The HackerNoon Newsletter: When DeFi Turns Reputation Into Middleware (1/7/2026)

How are you, hacker?

🪐 What’s happening in tech today, January 7, 2026?

The HackerNoon Newsletter brings the HackerNoon homepage straight to your inbox. On this day, Steve Jobs announced the first-generation iPad in 2009, For the first time ever, someone crossed the English Channel by air in 1785, Galileo observed the 4 largest moons of Jupiter for the 1st time in 1610, and we present you with these top quality stories. From Wrapping up Trends in MacOS Malware of 2025 to When DeFi Turns Reputation Into Middleware, let’s dive right in.

I Saw a Phishing Site That Traps Security Bots

By @behindthesurface [ 6 Min read ] How modern phishing kits use honeypots, cloaking, and adversary-in-the-middle attacks—and how defenders can turn those same tactics against them. Read More.

Symfony 7.4: How to Master Multi-Step Forms

By @mattleads [ 14 Min read ] In this article, we are going to build a production-ready User Onboarding Wizard using Symfony 7.4. Read More.

When DeFi Turns Reputation Into Middleware

By @tosinonikosi [ 10 Min read ] DeFi’s original promise was inclusion. But as we build the infrastructure for social reputation, we are accidentally laying the rails for programmable exclusio Read More.

Wrapping up Trends in MacOS Malware of 2025

By @moonlock [ 4 Min read ] The myth of a malware-free Mac is a thing of the past. Here’s how Mac threats evolved in 2025 — and what’s coming next. Read More.

5 Ways Your AI Agent Will Get Hacked (And How to Stop Each One)

By @paoloap [ 8 Min read ] Production AI agents fail from prompt injection, tool poisoning, credential leaks, and more. Learn 5 attack patterns and defensive code for each. Read More.

🧑‍💻 What happened in your world this week?

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We hope you enjoy this worth of free reading material. Feel free to forward this email to a nerdy friend who'll love you for it.See you on Planet Internet! With love, The HackerNoon Team ✌️