AI is wildly disrupting the world at large, and tech more specifically, and one manifestation of that is the advent of new devices like smart glasses. I’ve been covering the emergence of wearables, virtual reality and augmented reality for over 15 years, but the current moment is more in flux than any I’ve witnessed.

This week, I’ll be in Long Beach, California, for AWE 2026, the biggest AR/VR-focused conference of the year. I’ll be seeing and reporting on what’s new and how AI is taking up residence in what a lot of companies hope will be everyday eyewear for all of us.

Meta already has tons of smart glasses, Google is releasing a wave of its own later this year, and Snap, a maker of smart glasses for years before Meta, has a pair of augmented reality Spectacles planned for 2026 as well. Apple’s new infusion of Siri AI into all its devices, announced last week at WWDC — where I got an in-depth look at how Siri works — hints at smart glasses that could arrive next year. It’s a lot to keep track of.

VR’s still got things going on, too. Apple is evolving its Vision Pro software, Bytedance-owned Pico has a high-end mixed-reality headset on its way, and Valve’s standalone Steam Frame should arrive this summer. Google and Xreal are pushing into new territory with the VR-like, glasses-sized Project Aura, also expected this year.

All this in the middle of inflation and soaring electronics prices. 

At AWE, I’ll be asking questions and exploring what’s happening while Google, Meta and Apple keep advancing in the space, and peeking around the corner at chips, displays and sensors (and experiences) that could show us where wearables are heading next.

Editors’ note: Scott Stein’s travel costs for the AWE conference were covered by Snap. The judgments and opinions of CNET are our own.

The overall power output is not bad, though. On “Want Want” by Maggie Rogers, I was impressed by the grungy, guttural sound thanks to the sub. On “So Neurotic” by the band Ex-Vöid, I was expecting total mush as the guitars intersect, but it’s loud, jangly, and clear. “Spangled” by the band Fust had bone-crunching bass coming through the sub as well.

Gaming, Sports, and News

Photograph: John Brandon

For video games, the lack of room-filling surround sound became even more noticeable. Similar to movies and shows, the game Forza Horizon 6 is supposed to blast you with engine sounds and exhaust, but it all felt too thin and not spacious enough. Granted, that game doesn’t take advantage of Dolby Atmos enough, but I was not impressed with overall oomph.

That is until I tested Halo: Infinite. Laser blasts, screeching aliens, and loud explosions at least seemed to come from a few different angles in the room. I still missed the cacophony of Atmos-powered sound coming from higher-end soundbars like the Sonos Arc.

I switched to sports for a while, catching up on the NBA playoffs using the YouTube TV app. The broadcasters were easy to hear, but the crowd noise was more like a low murmur, almost like using a noise generator. What you want is to feel like you’re at the game and can hear people screaming and shouting during the live broadcast. A news program on my local Fox station sounded clear and distinct, though. That’s not surprising because the A65K certainly has enough power and distinct audio drivers, even if the surround sound is just so-so.

In the end, I felt the TCL A65K matched my expectations. It’s small enough to fit on a kitchen counter or near a smaller television. It’s priced much lower than the high-end models that actually deliver room-filling home theater surround sound. Many of the tracks I played to test music sounded pleasing enough if not thunderous and room-filling. If your goal is to save space and not pay an exorbitant sum, the TCL A65K is a compact and feature-rich choice.

Google rolled out an experimental flight simulator inside its web-based Earth viewer this week. The addition revives a tool long present in the desktop software and opens it to anyone who opens a browser tab. People have been able to access a version of this tool in the desktop software for years, though it stayed mostly out of sight. The web edition brings it to anyone with a browser and an internet connection without extra software.

Getting to the Google Flight Simulator is much easier than you may think; just a few clicks on a computer, you’re ready to go. Go to earth.google.com and then click the Explore Earth button at the top. Now, navigate to the Tools menu and scroll down to find the flying simulator option. When you click on it, the view switches to a cockpit perspective, and you are now looking at the spot you were before zooming in on. Changing the map view to Satellite is like icing on the cake because you can see everything in stunning high-resolution photos and 3D.

Sale

REALFLIGHT Evolution RC Flight Simulator Software with Interlink DX Controller Included RFL2000 Air/Heli…

• A fresh and modern user interface that’s even easier and more intuitive to use, virtually eliminating the need to use a mouse or keyboard with the…
• More than a dozen of the newest and most popular ultra micro, sport, scale, EDF and trainer aircraft from E-flite, HobbyZone and Hangar 9 plus…
• Fly at the newest PhotoField – the main flying site from Triple Tree Aerodrome, home of the world-famous “Joe Nall” and other events

Controls are also far more basic than you might expect, which is intentional. The arrow keys control steering and climbing, while the Page Up and Page Down keys control engine power. If you don’t enjoy keymashing, you can make manual adjustments by clicking on the power gauge. The important thing to remember is that you may switch to mouse control by just clicking within the main display.

The first time you try to fly, you’ll probably roll too quickly and feel all over the place. This is because the flight model is a little rough around the edges, but with little practice, you’ll get the feel of it. If you crash into a building, don’t worry; simply click the restart prompt to get back in the air. Flying over actual satellite photographs dramatically changes the game. When data is available, cities look to be actual cities with real building footprints and heights, and mountain ranges and coastlines all correspond to what you see in the photographs. Even low passes over landmark buildings give a far different impression of size than a 2D map. Of course, how well everything works depends on your connection and the operating system you’re using. If you fly too fast or make too many sharp maneuvers, loading delays may become an issue. In the worst-case scenario, you may encounter visual glitches, albeit these are infrequent.

Google incorporated this little feature as part of their ongoing effort to bring all of the advantages of the desktop version to the web browser. Apparently, customers requested that the flight simulator be included in the web version, and it was. The company has indicated that it was merely something they thought would be enjoyable to add, which makes sense given that it is a tiny feature that is not expressly designed to help you become a Master Pilot. Everything is handled by a single type of airplane, with no weather impacts or sophisticated systems to cope with. Of course, if you’re serious about flying, there are better expert flight simulators out there. For the time being, and at no cost, this tiny selection is a wonderful addition.
[Source]

Virtualization

Free VM Essentials license and cut-price Zerto dangled at customers eyeing a platform escape

HPE is taking advantage of VMware’s expensive licensing changes by offering customers free use of its own VM Essentials product for a year,  plus a $1 license for its Zerto data protection product to help ease migrations.

The jolly green giant  announced the cheapies at the Partner Growth Summit staged alongside its HPE Discover event in Las Vegas, and framed them as a migration assistance program intended to arm channel partners who want to help customers reduce their financial risk when migrating virtualization platforms.

“One of the big things we see is that as customers are going through this journey on transforming their operating model, you end up with double expenses and so we’re really pleased to announce the program around Morpheus and platform migration,” said EVP and CTO Fidelma Russo.

“We are announcing that as a customer goes through this transformation with HPE Morpheus VM Essentials, you don’t pay for the first year of licenses. You will get Zerto migration licenses during that period to help you move, and so what this does is it helps mitigate the double-bubble cost problem that customers see as they are looking to migrate from one platform to another.”

Neither Russo nor HPE mentioned VMware as part of their pitch for this migration assistance program, but it seems pretty clear where it is aimed.

At its last Discover event in Barcelona, HPE talked about customers seeing license fees for virtualization skyrocketing and claimed that it was able to provide “a fully integrated enterprise-grade alternative” with Morpheus and OpsRamp management tools, plus Zerto disaster recovery software.

A survey recently found that half of VMware users plan to reduce their use of the virtualization pioneer’s products by 2028. Since being acquired by Broadcom, VMware license costs have increased by 800 to 1,500 percent for some customers. VMware also ended partner programs that many service providers relied on.

HPE says it is introducing VM Essentials for Partner IT to help providers transition their virtualized business applications. This will see it provide VM Essentials software licenses free of charge for three years, with partners paying only support costs, to the 600 partners who gain Private Cloud with Virtualization competency by the end of the year.

The company is also extending its channel-only model to cover HPE Private Cloud PC3000 (formerly HPE Private Cloud Business Edition), HPE SimpliVity PC1000, and HPE Zerto software from July 1. HPE said this follows the success of selling Morpheus VM Essentials through a channel-only route to market.

Also at the Partner Growth Summit, the IT biz will disclose that it is unifying the HPE and Juniper Networks partner programs under its Partner Ready Vantage umbrella. The aim is to have a single, global program for partners to offer services across networking, cloud, and AI.

This change will take effect from November 1, after which partners will operate under one program with a simplified structure, aligned incentives, and a consistent engagement model, while existing investments are protected, or so HPE claims.

The company also says it will help cloud service providers build and operate differentiated private cloud services with CloudOps Software and the backing of HPE Partner Ready Vantage.

“Partners want a simpler way to engage and a bigger opportunity to grow,” said Simon Ewington, HPE’s SVP for Worldwide Channel and Partner Ecosystem. ®

At the same time, Singapore also saw a decline in job vacancies

Singapore’s job market weakened in Q1 2026 as vacancies fell and retrenchments hit their highest level since Q3 2023.

Retrenchments rose to 3,830 in Q1 2026, up from 3,690 in Q4 2025, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) finalised Labour Market Report for Q1 2026.

At the same time, job vacancies fell from 77,700 in Dec 2025 to 73,300 in Mar 2026, down from 80,100 a year earlier.

Degree holders & older workers hit hardest by retrenchments

By educational qualification, the most notable shift was among degree holders, whose retrenchment incidence rose sharply from 2.6 in Q4 2025 to 3.1 per 1,000 resident employees in Q1 2026—the highest among all qualification groups.

MOM said that this reflects ongoing restructuring in the professional and knowledge-intensive sectors.

In contrast, retrenchment incidence was 0.7 per 1,000 resident employees for those with secondary school qualifications or lower, and 1.1 per 1,000 resident employees for those with diploma and professional qualifications.

Across age groups, older workers aged 50 to 59 were the hardest hit by layoffs, rising from 2.8 last quarter to 3.1 per 1,000 resident employees in Mar. The 40 to 49 cohort declined from 2.5 to 2.3, while younger workers aged below 30 continued to record the lowest incidence at 0.8.

Demand remains strong for specialised talent

Meanwhile, MOM said the overall decline in job vacancies was largely driven by fewer openings for non-professional roles.

The demand for skilled workers remained resilient, leading to an increase in vacancies for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).

Financial services was one of the sectors that saw the strongest growth in hiring demand for PMET roles, with job vacancies rising from 4,300 in the previous quarter to 5,800 in March 2026.

The figures suggest that while employers are becoming more cautious about expanding their workforce, demand remains strong for specialised and higher-skilled talent.

Slower employment growth

Despite the rise in retrenchments from Jan to Mar 2026, the labour market still kept expanding—just at a slower pace than the previous quarter.

Total employment grew by 9,400 in Q1 2026, slower than the 17,700 increase in Q4 2025.

“I know many Singaporeans are concerned about the economy, the global uncertainty and what AI means for their jobs,” said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng.

“These are very real concerns. We understand the challenges that many workers and many fresh graduates have faced, but I want to reassure everyone that even amidst these uncertainties, there are some encouraging signs in the labour market.”

He noted resident employment growth accelerated from 3,100 in Q4 2025 to 5,400 in Q1 2026.

The gains were concentrated in administrative and support services—employment activities, travel-related services, and roles like customer service, admin clerks, and travel agency clerks. Resident employment also rose in transportation and storage, and public administration.

Despite financial institutions hiring more, resident employment in financial and insurance services shrank, driven by a drop in self-employed workers. “Firms may be prioritising leaner but permanent headcount, while workers gravitate towards stability amid uncertainty,” said MOM.

Overall, MOM emphasised that the rise in layoffs was largely driven by restructuring or reorganisation, rather than cost-cutting. Retrenchments concentrated in outward-facing sectors such as manufacturing, financial services, and professional services.

Rate of retrenched residents returning to employment within 6 months has increased

MOM also added that labour market outcomes remained resilient. The rate of residents returning to employment within six months of retrenchment improved to 60.7%, up from 57.4% in the previous quarter.

“Improvements were observed among PMETs, degree holders and younger residents aged below 30, suggesting that retrenched workers continued to find employment within a reasonable timeframe,” said the ministry.

More employers turned to shorter work weeks or temporary layoffs to avoid retrenchments—1,230 employees were on this arrangement in Q1 2026, up from 960 in Q4 2025. The increase was sharpest in construction and manufacturing, and among production and transport operators, cleaners, and labourers.

These interim measures typically signal economic slowdown, but MOM has said they are preferable to retrenchment, as they preserve employee benefits and signal company commitment.

The ministry said that, “with retrenchment levels remaining low and vacancies robust,” this uptrend “reflects firms’ increased use of reduced working hours to absorb temporary changes in manpower demand rather than retrench workers.”

Moreover, MOM said unemployment rates in Mar remained low and stable—at 2% overall, 2.9% for residents and 3.1% for citizens. The resident long-term unemployment rate held steady at 0.9%.

AI’s impact on Singapore’s labour market

For the first time, MOM’s quarterly labour market report addressed the impact of AI on the workforce, by incorporating data first released in a detailed Apr report.

“AI will indeed change the way we work, but what we are seeing so far is that it’s actually helping to reshape jobs more than replace them,” said Dr. Tan.

The Apr data showed that among firms implementing or piloting AI, 6.2% reported headcount reductions and 8.5% reported lower hiring.

After adopting AI, it was more common for firms to redesign job functions, with 18.9% of respondents doing so.

Dr. Tan also highlighted positive worker experiences, with about 85% of AI users reporting gains in productivity, time savings, and work quality.

“This is exactly why helping workers to pick up new skills and adapt to changing job requirements matters so much as more companies adopt AI,” he said.

So far, only 28.5% of companies in Singapore have adopted the technology.

Adoption rates vary by sector, running highest in digitally intensive, knowledge-based industries like information and communications, professional services, and financial and insurance services.

He said the government will continue providing support, pointing to roughly 400 people who moved through Workforce Singapore’s career conversion programmes in 2025—training for redesigned roles, including those with AI components.

Historical low resignation rates

The ministry also flagged record-low resignation rates, linking them to worker caution amid global uncertainty.

The average monthly resignation rate of 1% in Q1 2026 is a historical low, while the financial and insurance services sector recorded its lowest-ever resignation rate of 0.6%.

Even high-turnover sectors saw workers staying put. Food and beverage services resignation rates fell to 1.8%, retail trade to 1.4%—both multi-year lows.

The average monthly recruitment rate of 1.6% is also among the lowest in years, said MOM.

The ministry expects the labour market to stay resilient, though firms may turn more cautious on hiring and wage increases amid global economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.

“Labour demand is likely to moderate if external conditions weaken further and elevated global input costs persist,” it added.

• Read other articles we’ve written on Singapore’s current affairs here.

Featured Image Credit: Shadow of light via Shutterstock

Disney bought the movie studio, the film library, and a large chunk of Fox’s Hollywood muscle in 2019, but Fox Corporation did not exactly retreat to a rocking chair. It kept news, sports, broadcast television, and eventually built Tubi into a serious free-streaming player. Now Fox is making a much bigger move: a $22 billion agreement to acquire Roku, putting the company much closer to the TV home screen, the ad dollars, and the moment when viewers decide what they are going to watch before Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, or anyone else gets a shot.

Fox Has the Content, Roku Has the Front Door

This unexpected deal brings together FOX’s news, sports, Tubi streaming service, entertainment assets, and owned-and-operated television stations with Roku’s connected TV platform. That includes Roku streaming players, Roku-branded and licensed TVs, The Roku Channel, Howdy, first-party data, and a direct relationship with more than 100 million global streaming households.

Combined, FOX and Roku would create a scaled media and technology company positioned at the intersection of two forces reshaping video: the continued importance of live sports and news, and the ongoing shift from traditional television to streaming.

Both companies have indicated that Roku will continue to operate as an open, partner-friendly platform while supporting the continued distribution of FOX content. On a pro forma basis, the combined company would become the third-largest player in U.S. television by share of viewing, with FOX’s sports, news, and entertainment programming sitting alongside Tubi and The Roku Channel. That reach would span broadcast, cable, local television, and streaming, giving the combined company broader distribution, deeper engagement, and a much larger advertising platform.

Lachlan K. Murdoch, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Corporation, said: “This is a defining moment for FOX, and a natural extension of the deliberate and focused strategy we have been executing for nearly a decade. In 2019, we reoriented the company around live news and sports. In 2020, we acquired Tubi, and under our stewardship, it has become one of the most successful businesses in streaming. Today, we take the next step: bringing together the most valuable live content portfolio in video consumption with the preeminent streaming platform through which America watches it. This combination will transform the scope of our company into high-growth verticals and yield a step change in our overall growth profile. And we are executing this acquisition from a position of financial strength – maintaining our investment grade balance sheet while providing our shareholders with an uninterrupted return of capital program in the form of share buybacks and dividends. Roku pioneered streaming TV and scaled it into a leading CTV platform. Together, we intend to lead its next chapter.”

Anthony Wood, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Roku, said:“Over the past two decades, we’ve built Roku into the leading TV streaming platform, reaching more than 100 million households globally and reshaping how people discover and enjoy entertainment. I’m incredibly proud of what our team has built, and the combination with FOX is an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate our vision, scale faster, and innovate more aggressively for viewers, partners, and advertisers. That’s why our Board of Directors unanimously determined, after concluding its strategic review process, that this transaction offers a significant premium to Roku shareholders while also providing them with the opportunity to participate in the compelling future upside of the combined company. I couldn’t be more excited about what we’ll accomplish together.”

The Strategy Behind Fox’s Roku Bet

Fox Corporation and Roku have outlined what their combined strategy would look like if the deal is completed.

Scale and Reach: The transaction would pair one of the strongest players in live news and sports with one of the leading connected TV platforms. Roku reaches more than 100 million global streaming households, including more than half of all U.S. broadband households. FOX brings major live programming across the NFL, MLB, NASCAR, Big Ten, FIFA World Cup, FOX News, and FOX Business. Together, FOX and Roku would combine premium live content, broad distribution, and significant audience reach across both linear television and streaming.

Position in High-Growth Verticals: The acquisition would give FOX a much larger position across Roku’s video ecosystem and a wider entry point into connected TV, particularly in advertising and streaming subscriptions.

More Powerful Streaming Platform: The deal would bring together FOX’s content and advertising capabilities with Roku’s consumer interface, home screen, platform technology, and direct viewer relationships. That combination could improve content discovery, deepen engagement, and create a more compelling streaming experience for consumers, advertisers, and content partners.

Long-Term Growth: The combined company would push FOX’s business mix further toward streaming and connected TV while maintaining a balance across advertising and distribution. It would also strengthen FOX’s long-term growth profile while preserving the company’s stated focus on disciplined capital allocation.

Transaction Details

FOX is acquiring Roku in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $160.00 per Roku share. Under the terms of the agreement, Roku shareholders will receive $96.00 in cash and 0.9693 shares of FOX Class A common stock for each Roku share. Upon closing, existing FOX shareholders are expected to own approximately 73% of the combined company, with Roku shareholders owning approximately 27%.

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. FOX expects to fund the cash portion of the transaction with a combination of new debt and cash on hand.

Roku Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer Anthony Wood will have an ongoing role at the combined company and will join the FOX Board of Directors following the close of the transaction.

The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including approvals by FOX and Roku shareholders, receipt of U.S. and certain non-U.S. regulatory approvals, and other customary conditions.

In connection with the execution of the acquisition agreement, Anthony Wood and certain associated trusts and related entities that together hold at least a majority of the voting power of Roku stock have entered into a voting and support agreement, agreeing to vote in favor of the transaction. LGC Holdco LLC has also entered into a voting and support agreement with respect to the issuance of FOX shares in the transaction. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2027.

The deal will also be subject to the required securities filings and review process, including disclosures filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Bottom Line 

The Fox/Roku deal is the latest sign that media, entertainment, and the connected TV business are still in full consolidation mode. It may not be as large as Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which recently received U.S. Department of Justice approval, but its impact should not be underestimated.

At $22 billion, this is not just another media acquisition. Fox is buying deeper access to the TV home screen, streaming discovery, advertising inventory, first-party data, and a direct relationship with more than 100 million global streaming households. That matters because the future of television is not only about who owns the shows, movies, news, and sports. It is also about who controls the interface viewers use before they decide what to watch.

Fox wins by gaining a much stronger position in connected TV, a larger advertising platform, and a major distribution advantage for Tubi, Fox Sports, Fox News, and its broader entertainment portfolio. Roku wins by getting the scale, capital, and content muscle of a major media company at a time when the streaming device and smart TV platform business is becoming more competitive and expensive.

The potential losers are less obvious, but they matter. Rival streaming services, smaller content providers, and independent channels may have reason to worry if Roku’s platform becomes less neutral over time, even though both companies are promising that it will remain open and partner-friendly. Advertisers may benefit from better targeting and scale, but viewers could face a more aggressively programmed home screen, more data collection, and fewer truly neutral paths to content discovery.

It is also important to note that this is not a rescue deal. Fox and Roku are both strong companies going into the transaction. This is not a dominant company buying a distressed asset just to strip it for parts. It is a strategic bet on where television is headed: live sports, news, free ad-supported streaming, connected TV advertising, and control of the screen before the viewer ever presses play.

As with any deal of this size, the press-release version sounds tidy. The reality will depend on execution, remaining regulatory approvals, leadership stability, platform neutrality, and how much independence Roku is allowed to keep once the deal closes. Right now, Fox and Roku can talk about scale, innovation, and a better streaming experience. The harder question is whether consumers and content partners actually benefit once Fox owns the remote.

Related Reading

• Gartner study suggests AI data center power requirements will grow by 26% in 2026
• This is a 13% increase over an earlier forecast which capped growth at 500TWh.
• AI data centers currently account for 31% of total data center power consumption, but are projected to exceed conventional server power needs by 2027

The last few years have seen AI chip demand skyrocket, with every major player in the industry investing in infrastructure, training, and inference hardware to build out their own data centers and clouds for compute.

The assumption was that better, faster chips were the key to unlocking both Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and AI-infused efficiency gains as the world shifts its focus from AI agents to AI operators.

Cisco has released security updates to address a vulnerability in the Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, tracked as CVE-2026-20262, that was exploited in attacks to escalate to root privileges.

Formerly known as SD-WAN vManage, this network management software allows admins to manage up to 6,000 SD-WAN devices from a single dashboard.

The now-patched zero-day security flaw affects all deployment types, regardless of device configuration, including on-prem deployments, Cisco SD-WAN Cloud-Pro, Cisco SD-WAN Cloud (Cisco Managed), and Cisco SD-WAN for Government (FedRAMP).

Cisco said the issue stems from insufficient validation of user-supplied input during file uploads, which can allow low-privilege remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root by sending crafted HTTP requests to an affected API endpoint.

“A vulnerability in the web UI of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, formerly SD-WAN vManage, could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to create a file or overwrite any file on the filesystem of an affected system,” Cisco said in a Monday advisory.

“An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected API endpoint of the affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to create or overwrite any file on the underlying operating system. This file could later be used to elevate to root.”

Cisco said its Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) became aware of the exploitation of CVE-2026-20262 earlier this month and “strongly” advised customers to patch their systems.

While the company did not share any details on these attacks, it shared indicators of compromise (IOCs) warning admins to check their SD-WAN vmanage-server, vmanage-appserver, and serviceproxy-access logs for attempts to upload index.jsp and .war files.

In February, Cisco patched another Catalyst SD-WAN Manager information disclosure security flaw (CVE-2026-20133), flagged as actively exploited in late April, and, two weeks later, warned of two more flaws (CVE-2026-20128 and CVE-2026-20122)that were abused in the wild.

Last month, it also tagged a maximum-severity Catalyst SD-WAN Controller authentication-bypass flaw (CVE-2026-20182) as actively exploited as a zero-day to gain admin privileges on unpatched devices.

More recently, in early June, Cisco warned of one more unpatched Catalyst SD-WAN Manager zero-day (CVE-2026-20245) that was exploited in attacks, allowing attackers to gain root privileges.

Over the last several years, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) tagged 91 Cisco vulnerabilities as abused in the wild, five of them in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager and six others exploited in ransomware attacks.

Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.

The Picus whitepaper shows how breach and attack simulation tests your SIEM and EDR rules so threats stop slipping by detection.

Get the whitepaper

WordPress plugins OptinMonster, TrustPulse, and PushEngage have been compromised in a supply-chain attack impacting Awesome Motive’s content distribution network (CDN).

Of the three products, the OptinMonster lead-generation and conversion optimization platform is the most popular, with at least 1.2 million websites using it.

E-commerce security firm Sansec discovered the attack over the weekend and found that malicious scripts were served to unsuspecting OptinMonster and TrustPulse users on Friday between 22:17 UTC and 22:42 UTC.

PushEngage continued to serve malicious JavaScript code until 19:02 UTC on Saturday.

The malware triggered only when a WordPress administrator visited a page on an infected website, collecting authentication tokens and nonces, and using them to create a rogue administrator account.

The intruders then installed a self-hiding backdoor plugin and established a communication channel with a domain impersonating Tidio to send any newly captured data.

The plugin also provided full remote access capabilities, including a web shell (“WPM File Manager & Shell”) and arbitrary PHP code execution, granting attackers full control of compromised websites.

“The operator rotates the plugin’s disguise while keeping the logic byte-identical across renames,” Sansec says.

“We have observed it shipping as “Content Delivery Helper” (content-delivery-helper, v2.7.1) and, currently, as “Database Optimizer” (database-optimizer, v2.9.4).”

Awesome Motive published a security advisory earlier today about the incident, explaining that hackers gained access to a server in its environment after exploiting a known flaw in the UpdraftPlus WordPress plugin.

This server hosted a marketing website and was not connected to the company’s production infrastructure or data systems; however, it hosted credentials for the company’s CDN account, which the hackers stole.

Using the stolen CDN API key, the attackers modified JavaScript files distributed via Awesome Motive’s CDN, causing websites to silently load malicious code directly from the CDN.

The affected files are:

1. a.omappapi.com/app/js/api.min.js – OptinMonster
2. a.opmnstr.com/app/js/api.min.js – OptinMonster
3. a.optnmstr.com/app/js/api.min.js – OptinMonster
4. a.trstplse.com/app/js/api.min.js – TrustPulse

Awesome Motive reports that the malicious scripts were served for a short period on June 12 for OptinMonster and Trust Pulse, albeit not confirming the impact on PushEngage.

“We have since remediated the marketing site, migrated it to a new server, and rotated all credentials, including the CDN API key,”Awesome Motive stated.

The company also assured that its application servers, source code, and plugin hosting servers were not compromised.

“Our application servers, our source code, and the systems that store your OptinMonster and TrustPulse account information are hosted separately and were not breached,” stated the publisher.

“We have no evidence that account data or personal details held by us were accessed.”

Site owners who might have been affected are recommended to:

• Check for, and remove rogue admin accounts ‘developer_api1’ or ‘dev_xxxxxx’
• Inspect the filesystem directly under wp-content/plugins for hidden backdoor plugins
• Execute server-side malware scans
• Rotate administrator passwords, API keys, database credentials, and WordPress security salts.

While the malicious content has been removed, the attacker continues to have access to compromised websites as long as the rogue administrator accounts and hidden backdoor plugins are still present.

Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.

The Picus whitepaper shows how breach and attack simulation tests your SIEM and EDR rules so threats stop slipping by detection.

Get the whitepaper