative Footprint
This week marks a major milestone for our content production: for the very first time, Hexagon Center published a More You PSA in wide format! Going forward, you can expect a brand-new More You PSA every Wednesday at 10 AM to help anchor your digital detox habits right through the middle of the workweek.
We are committed to educating and warning the public about information integrity and cybersecurity, and there are many exciting projects ahead. Be sure to subscribe to HX Weekly at hexagoncenter.org
and watch all our latest PSAs and T3 videos on our YouTube channel. Don’t forget to like and subscribe to our social media profiles!
Stay vigilant,
— The Hexagon Center Team
