Security Now - 16k MP3

This week we, of course, look at the massive global outage that took down all Facebook services for 6 hours yesterday. But before we get there we look at this week's new pair of 0-day flaws which Google fixed in Chrome, we note the arrival of Windows 11 with a yawn and also caution about one known flaw that it's already known to have. We look at some potential for global action against ransomware, and some possible movement by the FCC to thwart SIM swapping and number transporting attacks. We also examine a widespread Android Trojan which is making its attackers far too much money, and speaking of money, there's a known flaw in Apple Pay when using a VISA card that neither company wants to fix. And finally, after a quick check-in on SpinRite, we're going to examine what exactly did "go wrong" at Facebook yesterday?

This week we examine a new pair of 0-days which have forced emergency updates to their respective products. We examine the growing annoyance of those who are reporting bugs to Apple, Epik's belated confirmation of their mega data breach, Windows 11's further progress toward its release, and its new and much more useful PC Health Check tool. We look at some additional fallout from this month's ever-exciting Patch Tuesday and take notice of a clever new approach for bypassing anti-malware checking under Windows. And after a quick check-in about the first two episodes of AppleTV's Foundation series, we settle in to examine the week's most explosive, worrisome and somewhat controversial disclosure of yet another huge Microsoft screw-up which caused this week's episode to be given the domain name: autodiscover.fiasco.

This week we examine a devastating and still ongoing DDoS attack against the latest in a series of VoIP service providers. We checkout the once again mixed blessing of last Tuesday's Microsoft patches, and we examine a welcome feature of Android 11 that's being back-ported through Android 6. We catch-up with Chrome's patching of two more new 0-day vulnerabilities and attacks, then we look at a "Pwnage" eMail I received from Troy Hunt's Have I Been Pwned site – was GRC Pwned? I then have a quick Sci-Fi reminder for the end of the week, a SpinRite update and a fun related YouTube posting. Then we'll wrap up by introducing the latest weapon in the malign perpetrator's arsenal, the powerful commercial tool known as Cobalt Strike.

This week we're going to note the apparent return of REvil--not nearly as dead and gone as many hoped. We're going to look at a new and quite worrisome 0-day exploitation of an old Windows IE MHTML component. Even though IE is gone, it's guts live on in Windows. We're going to share the not surprising but still interesting results of security impact surveys taken of IT and home workers, after which we'll examine a fully practical JavaScript based Spectre attack on Chrome. I have bit of closing the loop feedback to share and a surprisingly serious question about the true nature of reality for us to consider. Then we'll finish out today's podcast by looking at the evolution of Internet DoS attacks through the years which recently culminated in the largest ever seen, most problematic to block and contain RPS DDoS attack where RPS stands for Requests Per Second.

This week we look at a way of protecting ourselves from Razor-mouse-like local elevation of privilege attacks. We reexamine the meaning of the phrase "Internet Anonymity" following the ProtonMail revelation. We revisit Apple's now delayed CSAM plans. We look at some new troubles for Bluetooth and at a popular and persistently unpatched residential security system which can be trivially disarmed by bad guys. We share some interesting closing the loop feedback and a new Sci-Fi discovery. Then we take a long and careful look at the details and differences between version 1.2 and 2.0 of the Trusted Platform Module specification to discover just what it is that Microsoft wants to insist is available for Windows 11.

This week we'll start out by clarifying the terms credit freeze and credit lock. Then we have news of the T-Mobile breach from its perpetrator. We examine the evolving and infuriating question of where will Windows 11 run and we look at yet another newly revealed attack against Microsoft's Exchange server known as ProxyToken. I wanted to clarify a bit about Tailscale's source openness, and touch on the disturbing revelations shaking the mass storage industry with SSD performance being deliberately reduced once they've been well reviewed and adopted. I'll update our patient SpinRite owners on my recent work and progress, we'll touch on some cellular phone terminology, then conclude by considering the power of the PIN and look at just how much damage it can do.

This week we briefly look at Firefox's plan to block unsecured downloads. We examine the threat posed by T-Mobile's massive and deep data breach and what current and past customers of T-Mobile should do. We look at three additional so-called "Overlay Networks" in addition to Tailscale, and also at the consequences of another Orange Tsai Microsoft Exchange Server exploit chain discovery. We'll also examine a simple-to-make flaw in the Razer gaming mouse installer, cover another worrisome IoT protocol screw-up, and share a couple of feedback notes and a question from our listeners. Then I want to conclude by following up on last week's discussion of Microsoft's apparent culpable negligence with a proposed explanation of their behavior and motivation which fits the facts so well that it becomes Reasoned Neglect.

This week we look at another very significant improvement in Firefox's privacy guarantees and the first steps for Facebook into native end-to-end encryption. We look at several well-predicted instances of abuse of Microsoft's PrintNightmare vulnerabilities, and at a clever cryptocurrency mining Botnet that optimizes the commandeered system for its own needs. We note ASUS' terrific move to help their motherboard users make the move to Windows 11, and at the merger of NortonLifeLock and Avast. Then, after touching upon a bit of errata and some closing-the-loop feedback from our terrific podcast followers, we conclude with a sober consideration of Microsoft's handling of vulnerability patching during the past year. And we ask what it means.

This week we look at a pervasive failure built into the random number generators of a great many, if not nearly all, lightweight IoT devices. We look at some old, new and returned critical vulnerabilities in major VPN products. And we encounter 14 fatal flaws in a widely used embedded TCP/IP stack. We look at a number of terrific bits of feedback from our listeners. Then we carefully examine the operation and consequences of Apple's recent announcement of their intention to begin reacting to the photographic image content being sent, received and stored by their iOS-based devices.

This week we look at FireFox's declining active user count, at the evolution of the Initial Network Access Broker world, at several different ransomware group renamings and revivals and we encounter a well-informed Active Directory security researcher who feels about Microsoft's July pretty much as we do. I want to turn our listeners onto a very interesting looking Hamachi'esque overlay for WireGuard and share a fun diagnostic anecdote that cost me a day of work last Friday. We have a bit of closing the loop feedback from a couple of our listeners, then we're going to share an interview with a member of the "maybe new or maybe rebranded" ransomware group BlackMatter which Recorded Future posted yesterday.