London, UK, Aug 27th 2025 - inforcer is proud to announce it has joined the Center for Internet Security (CIS) as a CIS SecureSuite Product Vendor Member.

For decades, Venables served as CISO and cyber executive across some of the world's largest organizations, including Google Cloud, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche BankSAN FRANCISCO, April 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ballistic Ventures , the venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to funding and incubating entrepreneurs and innovations in cybersecurity, is pleased to announce that Phil Venables , the renowned cybersecurity leader and former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Google Cloud, has joined the firm as a Venture Partner. Venables brings decades of experience in building and advising cybersecurity and risk management programs across some of the world's most influential companies and government bodies.With a distinguished career spanning leadership roles at Google Cloud, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank, Venables has played a pivotal role in shaping the cybersecurity landscape. His deep experience in both the private and public sectors, including serving on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), makes him an invaluable addition to the Ballistic team."We have known and worked with Phil for years, and he was our first call to be a trusted advisor when assembling Ballistic," said Ted Schlein , Co-founder and General Partner at Ballistic Ventures. "Phil's unparalleled expertise in securing critical systems, advising governments, and building resilient cybersecurity programs has already been tremendously valuable to us, and we're pleased to have him join us in an even greater capacity as Venture Partner. His insights will also help guide our portfolio companies as they tackle the ever-evolving security threats of today and tomorrow."Venables' contributions to the cybersecurity industry are extensive. He helped found the Center for Internet Security (CIS) and served on its board from 2014 until 2020, and he currently serves on multiple boards and committees, including for MITRE's Science and Technology Advisory Committee, HackerOne, Interos, Ballistic portfolio company Veza , and he is Strategic Security Advisor at Google Cloud

Criminals are blackmailing YouTube creators into adding malicious crypto-mining malware to their videos, according to research from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.The hackers have been taking advantage of the growth in Russia of Windows Packet Divert drivers, which enable internet users to circumvent geographic restrictions.Kaspersky’s systems have detected these drivers on 2.4 million devices over the past six months, with each successive month since September witnessing an increase in downloads.The popularity of these drivers has led to a growth in YouTube videos on how to download and install them. But the criminals have even found a way to insert links to the SilentCryptoMiner malware into the descriptions of such videos.One increasingly common tactic is to submit a copyright strike against a video and then contact its creator, claiming to be the original developer of the driver it discusses.According to Kaspersky, the criminals were able to reach one popular YouTuber with 60,000 subscribers, ultimately adding a malicious link to videos with over 400,000 views.But instead of leading to a legitimate repository such as GitHub, the offending links took viewers to an infected archive, which has since racked up over 40,000 downloads.Kaspersky estimates that, by threatening YouTube creators with copyright strikes and takedowns, the criminals responsible have been able to infect some 2,000 computers in Russia with crypto-mining malware.However, the security company suggests that the total could be significantly higher if it included other campaigns that have been launched in Telegram channels.While crypto-mining malware has been around for several years now, Leonid Bezvershenko—a Security Researcher at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team—says that pressuring creators with false copyright complaints is a more aggressive and unique tactic.“While certain threats—like miners and info stealers—regularly leverage social platforms for distribution, this tactic of coercing influencers shows how cybercriminals are evolving,” he tells Decrypt. “By capitalizing on the trust between YouTubers and their audiences, attackers create large-scale infection opportunities.”The mining malware used by the attackers, SilentCryptoMiner, is based on the well-known open-source miner XMRig, and is used to mine such tokens as Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Monero, and Ravencoin.It injects itself into a computer’s system procedures via process hollowing, and can be controlled remotely by its originators, who can stop mining whenever the original system procedure is active.“In this specific campaign, most of the victims we identified are in Russia, and the malware itself was primarily available to Russian IP addresses,” confirms Bezvershenko, who nonetheless affirms that attackers often go wherever they see an opportunity.This latest campaign comes at a time when crypto-mining viruses have become widespread as a form of malware, with the Center for Internet Security finding that CoinMiner was its second-most observed malware of 2024, behind drive-by downloader SocGholish.And in December of last year, cybersecurity researchers at ReversingLabs found that attackers are increasingly inserting crypto-mining malware in popular open source coding packages and tools, which can often attract hundreds of thousands of weekly downloads.While it may be hard to avoid legitimate-yet-infected coding packages if you’re a developer, Kaspersky advises general web users to stay vigilant and verify the source of any download.As Bezvershenko says, “If a YouTube creator or a guide asks you to disable your antivirus or claims a file is completely safe, treat it with caution and perform an additional security check.”Edited by Stacy Elliott.Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more