Proposed cuts put CISA in focus.

This episode of CyberWire Daily examines a proposed $707 million budget cut to CISA for fiscal year 2027, which would refocus the agency on federal network protection while eliminating programs like school safety initiatives and international stakeholder engagement. The segment highlights growing concerns over Russian-Iranian cyber cooperation, with allegations of coordinated satellite surveillance and cyber operations targeting regional infrastructure. Meanwhile, emerging threats include new BPF door malware variants, a GPU-based Rohammer attack enabling privilege escalation, and a major cyberattack disrupting Northern Ireland’s school IT systems. In a featured Industry Voices segment, John Anthony Smith, founder and CISO of Phoenix 24, argues that organizations are failing to improve security despite investing in technology—because they neglect proper configuration, execution, and resilience. He emphasizes that most breaches are not due to missing tools but to poor implementation, alert fatigue, and a lack of survivable backups. Smith urges executives to shift focus from prevention to resiliency, advocating for orchestrated, multi-layered recovery strategies. The episode concludes with a frustrated researcher releasing exploit code for an unpatched Windows zero-day, underscoring the urgency of proactive defense and real-world threat readiness.