The Threatpost Podcast

Inside the Hackers’ Toolkit Aug 09, 2022

There is no question that companies are in the sights of would-be criminals looking to exploit them. While companies look at solutions and trainings to help keep the perimeter secure, the biggest fail point is often the employees, AKA the human element.

In this Threatpost podcast, sponsored by Egress, we sit down with Jack Chapman to discuss the steps and tactics that companies can take to stay one step ahead of their adversaries.

During our conversation, we discuss:

Weaknesses that attackers look to exploit
Evolution of toolkits
Securing MFA and more

Being prepared for adversarial attacks Jun 02, 2022

There is no question that the level of threats facing today’s businesses continues to change on a daily basis. So what are the trends that CISOs need to be on the lookout for?

For this episode of the Threatpost podcast, I am joined by Derek Manky, , Chief Security Strategist & VP Global Threat Intelligence, Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs to discuss the threats facing CISOs along with more.

During the course of our discussion, we dive into:

What an attack on all fronts looks like
The current state of the threat landscape
New techniques being leveraged be adversaries
The automation of threats

We also lay out what CISOs need to consider when laying out and producing their threat action plan.

The State of Secrets Sprawl May 06, 2022

Can I tell you a secret? Will you keep it between us?

You’ve probably said this or heard this when it comes to friends and family. However, do you also know that secret keeping, or lack thereof is one of the biggest issues that businesses face?

According to the recent The State of the Secret Sprawl from GitGuardian further defines the breadth of business secrets.

“A secret can be any sensitive data that we want to keep private. When discussing secrets in the context of software development, secrets generally refer to digital authentication credentials that grant access to services, systems and data. These are most commonly API keys, usernames and passwords, or security certificates. Secrets are what tie together different building blocks of a single application by creating a secure connection between each component. Secrets grant access to the most sensitive systems.”

In this podcast with Mackenzie Jackson, developer advocate at GitGuardian, we dive into the report and also the issues that corporations face with public leaks from groups like Lapsus and more, along with as ways that developers can keep their code safe.

For the full report, click here.

The Truth Behind ‘Mythical’ MacOS Malware – Podcast Mar 31, 2022

A Blockchain Primer and a Bored Ape Headscratcher – Podcast Mar 31, 2022

Cyberattackers Put the Pedal to the Metal – Podcast Mar 28, 2022

Top 3 Attack Trends in API Security – Podcast Mar 23, 2022

Reporting Mandates to Clear Up Feds' Hazy Look into Threat Landscape – Podcast Mar 16, 2022

It’s about time, AttackIQ’s Jonathan Reiber said about 24H/72H report deadlines mandated in the new spending bill: Visibility into adversary behavior has been muck.

Staff Think Conti Group Is a Legit Employer – Podcast Mar 14, 2022

The ransomware group’s benefits – monthly bonuses, fines, employee of the month, performance reviews and top-notch training materials – might be better than your own company’s, says BreachQuest’s Marco Figueroa.

Multi-Ransomwared Victims Have It Coming Mar 08, 2022

There's a yawning gap between IT decision makers' confidence about security vs. their concession that repeated incidents are their own fault, says ExtraHop's Jamie Moles.

Russia Leaks Data From a Thousand Cuts–Podcast Mar 03, 2022

It’s not just Ukraine: Threat intel experts are seeing a flood of data on Russian military, nukes and crooks, even with the Conti ransomware gang having shuttered its leaking Jabber chat server.

Securing Data With a Frenzied Remote Workforce–Podcast Feb 26, 2022

Stock your liquor cabinets and take a shot whenever you hear GitLab Staff Security Researcher Mark Loveless say “Zero Trust.”

The Art of Non-boring Cybersec Training–Podcast Feb 24, 2022

With human error being the common factor in most cyberattacks, employee training has got to get better. To that end, Trustwave cybersec training expert Darren Van Booven explains the importance of fish stress balls and management buy-in.

Killing Cloud Risk by Bulletproofing App Security: Podcast Feb 16, 2022

Applications are the most preferred vectors for cybercriminals. Yet no single team or process can assure the rollout of safe cloud applications. From code design to unit testing to deployment, teams and tools have to work together to detect risks early while keeping the pipeline of digital products moving.

Alex Rice, CTO at HackerOne and Johnathan Hunt, VP of Security at GitLab, help development teams evolve their processes to build security directly into their workflows for smooth and safe cloud app rollouts.

They dropped by the Threatpost podcast recently to share tips on DevSecOps, including:

How to build a continual testing, monitoring, and feedback processes to drive down application risk.
Developing a continuous approach to application security and DevOps security tools.
Why collaboration and continual feedback is essential across development, cloud and security teams.

…as well as how to deal with the boatload of animosity between development and security teams. One tip: Assume positive intent!

Former FBI Gumshoe Nabs Cybercrooks Using Proven Behavioral Clues Feb 08, 2022

How to Buy Precious Patching Time as Log4j Exploits Fly Dec 14, 2021

Threatpost podcast: Cybereason CTO Yonatan Striem-Amit shares details about the company's vaccine: a fast shot in the arm released within hours of the Apache Log4j zero-day horror show having been disclosed.

Attackers Will Flock to Crypto Wallets, Linux in 2022: Podcast Nov 23, 2021

Podcast: Could the Zoho Flaw Trigger the Next SolarWinds? Oct 18, 2021

Podcast: 67% of Orgs Have Been Hit by Ransomware at Least Once Oct 05, 2021

DDoS Attacks Are a Flourishing Business for Cybercrooks – Podcast Sep 14, 2021

Imperva’s Peter Klimek visited Threatpost podcast to discuss the evolution of DDoS attacks: They started out as inconveniences but evolved to the point where attackers can disrupt businesses for as little as the price of a cup of coffee,

Databases Pockmarked With an Average of 26 Vulnerabilities Globally – Podcast Sep 14, 2021

Imperva's Elad Erez discusses findings that 46% of on-prem databases are sitting ducks, unpatched and vulnerable to attack, each with an average of 26 flaws.

What Ragnar Locker Got Wrong About Ransomware Negotiators – Podcast Sep 08, 2021

Bryce Webster-Jacobsen – director of intelligence operations at digital risk protection/ransomware negotiators GroupSense – dropped by the Threatpost podcast to tell us what percentage of Ragnar Locker’s warning that victims shouldn't call the FBI/police/negotiators is a bluff and what, if anything, security teams should take seriously.

Verizon DBIR Marries MITRE ATT&CK – Podcast Sep 07, 2021

‘Pay Ransom’ Screen=Too Late, Humpty Dumpty – Podcast Aug 26, 2021

Podcast: Ransomware Up x10; Telecoms Uber Walloped Aug 25, 2021

What’s Next for T-Mobile and Its Customers? – Podcast Aug 19, 2021

Interos CEO Jennifer Bisceglie drops by the Threatpost podcast to talk about avoiding the mess a T-Mobile size breach can lead to, with the damage it can do to a business's brand, reputation, customer loyalty and revenue stream.

SolarWinds 2.0 Could Set Off the Next Financial Crisis – Podcast Aug 13, 2021

Trillions of dollars in notional value are controlled by hedge funds and private equity firms, many of which have no cybersecurity protection to speak of. The calamitous, widespread SolarWinds attacks was a wakeup call: Another attack of that ilk could lead to the next 2008-esque financial meltdown. Agio CEO Bart McDonough says AI-enabled service platform could maybe, just maybe, help avert it.

Fuzz Off: How to Shake Up Code to Get It Right – Podcast Aug 10, 2021

FuzzCon panelists Damilare D. Fagbemi of Resilience Software Security and Anmol Misra of Autodesk say join the party as they share fuzzing wins & fuzzing fails when building a security testing program

We COVID-Clicked on Garbage, Report Finds: Podcast Aug 04, 2021

n the company’s annual Human Factor 2021 report assessing how the threat landscape morphed over the past year, Proofpoint researchers scratched their heads over the reasons for so many users succumbing to malicious email attachments.

Could be that threat actors jumped on our Pavlovian work-from-home security conditioning, as suggested by Proofpoint vice president and general manager of email fraud defense Rob Holmes. Check out the Threatpost podcast for his take on how the pandemic influenced the threat landscape.

‘PwnedPiper’: Devastating Bugs in >80% of Hospital Pneumatics Aug 02, 2021

Podcast: Why Securing Microsoft Active Directory Is Such a Nightmare Jul 28, 2021

SpecterOps researchers Lee Christensen and Will Schroeder discuss their work, to be presented at Black Hat, on how AD “misconfiguration debt” lays out a dizzying array of attack paths such as the one in the PetitPotam exploit for which Microsoft rushed out a fix.

IoT Piranhas Are Swarming Industrial Controls Jul 23, 2021

Threat actors have been building enormous botnets using IoT devices to try to compromise the computing systems that control crucial infrastructure, such as pipelines (case in point: the DarkSide ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline) and other utilities, preying on legacy systems that have decades-old vulnerabilities. In this Threatpost podcast, Armis CISO Curtis Simpson delves into how to fight back.

What’s Next for REvil’s Victims? Jul 19, 2021

Protecting Phones From Pegasus-Like Spyware Attacks Jul 19, 2021

Podcast: Is protecting your phone from spyware attacks a la NSO Group's Pegasus as simple as getting a new SIM card? Former spyware insider, current mobile white hat hacker Adam Weinberg on how to block three types of spyware attacks.

What’s Making You a Ransomware Sitting Duck Jun 17, 2021

SophosLabs Principal Researcher Andrew Brandt discusses what makes organizations prime targets for ransomware threat actors, what steps could help them to protect themselves, and what’s stopping them from implementing those steps.

SASE & Zero Trust: The Dream Team Jun 11, 2021

"Trust is a human emotion. Computers don't have emotions. They don't need that trust, inherently" – that's the heart of Zero Trust cybersecurity, and SASE is how to make it happen.

Forcepoint’s Nico Fischbach, global CTO and VPE of SASE, and Chase Cunningham, chief strategy officer at Ericom Software, on using SASE to make Zero Trust a reality.

Insider Risks In the Work-From-Home World Jun 11, 2021

Forcepoint’s Michael Crouse talks about risk-adaptive data-protection approaches and how to develop a behavior-based approach to insider threats and risk: particularly important as security perimeters have expanded due to the pandemic.

The State of Ransomware with Fortiguard's Derek Manky Jun 02, 2021

Effective Adoption of SASE in 2021 Jun 02, 2021

Why and How Cybercrooks Milk Exploits in Underground Markets Jun 01, 2021

What's Behind the Cybercriminal Supply Chain Apr 21, 2021

Derek Manky Chief, Security Insights & Global Threat Alliances at Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs is joined by Threatpost podcast host Cody Hackett about the cybersecurity supply chain. What is it? How is it funded? And who are the victims and criminals within this multi-million dollar dark economy?

Podcast: Microsoft Exchange Server Attack Onslaught Continues Mar 23, 2021

Weeks after the disclosure around the ProxyLogon group of security bugs, exploitation attempts against unpatched Microsoft Exchange servers have skyrocketed.

Derek Manky, Chief of Security Insights & Global Threat Alliances at Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs, said that last week researchers with FortiGuard Labs saw activity double over two days for cybercriminals targeting the vulnerabilities. The attackers are using the flaws to deploy cryptominers, ransomware (such as the recently discovered DearCry ransomware) and other malicious campaigns, he said.

Sponsored Podcast: Ransomware Attacks Exploded in Q4 2020 Feb 26, 2021

Ransomware attacks continue to be a top security issue plaguing companies, with researchers from Fortinet's Fortiguard Labs saying they saw an explosion in ransomware activity towards the end of the fourth quarter of 2020.

Chinese Hackers Stole NSA-Linked Hacking Tool: Report Feb 22, 2021

Yaniv Balmas, the head of cyber research with Check Point Software, and Oded Vanunu, the head of products vulnerability research with Check Point Software, talk on this week's Threatpost podcast about the new discoveries around the NSA-linked exploit tools, as well as the implications of the SolarWinds supply-chain hack.

Emotet's Takedown: Have We Seen the Last of the Malware? Feb 03, 2021

Law enforcement have been on a malware-takedown rampage: Last week, several agencies took down servers supporting the Emotet malware. Sherrod DiGrippo, senior director of threat research and detection with Proofpoint, said that no activity involving Emotet has been detected since the takedown effort occurred last week.

Breaking Down Joe Biden's $10B Cybersecurity 'Down Payment' Jan 25, 2021

Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony last week marked a new strategy for the government's cybersecurity initiatives, with the US president's COVID-19 relief plan including $10 billion in funding for various cybersecurity defense initiatives - from hiring key security personnel to support for the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

CISOs Prep For COVID-19 Exposure Notification in the Workplace Jan 13, 2021

In this week’s Threatpost podcast, senior editor Lindsey Welch talks with Steve Moore, chief security strategist with Exabeam, about the data privacy challenges posed by impending exposure notification implementations in the workplace.

A Look Ahead at 2021: SolarWinds Fallout and Shifting CISO Budgets Jan 08, 2021

Threatpost editors Tom Spring, Tara Seals and Lindsey Welch break down the top security stories to look out for in this week's first podcast of 2021 - from the SolarWinds hack to surging ransomware hospital cyberattacks.

Sponsored Podcast: Simplifying Proactive Defense With Threat Playbooks Dec 21, 2020

Security defense strategy can be very complex - with security teams not dealing with mere small bits of information, but instead dealing with tens of thousands of data points, from IoCs to TTPs, said Derek Manky, Chief of Security Insights & Global Threat Alliances at Fortinet.

Sponsored Podcast: Cybersecurity in the 'New Normal' Dec 10, 2020

From eCommerce threats, to security concerns in connected speakers, Fortinet researchers discuss the top evolving threats of 2020, heading into the new year.

Amnesia:33 TCP/IP Flaws Plague Millions of IoT Devices Dec 08, 2020

Researchers - as well as the U.S. Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) - are warning of a set of serious vulnerabilities affecting TCP/IP stacks. The flaws impact millions of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and embedded systems, including smart thermometers, smart plugs and printers, Forescout researcher Daniel dos Santos said during this week's Threatpost podcast.

Sponsored Podcast: Why DNS Filtering is a Top Battle Front Against Malware, Phishing Dec 02, 2020

Peter Lowe, security researcher with DNSFilter, talks to Cody Hackett on this week's Threatpost Podcast about how DNS filtering tactics are evolving to keep up with new cybercriminal tricks, as well as how companies can protect themselves.

Smart Doorbells on Amazon, eBay, Harbor Serious Security Issues Nov 24, 2020

Matt Lewis, research director at NCC Group discloses serious security and privacy in 11 different smart doorbells, which could be exploited by attackers to physically switch off the devices.

Cybercriminals Batter Automakers With Ransomware, IP Theft Cyberattacks Nov 19, 2020

Cybercriminals are recognizing that the data that automotive companies have to offer - from customer and employee personal identifiable information (PII) to financial data - are invaluable. Paul Proudhomme, cyber threat intelligence analyst at IntSights, warns that this is translating into cyberattacks - whether it's aimed at Intellectual Property (IP) theft, or ransomware. And, with the ongoing pandemic shaking up both the sales and supply chain across the automotive industry, the risks of cyberthreats are only adding on to an existing pile of problems.

Botnet Attackers Turn to Vulnerable IoT Devices Nov 13, 2020

Cybercriminals behind botnets are increasingly shifting their infrastructure from the cloud to Internet of Things (IoT) devices, according to Derek Manky, Chief of Security Insights & Global Threat Alliances at Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs.

From Triton to Stuxnet: Preparing for OT Incident Response Nov 11, 2020

Threatpost talks to Dragos' Lesley Carhart about the top cybersecurity challenges facing manufacturers during the pandemic.

News Wrap Halloween Edition: Scary Election, Hospital Cyberattack Stories Oct 30, 2020

This Halloween week, Threatpost editors break down the scariest stories haunting the security space, including:

A wave of ransomware attacks targeting a number of hospitals, sparking worries about healthcare security and the impact on patents during COVID-19
"Zombie" vulnerabilities - including Zerologon and SMBGhost - that continued to haunt system admins this week
Election security scares, from disinformation campaigns to cyberattacks hitting election infrastructure.

Holiday Shopping Craze, COVID-19 Spur Retail Software Security Storm Oct 27, 2020

Chris Eng, chief research officer with Veracode, warns that the deluge of in-person shoppers during the pandemic has pushed restaurants, boutique shops and other retailers to utilize new online software ecommerce platforms - but they aren't prepared for implementing the correct security measures for these platforms.

Sponsored Podcast: Phishing Lures Shift from COVID-19 to Job Opportunities Oct 16, 2020

Derek Manky, Chief of Security Insights & Global Threat Alliances at Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs, said that cybercriminals cashed in on the surge of COVID-19 earlier this year with phishing emails purporting to be from healthcare professionals offering more resources and information about the pandemic.

News Wrap: Zoom's End-to-End Encryption Rollout and DDoS Extortion Threats Oct 15, 2020

The Threatpost editors break down the top security stories of the week ended Oct. 16, including:

Patch Tuesday insanity, with Microsoft and Adobe releasing fixes for severe vulnerabilities - including a critical, potentially wormable remote code execution Microsoft vulnerability
Barnes and Noble being hacked - and why some readers are unhappy with how the book purveyor announced the cyberattack
DDoS extortion email threats hitting various companies across the globe - including Travelex
Zoom finally rolling out end-to-end encryption on the video conferencing platform - and why this is different than the video conferencing application's earlier "full encryption" claims

305 CVEs and Counting: Bug-Hunting Stories From a Security Engineer Oct 02, 2020

Larry Cashdollar shares his craziest bug finding stories, including a flaw (CVE-1999-0765) found during his position as a UNIX Systems Administrator, which existed in the SGI IRIX midikeys program - and accidentally threw a wrench in a demo for a navy admiral on the Aegis destroyer class ship.

Critical Industrial Flaws Pose a Patching Headache For Manufacturers Sep 23, 2020

Sharon Brizinov, the principal vulnerability researcher with Claroty, who discovered vulnerabilities a software component used by various critical infrastructure systems, talks about why patching is a headache for manufacturers and other industrials firms.

Vulnerability Disclosure: Ethical Hackers Seek Best Practices Sep 04, 2020

The Zero Day Initiative team talks about the biggest vulnerability disclosure challenges that ethical hackers are facing - particularly in markets like the industrial world and IoT.

Disinformation A Booming Industry For Attackers As Elections Loom Aug 26, 2020

With the U.S. presidential elections looming, disinformation is a top challenge. In the four years since the previous 2016 presidential election, threat actors have created an entire sophisticated and intricate industry around misinformation - raising the bar for social media companies to detect and protect against this threat, new Wednesday Cisco Talos research found.

News Wrap: AWS Cryptojacking Worm, IBM Privacy Lawsuit and More Aug 21, 2020

Threatpost editors Lindsey O'Donnell-Welch and Tara Seals discuss the top security news stories of the week ended Aug. 21, including:

IBM, the owner of the Weather Channel mobile app, has reached a settlement with the Los Angeles city attorney's office after a 2019 lawsuit alleged that the app was deceiving its users in how it was using their geolocation data.
A cryptomining worm from the group known as TeamTNT is spreading through the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud and collecting credentials.
Researchers are urging connected-device manufacturers to ensure they have applied patches addressing a flaw in a module used by millions of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices.

Active 'Duri' Campaign Utilizes HTML Smuggling to Cloak Malware Aug 18, 2020

Researchers are warning of an active campaign that utilized HTML smuggling to deliver malware, effectively bypassing various network security solutions, including sandboxes, legacy proxies and firewalls.

Because HTML smuggling is not necessarily a novel technique - it's been used by attackers for awhile - this campaign shows that bad actors continue to rely on older attack methods that are working. Learn more about this latest attack and how attackers are raising the bar during this week's Threatpost podcast.

Sponsored Podcast: The Perimeter Gets More Personal in 1H 2020 Aug 13, 2020

Derek Manky, Chief, Security Insights & Global Threat Alliances at Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs, said that the semi-annual FortiGuard Labs Global Threat Landscape Report for the first half of 2020, released Wednesday, reveals an "unprecedented cyber threat landscape."

Sponsored Podcast: Why IT and OT Security Priorities 'Don't Translate' Aug 04, 2020

Information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) may have many of the same objectives - but too often they don't see eye-to-eye when it comes to priorities, said Andrew Ginter, VP Industrial Security at Waterfall Security Solutions in this sponsored podcast.

Black Hat 2020 Preview: Election Security, COVID Disinformation and More Jul 30, 2020

Despite the coronavirus pandemic pushing the Black Hat USA 2020 conference onto a virtual platform for the first time ever, you can expect the same hot security research and threat intel, high-profile speakers, and vulnerability research being disclosed.

Threatpost editors Tom Spring, Tara Seals and Lindsey O'Donnell-Welch break down the top sessions, keynotes, speakers and themes to look out for in this week's podcast.

Sponsored Podcast: Security Lessons Learned In Times of Uncertainty Jul 28, 2020

From the coronavirus pandemic breaking out, and corporate workforces going remote, "uncertainty is a key word" for 2020, Derek Manky, Chief, Security Insights & Global Threat Alliances at Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs said.

Manky talks about the biggest lessons learned so far from 2020, including the most dire threats to date - from sophisticated social engineering lures, to Internet of Things (IoT) vulnerabilities to targeted ransomware attacks.

News Wrap: Twitter Hack, Apple Vulnerability Disclosure Restrictions Under Fire Jul 24, 2020

In this week's Threatpost news wrap podcast, editors Tara Seals and Lindsey O'Donnell-Welch break down the top security news stories, including:

Hackers accessed direct messages (DMs) for 36 of the 130 high-profile users whose accounts were hacked in an unprecedented account breach last week, Twitter confirmed Wednesday.
Privacy commissioners worldwide urged video conferencing systems like Microsoft, Cisco and Zoom to adopt end-to-end encryption, two-factor authentication and other security measures.
Apple's Security Research Device program is now open to select researchers – but some are irked by the program's vulnerability disclosure restrictions.

Lookout: Behind the Scenes of a 7-Year Android Spyware Campaign Jul 22, 2020

Christoph Hebeisen, with Lookout, reveals the behind-the-scenes threat intel efforts for discovering a 7-year-old surveillance campaign that was targeting the Uyghur ethnic minority group.

A 'New Age' of Sophisticated Business Email Compromise is Coming Jul 13, 2020

A newly discovered, sophisticated threat group that targets organizations without DMARC implemented and relies on business email compromise is heralding what researchers call "a new age" of business email compromise.

The group, called Cosmic Lynx, is the first reported Russian BEC cybercriminal ring, and it's bringing the once run-of-the-mill email scam attack vector to the next level. The group has been associated with more than 200 BEC campaigns targeting senior-level executives in 46 countries since last July. It uses clear, articulate emails -- with vocabulary like "accretive" and "synergistic" -- that purport to be related to an a "merger and acquisition," keeping with a sensitive theme that targeted employees likely won't discuss.

Sponsored Podcast: Security Dangers in Rail Systems Jul 07, 2020

Jesus Molina, with Waterfall Security, talks to Threatpost host Cody Hackett about the risks that rail operators are facing - from the security issues in railways to the trains themselves - and how railways can stay up-to-date on the best cybersecurity measures by adopting unidirectional gateways and separating enterprise and operational networks.

EvilQuest: Inside The ‘New Class’ of Mac Malware Jul 01, 2020

Mac expert Thomas Reed talks about how the newly discovered EvilQuest ransomware is ushering in a new class of Mac malware.

AWS Facial Recognition Platform Misidentified Over 100 Politicians As Criminals Jun 29, 2020

After months of public concerns surrounding facial recognition's implications for data privacy, surveillance and racial bias, tech companies and governments alike are putting stoppers down on the technology until adequate regulation is proposed.

Threatpost talks to Paul Bischoff, consumer privacy expert with Comparitech, about recent research showcasing flaws in the accuracy of Amazon's facial recognition platform - and why concerns around racial bias and data privacy aren't going away anytime soon.

News Wrap: Malicious Chrome Extensions Removed, CIA 'Woefully Lax' Security Policies Bashed Jun 19, 2020

For the week ended June 19, Threatpost editors Lindsey O'Donnell Welch, Tom Spring and Tara Seals break down the top cybersecurity stories. This week's top news stories include:

Google removing 106 Chrome browser extensions from its Chrome Web Store in response to a report that they were being used to siphon sensitive user data.
An internal investigation into the 2016 CIA breach condemning the agency's security measures, saying it "focused more on building up cyber tools than keeping them secure."
How the insider threat landscape is changing due to work from home - a topic that Threatpost will continue to discuss in its webinar coming up next week (register here).

Would You Use A Contact-Tracing Coronavirus App? Jun 11, 2020

As a world afflicted by the coronavirus pandemic begins to re-open restaurants, retail stores and more, public health officials remain concerned about the spread of the virus. Technology for contact-tracing apps, intended to help citizens track whether they were exposed to someone who has tested positive for the virus, have been created by countries, U.S. states (like Utah) and by tech giants like Apple and Google.

But behind the public health benefits of contact tracing are privacy worries, technology issues like interoperability, and other challenges. Threatpost discusses the benefits - and the challenges - of contact tracing apps with Steve Moore, chief security strategist at Exabeam.

News Wrap: Fake Minneapolis Police Breach, Zoom End-To-End Encryption Debate Jun 05, 2020

Threatpost editors Lindsey O'Donnell-Welch and Tara Seals discuss the top security news stories of the week, including:

Reports emerged earlier this week that the Minneapolis police department had been breached by hacktivist group Anonymous. Security expert Troy Hunt debunked the reports, however.
Zoom sparked debate after announcing that it would offer end-to-end encryption to paying users only - explaining that it couldn't offer it to everyone as it needs to work with law enforcement to crack down on platform abuse.

Sponsored Podcast: Why Identity Access Management is the New Perimeter Jun 02, 2020

With the proliferation of cloud in enterprise environments, identity today is very different than how it used to be. Threatpost host Cody Hackett talks to Brian Johnson, CEO and co-founder of DivvyCloud, about how identity access management (IAM) is rapidly changing - and how businesses can keep up.

Verizon Data Breach Report: Web Application Attacks Skyrocket, Espionage Dips May 20, 2020

Verizon's 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), released Tuesday, analyzed 32,002 security incidents and 3,950 data breaches across 16 industry verticals. While cyber-espionage attacks and malware decreased, other trends, such as security "errors" (like misconfigurations, etc.), denial of service (DoS) attack and web application attacks saw startling growth.

News Wrap: New Ransomware Extortion Tactics, Contact-Tracing App Security Worries May 15, 2020

Threatpost editors discuss the top news stories of the week ended May 15, including:

Recent ransomware attacks, including ones targeting healthcare giant Magellan, the IT office that supports Texas appellate courts and judicial agencies, and a popular law firm that works with several A-list celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Drake and Madonna.
"Double extortion" methods being increasingly used by ransomware actors - and new research that found paying a ransom to unlock systems can actually cost companies more financially than recovering data themselves in the long run.
The state of Utah announcing it has settled on a contact-tracing mobile app that collects detailed user location information to track the spread of COVID-19 among citizens – eschewing the API model proposed by Apple and Google in April.
The roadmap for a COVID-19 contact-tracing app, to be rolled out by the UK's National Health Service (NHS), thrust into the spotlight thanks to sensitive documents being leaked via a public Google Drive link.

Sponsored Podcast: Shifting Left With Infrastructure-as-Code May 08, 2020

Companies are increasingly dealing with a slew of security and compliance issues across cloud services and containers – from AWS to Azure to GCP. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) security capabilities can help companies "shift left" to improve developer productivity, avoid misconfigurations and prevent policy violations.

Threatpost host Cody Hackett talks to Chris Hertz, vice president of cloud security sales at DivvyCloud by Rapid7, about the top trends he's seeing around cloud security and how IaC is helping companies handle security and compliancy.

News Wrap: Microsoft Sway Phish, Malicious GIF and Spyware Attacks May 01, 2020

Threatpost editors Tom Spring, Tara Seals and Lindsey O'Donnell-Welch talk about the biggest news stories of the week ended May 1, including:

A "PhantomLance" espionage campaign discovered targeting specific Android victims, mainly in Southeast Asia — which could be the work of the OceanLotus APT.
A highly targeted phishing campaign, uncovered this week, with a Microsoft file platform twist, that successfully siphoned the Office 365 credentials of more than 150 executives since mid-2019.
A Microsoft vulnerability found in Microsoft Teams that could have allowed an inside attacker to weaponize a single GIF image and use it to pilfer data from targeted systems and take over all of an organization's Teams accounts.

Troves of Zoom Credentials Shared on Hacker Forums Apr 28, 2020

Thousands of recycled Zoom credentials have been unearthed on underground forums as cybercriminals tap into remote workers. In this week's podcast, Threatpost does a deep dive into how these credentials are being collected, shared and used.

News Wrap: Nintendo Account Hacks, Apple Zero Days, NFL Security Apr 24, 2020

For the week ended April 24, Threatpost editors discuss a bevy of recent cybersecurity news stories, including:

Apple zero days were disclosed in the iPhone iOS; researchers say they have been exploited for years, but Apple has pushed back and said there's no evidence to support such activity
Nintendo confirming that over 160,000 accounts have been hacked, due to attackers abusing a legacy login system
With the NFL's virtual draft kicking off this week, security researchers and teams have been sounding off on security issues leading to data theft or denial of service attacks

Work From Home Networks Plagued By Malware, Exposed Services Apr 14, 2020

In this week's Threatpost Podcast, Threatpost talks to Dan Dahlberg, director of security research at BitSight, about new research that found that work from home remote office networks are 3.5 times more likely than corporate networks to have a malware infection present.

Bypassing Fingerprint Scanners With 3D Printing Apr 08, 2020

Researchers with Cisco Talos created threat models outlining how fingerprint scanners could be bypassed utilizing 3D printing technology, and tested them on various mobile devices (including the iPhone 8 and Samsung S10), laptops (including the Samsung Note 9, Lenovo Yoga and HP Pavilion X360) and smart devices (a smart padlock and two USB encrypted pen drives). Craig Williams, director of Cisco Talos Outreach, walks through the results on the Threatpost podcast.

News Wrap: Coronavirus Scams, Work From Home Security Woes, Pwn2Own Mar 20, 2020

For the week ended March 20, Threatpost editors break down the top security stories, including:

The various cybercriminal activity - from malware, phishing and other scams - tapping into the coronavirus pandemic
The security risks of businesses working from home due to the virus' spread
Privacy concerns as more governments use facial recognition and mobile apps for tracking the virus
The results of Pwn2Own, which took place this week

IoT Device Security: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Mar 11, 2020

A recent 2020 IoT report found that more than half of IoT devices are vulnerable to medium- or high-severity attacks, making IoT the low-hanging fruit for attackers.

Threatpost talks to Ryan Olson, vice president of Threat Intelligence for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, and May Wang, senior distinguished engineer at Palo Alto Networks and former Zingbox CTO, about the top IoT threats.

RSA Conference 2020 Preview Feb 21, 2020

The RSA 2020 conference kicks off next week in San Francisco, this year with a theme looking at the "human element" of cybersecurity. As they prepare to cover the show, Threatpost editors Lindsey O'Donnell-Welch, Tom Spring and Tara Seals break down the biggest news, stories and trends that they expect to hear about at RSA 2020 this year - from trends in the industrial cybersecurity landscape, to connected medical device security issues that will be flagged.

News Wrap: Valentine's Day Scams and Emotet's Wi-Fi Hack Feb 14, 2020

Threatpost editors Tara Seals and Lindsey O'Donnell-Welch break down the top stories for this week, ended Feb. 14, including:

Recent phishing scams - including ones with a romance hook - continue to trick victims, showing that phishing tactics still work in stealing millions from individuals, corporations, and even government agencies.
Emotet has a newly discovered feature that hacks nearby Wi-Fi networks, allowing the prolific malware to spread rapidly, like a worm.
The operators behind the Robbinhood ransomware are using a new tactic called "bring your own bug," which researchers think will continue in future campaigns.
Patch Tuesday craziness this week included 99 patches from Microsoft, as well as vulnerability fixes from Adobe, Intel and Mozilla Firefox.

Katie Moussouris: The Bug Bounty Conflict of Interest Feb 12, 2020

Bug bounty programs continue to increase in popularity – but that popularity has its downsides. Since the launch of the Hack the Pentagon program in 2016, bug bounty programs have quickly grown in popularity.

However, as more programs are created, some companies are forgetting the real reason behind bug bounties. That is, instead of making their systems more secure, companies want to merely hunt bugs. Threatpost talked to Katie Moussouris, founder and CEO of Luta Security, to hear more about her thoughts about the challenges in developing – and launching – bug bounty programs.

Critical Cisco ‘CDPwn’ Flaws Break Network Segmentation Feb 05, 2020

Researchers on Wednesday disclosed five critical vulnerabilities in Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), the Cisco Proprietary Layer 2 network protocol that is used to discover information about locally attached Cisco equipment. Threatpost talked to Ben Seri, VP of Research at Armis, who discovered the flaws, about the CDPwn flaws, their impact, and why Layer 2 protocols are an under-researched area.

Researchers say that the vulnerabilities, which they collectively dub CDPwn, can allow attackers to remotely take over millions of devices. The flaws specifically exist in the parsing of CDP packets, in the protocol implementation for various Cisco products, from its software to IP cameras. Cisco issued patches on Wednesday addressing the five flaws, and is urging users to update as soon as possible.

WhatsApp Hacks Point to Sophisticated Mobile Cyberattacks Jan 30, 2020

Oded Vanunu, head of products vulnerability research at Check Point research, has seen his share of WhatsApp vulnerabilities – the researcher at Black Hat 2019 demoed several flaws in the messaging platform could be used to manipulate chats, for instance.

However, Vanunu told Threatpost at CPX 360, Check Point's annual security conference that takes place this week, WhatsApp is a prime example of how mobile devices are increasingly becoming targeted by nation state actors, in stark contrast to previous, less serious threats mobile devices have faced like adware.

Vivin Nets Thousands of Dollars Using Cryptomining Malware Jan 22, 2020

Threatpost talks to Nick Biasini, a threat researcher at Cisco Talos, about a recently-uncovered threat actor, dubbed Vivin, has made thousands of U.S. dollars through a large-scale cryptomining campaign.

News Wrap: PoC Exploit Controversy, Cable Haunt & Joker Malware Jan 17, 2020

This week's news wrap podcast breaks down the biggest Threatpost security stories of the week, including:

Various proof-of-concept exploits being released for serious vulnerabilities this week - including for the recently-patched crypto-spoofing vulnerability found by the National Security Agency and reported to Microsoft.
Multiple cable modems used by ISPs to provide broadband into homes have a critical vulnerability in their underlying reference architecture, dubbed "Cable Haunt," that would allow an attacker full remote control of the device.
Google's continual battle against attackers who are infiltrating Google Play with Android apps (more than 17,000 apps to date) distributing the Joker malware.
Google setting an aggressive two-year deadline for dropping support for third-party tracking cookies in its Chrome web browser.

NSA Detects Major Microsoft Windows Flaw: What It Means Jan 15, 2020

A major Microsoft crypto-spoofing bug impacting Windows 10 made waves this Patch Tuesday, particularly as the flaw was found and reported by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).

Microsoft's January Patch Tuesday security bulletin disclosed the "important"-severity vulnerability, which could allow an attacker to spoof a code-signing certificate, vital to validating executable programs in Windows, and make it appear as if an application was from a trusted source.

Threatpost talked to Pratik Savla, senior security engineer at Venafi, about the vulnerability, whether the hype around the flaw was warranted, and what the disclosure means for the NSA.

CCPA's Biggest Challenge: Where's The Data? Jan 09, 2020

The California Consumer Privacy Act is being touted as one of the strongest privacy regulations in the U.S. enacted so far. However, though the CCPA was adopted on January 1, 2020, the act still has several loose ends and privacy loopholes that need to be fleshed out.

At a high level ,the CCPA mandates strict requirements for companies to notify users about how their user data will be used and monetized along with giving them straightforward tools for opting out. However, one of the bigger challenges with the CCPA is the question of tracking the location of that user data, Terry Ray, SVP and fellow with Imperva, tells Threatpost.

The Roadblocks and Opportunities For Women in Cybersecurity Dec 27, 2019

In 2019, diversity in the cybersecurity was thrust to the forefront with recognition from both vendors and experts. The tech industry is facing challenges around diversity in general, but women are particularly underrepresented. And with an estimated 3.5 million jobs are expected to remain unfilledby 2021, infosec is certainly a lucrative space for women.

Threatpost sat down with Jessica LaBouve, a pen tester with A-LIGN, to discuss the personal challenges she's faced in the cybersecurity industry and the opportunities in the space that she sees for improvement.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected