And the winner is … 🏆

Also: Japan announces cherry blossom forecast for 2026

January 31, 2026 View in browser

2026 TPG Award winners by Brian Kelly Every year, we get to celebrate the brands, experiences, cards and loyalty programs that make travel even more exciting and rewarding. And this year, we handed out 38 awards to the top contenders in air, hotel, credit card and cruise categories. Here are a few of the highlights: No. 1: Travel Rewards Credit Card of the Year  The $95-a-year Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a great starter card, and its points are extra valuable because the program has great transfer partners. Not to mention, you earn 2 points per dollar spent on travel and 3 points per dollar on dining — two categories we all spend a lot in. No. 2: Business Credit Card of the Year This year's winner is the Capital One Venture X Business. I am a cardholder and put a lot of my day-to-day business expenses on it, as it rewards 2 miles per dollar spent on everything and gives me access to Capital One’s beautiful, new lounges. Also, Capital One saved the day recently when my family and I had a delay at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) until 4 a.m. Being able to access the 24-hour Capital One Lounge at off-hours helped make a stressful situation less of a headache. No. 3: Best U.S. Airline Loyalty Program  This year, the data-backed award for best domestic frequent flyer program goes to American Airlines AAdvantage. We analyzed four key areas: each airline’s worldwide reach, how easy it is to earn points or miles from flying and other partners, redemption rates and opportunities, and, finally, the value of each carrier’s elite status program. No. 4: Best Hotel Elite Status For this award, there was a clear winner: World of Hyatt Globalist. This program, particularly its top-tier Globalist status, is super generous and a perennial favorite of TPG readers. It offers an array of perks like confirmable suite upgrades, waived resort fees and free parking. You can even gift your status to friends through Hyatt’s Guest of Honor award. Overall, Hyatt Globalist offers a ton of value to frequent travelers. Explore the full list of winners and start mapping out your 2026 adventures. Here are the winners of the 2026 TPG Awards The 13 credit cards that earned a spot ‘In Your Wallet’ for the 2026 TPG Awards These are the airlines and frequent flyer programs that won TPG Awards this year The best airport lounges from the 2026 TPG Awards — and the top card for gaining access Have a great weekend, BK Posts in this newsletter contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products, and this may impact how or where they appear. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page. Photo Credit: THE POINTS GUY.

Required reading Japan announces cherry blossom forecast for 2026 Read more 1,600 flights canceled for weekend as another winter storm takes aim at East Coast Read more Forgot your ID? No Real ID? The TSA will charge you $45 starting Sunday Read more Beginners guide to finding award space with ExpertFlyer Read more 7 valuable credit cards TPG staffers are applying for now Read more Check your email: Major airlines, including Delta and United, gifting elite status Read more

You are receiving this email because you opted in at thepointsguy.com. Where to find us: The Points Guy 100 5th Ave., 16th Floor New York, NY 10011 USA USA If this newsletter was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here. Changed your mind? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe at any time. Advertiser Disclosure: The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don't cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information. Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. THE POINTS GUY © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2026

Vishing Targets SaaS, BadIIS SEO Malware, Malicious Chrome Extensions, Energy Farm Attacks

THN Daily Updates Webinar ➞ How Context Aware Forensics and AI Fuel Faster Cloud Investigations Cloud forensics is broken -- slow, fragmented, and built for yesterday’s threats. This session reveals how AI-driven investigation is redefining incident response, giving security teams instant visibility, faster root-cause analysis, and complete confidence across multi-cloud environments. Download Now Sponsored LATEST NEWS Jan 31, 2026 Mandiant Finds ShinyHunters-Style Vishing Attacks Stealing MFA to Breach SaaS Platforms Google-owned Mandiant on Friday said it identified an "expansion in threat activity" that uses tradecraft consistent with extortion-themed attacks orchestrated by a financially motivated hacking group known as ShinyHunt... Read More CERT Polska Details Coordinated Cyber Attacks on 30+ Wind and Solar Farms CERT Polska, the Polish computer emergency response team, revealed that coordinated cyber attacks targeted more than 30 wind and photovoltaic farms, a private company from the manufacturing sector, and a large combined ... Read More Breach reports, threat intel & expert analysis: daily from Dark Reading Subscribe to Dark Reading's newsletter for daily alerts on vulnerabilities, breaches and in-depth threat intelligence. Be a step ahead of cyber risks with expert analysis and actionable insights to help you strengthen defenses and safeguard your organization. Subscribe now Read More Researchers Uncover Chrome Extensions Abusing Affiliate Links and Stealing ChatGPT Access Cybersecurity researchers have discovered malicious Google Chrome extensions that come with capabilities to hijack affiliate links, steal data, and collect OpenAI ChatGPT authentication tokens. One of the extensions i... Read More China-Linked UAT-8099 Targets IIS Servers in Asia with BadIIS SEO Malware Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new campaign attributed to a China-linked threat actor known as UAT-8099 that took place between late 2025 and early 2026. The activity, discovered by Cisco Talos, has targete... Read More Badges, Bytes and Blackmail Behind the scenes of law enforcement in cyber: what do we know about caught cybercriminals? What brought them in, where do they come from and what was their function in the crimescape? Introduction: One view on the sc... Read More Ex-Google Engineer Convicted for Stealing AI Secrets for China Startup A former Google engineer accused of stealing thousands of the company's confidential documents to build a startup in China has been convicted in the U.S., the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced Thursday. Linwei Ding ... Read More SmarterMail Fixes Critical Unauthenticated RCE Flaw with CVSS 9.3 Score SmarterTools has addressed two more security flaws in SmarterMail email software, including one critical security flaw that could result in arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-24423, carries... Read More Webinar ➞ How Context Aware Forensics and AI Fuel Faster Cloud Investigations Cloud forensics is broken -- slow, fragmented, and built for yesterday’s threats. This session reveals how AI-driven investigation is redefining incident response, giving security teams instant visibility, faster root-cause analysis, and complete confidence across multi-cloud environments. Download Now Sponsored This email was sent to edwardlorilla1998.tower@blogger.com. You are receiving this newsletter because you opted-in to receive relevant communications from THN. To manage your email newsletter preferences, please click here. Contact THN: info@thehackernews.com Unsubscribe THN | K.P BLock, Pitampura, Delhi