A record close on Wall Street and the AI names that were meant to lead it taken apart in the same session. Beijing is now drafting export controls on its own models. The labs keep finding their systems outside the box. Read one at a time, it is a normal week. Read together, something else entirely.
NVIDIA is asking Wall Street to underwrite AI compute as productive infrastructure. Its new financing platforms aim to mobilise more than US$500 billion, but the announced memoranda are not yet completed funding commitments.
As artificial intelligence automates both attack and defence, the window to patch critical vulnerabilities is vanishing. Black Hat 2026 research confirms autonomous systems are discovering thousands of previously unreported flaws.
The Everest ransomware group has breached ASRock Rack, a major server hardware vendor, stealing 509GB of sensitive data including firmware, BIOS, and other critical files. The breach creates a significant supply chain risk, potentially allowing attackers to embed vulnerabilities in server hardware.
Cyber News Centre's cyber update for 23rd January 2026: ASRock Rack has been breached by the Everest ransomware group, exposing critical server hardware data and creating a significant supply chain risk.
ASRock Rack Inc., the enterprise server hardware subsidiary of Taiwanese manufacturer ASRock, was listed on the Everest ransomware group's dark web leak site on January 21, 2026. Established in 2013, the company specialises in cloud computing server hardware, including motherboards, servers, and storage solutions used in data centers worldwide.
Update: The Everest ransomware group, a Russian-speaking cybercriminal entity known for data exfiltration and access brokering, claims to have stolen a 509-gigabyte database from ASRock Rack. The stolen data reportedly includes highly sensitive technical documentation, firmware, software, BIOS files, diagnostic and installation tools, and Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) firmware. Everest has threatened to publish the full data set within nine days if its demands are not met, though no public ransom amount has been specified. The group provided screenshots of file trees as proof, with keywords like "data centre" and "diag" suggesting the authenticity of the stolen material.
This incident is part of a recent wave of attacks by Everest, which also targeted McDonald's India and an ASUS supplier. The group has a history of evolving its tactics, moving from simple data exfiltration to full-scale ransomware and, more recently, focusing on data-only extortion. This attack on a core hardware vendor highlights the increasing focus of ransomware groups on high-value enterprise targets with the potential for widespread downstream impact. The exfiltration of low-level hardware and firmware files represents a significant escalation in the group's operational capabilities and strategic targeting.
Why it Matters: This breach extends beyond a typical data leak and poses a severe supply chain risk to organizations globally, including in Australia, that rely on ASRock Rack server hardware. With access to firmware and BIOS-related material, attackers could potentially embed hidden vulnerabilities or backdoors directly into the hardware's core software. Malicious actors could repackage these authentic-looking drivers and firmware updates for malicious distribution, creating a trusted entry point into secure networks.
This incident serves as a critical reminder that the security of the digital supply chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and a compromise at the hardware level can undermine layers of software-based security, creating persistent and hard-to-detect risks for enterprise and government infrastructure.
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A record close on Wall Street and the AI names that were meant to lead it taken apart in the same session. Beijing is now drafting export controls on its own models. The labs keep finding their systems outside the box. Read one at a time, it is a normal week. Read together, something else entirely.
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