Three Buddy Problem - Episode 52: Fresh intelligence reports out of Europe and China: France’s ANSSI documents a string of Ivanti VPN zero-days ('Houken'), and Quanxin frames a stealth Microsoft Exchange-zero-day chain linked to a North American 'Night Eagle' threat actor. We dissect the technical bread-crumbs, questions the attribution math, and connects Houken to SentinelOne’s “Purple Haze” research.

Plus, the FBI’s claim that China’s “Salt Typhoon” has been “contained,” Iran’s Nobitex crypto-exchange breach (Predatory Sparrow torches $90 million and leaks the source code), Iranian cyber capabilities and sanctions avoidance.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, Ryan Naraine and Costin Raiu.

Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
• Houken: Seeking a path by living on the edge with zero-days
• China-nexus APTs recon on top-tier targets
• French cybersecurity agency confirms government affected by Ivanti hacks
• Top FBI cyber official: Salt Typhoon ‘largely contained’
• Operation Blockbuster (Novetta)
• Israel-Iran cyberwar: Predatory Sparrow, vanishing crypto, bank hacks
• Inside the Nobitex Breach: What the Leaked Source Code Reveals About Iran’s Crypto Infrastructure
• cisagov/thorium

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 51: Former Immunity/Trail of Bits researcher Hamid Kashfi joins the buddies for a fast-moving tour of cyber activities in the Israel-Iran war. The crew unpacks who 'Predatory Sparrow' is, why Sepah Bank and the Nobitex crypto exchange were hit, and what a $90 million cryptocurrency burn really means. Plus, radar-blinding cyberattacks that paved the way for Israel’s air raid, the human cost of sudden ATM outages and unpaid salaries, and the puzzling “Code Breakers” data leak that preceded it all.

Hamid shares on-the-ground context, the buddies debate whether cyber operations can sway a shooting war, and everyone tries to gauge Iran’s true offensive muscle under sanctions.

Cast: Hamid Kashfi, Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, Ryan Naraine and Costin Raiu.

Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
• Pro-Israel hackers take credit for cyberattack on Iran's Bank Sepah
• Predatory Sparrow Burns $90 Million on Iranian Crypto Exchange in Cyber Shadow War
• Codebreakers and Predatory Sparrow
• Iranian Exchange Nobitex: The $90M Exploit
• Iranian newspaper: Defense system was hacked
• Iranian state TV shows footage of Israeli drone
• Temple of Oats: Iran’s Hidden Hand in Middle Eastern Networks
• Israeli Officials Warn Iran Is Hijacking Security Cameras to Spy
• LABScon - Security Research in Real Time
• Three Buddy Problem LIVE
• Hamid Kashfi: The curious case of Predatory Sparrow
• Glasshouse episode with Hamid Kashfi

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 50: This week, we dissect cyber flashpoints in the Iran-Israel war, revisit the “magnet of threats” server in Iran that attracted APTs from multiple nation-states, and react to Israel's Mossad sneaking explosive drone swarms deep into Iran to support airstrikes.

Plus, Stealth Falcon’s new WebDAV zero-day, SentinelOne’s brush with Chinese APTs, Citizen Lab’s forensic takedown of Paragon’s iPhone spyware, and the sneaky Meta/Yandex trick that links Android web browsing to app IDs.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, Ryan Naraine and Costin Raiu.

Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
• Israel-Iran war breaks out
• 'The magnet of threats'
• Mossad set up drone swarm base in Iran
• Stealth Falcon's Exploit of Microsoft Zero Day
• CVE-2025-33053 - WebDAV remote code execution
• CISA, Microsoft warn of Windows zero-day
• China-nexus Threat actors target SentinelOne
• Chinese Espionage Crews Circle SentinelOne
• Citizen Lab: First Forensic Confirmation of Paragon’s iOS Mercenary Spyware Finds Journalists Targeted - The Citizen Lab
• Meta and Yandex are de-anonymizing Android users’ web browsing identifiers
• Dreadnode Offensive AI Conference
• LABScon Call for Papers

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 49: Cybersecurity veteran Mikko Hypponen joins the show to discuss the fast-changing life and times on NATO’s newest frontline, how Ukraine’s long-range “Spiderweb” drone swarms punched holes in Russian air bases, the cyber connections to the escalating drone warfare, and the coming wave of autonomous “killer robots”.

Plus, news on Ukraine’s hack of bomber-maker Tupolev, the industry’s never-ending APT naming mess, iVerify’s newly disclosed iMessage zero-click bug, fresh Qualcomm GPU exploits still unpatched on Android devices, and Cellebrite’s purchase of Corellium.

Cast: Ryan Naraine, Costin Raiu and Mikko Hypponen

Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
• Mikko Hyppönen pivots from infosec to drones inspired by war
• Mikko Hypponen Leaves Anti-Malware Industry to Fight Against Drones
• Anti-drone system | Sensofusion
• Ukraine's military intelligence claims cyberattack on Russian strategic bomber maker
• How Microsoft names threat actors
• CrowdStrike and Microsoft Unite to Deconflict Cyber Threat Attribution
• Qualcomm GPU driver 0days (exploitation detected)
• Chrome 0day exploited in the wild
• iVerify documents 'Nickname' iMessage exploitation
• Cellebrite to acquire mobile testing firm Corellium
• Hacker Chris Wade reveals the story of his presidential pardon, US government collaboration

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 48: We unpack a Dutch intelligence agencies report on ‘Laundry Bear’ and Microsoft’s parallel ‘Void Blizzard’ write-up, finding major gaps and bemoaning the absence of IOCs. Plus, discussion on why threat-intel naming is so messy, how initial-access brokers are powering even nation-state break-ins, and whether customers (or vendors) are to blame for the confusion.

Plus, thoughts on an academic paper on the vanishing art of Western companies exposing Western (friendly) APT operations, debate whether stealth or self-censorship is to blame, and the long-tail effects on cyber paleontology.

We also dig into Sean Heelan’s proof that OpenAI’s new reasoning model can spot a Linux kernel 0-day and the implications for humans in the bug-hunting chain.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, Ryan Naraine and Costin Raiu.

Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
• Dutch intelligence agency outs 'Laundry Bear' Russian APT
• Russian gov hackers buying passwords from cybercriminals
• Microsoft: Russian actor Void Blizzard targets critical sectors for espionage
• Censys data on AyySSHush ASUS router botnet
• Czech Republic statement on Chinese hack
• Czech gov condemns Chinese hack on critical infrastructure
• NATO floats cybersecurity included in new spending target
• Mark your Google Calendar: APT41 innovative tactics
• The rise of responsible behavior: Western commercial reports on Western cyber threat actors
• How I used o3 to find CVE-2025-37899, a remote zeroday vulnerability in the Linux kernel’s SMB implementation
• ASUS Botnet Tracker
• CISA: Logging Made Easy (LME)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 47: We unpack a multi-agency report on Russia’s APT28/Fancy Bear hacking and spying on Ukraine war supply lines, CISA’s sloppy YARA rules riddled with false positives, the ethics of full-disclosure after Akamai dropped Windows Server “BadSuccessor” exploit details, and Sekoia’s discovery of thousands of hijacked edge devices repurposed as honeypots.

The back half veers into Microsoft’s resurrected Windows Recall, Signal’s new screenshot-blocking countermeasure, Japan’s fresh legal mandate for pre-emptive cyber strikes, and why appliance vendors like Ivanti keep landing in the headlines.

Along the way you get hot takes on techno-feudalism, Johnny Ive’s rumored AI gadget, and a lively debate over whether publishing exploit code ever helps defenders.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, Ryan Naraine and Costin Raiu.

Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
• Russian hackers hitting logistics companies supplying Ukraine
• CISA says Russian hackers targeting Ukraine war supply lines
• ViciousTrap: Turning edge devices into honeypots
• BadSuccessor: Abusing dMSA to escalate privileges in Active Directory
• Signal adds anti-screenshot to thwart Windows Recall
• Controversial Windows Recall gets security makeover
• Microsoft's International Criminal Court blockade
• Japan enacts active cyberdefense law
• UAE recruiting US personnel Displaced by DOGE

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 46: We dig into a Coinbase breach headlined by bribes, rogue contractors and a $20 million ransom demand. Plus, (another!) batch of Ivanti and Microsoft zero-days being exploited in the wild, a new 'Intrusion Logging' feature coming to Android, Apple's iOS 18.5 patches, and the EU announcing its own vulnerability database and software vendor secure-coding pledge.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, Ryan Naraine and Costin Raiu.

Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
• Coinbase on $20m ransom demand
• SEC filing on Coinbase breach
• Coinbase Rogue Contractors Bribed to Leak Customer Data
• Ivanti 0day exploit chain (CVE-2025-4427 and CVE-2025-4428)
• Watchtowr blog on new Ivanti 0days
• CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV)
• 'Advanced Protection' comes to Android 16
• Europe launches it own vulnerability database

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 45: (The buddies are trapped in timezone hell with cross-continent travel this week).

In the meantime, absorb this keynote presented by Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (JAG-S) at CounterThreats 2023. It's a frank discussion on the role of cyber threat intelligence (CTI) during wartime and its importance in bridging information gaps between adversaries. Includes talk on the ethical challenges in CTI, questioning the impact of intelligence-sharing and how cyber operations affect real-world conflicts. He pointed to Ukraine and Israel as examples where CTI plays a critical, yet complicated, role. His message: cybersecurity pros need to be aware of the real-world consequences of their work and the ethical responsibility that comes with it.

Acknowledgment: Credit for the audio goes to CyberThreat 2023, SANS Institute, NCSC, and SentinelOne.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, Ryan Naraine and Costin Raiu.

Links:

• Keynote transcript
• The ethics and perils of APT research
• Recommended Talks
• The Lost APT Reports

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 44: We unpack news that US government officials are using an obscure app to archive Signal messages, OpenAI’s new “Aardvark” code-evaluation and reasoning model and leapfrog implications, NSC cyber lead Alexei Bulazel on normalizing US offensive operations, and JP Morgan Chase CISO’s warning to software vendors.

Plus, fresh SentinelOne threat-intel notes, France’s attribution of GRU activity and a head-scratching $330 million Bitcoin heist.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, Ryan Naraine and Costin Raiu.

Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
• US government using obscure app to archive Signal messages
• Reuters photo of Mike Waltz phone
• US revokes Romania visa waiver program
• OpenSSH bug found by OpenAI 'Aardvark'
• JP Morgan Chase CISO: An open letter to third-party suppliers
• JPMorgan Chase CISO Fires Warning Shot Ahead of RSA Conference
• SentinelOne LABS on DPRK threat actor targeting
• Alexei Bulazel comments at RSA conference
• Google report on 0day exploitation in 2024
• Apple notifies new victims of spyware attacks across the world
• France attributes cyberattacks to Russia's military intelligence
• RT-Solar on ViPNet backdoor from 2021
• Kaspersky: Sophisticated backdoor mimicking secure networking software updates
• $330m Bitcoin heist

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 43: Director of the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies Thomas Rid joins the show for a deep-dive into the philosophical and ethical considerations surrounding AI consciousness and anthropomorphism. We dig into the multifaceted implications of AI technology, particularly focusing on data privacy, national security, and the philosophical questions surrounding AI consciousness and rights.

Plus, TP-Link under US government investigation and the broader issues of consumer trust in hardware security, the need for regulation and inspectability of technology, and the struggles with patching network devices.

Cast: Thomas Rid, Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade and Ryan Naraine. Costin Raiu is away this week.

Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
• Anthropic: Exploring AI model welfare, consciousness
• David Chalmers: Taking AI Welfare Seriously
• Sam Altman: AI privacy safeguards can’t be established before ‘problems emerge’
• TP-Link router pricing and China ties under US gov probe
• Bloomberg: TP-Link’s US Future Hinges on Claimed Split From China
• Verizon DBIR 2015 (full report)
• Mandiant M-Trends 2025 Report
• FBI seeking tips about China's 'Salt Typhoon' hackers
• North Korean Cryptocurrency Thieves Caught Hijacking Zoom ‘Remote Control’ Feature
• Dan Geer on the realpolitik of cybersecurity
• LABScon 2025 CFP is open
• Ransom War by Max Smeets