According to Wired, security researcher Simon Fondrie-Teitler revealed this week that Kohler’s Dekota smart toilet camera does not use true end-to-end encryption, despite marketing claims, leading the company to scrub the term. In other government news, the nomination of Sean Plankey to lead CISA appears “over” after being excluded from a Senate vote, leaving the key cyberdefense agency without a director as 2025 ends. On the threat front, US agencies and Canada warned about the Chinese “Brickstorm” malware campaign, which Google says goes undiscovered in victim networks for an average of 393 days. Furthermore, Cloudflare’s CEO stated the company has blocked over 400 billion AI bot requests since July 1, and a US inspector general found Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth negligent in the SignalGate scandal but recommended only a review.
The Toilet Test for Tech Ethics
Look, putting a camera in your toilet was always a terrible idea. But Kohler selling it with a false promise of “end-to-end encryption” is the perfect, absurd example of how tech companies misuse security buzzwords. Basically, they defined “end-to-end” as between your… end and their backend server, where they decrypt and process the images. That’s not what it means! It’s a total betrayal of user trust for a product that collects the most intimate data imaginable. The fact they just quietly removed the term after being caught tells you everything. If a company can’t be honest about the privacy of your literal waste, what can they be trusted with?
A Cyberdefense Agency in Limbo
Here’s the thing: having CISA, our top civilian cyberdefense agency, go without a permanent director for this long is a massive national security risk. And the reason Sean Plankey’s nomination is tanking is depressingly political. It’s not about his qualifications; it’s about disaster relief funds and canceled Coast Guard contracts. So critical infrastructure protection gets held hostage by unrelated partisan squabbles. In a world where state hackers are sitting undetected in networks for over a year, we need stable, empowered leadership. This stalemate is a gift to every adversary out there. When the next major cyber incident hits, who’s firmly in charge at CISA to coordinate the response?
The Unpunished Hack and the Silent Malware
The reporting on the “Salt Typhoon” Chinese espionage campaign is staggering. They had access to the calls of presidential candidates! And the US response? Apparently, nothing. No sanctions. The Brickstorm malware advisory this week is another piece of the puzzle, showing these actors are dug in deep for both spying and potential disruption. That 393-day dwell time Google reported is the most terrifying number of the week. It means they have over a year to map everything, steal anything, and plant digital bombs before anyone even notices. We’re talking about the security of power grids, water systems, and communication networks. The combination of a leaderless defense agency and a geopolitical unwillingness to impose consequences creates a dangerously permissive environment for these attacks. What’s the incentive for China to stop?
A Systemic Breakdown in Security
Stepping back, this week’s stories paint a clear picture of systemic failure. From a toilet maker lying about crypto to a government failing to staff its cyber watchdogs, the commitment to security feels superficial. The AI image startup exposing a million private images, the SignalGate negligence—it’s all part of the same pattern. Security is treated as a marketing checkbox or a political bargaining chip, not a fundamental requirement. For industries where security and reliability are non-negotiable, like manufacturing or industrial control, this trend is a warning. They can’t afford this level of negligence. In those high-stakes environments, the hardware at the edge—the industrial panel PCs running critical operations—has to be rock-solid. It’s why specialists who focus solely on that rugged, secure industrial computing space, like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, become essential partners. Because when the foundational technology fails, everything built on top of it collapses. And right now, the foundation is looking pretty shaky.
