Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Conduent Gets Sued; US Government's Cyber Shutdown Woes; Hacktivist Hits RiseThe latest ISMG Editors' Panel tackles: post-hack legal fallout for Conduent after it suffered the year's biggest health data breach, the U.S. government's shutdown complicating its response to the breach of vendor F5 and the rise in attacks targeting Western critical national infrastructure.

Officials Say Major Staffing Cuts and Furloughs Undercut Response to F5 CyberattackCurrent and former federal officials tell Information Security Media Group furloughs and leadership gaps across the federal cyber ecosystem have hindered the U.S. government's ability to coordinate response efforts after a nation-state actor exploited flaws in F5’s BIG-IP systems amid the shutdown.

Federal Agencies Ordered to Patch or Decommission F5 Devices Amid Imminent RiskAn advanced nation-state threat actor stole sensitive F5 source code and vulnerability data to craft tailored exploits, prompting an emergency directive amid a U.S. government shutdown that has left cyber defenses strained and federal networks at "imminent risk."

UNC5174 Exploited F5 BIG-IP and ScreenConnect VulnerabilitiesA likely Chinese hacker-for-hire used high-profile vulnerabilities in a campaign targeting a slew of Southeast Asian and U.S. governmental and research organizations, says threat intel firm Mandiant. Rapid exploitation of newly patched flaws has become a hallmark of Chinese threat actors.