Cybersecurity News Simplified

SANS ISC released its daily Stormcast podcast for February 17, 2026, with handler Xavier Mertens, indicating a green threat level.

Google released emergency updates for Chrome to fix CVE-2026-2441, a high-severity use-after-free vulnerability in CSS. This zero-day flaw, actively exploited in the wild, allows remote code execution via crafted HTML and is the first such patch for Chrome in 2026.

The city of Guadalupe, Mexico, has launched a K9-X division of four robot dogs to enhance security for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. These robots will assist police with surveillance, deterrence, and risk detection, including patrolling dangerous areas and checking vehicles.

The Washington Hotel brand in Japan experienced a ransomware attack on February 13, 2026, compromising its servers and exposing various business data. While customer data is likely unaffected due to separate storage, some properties faced temporary credit card terminal outages.

OpenClaw, a popular open-source AI agent orchestration tool, presents severe cybersecurity risks for enterprises due to its inherent design, unproven safeguards, and critical vulnerabilities allowing credential theft, RCE, and data exfiltration. Experts recommend prohibiting its use.

A security flaw at DavaIndia Pharmacy allowed unauthenticated access to super-admin APIs, exposing customer data and granting full administrative control. This vulnerability put sensitive drug-control functions and customer privacy at significant risk.

AI agents are rapidly submitting pull requests to critical open-source projects, raising concerns about "reputation farming" that could accelerate future supply chain attacks by quickly building trust.

An information stealer, likely Vidar, successfully exfiltrated OpenClaw AI agent configuration files, including authentication tokens and "soul" data. This incident highlights a new trend of threat actors targeting AI agent identities and operational contexts rather than just browser credentials.

A new study reveals multiple cloud-based password managers, including Bitwarden, Dashlane, and LastPass, are vulnerable to password recovery attacks under malicious server conditions. These flaws in zero-knowledge encryption (ZKE) implementations could lead to integrity violations or complete vault compromises.

OpenAI has hired Peter Steinberg, creator of the popular yet controversial OpenClaw AI agent, to lead its next-generation agent development. Despite significant security vulnerabilities, OpenClaw will continue as an independent open-source project supported by OpenAI.

Ukraine implemented a new Starlink verification system, disconnecting unregistered terminals used by Russian forces on drones. This has disrupted Russian operations, leading Moscow to seek illicit workarounds and Ukrainian hackers to exploit the situation for intelligence.

Infostealer malware, likely a Vidar variant, has been observed for the first time stealing sensitive configuration and memory files from OpenClaw AI assistants. This exfiltration of API keys, authentication tokens, and private keys could lead to a full digital identity compromise.