Security Now - 16k MP3

This week we will, of course, be discussing what's being called the worst Internet-wide security catastrophe in recent memory. Log4Shell is not like Spectre or Meltdown, which were academic theories. This is at the far other end of that spectrum. But first we're going to talk a bit about last week's massive Amazon network services outage and the unfortunate but probably inevitable abuse of Apple's AirTag ecosystem. I need to correct the record over my undeserved praise, last week, for Windows 11 and its loosening grip over its Edge browser association, and we need to warn all WordPress site admins about a new and serious set of threats. We have a single item of closing the loop feedback about today's main topic, a bit of Sci-Fi and a SpinRite update. Then, we'll roll up our sleeves and by the end of today's episode listening will understand exactly how, why and what happened with Log4j and Log4Shell.

This week Tavis Ormandy finds a bug in Mozilla's NSS signature verification. We look at the horrifying lack of security in smartwatches for children (smartwatches for children?!?), and at the next six VPN services to be banned in Russia. Microsoft softens the glue between Windows 11 and Edge, bad guys find a new way of slipping malware into our machines, a botnet uses the bitcoin blockchain for backup communications, and HP has 150 printer models in dire need of firmware updates. We touch on sci-fi and SpinRite, then we look at new research into an entirely new class of cross-site privacy breaches affecting every web browser including a test every user can run for themselves on their various browsers.

This week we'll note that the new Edge browser's Super Duper Secure Mode has been deployed and can be enabled by security-conscious users. We also have more than one third 37% of the world's smartphones vulnerable to audio monitoring and recording flaws in their MediaTek firmware. We have an important reminder about clicking links in email and wonder how that can still be a problem, and the entirely predictable evolution of a Windows zero-day vulnerability which is latent no longer. We have some interesting closing-the-loop feedback from our terrific listeners, and a sci-fi book update. Then we take another and much broader look at the recent efforts to clean up IPv4, but this time from the perspective of those working to do so.

We're going to start off this week by taking a careful look at a shocking proposal being made by the Internet's Engineering Task Force, the IETF. They're proposing a change to a fundamental and long-standing aspect of the Internet's routing which I think must be doomed to fail. So we'll spend a bit of time on this in case it might actually happen. Then Microsoft reveals some results from their network of honeypots, and we update on the progress, or lack of, toward more secure passwords. GoDaddy suffers another major intrusion, and just about every Netgear router really does now need to receive a critical update for the fifth time this year. This one is very worrisome.

This week we look at a critical 9.8-rated vulnerability affecting Palo Alto Network's widely deployed VPN/Firewall appliance, and at a welcome new micropatch from the 0patch guys, the nature of which leads me into a bit of philosophical musing about the Zen of coding. We're then rocketed back to reality by a review of last week's Patch Tuesday, looking at what it broke and happily what more it fixed, including hints that Christmas might finally be coming to printing by December. We have some more encouraging ransomware vs the law news, and we examine the question of how to make big money defrauding online advertisers. I'll then share some fun and interesting closing the loop feedback from our listeners, update on my SpinRite work, and then we're going to take a look at "Blacksmith" – the evolution of Rowhammer attacks on DRAM.

This week we quickly cover a bunch of welcome news on the combating ransomware front. We look at the results from last week's Pwn2Own contest in Austin Texas and at a weird problem that only some users of Windows 11 started experiencing after Halloween. There's a serious problem with GitLab servers and additional supply-chain attacks on JavaScript's package management. Google fixed a bunch of things in Android last Tuesday, and Cisco has issued an emergency CVSS 9.8 alert and US Federal agencies are being ordered to patch hundreds of outstanding vulnerabilities. We have some fun closing the loop feedback from our listeners. I'm going to share the details of an interesting IRQ problem I tracked down last week. Then we'll take a look at an aspect of radio frequency fingerprinting that has apparently escaped everyone's notice until seven researchers from UCSD did the math.

This week we keep counting them Chrome 0-days, we look at a pair of badly misbehaving Firefox add-ons with Mozilla's moves to deal with their and future proxy API abuse. We check-in for Windows news from Redmond which I'm again unable to resist commenting upon, then we look at a surprise motherload of critical updates from Adobe and at the still-ongoing DDoS attacks against VoIP providers and their providers. We'll look at some fun and interesting Closing The Loop feedback from our listeners and I'm able to share some surprising early benchmarks from SpinRite. Then we finish by looking at a frighteningly clever and haunting new attack against source code known as "Trojan Source."

This week we share some welcome news about Windows 11. Leo gets his wish about REvil. Microsoft improves vulnerability report management, attempts to explain their policy regarding the expiration of security updates, and prepares for the imminent release of the next big feature update to Windows 10, 21H2. Zerodium publicly solicits vulnerabilities in three top VPN providers. Three researchers disclose their new and devastating "Gummy Browser" attack, which I'll debunk. Another massively popular JavaScript NPM package has been maliciously compromised and then widely downloaded. We close the loop by looking at "Nubeva's" claims of having solved the ransomware problem. We touch on a new annoyance spreading across websites, and also briefly touch on four sci-fi events: "Dune," "Foundation," "Arrival," and "Invasion." I briefly update on SpinRite. Then we'll take a look back to share and discuss a conversation Leo and I had more than 20 years ago. What's surprising is the degree to which "The More Things Change..." how little, like nothing, actually has.

This week we, of course, update on various controversies surrounding Win11 and catch up on the aftermath of last week's Patch Tuesday. We note that REvil's brief reappearance appears to have ended – perhaps this time forever – and we examine, just for the record, the outcome of the big, virtual, 30-nation anti-ransomware meeting where the invitations for China and Russia were apparently lost in the mail. We look at the amazing results of this past weekend's Tianfu Cup 2021 hacking competition in China, at the startling success of a prolific botnet's clipboard hijacking module, and at LinkedIn's decision to dramatically pare down its offerings in China. And then, after quickly sharing Sunday's big news about SpinRite, we're going to take a very fun and detailed look at the sophisticated senior prank orchestrated by Illinois' Minh Duong who miraculously sidestepped his own arrest.

This week we look at Microsoft's decision to finally disable Excel's legacy XLM by default, but not for everyone. We look at Google's warning sent to more than 14,000 of its Gmail users and at their move toward enforced two-step verification. We look at recent hacking and ransom payment legislation and at last week's massive breach at Twitch. We cover the emergency Apache web server update and the mass exodus from WhatsApp during last week's Facebook outage. We look at new Windows 11 side effects and at Patch Tuesday. We close the loop with some listeners and I quickly update on SpinRite's progress. Then we settle down to consider the true significance and import of the various year-to-date 0-day counts.