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GAHANNA, Ohio (WCMH) -- As Gahanna Lincoln High School students make the transition to their new building, one familiar face won't be there. On Saturday, Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools unveiled its new high school, built adjacent to the former Gahanna Lincoln building. Students first attended class in the new building last Wednesday and Thursday, with half [...]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A Columbus-based café chain is considering a location in Upper Arlington and another near Clintonville.  Fox in the Snow has proposed a café at 1510 W. Lane Ave. in Upper Arlington and at 4201 N. High St. in Columbus’ Whetstone neighborhood near Clintonville, according to city permits. Both permits were filed [...]

DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) -- A new phase of a large residential Delaware development is moving closer to approval after clearing a key city review. A proposal by M/I Homes to build 251 single-family houses on roughly 95 acres as part of the Northwood development receive a unanimous recommendation for approval from the Delaware Planning Commission [...]

GAHANNA, Ohio (WCMH) – A coffee shop whose proceeds help support veterans has opened its first brick-and-mortar in Gahanna. SGT. Coffee Co. began serving customers inside The Well, an event venue located at 140 N. High St., on Dec. 15. The shop will hold a grand opening on Jan. 22 with a ribbon cutting at [...]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A Short North restaurant is serving up a new take on live-fire dining. FYR Short North, inside the Hilton Columbus Downtown at 402 N. High St., is emphasizing Ohio-sourced ingredients and seasonal flavors with a reimagined menu centered on wood-fire cooking. Dishes on the new menu include a wood-oven crab cake, [...]

Curatola Masonry has warned against using standard paint on brick homes due to potential long-term damage, and suggested using masonry-specific mineral or vapor-permeable paints instead.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Updated plans have emerged for a delayed 24-story mixed-use tower proposed for a prominent Downtown corner, nearly a year after city officials paused demolition tied to the project. Bluestone Brothers Development's revised proposal for The Estrella, planned for the southeast corner of East Rich and South Fourth streets, reduces the project's [...]

GROVE CITY, Ohio (WCMH) -- An attorney who billed South Western City Schools $9,000 a month for retainer services is no longer with the district, a school spokesperson confirmed. After a trio of Democrat-backed candidates won seats on the board in November, they promised their first act would be severing ties with attorney Omar Tarazi. [...]

ROCFORD, ILL (WCMH) — The man accused of shooting a Weinland Park couple will be spending at least the next nine days in Illinois, while awaiting extradition to Columbus. According to Winnebago County Court records out of Rockford, Ill., an extradition hearing for Michael McKee has been scheduled for Friday, Jan. 23. Pending approval, McKee [...]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio residents may soon see more coyotes as the animals’ mating season begins. Coyote mating season in Ohio typically occurs from late January through March, according to Ohio Division of Wildlife communications specialist Lindsey Krusling. “They tend to be more active and visible as they'll travel to find mates, establish their [...]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- An emergency meeting on Columbus' south side Tuesday night called for action against Immigration and Customs Enforcement as fears over immigration enforcement continue in central Ohio.  "Even though it's a scary time in history right now, it's also an important time," attendee Nik Monastere said. "And I'm just so proud that [...]

Why are code signing certificates suddenly so expensive, short-lived, and tangled in red tape? Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson dig into Microsoft's "three-day certificates," the hidden costs for developers, and the security tradeoffs no one saw coming.

• A look at Microsoft's Azure cloud code signing.
• California implements DROP, global data broker opt-out.
• Where's the town of "Whata Bod" Idaho.
• iOS built-in Mail app worked itself out of a job.
• A 30-minute tutorial for non-coders about AI coding.
• Claude Code appears to be winning over the AI coding world.
• Various listener musings on code signing.
• A bit of Magnesium feedback.
• What use are 3-day code signing certs?

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1060-Notes.pdf

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now.

You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page.

For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.

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Why are code signing certificates suddenly so expensive, short-lived, and tangled in red tape? Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson dig into Microsoft's "three-day certificates," the hidden costs for developers, and the security tradeoffs no one saw coming.

• A look at Microsoft's Azure cloud code signing.
• California implements DROP, global data broker opt-out.
• Where's the town of "Whata Bod" Idaho.
• iOS built-in Mail app worked itself out of a job.
• A 30-minute tutorial for non-coders about AI coding.
• Claude Code appears to be winning over the AI coding world.
• Various listener musings on code signing.
• A bit of Magnesium feedback.
• What use are 3-day code signing certs?

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1060-Notes.pdf

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now.

You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page.

For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• material.security
• zscaler.com/security
• hoxhunt.com/securitynow

This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline available 24/7. To reach the 24/7 Crisis Text Helpline, text 4HOPE to 741741. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- An Ohio nonprofit organization focused on suicide prevention is launching [...]

Microsoft today issued patches to plug at least 113 security holes in its various Windows operating systems and supported software. Eight of the vulnerabilities earned Microsoft’s most-dire “critical” rating, and the company warns that attackers are already exploiting one of the bugs fixed today.

January’s Microsoft zero-day flaw — CVE-2026-20805 — is brought to us by a flaw in the Desktop Window Manager (DWM), a key component of Windows that organizes windows on a user’s screen. Kev Breen, senior director of cyber threat research at Immersive, said despite awarding CVE-2026-20805 a middling CVSS score of 5.5, Microsoft has confirmed its active exploitation in the wild, indicating that threat actors are already leveraging this flaw against organizations.

Breen said vulnerabilities of this kind are commonly used to undermine Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), a core operating system security control designed to protect against buffer overflows and other memory-manipulation exploits.

“By revealing where code resides in memory, this vulnerability can be chained with a separate code execution flaw, transforming a complex and unreliable exploit into a practical and repeatable attack,” Breen said. “Microsoft has not disclosed which additional components may be involved in such an exploit chain, significantly limiting defenders’ ability to proactively threat hunt for related activity. As a result, rapid patching currently remains the only effective mitigation.”

Chris Goettl, vice president of product management at Ivanti, observed that CVE-2026-20805 affects all currently supported and extended security update supported versions of the Windows OS. Goettl said it would be a mistake to dismiss the severity of this flaw based on its “Important” rating and relatively low CVSS score.

“A risk-based prioritization methodology warrants treating this vulnerability as a higher severity than the vendor rating or CVSS score assigned,” he said.

Among the critical flaws patched this month are two Microsoft Office remote code execution bugs (CVE-2026-20952 and CVE-2026-20953) that can be triggered just by viewing a booby-trapped message in the Preview Pane.

Our October 2025 Patch Tuesday “End of 10” roundup noted that Microsoft had removed a modem driver from all versions after it was discovered that hackers were abusing a vulnerability in it to hack into systems. Adam Barnett at Rapid7 said Microsoft today removed another couple of modem drivers from Windows for a broadly similar reason: Microsoft is aware of functional exploit code for an elevation of privilege vulnerability in a very similar modem driver, tracked as CVE-2023-31096.

“That’s not a typo; this vulnerability was originally published via MITRE over two years ago, along with a credible public writeup by the original researcher,” Barnett said. “Today’s Windows patches remove agrsm64.sys and agrsm.sys. All three modem drivers were originally developed by the same now-defunct third party, and have been included in Windows for decades. These driver removals will pass unnoticed for most people, but you might find active modems still in a few contexts, including some industrial control systems.”

According to Barnett, two questions remain: How many more legacy modem drivers are still present on a fully-patched Windows asset; and how many more elevation-to-SYSTEM vulnerabilities will emerge from them before Microsoft cuts off attackers who have been enjoying “living off the land[line] by exploiting an entire class of dusty old device drivers?”

“Although Microsoft doesn’t claim evidence of exploitation for CVE-2023-31096, the relevant 2023 write-up and the 2025 removal of the other Agere modem driver have provided two strong signals for anyone looking for Windows exploits in the meantime,” Barnett said. “In case you were wondering, there is no need to have a modem connected; the mere presence of the driver is enough to render an asset vulnerable.”

Immersive, Ivanti and Rapid7 all called attention to CVE-2026-21265, which is a critical Security Feature Bypass vulnerability affecting Windows Secure Boot. This security feature is designed to protect against threats like rootkits and bootkits, and it relies on a set of certificates that are set to expire in June 2026 and October 2026. Once these 2011 certificates expire, Windows devices that do not have the new 2023 certificates can no longer receive Secure Boot security fixes.

Barnett cautioned that when updating the bootloader and BIOS, it is essential to prepare fully ahead of time for the specific OS and BIOS combination you’re working with, since incorrect remediation steps can lead to an unbootable system.

“Fifteen years is a very long time indeed in information security, but the clock is running out on the Microsoft root certificates which have been signing essentially everything in the Secure Boot ecosystem since the days of Stuxnet,” Barnett said. “Microsoft issued replacement certificates back in 2023, alongside CVE-2023-24932 which covered relevant Windows patches as well as subsequent steps to remediate the Secure Boot bypass exploited by the BlackLotus bootkit.”

Goettl noted that Mozilla has released updates for Firefox and Firefox ESR resolving a total of 34 vulnerabilities, two of which are suspected to be exploited (CVE-2026-0891 and CVE-2026-0892). Both are resolved in Firefox 147 (MFSA2026-01) and CVE-2026-0891 is resolved in Firefox ESR 140.7 (MFSA2026-03).

“Expect Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge updates this week in addition to a high severity vulnerability in Chrome WebView that was resolved in the January 6 Chrome update (CVE-2026-0628),” Goettl said.

As ever, the SANS Internet Storm Center has a per-patch breakdown by severity and urgency. Windows admins should keep an eye on askwoody.com for any news about patches that don’t quite play nice with everything. If you experience any issues related installing January’s patches, please drop a line in the comments below.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Despite financial woes, Columbus City Schools continues to invest money into the district’s Career-Technical Education program that allows students to enter the workforce right after high school. On Tuesday, the district celebrated the return of the pharmacy technician program with a ribbon-cutting for a brand-new laboratory. The new facility offers the [...]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has begun his final year in office, but says he has no intention of slowing down. Last week, the Governor talked about the year ahead and what legacy he hopes to leave behind. For the most part, it seems DeWine wants to focus on what he can [...]