Displaying Episode 11 - 20 of 25 in total of Three Buddy Problem with the tag “ransomware”.
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Cisco firewall zero-days and bootkits in the wild
September 27th, 2025 | 1 hr 54 mins
apt research, cyberespionage, nation-state, ransomware, zero-day
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: Ryan Naraine, Costin Raiu and Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade.
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Live at LABScon: Aurora Johnson and Trevor Hilligoss on China's 'internet toilets'
September 24th, 2025 | 22 mins 13 secs
apt research, cyberespionage, nation-state, ransomware, zero-day
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
September 24th, 2025 | 28 mins 50 secs
apt research, cyberespionage, nation-state, ransomware, zero-day
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: Visi Stark, Ryan Naraine and Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade.
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Zero-day reality check: iOS exploits, MAPP in China and the hack-back temptation
August 22nd, 2025 | 2 hrs 32 mins
apt research, cyberespionage, nation-state, ransomware, zero-day
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: Ryan Naraine, Costin Raiu and Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade.
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Rethinking APT Attribution: Dakota Cary on Chinese Contractors and Espionage-as-a-Service
August 1st, 2025 | 1 hr 51 mins
apt research, cyberespionage, nation-state, ransomware, zero-day
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, Ryan Naraine, Costin Raiu and Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade.
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How did China get Microsoft's zero-day exploits?
July 10th, 2025 | 1 hr 49 mins
apt research, cyberespionage, drone, nation-state, ransomware, zero-day
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: Ryan Naraine, Costin Raiu and Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade.
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The dark hole of 'friendlies' and Western APTs
May 30th, 2025 | 2 hrs 11 mins
apt research, cyberespionage, nation-state, ransomware, zero-day
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: Costin Raiu, Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade and Ryan Naraine.
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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)
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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)
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Allison Miller talks about CISO life, protecting identities at scale
December 21st, 2023 | 38 mins 12 secs
ciso, iam, identity, ransomware
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.