This Week in Cybersecurity
Each week at Applied Tech we recap the biggest cybersecurity news headlines from the week to keep you informed and ready to face the latest threats. Here’s your breakdown for the week of July 11th – July 17th!
Pentagon Hits Pause on CMMC Phase II Rollout
The Department of War has suspended the planned Phase II rollout of CMMC, pausing mandatory third-party (C3PAO) assessments that were set to begin November 10, 2026, while it conducts a 60-day review. The review will evaluate the program’s cost and impact on the defense industrial base, especially small and mid-sized businesses.
Importantly, CMMC itself hasn’t been eliminated—Phase I self-assessment requirements and NIST SP 800-171 compliance under DFARS 252.204-7012 remain fully in effect. Contractors should keep maintaining their SPRS scores and cybersecurity posture, since self-attestation still carries False Claims Act exposure.
Source: Heartland Business Systems
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Coca-Cola's Fairlife Brand Hit by Ransomware, Halts U.S. Dairy Production
Coca-Cola disclosed in an SEC filing that its Fairlife dairy subsidiary suffered a ransomware attack that compromised production-related systems, forcing a temporary halt to U.S. manufacturing. The company says product quality and safety weren’t affected, and Canadian operations continue unimpeded. No ransomware group has claimed responsibility, and Coca-Cola hasn’t confirmed whether data was stolen or an extortion demand made. The investigation is ongoing, with law enforcement now involved.
Source: BleepingComputer
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Trump Administration Unveils "Gold Eagle" Cyber Defense Program
The White House launched Gold Eagle, a new coordination mechanism that pairs open-source maintainers with critical infrastructure operators to speed up vulnerability detection, prioritization, and patching. The initiative involves CISA, the Treasury Department, and the Department of War working with private-sector partners, and stems from the AI executive order President Trump signed on June 2.
Officials say Gold Eagle is already triaging vulnerability reports across industries and coordinating scan verification, though specifics on participating companies and AI models used haven’t been disclosed. The launch follows the administration lifting restrictions on Anthropic’s latest AI models and reports that CISA is using Claude to scan government software for flaws.
Source: SecurityWeek
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New macOS Malware "ClickLock" Coerces Victims Into Typing Their Password
ClickLock is a new macOS infostealer that, when a victim refuses to enter their password at a fake system prompt, kills apps like Finder, Dock, and browsers every 210 milliseconds (for up to 83 hours) until they comply. Once entered, it steals Chrome’s Safe Storage key, browser credentials and cookies, crypto wallets, password manager vaults, and the Keychain, then exfiltrates everything via Telegram bots.
Group-IB has tracked at least 100 targets across 33 countries since May and says the app-killing coercion loop has no legitimate use case. Security experts advise never typing a password if a Mac starts unexpectedly killing apps, and instead force-restarting into Safe Mode.
Source: The Hacker News
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