The 443 - Security Simplified

This week on the podcast we cover the hacking organization Lapsus$ including their tactics, targets, and how they ended up with several members arrested last week. After that, we cover the cyber cold war and threats of Russian revenge attacks against the US energy sector that prompted classified meetings with potentially targeted organizations.

This week on the podcast, we cover a CISA alert on securing satellite communications (SATCOM) in the wake of several recent incidents involving providers and networks in eastern Europe. After that, we check in on the TSA's cybersecurity rules for pipeline distribution networks and how adoption is going so far in the industry.

This week on the podcast, we cover last week's Executive Order from the White House that lays the foundation for a United States Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC, and what it means for the future of Cryptocurrency. We also discuss recent research from Mandiant on APT41, a Chinese threat actor that has recently turned their sights on US state governments.

This week on the podcast we cover the recent leaks highlighting the inner workings of the Conti ransomware group that started with chat logs and grew to entire source code dumps. We then round out the episode by discussing the recent Nvidea breach and how some of the stolen information might fuel future attacks.

This week on the podcast we dig back into our archives for an episode that originally aired back in July 2020 where we discussed one of our analysts first-hand research into facial recognition biases.

This week on the podcast we cover a cryptocurrency heist that abused the backbone of the internet to steal millions of dollars of coins. In related news, we also cover the FBI's new Virtual Asset Exploitation Team and their focus on tracking cryptocurrency-related cybercrime as well as a recent alert on business email compromise from the same agency.

This week on the podcast we cover Russia's latest crackdown on cybercriminals within their borders and try to answer the "why now?" question. We also discuss a multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency recovery by the US Justice Department including the arrest of two New Yorkers allegedly responsible for the 2016 Bitfinex hack.

This week on the podcast, we cover the heist of $322 million in cryptocurrency from the distributed exchange Wormhole, including a long discussion on the why it feels like cryptocurrency is still the wild west of technology. After that, give an update on our brief mention in last week's episode about North Korea's internet seemingly being taken offline by cyber attack. We end this week with a quick update on a sophisticated malware attack targeting macOS devices.

This week on the podcast, we cover Pwnkit, a privilege escalation vulnerability impacting almost every modern Linux release worldwide. We also dive in to the world of macOS malware with DazzleSpy, a remote a remote access trojan targeting Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates. Finally, we end with an update on North Korea's Lazarus APT and their latest attack tactics targeting organizations.

This week on the podcast we discuss the latest Internet Security Report from the WatchGuard Threat Lab. Built with threat intelligence gathered from tens of thousands of Firebox UTM appliances that have opted-in to sharing data, the quarterly report lets us talk about the latest malware and attack trends targeting organizations globally. On this episode, we'll cover some of the key findings and defensive takeaways from the latest report.

This week on the podcast we give a quick update to the Log4Shell saga after the researchers detected the first significant campaign that uses the critical vulnerability. After that, we dive in to the world of carding marketplaces where cybercriminals buy and sell stolen credit card information and discuss possible reasons for why these marketplaces appear to be dying off.

This week on the podcast we give an update on log4j2 and it's most recently-disclosed vulnerabilities before covering a recent report on credential stuffing by the New York Attorney General. Then, we discuss this recent article in DarkReading on whether or not cybersecurity jobs should be considered professional or vocational.

This week we take a deep dive into CVE-2021-44228, better known as Log4Shell, a critical vulnerability in the massively popular log4j2 logging library for Java applications. We discuss how the flaw came about, how it works, and why this specific issue has the potential to cause lasting headaches for the security industry for years to come. We also answer a mailbag full of questions from our listeners and WatchGuard partners about Log4Shell. NCSC log4js Usage Index - https://github.com/NCSC-NL/log4shell/blob/main/software/README.md Log4Shell IOCs - https://github.com/WatchGuard-Threat-Lab/log4shell-iocs Log4Shell Scanning Utility - https://github.com/proferosec/log4jScanner

As we move in to the end of the year it's time for us to discuss WatchGuard Threat Lab's 2022 cybersecurity predictions. While many of our predictions tend to come off as extreme, they're all grounded in the trends that we've been following and what we expect to see continue into the coming year. If you haven't checked out the predictions in full, you can view them on watchguard.com/predictions

Its getting to be the end of the year which means its time to take a look back at WatchGuard Threat Lab's 2021 security predictions and give ourselves a grading on how well we did! On this episode, we'll go through our 8 predictions for 2021, recap the trends that fueled them, and discuss either the events that occurred or failed to come true.

This week on the podcast we discuss how a recent CISA alert on specific threat actor activity tipped off a separate adversary, leading to a new wave of attacks against vulnerable systems across multiple industries. We also cover the latest US and international law enforcement crackdowns on ransomware operators as well as a breakthrough on video game console hacking.

On this week's episode of the podcast, we cover a newly discovered method for hiding malicious source code in plain sight, CISA's new Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, and action from the US Department of Commerce on the Pegasus spyware manufacturer NSO Group.

This week on the podcast, we cover a heist of over $130 million worth of cryptocurrency from a distributed financial (DeFi) organization and have an in depth discussion on why cryptocurrency-related platforms continue to suffer substantial breaches. Before that though, we cover an apparent ransomware attack against the National Rifle Association and an FBI raid on a popular payment card platform.

This week on the podcast, we cover the latest news on REvil, the ransomware-as-a-service organization responsible for the Kaseya attack earlier this year among many others. After that, we cover an update from the US Commerce Department on new export rules around selling hacking tools outside of the United States, nearly 6 years after the initial proposal caused a firestorm in the security community. Finally, we cover the latest research from Google's Threat Analysis Group, this time on a cookie theft hacking gang targeting YouTube streamers around the world.

This week on the podcast we cover VirusTotal's first ever global ransomware report which analyzes ransomware trends over the last year from the unique position of the world's largest malware intelligence platform. Before that though, we cover another APT group with a ridiculous name found exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Windows.

This week on the podcast we discuss a breach that lasted over 5 years involving a company responsible for routing SMS messages for 95 of the top 100 mobile carriers in the world. Before that though, we'll cover the recent Facebook downtime incident as well as the seemingly total compromise of the video game streaming platform Twitch.

This week on the podcast we cover the latest quarterly Internet Security Report from the WatchGuard Threat Lab. We'll go over the latest attack trends and key findings from Q2 2021 as well as defensive tips for keeping your systems safe from the latest threat landscape.

This week on the podcast we discuss the recently disclosed identify of the"Trusted Third Party" that Kaseya acquired the REvil ransomware master decryption key from, as well as the morals around a decision to hold on to the decryption key for multiple weeks before handing it off to Kaseya. We then cover a new APT discovered by researchers at ESET and the latest CISA alert on ransomware activity.

This week on the podcast we discuss the recently patched zero-click vulnerability in iOS, macOS and WatchOS that researchers at TheCitizen Lab discovered while investigating NSO Group's Pegasus spyware. After that, we cover a vulnerability in the OMI Agent that comes automatically installed on all Azure Linux virtual machines. We finish by covering Microsoft's latest efforts to kill passwords for good.

This week on the podcast we discuss the first update to the OWASP Top 10 since 2017. OWASP servers as an excellent resource for improving web application security so we're excited to run through the latest refresh of their top security weaknesses. We also discuss phishing attacks that abuse Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in emails and a critical vulnerability in Microsoft Office.

This week on the podcast we cover ProxyWare, a form of malware that monetizes your internet access for the benefit of the attacker. After that, we discuss ChaosDB, a vulnerability that could have enabled any Azure user to gain full access to any other user's CosmosDB instance. Finally, we end with a discussion of location tracking vulnerabilities and how a few popular dating apps have tackled them.

This week on the podcast we dig back in the archives to 2019 where we discussed how web servers manage to track users across sites using browser fingerprinting methods. Even though some improvements like removing third-party cookies have been made to limit tracking, plenty of additional fingerprinting options still remain.

This week on the podcast we cover one of the largest cryptocurrency heists in history, with a surprising twist of an ending! Before that we'll chat about the latest T-Mobile data breach and what we can learn about protecting user identity. We end the episode with a discussion about one of the latest episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, watchable here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqD-ATqw3js, where he talked about the ongoing ransomware pandemic.

This week on the podcast we chat about a few of our favorite presentations from the 2021 edition of the DEF CON security conference out of Las Vegas. If haven't checked them out yourself, visit the DEF CON YouTube channel or media.defcon.org to view this year's and all previous year's content.

This week on the podcast, we chat about a recent report from Qrator that highlights some of the massive weaknesses in the backbone of the internet. After that, we discuss a recent research blog post from Yan (@bcrypt) showing her work in finding a CSRF flaw in OK Cupid that bypassed Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) protections.

This week on the podcast we talk Zero-Trust. What is it? How do you implement it? And why should all IT professionals work towards updating their networks to this security architecture? We'll answer all that and more after a quick Kaseya update and a security memorandum from the White House.

This week on the podcast we cover the latest Microsoft Windows privilege escalation vulnerability, SeriousSAM aka HaveNightmare. Before that, we discuss NSO Group and their spyware software known as Pegasus and whether private organizations should be allowed to market and sell spyware to government agencies.

With the White House announcing this month that it plans to investigate potential changes to Section 230, the safe harbor laws that enable websites to moderate content without risk of liability for content they fail to remove, we wanted to bring back an episode from last year where we discuss exactly what these laws are and how they enable a free and open internet.

This week on the podcast we cover the Kaseya mass ransomware incident from July 7. While the event is still ongoing, we already have evidence for how the attack occurred and exactly what the threat actors did on affected endpoints. In this episode we dive in to the details around the incident and defensive tips for this specific incident, and similar incidents in the future. Additionally this week, we cover the PrintNightmare vulnerability and what it means for Windows administrators.

We recorded this episode before news of the massive attack against Kasaye users broke on Friday. Suffice to say, next week's episode will give a full debrief of the incident including how it happened, who it affected, and what all MSPs can learn from it. In the meantime, check out Corey's post on the Kaseya breach here, which we will continue to update as new information comes to light. This week on the podcast, we cover the latest LinkedIn data "breach," an update in activity from the hacking group responsible for the SolarWinds supply chain attack, and research from Microsoft's security team into multiple authentication bypass vulnerabilities in a popular consumer router. After that, we have a discussion our thoughts on a recent article by the Economist that compares the cybersecurity industry to used car dealers.

Its that time of year again! This week on the podcast, we cover the latest internet security report from the WatchGuard Threat Lab. We'll go over the latest trends in malware and network attacks targeting WatchGaurd customer networks through the first quarter of the year, as well as defensive tips for all organizations.

This week on the podcast we discuss an often overlooked item for sale on underground forums, authentication cookies. Before that though, we'll cover a few surprising stats from a recent ransomware study by Cybereason and an update from NATO on cyber warfare.

This week on the podcast, we discuss operation Trojan Shield, a multi-year program where the FBI in partnership with international law enforcement agencies developed and distributed an encrypted communications application on the underground that gave them full access into criminal messages. We'll also cover the latest news from the recent Colonial Pipeline and JBS ransomware attacks before ending with some news from the prolific banking trojan Trickbot.

This week on the podcast, we take a look at how soldiers unknowingly leaked highly-sensitive information about the United States' foreign nuclear arsenal and discuss how we can reprogram humans to not make similar mistakes. We also cover the latest major ransomware incident targeting manufacturing and industrial control, a damning privacy admission from Google's own executives, and a Supreme Court decision that will likely have a major effect on prosecuting some forms of cyber crime.

This week on the podcast we cover an epic battle between a video game giant and a tech behemoth that has the potential to change mobile security forever. After that, we cover updates to several recent security events including the SolarWinds breach, the attempted poisoning of the Oldsmar, FL water supply, and the ransomware attack against Colonial Pipeline.

This week on the podcast we cover the ransomware attack against Colonial Pipeline which left the east coast of the United States in fear of gas shortages for more than a week. We'll discuss the threat actors behind it, how they possibly got in, and what the response was from Colonial and the United States government.

This week on the podcast we cover a 12 year old vulnerability in Dell's firmware update driver impacting hundreds of millions of servers, workstations and tablets. Then, we dive in to 21 nails, a collection of vulnerabilities in the Exim Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) which has wide use across the internet. We'll go over a few of the biggest flaws and how they work as well as what it means for email security.

This week on the podcast, we mourn a Dan Kaminsky, a well-loved hacker responsible for identifying one of the biggest vulnerabilities in the history of the internet. Then, we continue our dive into web app security standards with a discussion on Same-Origin Policy and Cross Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) and how they help protect us against Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks.

This week on the podcast, we cover Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike's analysis of a phone forensic analysis tool made by the grey-hat hacking organization Cellebrite. Before that though, we cover another solved mystery from the SolarWinds Orion saga.

This week on the podcast we cover a couple of major events from April's Patch Tuesday including four new remote code execution vulnerabilities in Exchange Server and some additional developments in the saga of March's Exchange Server exploits.

This week on the podcast, we go back to one of our favorite episodes from last year near the start of the pandemic where we sat down with security expert Nina Jankowicz to discuss what the rapid change to remote work would mean for security.

Its that time of year again! This week on the podcast we dive in to the latest internet security report out of the WatchGuard Threat Lab. We'll cover the latest trends in malware, both at the perimeter and the endpoint, as well as network attacks and malicious domains. Additionally, we'll recap the top security incident from Q4, the Solar Winds Breach, and what it means for companies going forward.

This week on the podcast we take a look at Content Security Policy, a web app security standard designed to combat Cross Site Scripting attacks against websites and web apps. Before that though, we'll cover the latest security news including a resurgence in ransomware attacks and the long overdue death of TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1.

This week on the podcast we cover key findings from the 2020 FBI Internet Crime Report and the latest reflective amplification vector for DDoS attacks. Then, we discuss a recent blog post from penetration tester Fabian Mosch that details the top weaknesses they target during their engagements. You can read more from Fabian here.

This week on the podcast we take a deep dive into the Exchange Server vulnerabilities that Microsoft issued an emergency patch for after discovering foreign adversaries were actively exploiting the flaws in the wild. We'll go over the vulnerabilities, how they work, and give some tips for defending against similar attacks in the future.