Three Buddy Problem - Episodes Tagged with “Ransomware”

The Angry Spark APT Mystery: A Year-Long Backdoor, One Victim, Zero Attribution

Security Conversations — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 12:30:00 -0700

(Presented by TLPBLACK: A cybersecurity intelligence platform focused on sharing curated, high-sensitivity threat insights and research with trusted security professionals.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 94: We discuss a mysterious, VM-obfuscated backdoor that lived undetected on a single U.K. machine for a year before disappearing, finding clues pointing to an elite-level APT intrusion that still evades broader industry coverage.

Plus, connecting the dots across AI-driven vulnerability discovery, Microsoft’s massive Patch Tuesday, Jensen Huang talks cybersecurity, Mythos dangers and Chinese chips, and the quiet erosion of CVE enrichment at NIST.

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

Timestamps:
0:00 – Intros + AI news whiplash
5:10 – Patch Tuesday breakdown: Microsoft's second-largest CVE release ever
7:32 – AI accelerating vulnerability discovery at record pace
10:00 – Frontier lab cyber models, fine-tuning, guardrail removal & KYC
12:37 – FreeBSD NFS bug: Opus 4.6 was already finding critical vulns
14:26 – Anthropic's infrastructure strain: Is Opus being nerfed?
21:05 – OpenAI's Trusted Access for Cyber vs. Anthropic's Mythos cabal
28:45 – SharePoint zero-day CVE-2026-32201: The endless Microsoft tax
34:36 – Adobe Acrobat zero-day: A rare, real, Russia-linked exploit in the wild
41:36 – VirusTotal mining: The golden age of threat intel hunting
50:03 – ZionSiphon: Vibe-coded OT malware targeting Israeli water infrastructure
55:04 – Paleontology of threat research: When do you publish? Who do you trust?
1:13:53 – Angry Spark: A one-machine, one-year backdoor raises eyebrows
1:49:25 – Jensen Huang vs. Dwarkesh Patel on Mythos, China and chips
2:14:32 – Chinese AI distillation: 24,000 fake Anthropic accounts, DeepSeek & the catch-up question

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The Claude Mythos, Project Glasswing Shockwave

Security Conversations — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:30:00 -0700

(Presented by TLPBLACK: A cybersecurity intelligence platform focused on sharing curated, high-sensitivity threat insights and research with trusted security professionals.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 93: We discuss Anthropic's release of Claude Mythos Preview (an AI model so capable and dangerous they won't release it publicly) and debate the looming patching crisis, bug bounty extinction, possible US government nationalization of frontier labs, and why the NSA might not be thrilled about all this bug-fixing.

Plus, North Korea's six-month Drift Protocol con job, APT28's retro DNS hijacking campaign, and Microsoft's driver signing mess hitting WireGuard and VeraCrypt.

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

00:00 — Opening banter
01:36 — Anthropic Mythos Preview + Project Glasswing
06:17 — USG reaction + Wall Street emergency meeting
10:54 — Mythos capabilities vs hype (technical reality check)
13:44 — PR stunt? Skepticism of Anthropic narrative
20:42 — The patching crisis + “defender advantage”
27:41 — Bug bounty model under threat from AI
33:37 — Mythos practical workflows
45:09 — Geopolitics, NSA angle, and nationalization discussion
01:40:18 — Fortinet zero-day + ongoing failures
01:42:39 — Drift Protocol heist ($285M) + long-term social engineering
01:44:07 — Revisiting XZ Utils / Jia Tan attribution
01:54:07 — Crypto security gaps + need for real CTI in blockchain
02:04:22 — APT28 DNS hijacking + router compromise campaign
02:18:57 — Microsoft driver signing meltdown + ecosystem impact

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LLMs writing exploits, engineers losing skills, and a case for the generative OS

Security Conversations — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:30:00 -0700

(Presented by TLPBLACK: High-fidelity threat intelligence and research tools for modern security teams. From curated Passive DNS and real-time C2 monitoring to actionable IOC feeds and daily malware samples, we help defenders detect, hunt, and disrupt threats faster, with seamless integration into SIEM and SOAR workflows.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 92: Costin walks through real-world ransomware incident response while Juanito makes the case for AI-generated operating systems that never run anyone else's code. Plus, debates on whether vulnerability research is cooked, why nobody should pay ransoms, and what the security industry looks like after the massive AI flood.

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

0:00 – Introductory banter
2:00 – Costin's ransomware incident response work
3:30 – How attackers break in: Fortinet vulnerabilities everywhere
6:30 – Hunting for ransomware decryption keys
9:00 – Breaking into ransomware C2s and monitoring leak sites
12:00 – The ransom payment debate: should you ever pay?
16:00 – Why "don't pay the ransom" is overgeneralized
21:00 – How ransomware gangs price their demands
24:00 – The AI-pilling of the security industry
28:30 – Nicholas Carlini, Ptacek, and "vulnerability research is cooked"
35:00 – Towards a generative-first operating system
41:00 – Code factories, trusted computing, and killing dependencies
48:00 – Microsoft and Apple's AI positioning
56:00 – Chris St. Myers' "Cognitive Rust Belt" essay
1:18:00 – Choice, The Matrix, and the illusion of control
1:38:00 – Supply chain attacks, North Korea, and dependency sprawl

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Google's Cyber Disruption Unit; Coruna is Triangulation, US Bans Foreign-Made Routers

Security Conversations — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 12:30:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 91: This week we dig into Google's new cyber threat disruption unit announced at RSAC, Kaspersky confirming Coruna is a direct evolution of Operation Triangulation, and a cascading supply chain compromise that chained through LiteLLM, Trivy, and Checkmarx into thousands of software pipelines.

Plus, VCs and the breathless AI hype, Apple's iOS 26.4 and silent patches, the FCC's ban on foreign-made routers, and Symantec catching an APT looking for Chinese military data.

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

0:00 Intro & Pre-Show Banter
3:08 JAGS in San Francisco: RSAC week recap
6:05 Google Launches Cyber Disruption Unit — What's Actually New?
13:43 Why Separate Disruption Units Matter: ROI & Budget Justification
29:11 Haroon Meer's RSA Reality Check: The AI Hype Machine
32:37 The VC Ponzi Cycle & How Easy Money Hollowed Out Cybersecurity
47:32 ENT.ai & Tenex AI Hackathon at RSAC
53:08 Kaspersky Links Corona Exploit Kit to Operation Triangulation
1:08:09 Trenchant Cleanup & Lessons from Equation Group Burns
1:19:31 Apple iOS Patches, Hong Kong Device Passcode Law
1:27:53 Handala Hacks FBI Director Kash Patel's Personal Gmail
1:37:32 LeakBase Admin "Chucky" Arrested in Russia — FSB Gets the Data
1:45:38 Supply Chain Attacks: TeamPCP Hits LiteLLM & Trivy
2:04:34 FCC Bans Foreign-Made Routers — But What Do We Buy?

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The greatest APT hunter of all time, Apple's exploit kit problem, Microsoft FedRAMP mess

Security Conversations — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 13:00:00 -0700

(Presented by Thinkst Canary: Most Companies find out way too late that they’ve been breached. Thinkst Canary changes this. Deploy Canaries and Canarytokens in minutes and then forget about them. Attackers tip their hand by touching ’em giving you the one alert, when it matters. With zero admin overhead and almost no false-positives, Canaries are deployed (and loved) on all 7 continents.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 90: We remember GReAT teammate Sergey Mineev, the legendary malware hunter behind discoveries like Equation Group and Project Sauron (Remsec), including stories about his methods and why he was the best to ever do it.

Plus, another in-the-wild iOS exploit kit discovery and a long overdue conversation about Apple's responsibility to hundreds of millions of users on older iOS versions; the ProPublica Microsoft/FedRAMP bombshell, Interlock ransomware sitting on a Cisco zero-day, the White House AI policy framework, and Supermicro co-founder $2.5 billion AI chip smuggling bust.

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

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Handala wiper attacks, APT28 implant devs are back, Signal's verification problems

Security Conversations — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 89: We discuss Iran hacktivist group 'Handala' wiper attacks against US medical device maker Stryker, Microsoft Intune MDM tool abuse, and whether Iran's cyber retaliation is as scary as the headlines suggest.

Plus, ESET's discovery that Russia's APT28 original implant developers are back after years of silence, Dutch intelligence warnings on Russian campaigns targeting Signal and WhatsApp accounts, Apple finally patching Coruna exploit kit vulnerabilities for older iPhones, and Google sharing Coruna samples that raise new questions about the exploit kit's proliferation chain.

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

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Trenchant, Peter Williams, and the proliferation of a Shadow Brokers-level iOS exploit framework

Security Conversations — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 12:30:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 88: We unpack the fallout from public documentation of the Coruna iOS exploit kit, the likely connection to the Peter Williams/Trenchant exploit sale to Russians, how it slipped from government hands into criminal use, and the widening use of zero-days by surveillance vendors and cybercriminals.

Plus, fresh signs of cyber-warfare activity tied to Iran and Israel, the FBI’s disclosure of a breach affecting internal surveillance systems, and the latest debate over AI, security tooling, and Anthropic’s public stumbles.

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

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Threat Hunter Greg Linares on the modern ransomware playbook

Security Conversations — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 13:30:00 -0700

Huntress threat intelligence analyst Greg Linares shares insights on the modern ransomware ecosystem, including how crews operate like businesses and why Akira, Medusa, RansomHub, and Qilin cause so much damage. Plus, signs of overlap between ransomware and nation-state activity, what “time to ransom” really means for defenders, and why techniques like ClickFix and credential theft keep working at scale.

The conversation also covers the surge in RMM tool abuse, how “living off the land” attacks can unfold without traditional malware, and the basic defenses smaller organizations can prioritize.

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War in Iran, Anthropic v Pentagon, Trenchant zero-day sanctions, AI stock market shocks

Security Conversations — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 87: We wake up to news of U.S./Israel military action against Iran and the expected fallout, including Tehran’s cyber capabilities and proxy risks. Plus: Anthropic’s clash with the Pentagon over AI use in warfare, market shockwaves from AI-driven security tools, mass layoffs tied to automation, Trenchant exec sentencing and sanctions in the exploit trade, and fresh questions around Cisco’s SD-WAN breach and supply-chain trust.

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

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GitLab doxxes North Korea .gov hackers; fresh Ivanti zero-days; AI addiction and human purpose

Security Conversations — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 01:00:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 86: We dig into GitLab’s explosive look at North Korea’s “Contagious Interview” APT operation, the scale of fake IT worker infiltration, and what it means for companies chasing cheap talent.

Plus, a fresh batch of already-exploited Ivanti and Dell zero-days, the return of Apple’s shutdown logs, and thoughts on addictive AI coding agents affecting human purpose.

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

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Palo Alto and the uncomfortable politics of APT attribution

Security Conversations — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 12:30:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 85: Top stories this week include drone incursions over El Paso and the murky line between cartel activity, anti-drone tech testing, and full-blown hybrid warfare; updates on the Notepad++ supply chain fallout; Microsoft’s zero-day treadmill and AI-enabled attack surfaces; and Apple’s “extremely sophisticated” iOS exploits.

Plus, Europe’s growing appetite for offensive cyber, Palo Alto and the uncomfortable politics of cyber attribution, Singapore on telco intrusions, and the economics of end-of-life infrastructure.

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

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From Epstein to Notepad++: Redactions, Zero-Days and Supply Chain Attacks

Security Conversations — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 84: We process the cybersecurity fallout from the latest Epstein document dump, focusing on why redactions fail in the AI era and how quickly modern tools can unravel them. The conversation moves from sloppy redaction practices and exploit mythology to harder questions about ethics, accountability, and silence within the infosec community.

Plus, inside the Notepad++ supply-chain compromise attributed to a known Chinese APT, Microsoft’s security executive changes, Anthropic's AI-driven vulnerability discovery, China-linked network implants, and Lockdown Mode thwarting FBI investigators.

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

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A destructive cyberattack in Poland raises NATO 'red-line' questions

Security Conversations — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:00:00 -0700

(Presented by Material Security: We protect your company’s most valuable materials -- the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud offices.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 83: Poland's CERT documents a rare, explicit wiper attack on civilians in a NATO country, including detailed attribution of a Russian government op targeting the electric grid in the heart of winter. We examine why this crosses a long-avoided threshold, why attribution suddenly matters again, and what it says about pre-positioned access, vendor insecurity, and the shrinking gap between cyber operations and acts of war.

Plus, another Fortinet fiasco, a new batch of Ivanti zero-days under attack, an emergency patch from Microsoft and the return of the mysterious KasperSekrets account.

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

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Cheap, AI-generated zero-days and the real meaning of ‘advanced’ malware

Security Conversations — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 12:30:00 -0700

(Presented by Material Security: We protect your company’s most valuable materials -- the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud offices.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 82: We parse news that China-linked VoidLink is a malware framework created entirely by AI and the collapsing line between elite APT operations and everyday threat actors.

Plus, a new Sean Heelan essay on low-cost exploit generation and why “AI guardrails” are mostly a comforting myth; AI slop overwhelming bug bounty programs; CISA's new Brickstorm YARA rules; and fresh research on a wiper-malware found in Russian attacks against Poland's electricity sector.

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

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Google Pixel 'zero-click' exploit caused by AI, mysterious Poland grid attacks, China bans US cybersecurity software

Security Conversations — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0700

(Presented by Material Security: We protect your company’s most valuable materials -- the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud offices.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 81: We dissect New York Times reporting on the "precision" of US cyber operations in Venezuela, the competing narratives around offensive cyber capabilities and "letters of marque" for private hackers. Plus, a mysterious failed cyber attack on Poland's power grid, internet blackouts in Iran (with fascinating DNS telemetry revealing Chinese bank traffic and Russian website spikes), and news of China's ban on US/Israeli cybersecurity software.

We also cover Check Point's research on "VoidLink" (is it a successor to ShadowPad?), Microsoft's threat intelligence sharing practices, and Google Project Zero's disclosure of zero-click vulnerabilities caused by AI-powered transcription features.

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

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Hamid Kashfi on the situation in Iran; Did cyber cause Venezuela blackouts?

Security Conversations — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 12:30:00 -0700

(Presented by Material Security: We protect your company’s most valuable materials -- the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud offices.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 80: Researcher Hamid Kashfi returns to unpack Iran’s latest unrest, separating economic reality from propaganda while examining how information control, cyber pressure, and state surveillance are shaping events on the ground.

Plus, did cyber make the lights go out in Venezuela?

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

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A special mailbag episode with book recommendations

Security Conversations — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 13:30:00 -0700

(Presented by Material Security: We protect your company’s most valuable materials -- the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud offices.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 79: We cover MongoBleed (CVE‑2025‑14847), exposed MongoDB deployments, and the sad realization that zero-day attacks are a normal, everyday occurrence. Plus, AI’s expanding role and misuse across products and workflows, proximity attacks against Bluetooth audio devices, spyware sanctions de-listings, and ransomware economics.

In a special mailbag segment, we give our book recommendations and respond to common questions from the listeners.

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

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Quiet Wins, Loud Failures: A Year-End Cybersecurity Reckoning

Security Conversations — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 16:00:00 -0700

(Presented by ThreatLocker: Allow what you need. Block everything else by default, including ransomware and rogue code.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 78: We close out the year with a no-budget, no-permission awards show, spotlighting the cybersecurity stories that actually mattered.

Plus, a bizarre polygraph scandal at CISA, Chinese APT research dumps, ransomware pre-notification hiccups, foreign drone bans, and the growing gap between cyber theater and real operational value.

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

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What's behind US gov push to 'privatize' offensive cyber operations?

Security Conversations — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 11:00:00 -0700

(Presented by ThreatLocker: Allow what you need. Block everything else by default, including ransomware and rogue code.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 77: New React2Shell data from Microsoft, fresh Apple and Cisco zero-days already in the wild, and state-linked campaigns from Russia and China that show a merging of espionage, crime, and infrastructure disruption.

Plus, the US government's push to enlist private firms in offensive hacking, letters of marque for cartels, new discovery of spyware used against journalists in Belarus, and Amazon catching North Koreans via keystroke latency.

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

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Legal corruption, React2Shell exploitation, dual-use AI risks

Security Conversations — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:15:00 -0700

(Presented by ThreatLocker: Allow what you need. Block everything else by default, including ransomware and rogue code.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 76: On the show this week, Costin walks through how a single Romanian documentary kick-started nationwide protests, exposing how corruption can be perfectly legal when the law itself is gamed, and why this moment feels different, darker, and more consequential than past flare-ups.

Plus, news on the React-to-Shell exploitation wave overwhelming the internet, why patching is structurally hard, and how APTs and criminals are converging on the same fragile dependency chain. Along the way, they take aim at Microsoft’s shrinking transparency, the limits of vendor trust, and what it really means when defenders are told (again) to just patch and pray.

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

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APTs pounce on React2Shell; BRICKSTORM backdoors; .gov surveillance

Security Conversations — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 10:30:00 -0700

(Presented by ThreatLocker: Allow what you need. Block everything else by default, including ransomware and rogue code.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 75: We dig into a CVSS 10/10 unauthenticated RCE bug causing chaos across the internet and early signs that Chinese APTs are already launching exploits, the cascading patch chaos, and a long tail of malware intrusions to come.

Plus, commentary on Chrome’s telemetry collection, Microsoft and the "SFI success story," newest BRICKSTORM backdoor intrusions, the US national security strategy, Anthropic's AI popping smart-contract bugs, a secret FBI ransomware-hunting unit getting weird, and a pair of sad stories in the security community.

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

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Shai-Hulud 2.0, Russia GRU Intrusions, and Microsoft’s Regulatory Capture

Security Conversations — Sat, 29 Nov 2025 11:30:00 -0700

(Presented by Material Security: We protect your company’s most valuable materials -- the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud offices.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 74: We attempt to parse the rumor-fog around Microsoft’s CISO at CYBERWARCON and what it reveals about the company’s shifting posture on intel sharing, regulation, and its outsized grip on the security ecosystem. Plus, coverage of the Shai-Hulud npm supply-chain mess, CISA’s mobile spyware guidance, NSO’s legal contortions, a sharp new GRU-linked intrusion from Arctic Wolf.

We also discuss the FCC retreating on telco security rules, and the emerging AI arms race shaping how cloud giants hunt threats and how Washington misunderstands all of it.

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

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Gemini 3 reactions, Fortinet/Chrome zero-days, a Cloudflare monoculture and a billion-dollar crypto twist

Security Conversations — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 12:00:00 -0700

(Presented by Material Security: We protect your company’s most valuable materials -- the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud offices.)

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 73: The buddies react to Google’s release of Gemini 3 and its early performance, new Chrome interface changes landing on users’ machines, and major highlights from CYBERWARCON. We revisit the long-running debate over APT naming conventions, examine Amazon’s latest threat-intel reporting on Iranian activity, and walk through the Cloudflare outage that briefly knocked chunks of the internet offline.

Plus, new APT reports from ESET, Positive Technologies, and SecurityScorecard, and China's CN-CERT (now validated claim) that the U.S. government seized billions in Bitcoin tied to the Lubian mining-pool hack.

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

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Anthropic Claude Code automating APT hacks, KnownSec leak, Chinese buses with remote access

Security Conversations — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 12:30:00 -0700

Presented by Material Security: We protect your company’s most valuable materials -- the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud offices.

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 72: We unpack Anthropic’s conflicting self-promotion around the “first AI-orchestrated cyberattack” using Claude Code and the future of automated APT attacks.

Plus, Chinese cyber vendor KnownSec falls victim to data breach, fresh accusations that the U.S. stole billions in Bitcoin, Amazon warning about Cisco/Citrix zero-days, Google’s new Private AI Compute and Microsoft kernel zero-day marked as "actively exploited."

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

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LIVE from Ring0 COUNTERMEASURE: Google v FFmpeg, Ransomware Turncoats, Samsung 0days

Security Conversations — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 11:15:00 -0700

Presented by Material Security: We protect your company’s most valuable materials -- the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud offices.

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 71: The buddies travel to Canada for a live recording at the Countermeasure conference, discussing the Google v FFmpeg open-source patching brouhana, ransomware negotiators charged and linked to ransomware attacks, the looming TP-Link ban in the U.S., and the discovery of LANDFALL, an APT attack caught using a Samsung mobile zero-day.

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

Links:

Material Security — We protect your company’s most valuable materials — the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace & Microsoft 365 cloud offices.
Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
FFmpeg complains about Google BigSleep AI
Google v FFmpeg brouhaha
Curl's Daniel Stenberg on a new breed of AI analyzers
unit42.paloaltonetworks.com
iOS 26.1 security updates
U.S. agencies back banning TP-Link home routers on security grounds
TLP BLACK

OpenAI’s Dave Aitel talks Aardvark, economics of bug-hunting with LLMs

Security Conversations — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 11:30:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 70: Dave Aitel from OpenAI's technical staff joins the buddies to discuss the just-launched Aardvark, OpenAI’s agentic “security researcher” that claims to read code, finds bugs, validates exploits, and ships patches. We press him on where LLMs beat fuzzers, privacy boundaries, human-in-the-loop realities, SDLC budgets, pen-test cadence, and the zero-day economy.

Plus, L3 Harris/Trenchant exec pleads guilty to selling exploits to Russian brokers, Kaspersky catches the return of HackingTeam using Chrome zero-day exploit chain, and news of a proposed law in Russia to force researchers to report vulnerabilities first to goverment agencies.

Cast: Dave Aitel (Technical Staff, OpenAI), Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, Ryan Naraine and Costin Raiu.

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Apple’s iOS forensics freeze, WhatsApp zero-click, China outs NSA

Security Conversations — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 12:00:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 69: We dig into news that Apple's iOS 26 has quietly killed the shutdown.log forensic artifact used to spot signs of infections and what it means for threat hunters. Plus, whispers of a million-dollar WhatsApp zero-click exploit that never materialized at Pwn2Own, a surreal court case linking a Trenchant exploit developer to Russian buyers, and Chinese threat intel reports pointing fingers at the NSA.

We also discuss calls for the US government to build a structured, lawful ecosystem for private-sector offensive operations to address existing chaos and market gaps.

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

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JAGS LABScon 2025 keynote: Steps to an ecology of cyber

Security Conversations — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 06:30:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem (Episode 68): The buddies are trapped in timezone hell with cross-country travel this week.

In this special episode, we present Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade's LABScon 2025 keynote-day presentation on the state of cybersecurity and why this phase of our collective project has failed, and how to build something smarter, more sustainable, and deeply interconnected in its place.

Juanito traces the field’s evolution from chaos to consolidation, weaving in cybernetics, standardization, and the dawning coexistence of human and artificial evaluative power. The result is part philosophical sermon, part rallying cry, an invitation to reject the industry’s slave morality, rethink our tools, and steer the next era of defense with intention.

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Apple Exploit-Chain Bounties, Wireless Proximity Exploits and Tactical Suitcases

Security Conversations — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 11:30:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 67: We discuss the rise of automated red-teaming, Apple’s $2 million exploit chain bounties aimed at outbidding spyware brokers and the iPhone maker's focus on wireless proximity attacks and “tactical suitcase” Wi-Fi exploits. We also hit the news of Paragon spyware targeting European executives and the bizarre story of NSO Group’s supposed US investor buyout.

Plus, an update on Oracle’s zero-day ransomware fiasco, Ivanti’s endless patch delays, the ethics of journalists enabling ransomware operations on leak sites, Europe’s latest failed push for Chat Control, and VirusTotal’s new pricing tiers.

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

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Oracle cl0p ransomware crisis, EU drone sightings, Cisco bootkit fallout

Security Conversations — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 11:30:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 66: We discuss drone sightings that shut down airports across Europe and what they reveal about hybrid warfare and the changing nature of conflict; Oracle ransomware/extortion campaign tied to unpatched E-Business Suite vulnerabilities and the company’s muted response.

Plus, the TikTok–Oracle deal and the strange role Oracle now plays in U.S. national security; OpenAI’s Sora 2 launch and its implications for social media and human expression; Palo Alto’s “Phantom Taurus” APT report, a follow-up on Cisco’s ArcaneDoor disclosures, and the impact of the U.S. government shutdown on CISA.

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

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Cisco firewall zero-days and bootkits in the wild

Security Conversations — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 11:00:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 65: We zero in on one of the biggest security stories of the year: the discovery of a persistent multi-stage bootkit implanting malware on Cisco ASA firewalls. Details on a new campaign, tied to the same threat actors behind ArcaneDoor, exploiting zero-days in Cisco’s 5500-X series appliances, devices that sit at the heart of government and enterprise networks worldwide.

Plus, Cisco’s controversial handling of these disclosures, CISA's emergency deadlines for patching, the absence of IOCs and samples, and China’s long-term positioning. Plus, thoughts on the Secret Service SIM farm discovery in New York and evidence of Russians APTs Turla and Gamaredon collaborating to hit Ukraine targets.

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

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Live at LABScon: Aurora Johnson and Trevor Hilligoss on China's 'internet toilets'

Security Conversations — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 11:30:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 64: SpyCloud Labs researchers Aurora Johnson and Trevor Hilligoss discuss the world of “internet toilets," the toxic online communities in China where harassment, stalking, and sextortion thrive. We explore how these groups operate, from doxing ex-lovers and enemies to running coordinated campaigns of cyberbullying that often spill into real-world harm. (Recorded at LABScon 2025).

Cast: Aurora Johnson, Trevor Hilligoss, Ryan Naraine and Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade.

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Live at LABScon: Visi Stark shares memories of creating the APT1 report

Security Conversations — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 11:00:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 63: Co-founder of the Vertex Project Visi Stark joins the buddies to reminisce about his work writing Mandiant's famous APT1 report, the China-nexus threat landscape, the value of cyber threat intelligence, APT-naming schemes, and more... (Recorded at LABScon 2025)

Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, Ryan Naraine and Visi Stark.

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Zero-day reality check: iOS exploits, MAPP in China and the hack-back temptation

Security Conversations — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 12:00:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 59: Apple drops another emergency iOS patch and we unpack what that “may have been exploited” language really means: zero-click chains, why notifications help but forensics don’t, and the uncomfortable truth that Lockdown Mode is increasingly the default for high-risk users. We connect the dots from ImageIO bugs to geopolitics, discuss who’s likely using these exploits, why Apple’s guidance stops short, and the practical playbook (ADP on, reboot often, reduce attack surface) that actually works.

Plus, we debate Microsoft throttling MAPP access for Chinese vendors, the idea of “letters of marque” for cyber (outsourced offense: smart deterrent or Pandora’s box?), and dissect two case studies that blur APT and crimeware: PipeMagic’s CLFS zero-day and Russia-linked “Static Tundra” riding seven-year-old Cisco bugs.

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

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Rethinking APT Attribution: Dakota Cary on Chinese Contractors and Espionage-as-a-Service

Security Conversations — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 11:00:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 56: China-focused researcher Dakota Cary joins the buddies to dig into China’s sprawling cyber ecosystem, from the HAFNIUM indictments and MSS tasking pipelines to the murky world of APT contractors and the ransomware hustle. We break down China’s “entrepreneurial” model of intelligence collection, why public visibility into these threat actors is so hard to get right, and how companies like Microsoft get caught in the geopolitical crossfire.

Plus: a deep dive on suspected MAPP leaks and Sharepoint zero-days, Singapore targeted by extremely sophisticated China-nexus hacking group, soft censorship in corporate threat-intel, and whether the U.S. should rethink how it fills its intelligence gaps.

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

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Transcript (unedited, AI-generated)
Dakota Cary on LinkedIn
China’s Covert Capabilities -- Silk Spun From Hafnium
HAFNIUM-Linked Hacker Xu Zewei: Riding the Tides of China’s Cyber Ecosystem
Microsoft Probing Whether Chinese Hackers Found Flaw Via MAPP
Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China
Frozen in transit: Secret Blizzard’s AiTM campaign against diplomats
Fire Ant: Hypervisor-Level Espionage Targeting VMware ESXi & vCenter
Singapore actively dealing with ongoing China cyberattack
Iranians Targeted With Spyware in Lead-Up to War With Israel — all inside Iran and working either in the country’s technology sector or for the government.
LABScon 2025
Apple in China (book)

How did China get Microsoft's zero-day exploits?

Security Conversations — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:00:00 -0700

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 53: We dig into news of the first-ever arrest of a Chinese intelligence-linked hacker in Italy, unpack the mystery behind HAFNIUM and how they somehow got their hands on the same Microsoft Exchange zero-days that researcher Orange Tsai discovered - was it coincidence, inside access, or something more sinister?

Plus, China's massive cyber capabilities pipeline, ‘theCom’ teenagers arrested in the UK after ransomware binge, and spyware attacks against Russian organizations.

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

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The dark hole of 'friendlies' and Western APTs

Security Conversations — Fri, 30 May 2025 11:30:00 -0700

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.

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

Security Conversations — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 11:00:00 -0700

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)

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

Security Conversations — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 10:00:00 -0700

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)

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Allison Miller talks about CISO life, protecting identities at scale

Security Conversations — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 11:00:00 -0700

Episode sponsors:

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

Allison Miller is founder and CEO of Cartomancy Labs and former CISO and VP of Trust at Reddit. She has spent the past 20 years scaling teams and technology at Bank of America, Google, Electronic Arts, PayPal/eBay, and Visa International.

In this conversation, we discuss the convergence of security with fraud prevention and anti-abuse, the challenges and complexities in IAM implementations, the post-pandemic labor market, the evolving role of CISOs and new realities around CISO exposure to personal liability, thoughts on the 'build vs buy' debate and the nuance and dilemma of paying ransomware demands.

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Cisco Talos researcher Nick Biasini on chasing APTs, mercenary hackers

Security Conversations — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 14:00:00 -0700

Episode sponsors:

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

Nick Biasini has been working in information security for nearly two decades. In his current role as head of outreach for Cisco Talos Intelligence Group, he leads a team of threat researchers tasked with tracking nation-state APTs, mercenary hacker groups and ransomware cybercriminals. In this episode, Biasini talks about the cryptic world of threat actor attribution, the rise of PSOAs (private sector offensive actors) and why network edge devices are a happy hunting ground for attackers.

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Allison Nixon on disturbing elements in cybercriminal ecosystem

Security Conversations — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 11:00:00 -0700

Episode sponsors:

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

Allison Nixon is Chief Researcher at Unit 221B and a trailblazer in the world of cybercrime research. In this episode, we deep-drive into the shadowy dynamics of underground criminal communities, high-profile ransomware attacks, teenage hacking groups breaking into big companies, and the challenges of attribution and law enforcement. Allison sheds light on why companies continue to be vulnerable targets and what they're often missing in their cybersecurity strategies.

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Ron Brash on the water plant hacks and the state of ICS security

Security Conversations — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 13:45:00 -0700

Ron Brash joins Ryan Naraine on the show to talk about the recent water supply hack, the state of security in ICS/SCADA installations, the checklist of affordable things for critical infrastructure defenders, and the things we should worry -- and not worry -- about.

Ron is Director of Cyber Security Insights at Verve Industrial Protection, a critical infrastructure-focused organisation that sells services and products that work across IT and OT environments for effective cyber security, controls and management.

Selena Larson, Intelligence Analyst, Dragos

Security Conversations — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 13:00:00 -0700

Journalist-turned-intel analyst Selena Larson joins the podcast to discuss the nuances of cybersecurity journalism, making the shift to analyzing intelligence and writing for a private audience, the ransomware epidemic, and the state of critical infrastructure security.

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Matt Honea, Senior Director, Cybersecurity, Guidewire

Security Conversations — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 12:15:00 -0700

After a career in government that included physical security work for the U.S. State Department, Matt Honea transitioned to Silicon Valley and turned his attention to the cyber-insurance space. He joins the podcast for a frank discussion on cyber-insurance, ransomware payments and trends, and his opinions on innovation in security.

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