Cybersecurity & Privacy
The "Stein Standard": What the OpenAI ruling means for privacy and discovery
On Jan. 5, 2026, U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein affirmed a significant discovery order requiring OpenAI to produce 20 million de-identified ChatGPT conversation logs to plaintiffs in the consolidated copyright litigation involving The New York Times and other publishers.
As security and privacy professionals, we often warn about “Shadow AI” and data leakage. This ruling makes those risks concrete. Here is a balanced analysis of what happened and what it means for Canadian organizations.
NYC mayoral inauguration bans Flipper Zero, Raspberry Pi devices The NYC mayoral inauguration has specifically banned Flipper Zero and Raspberry Pi devices from the event. While many common items like weapons and large bags are prohibited, these two specific tech devices were singled out, causing confusion as laptops and phones remain allowed.
French authorities investigate AI ‘undressing’ deepfakes on X French authorities are investigating AI-generated deepfakes on X after hundreds of women and teens reported non-consensual sexually explicit images created using the Grok chatbot. This investigation is part of an existing probe into X, with potential penalties including prison time and fines.
New GlassWorm malware wave targets Macs with trojanized crypto wallets The GlassWorm malware has launched a new wave targeting macOS developers by distributing trojanized crypto wallets through malicious VSCode extensions on the OpenVSX registry. This campaign, which now also targets Keychain passwords, attempts to replace legitimate hardware wallet applications with malicious versions, though this specific functionality is currently failing.
Hackers claim to hack Resecurity, firm says it was a honeypot Hackers claiming to be the “Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters” allege they breached Resecurity and stole sensitive data, but Resecurity states the accessed systems were a honeypot containing fake information designed to monitor the attackers. The cybersecurity firm claims it collected extensive intelligence on the threat actor’s tactics and infrastructure, which has been shared with law enforcement.
US Action in Venezuela Provokes Cyberattack Speculation The United States launched an armed attack on Venezuela, involving explosions in Caracas and the removal of its president, with Cyber Command involvement. While a grid outage occurred, it remains unclear if a cyberattack was the cause, though the US has previously used cyber warfare and may have crippled Venezuela’s oil infrastructure with a cyberattack weeks prior.
GitHub - fabriziosalmi/nis2-public: Automated NIS2 Directive compliance scanning and reporting tool The nis2-public GitHub repository provides an automated NIS2 Directive compliance scanning and reporting tool. It features comprehensive security checks, multiple report formats (HTML, JSON, Markdown), and easy Docker deployment, with options for Prometheus and Grafana integration.
Thousands of ColdFusion exploit attempts spotted during Christmas holiday During the Christmas 2025 holiday, thousands of exploit attempts were detected targeting Adobe ColdFusion vulnerabilities. A single threat actor, operating from Japan-based infrastructure, was responsible for approximately 98% of the observed attack traffic, exploiting over 10 ColdFusion CVEs from 2023-2024.
The State of Blocking: A Guide to Ad Blockers on iOS & iPadOS
For years, “system-wide” ad blocking on iPhone typically meant a trade-off: the most aggressive options relied on a local, device-level tunnel (often presented as a VPN). It worked, but it could add operational friction — especially for anyone who also needs a corporate VPN.
In 2026, the platform story is materially better, but it is not magical.
Two Apple capabilities matter most:
- Encrypted DNS (DoH/DoT) configured at the OS level: mature, stable, and broadly useful for cutting tracking across the device — with important precedence rules when a full VPN is active.
- iOS 26 URL filtering (NEURLFilter): a meaningful architectural shift, but best viewed as an emerging foundation that is not yet universally available to consumer-grade ad blockers.
If you want the simplest answer: use a Safari content blocker for Safari, and use DNS filtering for cross-app tracking reduction. Treat “VPN-style” blockers as a power option when you explicitly need their added capabilities.
The ‘Delete’ Button Is a Lie: A Canadian’s Guide to AI Data Retention
When you hit “delete” on a conversation with ChatGPT or Gemini, you likely expect it to vanish. In reality, that data often enters a digital limbo—accessible to the provider for 30 days, three years, or even seven years for certain safety-classifier metadata, depending on the fine print you didn’t read.
For paid subscribers, the assumption of privacy is dangerous. While corporate “Team” and “Enterprise” plans typically offer stronger contractual controls (including training restrictions and admin-managed retention), “Pro” and “Plus” users are frequently treated as consumers with slightly better perks, not better privacy.