CyberWire Daily

Latest Episodes:

OilRig fingered as Iranian state-sponsored group behind attempted hacks of Israeli targets. Shamoon still under the same management. Botnet wars in the IoT. Countermessaging, hopes of missile hacks, and more.  Apr 28, 2017

Show notes

In today's podcast, we hear that researchers have named the hitherto unnamed country that attempted to hack Israeli targets. Other researchers conclude Shamoon is still under the same management. Roles and missions dispute among Israeli security organizations. Peter Galvin from Thales takes a look at data security in the US Federal sector. VA Tech's Dr. Charles Clancy explains the pros and cons of 5G mobile technology. Financial malware vector startles phishing victims into clicking. Vigilante botnets are not helping the IoT. Countermessaging is still not as easy as it looks. And there's a lot of thinly sourced hope about hacking North Korean missiles.

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Fancy Bear in France (and in Germany, too). Israel debates Cyber Authority's charter. Sudan says its using Electronic Jihad against ISIS. Verizon, Symantec threat reports out. Adware campaigns. Apr 27, 2017

Show notes

In today's podcast, we hear about the bear tracks analysts are seeing in Macron's campaign for France's presidency. (They're also appearing in German political parties' think tanks.) Cyber gangs continue to pore over ShadowBrokers' leaks. Verizon and Samsung threat reports see ransomware and nation-state espionage as the trending issues. Amid debate over cyber authorities, Israel says it detected and stopped a major attack. Palo Alto Networks' Rick Howard outlines a new white paper on credential theft. Ellison Anne Williams from Enveil describes their innovation in encryption. Adware infests online markets through spam and Trojanized apps.

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Elections, influence operations, and hacking. How clever phishing succeeds. Chipotle's point-of-sale breach. Hacking in Fast and Furious 8. Apr 26, 2017

Show notes

In today's podcast, we follow the story of Fancy Bear (a.k.a. Pawn Storm, a.k.a. APT28) and France's elections. Why clever phishing continues to succeed, and what's up with 0Auth abuse. Information operations distinguished from simple "hacking." Another point-of-sale compromise suggests identity management issues. The University of Maryland's Jonathan Katz explains a JSON encryption vulnerability. Stan Black from Citrix explains the pros and cons of the IoT. And can hackers really blow up a submarine by driving their car fast and furiously? You be the judge.

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Fancy Bear spotted in France, Denmark, and maybe Bulgaria. Tensions mount around North Korean weapon programs. Power grid fragility. Milkydoor in the PlayStore. AV misunderstanding. Kelihos indictment. Ashley Madison blackmail. Apr 25, 2017

Show notes

In today's podcast, we hear that Fancy Bear has as expected been spotted snuffling around the French Presidential election. Denmark and Bulgaria also report bearish activity. Sino-US pressure on North Korea may foreshadow an uptick in the cyber op-tempo. Power failures prompt worries about the grid's fragility. Milkydoor's Trojanized Android apps pose a BYOD threat to businesses. Webroot is fixing its AV misunderstanding with Windows. Alleged Kelihos botnet master indicted. Webroot's David Dufour discusses IoT supply chain challenges. Eric Burger describes the 2017 Borderless Cyber conference. And another Ashley Madison extortion caper surfaces.

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Nation-state tensions in cyberspace over North Korean threats and presumably Russian cyberespionage. Locky returns. More pharma spam. Seleznev gets 27 years for carding. Apr 24, 2017

Show notes

In today's podcast we hear that cyberattack worries mount with international tensions over North Korea. France's first-round presidential elections conclude with two outsiders headed for the finals. WikiLeaks' and ShadowBrokers' leaks find their way into the criminal wild. US shows renewed interest in prosecuting WikiLeaks' Assange. Locky ransomware is back from the dead. SMSVova spyware kicked out of the PlayStore. More Canadian pharma spam. Emily Wilson from Terbium labs describes the unintended consequences of "spectacle" attacks. Seleznev gets 27 years for carding. And notes on some less-than-fully-successful criminals.

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States and gangs. Insider threats and mole hunts. The misguided vigilante behind BrikerBot. Hollywood hacks. Not a Nigerian prince this time, just the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency. Apr 21, 2017

Show notes

In today's podcast we hear that cyber gangs are busily at work reverse-engineering the last ShadowBrokers' document dump. But the Russian ones at least are probably getting some state help. Insider threats and mole hunts. BrickerBot's author plays a dangerous vigilante game—operating technology may be particularly at risk. Hollywood's best depictions of hacking. Ben Yelin describes a weaponized animated GIF. Carson Sweet from CloudPassage on government requests that providers turn over emails and lagging legislation. And there are forty-three million dollars in a Nigerian apartment. No, really—forty-three million in cash.

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Trojanized apps in the PlayStore. How cybergangs talk, cooperate, and improve their game. More troubles reported for Tanium. A Chicago lawsuit brings privacy issues to the fore. Apr 20, 2017

Show notes

In today's podcast we hear about snakes in the PlayStore's walled garden (one of them with a helpful flashlight, and another one with a plumber's cap and a mustache, which must look pretty odd on a serpent). A look at how cyber gangs communicate—they do it a lot like the rest of us. Source code distribution and the jokers who make annoying use of it. More troubling reports about an IPO-ready unicorn. The Johns Hopkins University’s Joe Carrigan explains limitations of fingerprint scanners. Amit Rahav from Secret Double Octopus describes innovations in authentication. Plus, what information do your products collect about you? And how do you know what the vendors are doing with it?

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Vigilantes in the IoT. Bad actors find a friend in the ShadowBrokers. BankBot is back in the PlayStore. Pixel-tracking for target recon. A very big Oracle patch. Apr 19, 2017

Show notes

In today's podcast we hear about a new vigilante in the IoT—Hajime—and learn that the security industry doesn't think much of vigilantes. Observers pore over the most recent ShadowBrokers' files and don't like what they see, even though most of the more dangerous exploits have been patched. Still no word on how the ShadowBrokers got their wares, or where WikiLeaks got the contents of Vault 7. BankBot is back in the PlayStore with Trojanized video apps. Attackers are seen using pixel-tracking for target recon. AsTech’s Greg Reber outlines cyber M&A due diligence. Lancaster University’s Awais Rashid describes their effort to assemble a cyber security body of knowledge. And Oracle issues a very big patch.

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Karmen in the black market. Homograph vulnerabilities. Vault 7 and ShadowBrokers updates. Hacks and missiles. Competing for botnets. Apr 18, 2017

Show notes

In today's podcast, we hear about a newish ransomware strain, Karmen, hitting the low-end ransomware-as-a-service market. Homograph vulnerability proof-of-concept revealed. Jihadist infosec service advises good cyber hygiene for terrorists post-Vault 7. The ShadowBrokers try to drag a red herring—actually a bad frog—across their tracks. Hopeful speculation continues that the US hacked North Korea's missile test last weekend. Hajime malware is competing with MIrai for bots, although to what end is unclear. Dr. Charles Clancy from VA Tech’s Hume Center contrasts Vault-7 vs. the Shadowbrokers. Bill Anderson from OptioLabs outlines battlefield mobile device security. And you're not going to get rich by using security cameras to mine Bitcoin.

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Missiles and malware? ShadowBrokers' leaks examined. Syrian info ops. ISIS recruits women for martyrdom. Ransomware, medical device vulnerability updates. Troubled unicorn? Apr 17, 2017

Show notes

In today's podcast, we hear about a big missile fizzle on Pyongyang's Day of the Sun yesterday—there's hopeful but a priori speculation of a cyber op against North Korea's nuclear strike R&D program. Friday's ShadowBrokers' leaks suggest financial service, industrial IoT vulnerabilities. Syrian regime calls hoax on nerve gas attack claims (informed observers are unconvinced). How ISIS recruits women for martyrdom operations. Ransomware update. Medical device makers might learn from mobile device makers. Rick Howard from Palo Alto Networks ponders the first principle of automotive security. And clouds gather over a security unicorn.

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