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02.15.2022 | 5'' read
Finally, some refreshing security news…
According to new data from Google Project Zero, big-tech vendors are getting better -- and faster -- at fixing high-risk security vulnerabilities. In 2021, vendors took an average of 52 days to fix security vulnerabilities reported from Project Zero. This is a significant acceleration from an average of about 80 days three years ago.
Read01.04.2022 | 7'' read
Some not-so-dire 2022 predictions cybersecurity predictions
What's behind CrowdStrike's move to switch Principal Executive Offices to Texas? Plus, my predictions for 2022 includes ransomware attacks subsiding and supply chain security hitting a crisis point.
Read11.16.2021 | 6'' read
Let’s talk about security at Zoom
The Zoom software is also riddled with security vulnerabilities, some of them devastatingly bad. Zoom has been rolling out high-risk patches on what appears to be a monthly cadence but, inexplicably, Zoom users are never given this information. It's a disgrace that Zoom does not have a self-patching, auto-updating mechanism.
Read11.09.2021 | 5'' read
US sanctions hit ‘friendly’ zero-day exploit shops
It's a welcome surprise to see companies from two "friendly" countries -- Israel and Singapore -- on the list of entities deemed "to be acting contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States."
Read10.12.2021 | 5'' read
Beware of shady VPN corporate ownership
For years, security pros (myself included) have urged the use of VPNs as a data and privacy protection utility. Today, this is slowly becoming bad advice and there are new signs that the entire cottage industry of consumer VPN software needs to be killed off as a matter of urgency.
Read10.07.2021 | 7'' read
An incomplete nation-state APT landscape
An honest and open discussion about nation-state capabilities and operations must include all the actors, including the United States, Israel, France, South Korea and the growing list of European nations managing cyber-espionage campaigns.
Read10.01.2021 | 4'' read
Information brokerage and cyber storytelling
High-end APT research is big business. This means that the traditional malware researcher is now an "intelligence broker" operating in an oft-misunderstood space with geopolitical weight and consequences. Do we truly understand the implications?
Read09.21.2021 | 6'' read
Stop legitimizing parasite 0day companies
It's not too late to stop legitimizing these private sector offensive actors supplying zero-days to apex predators. These aren't cybersecurity companies helping to solve security problems. These are parasites cashing in on an unregulated space, making things worse for the rest of us.
Read09.14.2021 | 5'' read
Legal trouble for ex-NSA mercenary hackers
According to publicly available data, there have been 66 documented zero-day attacks so far in 2021. The bulk of those target code from Microsoft, Google and Apple. Plus, ex-NSA mercenary hackers in legal crosshairs for security work in Dubai.
Read08.24.2021 | 5'' read
Should I worry about iOS zero-click exploits?
Some thoughts on Apple's impossible challenge to stop apex threat actors from hacking iOS devices. Plus, people movements and a movie-style hack of Iran's prison systems network.
Read08.17.2021 | 6'' read
Corellium dunks on Apple
Less than a week after prevailing in a legal case filed by Apple, Corellium pounced on the controversy surrounding Cupertino's new CSAM child-safety system to kick sand in Apple's eyes. Plus, a new generation of cybersecurity students head to college.
Read07.27.2021 | 8'' read
On apathy in cybersecurity
As far as we've come, it feels like we're chasing a tail that's disappearing in the distance. Attack surfaces are expanding faster than we can react to securing them and there's still too much friction when users try to adopt the best available security tools.
Read07.20.2021 | 8'' read
Exposing the zero-day exploit suppliers
Israeli vendors Candiru and NSO Group are caught in the crosshairs of global investigations into the secretive world of zero-days and point-and-click mobile hacking tools to .gov customers. Plus, the fallout from China's clampdown on vulnerability data sharing.
Read07.06.2021 | 4'' read
Microsoft Print Spooler, Kesaya ransomware mega-hack
While Microsoft Windows fleet admins scramble to apply the 'PrintNightmare' patch, the evidence is clear that Microsoft has a severe patch-quality problem that's now being compounded by poor communications, lack of transparency, and festering feuds with prominent white-hat hackers.
Read06.30.2021 | 7'' read
PrintNightmare exposes Microsoft patch problems
Microsoft misdiagnoses the severity of a Print Spooler security update, calling into question the quality of the company's patches. Plus, some movement on defining "critical software" and advances in SBOM requirements.
Read05.03.2021 | 6'' read
Security vendor ‘awards’ are meaningless
We complain a lot about FUD and snake-oil ruining this industry but so many reputable security vendors are getting sucked into this pay-for-an-award-logo that turns you in a bit of a laughing stock among educated buyers. Stop buying these fake awards. You're doing yourself and your company a disservice.
Read04.12.2021 | 6'' read
Sandboxing and that Zoom zero-click exploit chain
My latest piece SecurityWeek piece on the economics (and narrow shelf life) of memory corruption mitigations has kickstarted an active discussion on the future of sandboxing to disrupt the economy of software exploitation. Plus, that Pwn2Own Zoom zero-click exploit chain should scare us all.
Read03.29.2021 | 6'' read
On disrupting .gov malware attacks
A major scoop by MIT Technology Review confirms what I've suspected all along -- Google's public flex came long after intense conversations about disruting and outing a "friendly" FEYE counter-terrorism campaign. Plus, a new podcast with Nico Waisman and a surge in firmware attacks.
Read03.08.2021 | 5'' read
The sudden explosion of zero-day attacks
So far this year, we've seen 14 distinct in-the-wild 0day attacks hitting a range of different platforms, products and operating systems. What does it all mean and how can we find some signs of good news amidst the carnage? Plus, a throwback podcast with a zero-day exploit merchant and lots of important people movements.
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