Fortinet 0days, Appin hack-for-hire exposé, crypto heists, Russians booted from Linux kernel

October 25th, 2024  |  1 hr 26 mins

apt research, nation-state, zero-day

Three Buddy Problem Episode 18: This week’s show covers the White House's new Traffic Light Protocol (TLP) guidance, Reuters expose of Appin as a hack-for-hire mercenary company, Fortinet zero-day exploitation and missing CSRB investigations, major cryptocurrency heists, Apple opening Private Cloud Compute to public inspection, Russians removed from Linux kernel maintenance and China’s Antiy beefing with Sentinel One over APT reporting.

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

ESET Israel wiper malware, China's Volt Typhoon response, Kaspersky sanctions and isolation

October 18th, 2024  |  1 hr 38 mins

apt research, nation-state, zero-day

Three Buddy Problem Episode 17: News of a wiper malware attack in Israel implicating ESET, threats from wartime hacktivists, China's strange response to Volt Typhoon attribution and Section 702 messaging, an IE zero-day discovery and web browser rot in South Korea, the ongoing isolation of Kaspersky due to sanctions, and the geopolitical influences affecting cybersecurity reporting.

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

Ep10: Volt Typhoon zero-day, Russia's APT29 reusing spyware exploits, Pavel Durov's arrest

August 30th, 2024  |  1 hr 18 mins

apt research, nation-state, ransomware, volt typhoon, zero-day

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

Ep9: The blurring lines between nation-state APTs and the ransomware epidemic

August 23rd, 2024  |  1 hr 6 mins

apt research, attribution, china, nation-state, ransomware, taiwan, xiaomi, zero-day

The 'Three Buddy Problem' Podcast 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)

Ep8: Microsoft's zero-days and a wormable Windows TCP/IP flaw known to China

August 17th, 2024  |  1 hr 17 mins

apt research, nation-state, zero-day

The 'Three Buddy Problem' Podcast 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: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (SentinelLabs), Costin Raiu (Art of Noh), Ryan Naraine (SecurityWeek)

Ep6: After CrowdStrike chaos, should Microsoft kick EDR agents out of Windows kernel?

July 26th, 2024  |  1 hr 16 mins

apt research, crowdstrike, edr, microsoft, nation-state, windows, zero-day

The 'Three Buddy Problem' Podcast Episode 6: As the dust settles on the CrowdStrike incident that blue-screened 8.5 million Windows computers worldwide, we dig into CrowdStrike’s preliminary incident report, the lack of transparency in the update process and the need for more robust testing and validation. We also discuss Microsoft's responsibility to avoid infinite BSOD loops, risks of deploying EDR agents on critical systems, and how an EU settlement is being blamed for EDR vendors having access to the Windows kernel.

Other topics on the show include Mandiant's attribution capabilities, North Korea’s gov-backed hacking teams launching ransomware on hospitals, KnowBe4 hiring a fake North Korean IT worker, and new developments in the NSO Group surveillance-ware lawsuit.

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

Ep5: CrowdStrike's faulty update shuts down global networks

July 19th, 2024  |  59 mins 51 secs

apt research, crowdstrike, edr, nation-state, zero-day

The 'Three Buddy Problem' Podcast Episode 5: Hot off the press, we dive into the news of the CrowdStrike software update that caused blue screens on computers worldwide, the resulting chaos and potential connections to the Microsoft 365 outage, the fragility of modern computing and the risks of new software paradigms.

We also discuss the AT&T mega-breach and the ransom paid to delete the stolen data; the challenges of ransomware and the uncertainty surrounding the deletion of stolen data; the FBI gaining access to a password-protected phone, the prices for zero-click exploits; and the resurgence of APT 41 with expanding targets.

Plus, some news on upcoming keynote speakers at LabsCon 2024.

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

Ep2: A deep-dive on disrupting and exposing nation-state malware ops

June 29th, 2024  |  1 hr 8 mins

apt, google, microsoft, nation-state, polyfill, russia, teamviewer

The 'Three Buddy Problem' Podcast Episode 2: Ryan Naraine, Costin Raiu and Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade go all-in on the discussion around Google Project Zero disrupting counter-terrorism malware operations. A deep dive on disruption vs exposure, the effects of US government sanctions on private mercenary hacking companies, hypocricy and the tricky relationship between malware researchers are the intelligence community, and the lack of 'success stories' from so-called benevolent malware.

We also discuss the implications of the TeamViewer breach by a skilled Russian APT, new Microsoft notifications to Midnight Blizzard victims and share thoughts on the Polyfill.io supply chain compromise.

Costin Raiu: The GReAT exit interview

January 15th, 2024  |  1 hr 32 mins

apt research, nation-state, zero-day

Episode sponsors:

• Binarly, the supply chain security experts (https://binarly.io)
• FwHunt (https://fwhunt.run)

Costin Raiu has spent a lifetime in anti-malware research, working on some of the biggest nation-state APT cases in history, including Stuxnet, Duqu, Equation Group, Red October, Turla and Lazarus.

In this exit interview, Costin digs into why he left the GReAT team after 13 years at the helm, ethical questions on exposing certain APT operations, changes in the nation-state malware attribution game, technically impressive APT attacks, and the 'dark spots' where future-thinking APTs are living.

Dakota Cary on China's weaponization of software vulnerabilities

September 15th, 2023  |  55 mins 48 secs

apts, atlantic council, china, nation-state

Episode sponsors:

• Binarly (https://binarly.io)
• FwHunt (https://fwhunt.run)

Dakota Cary is a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, conducting research on China’s efforts to develop its hacking capabilities, artificial-intelligence and cybersecurity research at Chinese universities, the People’s Liberation Army’s efforts to automate software vulnerability discovery, and new policies to improve China’s cybersecurity-talent pipeline.

In this episode, Cary expands on a new report -- 'Sleight of Hand' -- that delves into the changing legal landscape for vulnerability disclosure in China, the PRC's weaponization of software vulnerabilities, nation state-backed threat actors in China and that infamous Bloomberg 'rice grain' spy chip story.