Absolute AppSec

Latest Episodes:

Episode 304 - More OWASP Top 10, AI Dynamic Testing Nov 18, 2025

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This episode, the 304th of Absolute AppSec, features hosts Ken Johnson (@cktricky) and Seth Law (@sethlaw) discussing the crush of Q4 expectations, upcoming training opportunities, the recent updates to the OWASP Top Ten, and the impact of AI tools like XBow on application security (AppSec) consulting. The hosts discuss the shift in the OWASP Top Ten from focusing on vulnerabilities to focusing on risks, and the dual role the list now plays for both awareness/training and compliance. Shifting to recent funding of XBow, the overall consensus is that while AI tools dramatically improve process flow, scoping, and the speed of vulnerability identification for consultants, they won't replace the need for human experts for complex, bespoke systems, business logic flaws, or authorization issues. AI is commoditizing lower-level AppSec work.

Episode 303 - w/Prof. Brian Glas - OWASP Top 10 2025 Nov 10, 2025

Show notes

Prof. Brian Glas (infosecdad on social media) joins Seth Law (sethlaw) and Ken Johnson (cktricky) for a timely episode of Absolute AppSec. Infosec Guru and one of the OWASP Top Ten project leaders Prof. Glas joins us in the aftermath of the Global AppSec conference and the announcement of the new OWASP Top Ten (2025). This episode focuses on the process for compiling the list as well as gleaning any other insights from Prof. Glas.

Episode 302 - OWASP Global AppSec DC predictions, AI Browser Dangers, MCP Security Nov 04, 2025

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Episode 302 of Absolute AppSec has hosts Ken Johnson and Seth Law speculating on the upcoming Global AppSec DC conference, predicting the announcement of the OWASP Top Ten 2025 edition, with Brian Glass scheduled to discuss it on the podcast. The conversation shifts to a technical discussion of OpenAI's new browser, Atlas, which is built on Chromium and includes AI capabilities. The hosts noted concern over the discovered prompt instructions for Atlas, which direct the ChatGPT agent to use browser history and available APIs to find data from the user's logged-in sites to answer ambiguous queries or fulfill requests. This functionality raises significant security concerns, as the agent's ability to comb the cache and logged-in sites could be exploited, effectively creating a "honeypot for cross-site scripting" with malicious potential like unauthorized money transfers. The hosts discussed the lack of talk submissions on Mobile Context Protocol (MCP) security at the conference, despite its growing relevance in a world of AI agents and tooling. Finally, they highlighted a new tool called SlopGuard, developed to prevent the risk of AI hallucinating non-existent, potentially malicious packages (which occurs 5-21% of the time) and attempting to install them from registries like NPM.

Episode 301 - AI Browsers, New AI Agent Attacks, Framework Checklists Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Seth and Ken debate OpenAI's Atlas browser, which embeds AI into web browsing. Ken views it as a major privacy concern, potentially accelerating invasive data collection and surveillance. Seth noted that new browsers historically have critical flaws. They acknowledged that AI is very useful for generic and technical internet searches. They discussed the Co-Fish attack, a phishing vulnerability in Microsoft Copilot Studio that could exfiltrate access tokens via a seemingly valid Microsoft URL. Finally, they noted that big companies like Snyk and Black Duck are moving toward agentic AI capabilities, confirming the industry trend.

Episode 300 - THIS! IS! APPSEC! Oct 14, 2025

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For the 300th (!!!!) episode of the podcast, Seth and Ken reminisce on changes to the industry and overall approach to application security since inception. The hosts discussed the evolution of the industry, noting that once-popular approaches like blindly emulating "hip" Silicon Valley security programs and running unmanaged Security Champions Programs have fallen out of favor, as organizations now better understand that these approaches are not one-size-fits-all and require careful, metrics-driven management. While Bug Bounty Programs remain popular, they noted an increase in submissions from "skiddies" (script kiddies) that challenge program effectiveness and highlight the need for internal support and a proactive stance before rolling out a public program. Positively, they observed that the industry has become more mature, focusing on business value, metrics, and ROI , a move that may have been accelerated by recent economic pressures. Furthermore, security practices have improved, with the decline of common vulnerabilities like XSS and SQL Injection due to safer frameworks and browser controls, allowing AppSec professionals to focus on more complex issues, such as business logic flaws and focused threat analysis, while the once monolithic process of threat modeling has evolved into a more nimble, "point-in-time" assessment readily adopted by developers.

Episode 299 - Startup Grind, Will Security Companies Disappear Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

The duo is back after a short hiatus. Today's episode is inspired by recent articles related to startups, funding, and the grind that happens when building a company or being an individual contributor. Specifically, a recent article about AI startup founders putting in long hours to the exclusion of everything else is debated. This is followed by aa discussion on the current security AI startup hype cycle, spurred by thoughts from FranklySpeaking, and how security companies in general are acquired and disappear over time.

Episode 298 - Shai Hulud, Layered Security, New Commandments of Security Teams Sep 16, 2025

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In what is (sadly) becoming a weekly segment, this episode starts with talk of the latest installment of npm package takeovers, dubbed Shai Hulud as discussed in Slack and analyzed by Paul McCarty and team. Strategies discussed for monitoring packages and preventing malware from entering into organization's products. This is followed by an article referencing security via intentional redundancy when designing sensitive application functionality. Finally, analysis of a recent article from Frankly Speaking that lists a series of new commandments for security teams, which are mostly agreed to by both Seth and Ken, with some caveats.

Episode 297 - True/False Positives, Phishing Package Maintainers Sep 09, 2025

Show notes

The Absolute AppSec duo returns with an in-depth episode talking about true and false positives, where context matters and business impact must be taken into account in order to avoid rabbit holes. This discussion spurred by a recent article from signalblur of magonia.io discussing alerts in a security operations center. In short, only considering existence of a flaw (or alert) is not enough by itself. True impact comes by understanding context. Anyone want t-shirts? A discussion of the recent successful phish of an npm package maintainer, resulting in exposure of millions of projects depending on popular npm packages. It happens, folks, protect yourself.

Episode 296 - OWASP Top 10, NX Compromise, Security News Sources Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

Ken and Seth kickoff a podcast by reviewing current state of the OWASP Top 10 project, given recent requests and interactions on Absolute AppSec slack from various contributors. This is followed by an in-depth breakdown of the recent NX npm package compromise. This breakdown shows that even though AI is weaponized to exfiltrate data, the main exploit was the result of a command injection flaw. Crocs and Socks coming back to bit all of us. Finally, Ken and Seth provide a list of resources used to monitor the wider security community.

Episode 295 - DEF CON 33 Recap, Crocs and Socks (and Bots) Aug 26, 2025

Show notes

Seth and Ken return with a new episode summarizing their experience at DEF CON 33 and all things Las Vegas over the past month. This includes panels, talks, workshops, happy hours, and even corporate (boo) events. This is followed by discussion of a few research items that came out of the conference, including James Kettle's HTTP1.1 Must Die talk. Finally, why AI is infecting Application Security.

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