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Hammer Weekly Update, week ending 14 December 2025

Written by Hammer | Dec 15, 2025 2:46:31 PM

Week ending 14 December 2025 put attention on security, enterprise components, cloud and AI in UK and EMEA. We’ve boiled it down to the few stories with practical impact - and concrete steps partners can take this week.

Honeypots can help defenders, or damn them if implemented badly

The Register (Security) reports: Honeypots can help defenders, or damn them if implemented badly. PLUS: Crims could burn your AI budgets thanks to weak defaults; CISA's top 25 vulns for 2025; And more Infosec In Brief The UK's National Cyber Security Centre … [1]

Controls must stand up to real phishing and ransomware drills, not just policy-recovery points and identity boundaries are the failure points. Hammer can bundle Microsoft 365 backup and a managed SOC handover into a repeatable rollout plan with timelines.

  • Run a restore test from an immutable backup set and record RTO.
  • Map MFA and conditional access coverage for high-risk apps.
  • Stage a 30-minute phishing drill and time the run-book.

Microsoft promises more bug payouts, with or without a bounty program

The Register (Security) reports: Microsoft promises more bug payouts, with or without a bounty program. Critical vulnerabilities found in third-party applications eligible for award under 'in scope by default' move Microsoft is overhauling its bug bounty program t… [2]

Endurance, lead times and spares planning still drive total cost during refresh windows. Hammer can secure SSDs, drives and memory against refresh windows and keep swap stock on the shelf.

  • Validate SSD endurance (DWPD/TBW) against write patterns.
  • Pre-stage spare drives/memory for the next change window.

AWS DataSync increases scalability and performance for on-premises file transfers

AWS What’s New reports: AWS DataSync increases scalability and performance for on-premises file transfers. AWS DataSync Enhanced mode now supports data transfers between on-premises file servers and Amazon S3 … [3]

Guardrails around identity, network and spend need to ship with the platform-landing zones and budgets should be codified, not manual. Hammer can package a baseline landing zone with budget alerts and ownership mapping so teams can deploy it the same way every time.

  • Codify a landing zone (identity, network, logging) and deploy to all accounts.
  • Enable budget alerts/anomaly detection and assign owners.
  • Right-size or schedule off non-prod instances before month-end.

UK watchdog urged to probe GDPR failures in Home Office eVisa rollout

The Register (Security) reports: UK watchdog urged to probe GDPR failures in Home Office eVisa rollout. Rights groups say digital-only record is leaking data and courting trouble Civil society groups are urging the UK's data watchdog to investigate whether the Hom… [4]

Expect pressure on rack density, GPU power budgets and memory bandwidth; design choices affect UPS/PDU loading and cooling headroom.

  • Model peak rack draw; confirm UPS/PDU headroom for target density.
  • Benchmark NVMe throughput against expected inference concurrency.
  • Lock delivery dates for AI servers to align with cooling changes.

Half of exposed React servers remain unpatched amid active exploitation

The Register (Security) reports: Half of exposed React servers remain unpatched amid active exploitation. Wiz says React2Shell attacks accelerating, ranging from cryptominers to state-linked crews Half of the internet-facing systems vulnerable to a fast-moving React… [5]

Controls must stand up to real phishing and ransomware drills, not just policy-recovery points and identity boundaries are the failure points.

  • Run a restore test from an immutable backup set and record RTO.
  • Map MFA and conditional access coverage for high-risk apps.
  • Stage a 30-minute phishing drill and time the run-book.

How we picked these stories: we scanned UK/EMEA enterprise feeds and vendor advisories, filtered for architecture/procurement significance, and kept only items with clear next steps.

References

  1. The Register (Security) - Honeypots can help defenders, or damn them if implemented badly
  2. The Register (Security) - Microsoft promises more bug payouts, with or without a bounty program
  3. AWS What’s New - AWS DataSync increases scalability and performance for on-premises file transfers
  4. The Register (Security) - UK watchdog urged to probe GDPR failures in Home Office eVisa rollout
  5. The Register (Security) - Half of exposed React servers remain unpatched amid active exploitation