Shield AI's $5.3B Echodyne deal leads a week of exploited VPN and APT flaws and a $21.5B Zipline round
Shield AI agreed to buy counter-drone radar maker Echodyne for $5.3 billion, and Zipline raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion valuation as Walmart signed up for 300 more delivery sites. In cybersecurity, SonicWall's exploited SSL-VPN flaw can bypass SAML MFA, a Debian and Ubuntu APT bug can hand root to a man-in-the-middle, and APT29 was linked to a hijacked analytics script serving iOS and Android exploits. If you read one story, make it the Shield AI deal.
This week's pick
- Shield AI agrees to buy counter-drone radar maker Echodyne for $5.3B, backed by a $2.5B raise Up to $500M of the price is contingent, the raise includes a $1B Series H at $28.8B, and the deal is expected to close in early 2027.
OSINT
- Satellite imagery shows Russian jets moving into hardened shelters RFE/RL's before-and-after images cover seven Russian and Crimean air bases, with shelters for the strategic bomber fleet under construction at Engels.
- BBC Verify sees new works at Iranian missile bases New digging and buildings appear at Garmdareh and Shahroud, with repairs at 12 other sites, which analysts say may be underground missile production or storage.
- Bellingcat finds online maps exposed US bases in the Iran war Google Maps listings, reviews and photos detailed facilities at four US bases, and two Camp Arifjan sites blurred on Google were clear on Bing.
Drones
- NATO launches a counter-drone marketplace with 16 solutions from five companies Allies can buy from the catalogue without a further tender, and Alta Ares says it won six of the 16 lots.
- Pentagon says it fielded over 25,000 drone and counter-drone systems to CENTCOM this year About 24,000 of them are counter-UAS, delivered for roughly $782 million.
- Ukrainian intelligence says Russia is already using its Rassvet satellite network to link drones GUR says it could let drones exchange data and have routes adjusted mid-flight, though coverage of Ukraine is intermittent.
- DJI asks the Ninth Circuit to order the FCC to rule on its Covered List petition DJI says its January reconsideration request is still undecided and puts its losses at hundreds of millions of dollars.
VC Investment
- Zipline raises $1.5B at a $21.5B valuation, nearly triple January's Paradigm, WCM and Layer Global led, and Walmart signed a multi-year deal for 300 more Zipline drone delivery sites, against 21 today.
- CesiumAstro closes a $730M Series D at a valuation above $4.5B Janus Henderson led, and the satellite communications maker plans a 737-satellite constellation with no schedule or cost given.
- CrowdStrike to buy Fiddler AI and Dreadnode in a reported $495M pair of AI security deals The Wall Street Journal reports about $400M and $95M, with both deals expected to close by 31 January 2027.
CyberSecurity
- SonicWall patches exploited SonicOS SSL-VPN flaw CVE-2026-19868 that can bypass SAML MFA CISA added it to its exploited list on 6 November, and SonicWall lists no workaround beyond the fixed releases.
- Debian and Ubuntu APT flaw CVE-2026-109518 lets a man-in-the-middle swap verified packages and run code as root Fixes are out, and exploitation needs HTTP traffic, a redirect and a retried download.
- APT29 linked to a hijacked Plerdy analytics script that served patched iOS and Android exploits Sekoia attributes the watering-hole campaign with moderate to high confidence, and CISA added one of the Apple flaws to its exploited list.
- DigiCert discloses a breach of archived customer data and identity documents An unauthorised account had access from 27 June to 2 July, and DigiCert says no certificates were affected.