CyberWire Daily Workday’s bad day.
Aug 18, 2025
Tim Starks, a senior reporter at CyberScoop, dives into the fallout from Workday's recent data breach, revealing how social engineering plays into cyber threats. He discusses alarming vulnerabilities like a zero-day in Elastic’s EDR software and the rise of ghost-tapping fraud techniques. Starks also addresses the legal challenges Zelle faces over fraud claims and highlights the implications of recent executive orders on cybersecurity, showcasing mixed reactions within the cyber community. Additionally, he touches on the issue of bots creating echo chambers in online spaces.
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Third-Party CRM Risk
- Workday's breach stemmed from social engineering that targeted a third-party CRM, not a direct compromise of Workday tenants.
- Exposed business contact data raises phishing risk even without customer-data loss.
Critical EDR Zero-Day
- Elastic's EDR had a null-pointer bug in a Microsoft-signed driver that can crash or enable code execution.
- The vulnerability affects multiple versions and currently lacks a vendor patch or response.
Ghost-Tapping Fraud Technique
- Ghost-tapping uses NFC relay attacks to make purchases via stolen card data linked to mobile wallets.
- The technique relies on in-person mules and weak retail know-your-customer controls to monetize fraud globally.