This month in security with Tony Anscombe – January 2026 edition

The trends that emerged in January offer useful clues about the risks and priorities that security teams are likely to contend with throughout the year

30 Jan 2026

The year got off to a busy start, with January offering an early snapshot of the challenges that (not just) cybersecurity teams are likely to face in the months ahead. It's therefore time for ESET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe to look back on some of the month's most impactful cybersecurity stories. Here's some of what caught Tony's eye:

• the IT service management firm ServiceNow has patched what is the most severe AI-driven security vulnerability found to date; if exploited, CVE-2025-12420 could have let unauthenticated attackers pose as admins on the company's AI platform,
• how unsecured Zendesk support systems were abused to launch a massive spam campaign,
• cyber-fraud has displaced ransomware as the top concern among CEOs ...