Catch up quick

@ D.C.

🏛️ President Trump has nominated RNC executive Sean Cairncross as his national cyber director. (Axios)

🤝 The U.S. released Russian cybercriminal Alexander Vinnik, who was charged with overseeing a black-market Bitcoin exchange, as part of the prisoner exchange that led to American schoolteacher Marc Fogel's return. (New York Times)

👀 Former Palantir and Elon Musk associates are now chief information officers for at least three government agencies. (Wired)

@ Industry

💰 Identity security company CyberArk has acquired Zilla Security in a deal worth up to $175 million. (TechCrunch)

📲 Google and Apple are bringing TikTok back to their respective app stores, but Google says it will keep the app available only until the end of the recent 75-day extension. (Axios)

🤖 OpenAI removed warning messages from ChatGPT that indicate when content could violate its terms of service. (TechCrunch)

@ Hackers and hacks

⚠️ Researchers at Recorded Future have found evidence that Salt Typhoon breached five telecoms and internet service providers, as well as more than a dozen universities around the world, between December and January. (Wired)

🇷🇺 A Russian government hacker team, known for its narrowly focused operations, has been conducting widespread attacks against entities in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. (CyberScoop)

🤷🏻‍♀️ The new DOGE website pulls from a database that can be edited by anyone, according to two researchers. (404 Media)