Three Buddy Problem

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 16: We break down the new GCHQ advisory on the history and tactics of Russia’s APT29, the challenges of tracking and defending against these sophisticated espionage programs, the mysterious Salt Typhoon intrusions, the absence of technical indicators (IOCs), the risks of supply chain attacks. We also touch on the surge in zero-day discoveries, the nonstop flow of exploited Ivanti security bugs, and why the CSRB should investigate these network edge device and appliance vendors.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs), Costin Raiu (Art of Noh) and Ryan Naraine (SecurityWeek).

Links:

• NCSC exposé on SVR/APT29 history and tactics

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 15: Juanito checks in from Virus Bulletin with news on the return of Careto/Mask, a ‘milk-carton’ APT linked to Spain. We also cover the latest controversy surrounding IDA Pro's subscription model, a major new YARA update, and ongoing issues with VirusTotal's value and pricing. The conversation shifts to North Korean cyber operations, particularly the infiltration of prominent crypto companies, Tom Rid's essay on Russian disinformation results, and the US government's ICE department using commercial spyware from an Israeli vendor.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs), Costin Raiu (Art of Noh) and Ryan Naraine (SecurityWeek).

Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 14: The buddies are back together for a discussion on Juan’s LABScon keynote and mental health realities, Microsoft rewriting the Windows Recall security architecture, a new CVSS 9.9 Linux CUPS flaw, Kaspersky's controversial transition to Ultra AV, and the intelligence operations surrounding exploding pagers in Lebanon.

(This episode is dedicated to the memory of Jeff Wade from Solis, who was an important part of the LABScon family.)

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs), Costin Raiu (Art of Noh) and Ryan Naraine (SecurityWeek).

Links:

• The Consolation of Threat Intel (JAG-S LABScon keynote)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 13: This is a special edition of the show, featuring Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade's full keynote day remarks at LABScon2024. In this talk, Juanito addresses the current state of the threat intelligence industry, expressing a need for a difficult conversation about its direction and purpose. He discusses feelings of disenfranchisement among professionals, the void in meaningful work, and the importance of reclaiming control and value in cybersecurity. Juan emphasizes the need for researchers, journalists, and even VCs, to be the change to reinvigorate the industry and ensure its relevance and impact.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs). Costin Raiu and Ryan Naraine are listening to this episode.

Links:

• LABScon 2024

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 12: Gabriel Bernadett-Shapiro joins the show for an extended conversation on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. We discuss the hype around OpenAI's new o1 model, AI chain-of-thought reasoning and security use-cases, pervasive chatbots and privacy concerns, and the ongoing debate between open source and closed source AI models.

Cast: Gabriel Bernadett-Shapiro , Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs), Ryan Naraine (SecurityWeek).

Links:

• Transcript

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 11: Russia's notorious GRU Unit 29155 (previously tied to assassinations, poisonings and coup attempts) now blamed for destructive cyberattacks for sabotage; FBI and DOJ take down 'Doppelganger' network spreading Russian propaganda; CISA's budget, staff, advisories and YARA rules; Influence Operations 2.0; prolific Chinese hackers and global bug-disclosure implications; North Korean hacking capabilities and 0day expertise.

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs), Costin Raiu (Art of Noh), Ryan Naraine (SecurityWeek)

Links:

• Transcript (unedited)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 10: Top stories this week -- Volt Typhoon zero-day exploitation of Versa Director servers, Chinese APT building botnets with EOL routers, the gap in security solutions for network devices and appliances, Russia's APT29 (Midnight Blizzard) caught reusing exploits from NSO Group and Intellexa, Microsoft’s upcoming Windows endpoint security summit in response to the CrowdStrike incident, and the arrest of Telegram’s Pavel Durov in France. Plus, the NSA is launching a podcast.

Hosts: Costin Raiu (Art of Noh), Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs), Ryan Naraine (SecurityWeek)

Links:

• Transcript (unedited)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 9: On this episode, we look at the hacking scene in Taiwan, the sad state of visibility into big malware campaigns, the absence of APTs linked to the prolific MIVD Dutch intelligence agency, the blurring lines between big ransomware heists and nation-state actors caught using ransomware as a tool for sabotage and misattribution.

Plus, Chinese mobile OS vendor Xiaoimi caught disabling parts of its infrastructure -- including its global app store -- to thwart Pwn2Own contestants; and news of an addition to the LABScon 2024 keynote stage.

Hosts: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs), Costin Raiu (Art of Noh), Ryan Naraine (SecurityWeek)

Links:

• WSJ: The Real Story of the Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 8: This week’s show digs into Microsoft’s in-the-wild zero-day woes, Patch Tuesday and the absence of IOCs, a wormable Windows TCP/IP flaw that the Chinese government knew about for months, Iran’s aggressive hacking US election targets, CrowdStrike v Qihoo360 and major problems with APT naming conventions.

Hosts: Costin Raiu (Art of Noh), Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs), Ryan Naraine (SecurityWeek)

Links:

• Episode 8 Transcript

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 7: In this episode, we try to close the book on the CrowdStrike Windows BSOD story, Microsoft VP David Weston’s technical documentation and issues around kernel access and OS resilience. We also discuss Binarly’s PKFail research, secure boot bypasses, Dan Geer and tech monoculture, software vendor liability issues and the need for inspectability in security mechanisms.

The conversation explores cyber angles to train service disruptions in Paris, the history of cyber operations targeting the Olympics, the lack of public acknowledgment and attribution of cyber operations by Western intelligence agencies, and the importance of transparency and case studies in understanding and discussing cyber operations.

Hosts: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs), Costin Raiu (Art of Noh), Ryan Naraine (SecurityWeek)

Links:

• Episode Transcript