Wind and solar take a cyber hit.

Poland says weak security left parts of its power grid exposed. A Russian-linked hacker alliance threatens Denmark with a promised cyber offensive. Fancy Bear moves fast on a new Microsoft Office flaw, hitting Ukrainian and EU targets. Researchers find a sprawling supply chain attack buried in the ClawdBot AI ecosystem. A new report looks at how threats are shaping the work of journalists and security researchers. A stealthy Windows malware campaign blends Pulsar RAT with Stealerv37. A former Google engineer is convicted of stealing AI trade secrets for China. The latest cybersecurity funding and deal news. On our Afternoon Cyber Tea segment, Microsoft’s Ann Johnson chats with Dr. Lorrie Cranor from Carnegie Mellon about security design. The AI dinosaur that knew too much.

Today is Monday February 2nd 2026. I’m Dave Bittner. And this is your CyberWire Intel Briefing.

Poland's energy infrastructure lacked basic security measures. 

A Polish government report says Russian state-linked hackers breached parts of Poland’s energy infrastructure by exploiting basic security failures, including default usernames, passwords, and the absence of multi-factor authentication. Poland’s Computer Emergency Response Team, part of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, detailed intrusions late last year affecting wind farms, solar farms, and a heat-and-power plant. The attackers attempted to deploy destructive wiper malware designed to erase systems and potentially disrupt operations. While the malware was stopped at the heat-and-power plant, monitoring and control systems at the wind and solar sites were rendered inoperable. Despite the damage, no power outages occurred, and officials said grid stability was never at risk. Earlier reporting by cybersecurity firms linked the incident to Sandworm, but Poland’s CERT attributed the attack to the Russian group Berserk Bear, also known as Dragonfly.

Russian Legion threatens Denmark with a large-scale cyberattack. 

Security firm Truesec reports that a newly formed Russian hacker alliance calling itself the Russian Legion has threatened Denmark with a large-scale cyberattack dubbed “OpDenmark.” The group, announced on January 27, 2026, is led by Cardinal and includes The White Pulse, Russian Partizan, and Inteid, which recently carried out a distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attack against a Danish public service site. The hackers issued an ultimatum on Telegram demanding Denmark withdraw a planned 1.5 billion DKK military aid package to Ukraine, warning that DDoS attacks were only the beginning. Since then, they have claimed responsibility for multiple DDoS attacks, including against energy sector organizations. Truesec assesses the group as likely state-aligned but not state-funded, and notes that such campaigns often rely on intimidation and disruption rather than escalating to severe cyber damage.

Fancy Bear exploits a Microsoft Office vulnerability to target Ukrainian and EU organizations. 

Ukrainian cyber authorities warn that the Russian-linked hacking group Fancy Bear, also known as APT28, is exploiting a recently disclosed Microsoft Office vulnerability to target Ukrainian and European Union organizations. Ukraine’s national computer emergency response team, CERT-UA, reported finding malicious Word documents abusing CVE-2026-21509, a high-severity flaw disclosed by Microsoft on January 26. According to CERT-UA, the vulnerability was exploited in the wild before many users had applied updates. The attack chain involved phishing emails with weaponized documents that triggered external connections, downloaded malicious files, and ultimately deployed the Covenant command-and-control framework using COM hijacking techniques. Microsoft confirmed active exploitation and urged users to apply updates or restart Office applications. CERT-UA warned that attacks are likely to increase due to patching delays and identified additional EU-focused documents using the same exploit.

Notepad++ blames a compromise on its former shared hosting provider. 

The maintainer of Notepad++ says a months-long security incident stemmed from a compromise at its former shared hosting provider, not from vulnerabilities in Notepad++ code itself. According to investigators, attackers intercepted and selectively redirected update traffic for certain users to malicious servers by abusing compromised hosting infrastructure and stolen internal credentials. The activity likely began in June 2025 and continued, in limited form, until early December. Multiple researchers assessed the attacker as likely a Chinese state-sponsored group, citing the highly targeted nature of the campaign. The hosting provider says access to the server ended in September, but leaked credentials allowed traffic manipulation until December. In response, Notepad++ migrated to a new host and strengthened update verification, adding certificate, signature, and XML signing checks. Users are urged to update manually to the latest version.

Researchers uncover a large-scale supply chain attack abusing the ClawdBot AI assistant ecosystem. 

Researchers have uncovered a large-scale supply chain attack abusing the ClawdBot AI assistant ecosystem, where more than 230 malicious “skills” were published to the official ClawHub registry and GitHub between late January and early February 2026. The skills masqueraded as cryptocurrency trading and automation tools but relied on social engineering to trick users into running malicious commands or downloading fake “authentication” tools. Once executed, the malware targeted both macOS and Windows systems, stealing cryptocurrency wallet data, exchange API keys, browser passwords, SSH credentials, and cloud secrets. All malicious skills shared the same command-and-control infrastructure and showed no evidence of security review before publication. Despite reports to maintainers, most skills reportedly remain online, highlighting serious security gaps in emerging AI skills marketplaces and the growing risk of trust-based supply chain attacks.

A new report examines legal and criminal threats targeting security researchers and journalists. 

A February 2026 report by “Dissent Doe” and Zack Whittaker examines how legal and criminal threats affect security researchers and journalists. In a pilot survey of 112 respondents, 77% said they had been threatened due to their work, while 23% reported no threats. About half reported at least one legal threat, and 69% said they or their employer faced legal action or legal process, often via emails or demand letters. Most consulted a lawyer, and 63% did not retract or change their work. Criminal threats were reported by 39 of 86 respondents, with journalists more likely than researchers to face them. Many threats included violence, but few were deemed credible, and only 41% contacted law enforcement. Still, 44% said fear of threats shaped their choices, showing a chilling effect even when work continued.

A new Windows malware campaign combines Pulsar RAT with Stealerv37. 

Researchers at Point Wild warn of a new Windows malware campaign combining the Pulsar RAT with Stealerv37, designed to steal credentials, cryptocurrency, and gaming accounts. The malware runs entirely in memory, using built-in Windows tools to evade detection and injecting itself into trusted processes like explorer.exe. Unusually, attackers can interact with victims through a live chat window while stealing data. The tools enable webcam and microphone access, password theft, clipboard hijacking, and broad data harvesting. Stolen information is exfiltrated via Discord and Telegram, highlighting a highly interactive and evasive threat.

A U.S. federal jury convicts a former Google software engineer of stealing AI trade secrets and sharing them with Chinese technology firms.

A U.S. federal jury has convicted Linwei Ding, a former Google software engineer, of stealing sensitive AI supercomputing trade secrets and sharing them with Chinese technology firms. Prosecutors said Ding exfiltrated more than 2,000 pages of confidential data between 2022 and 2023, including details on Google’s AI infrastructure, custom chips, and large-scale orchestration systems. While employed at Google, Ding allegedly maintained undisclosed ties to China-based companies, negotiated a CTO role, and later founded his own AI firm in China. Evidence showed he sought to support China’s technological ambitions and applied to a government-backed talent program. Ding also concealed his activities from Google, including his travel to China. After an 11-day trial, he was convicted on multiple counts of economic espionage and trade secret theft, with sentencing pending.

Business break down. 

Cybersecurity funding and deal activity remains strong, with a mix of large late-stage rounds, early-stage raises, and consolidation across multiple regions. Upwind led the week with a $250 million Series B to expand its cloud security platform across data, AI, and code. Claroty followed with $150 million in new funding plus $50 million in secondary financing to accelerate global growth in cyber-physical systems security. Mid-stage and seed rounds supported firms tackling fraud prevention, AI code security, SOC automation, remote access, remediation, and application security, reflecting continued investor interest in operational security and developer-focused tools. Funding ranged from $37 million Series A rounds to sub-$1 million pre-seed investments. M&A activity also remained active, with acquisitions spanning AI governance, GRC, API security testing, and managed services, underscoring ongoing platform expansion and market consolidation as vendors seek broader, integrated security offerings.

 

The AI dinosaur that knew too much. 

Picture a brightly colored, internet-connected dinosaur plush, marketed as a friendly AI companion that chats with toddlers, learns their preferences, and promises safe, wholesome conversations. Now picture that dinosaur quietly dumping its entire memory onto the open web. Security researchers Joseph Thacker and Joel Margolis found that Bondu’s AI dinosaur toys exposed more than 50,000 private chat logs to anyone with a Gmail account. No hacking required. Just log in and read children’s names, birthdays, family details, and every whispered fear or favorite snack shared with a stuffed animal.

Thacker stumbled on the flaw within minutes after a neighbor asked if the toy was safe. Bondu took the console offline quickly and says there’s no evidence others accessed the data, but the damage was already clear. The company worked hard to stop the dinosaur from saying anything inappropriate, even offering a bounty for bad responses, while leaving the entire conversation database wide open. The takeaway is uncomfortable: an AI toy that remembers everything also exposes everything, and toddlers shouldn’t need operational security training to play with a plush dinosaur.

And that’s the CyberWire.

For links to all of today’s stories, check out our Daily Briefing at the cyberwire dot com.

 

 

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