GRC | Security Now! Episode Archive

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Our weekly audio security column & podcast by Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

TechTV's Leo Laporte and I spend somewhat shy of two hours each week to discuss important issues of personal computer security. Sometimes we'll discuss something that just happened. Sometimes we'll talk about long-standing problems, concerns, or solutions. Either way, every week we endeavor to produce something interesting and important for every personal computer user.

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Episode Archive

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Episode #1086 | 07 Jul 2026 | 149 min.

The Apex Agentic Adversary • Why Fable5's re-release has disappointed. • Opera becomes the first browser to offer “Paste Protect” • Microsoft BlueHammer exploit is “hammering” systems. • Industry legend (TCP creator) Vint Cerf on AI. • Chrome turns 150 with too many fixes to load. • Google fails to sidestep a $4.67 billion EU fine. • One last (we can hope) Chat Control vote next week. • AirDrop & Android Quick Share are exploitable. • How to bypass Claude's and ChatGPT's guardrails. • My own Sunday spin with SpinRite. • A legendary hacker uses AI on a widespread library.
71 MB	18 MB	521 KB <-- Show Notes

Episode #1085 | 30 Jun 2026 | 149 min.

A SOTA State-Sponsored Campaign • Win10's popularity forces another year of free updates. • CISA directs all federal agencies to update their UniFi OS devices. • CISA gave federal agencies "the weekend" to update Cisco devices. • Australia is disturbed by a deeply compromised infrastructure provider. • OpenAI introduces Daybreak-powered "Patch the Planet" initiative. • Meta's employee monitoring-for-AI-training backfired badly. • Script Kiddies figure out how to use AI to find vulnerabilities. • AI improves with "looping", "repeating" or "iterating". • A wonderful story about Kevin Mitnick. • Serious hackers mistakenly left a server directory accessible.
71 MB	18 MB	507 KB <-- Show Notes	172 KB	116 KB	372 KB

Episode #1084 | 23 Jun 2026 | 141 min.

The Residential Proxy Threat • Worries of AI-power cyberattacks are spreading. • Mythos “missed some” important vulnerabilities in Firefox. • Every recent patch Tuesday Nightmare Eclipse has struck. What now? • Massive store of valid FortiGate VPN credentials found. • F5 issues emergency updates to their NGINX-based server offerings. • Introducing “AI Potpourri” -- deeply altering an AI's personality. • A close look at the explosion in malicious proxy networks. • A Canadian judge okayed the illegal removal of such infections.
68 MB	17 MB	257 KB <-- Show Notes	158 KB	110 KB	360 KB

Episode #1083 | 16 Jun 2026 | 134 min.

Patch Tuesday à la AI • Rootkits found in more than 400 ArchLinux User Repository packages. • The US government requests Anthropic to remove Mythos and Fable. • CISA responds to AI-driven attacks with new patching requirements. • NPM to switch to more secure install defaults. Will it help? • Our listeners react to last week's PHP commentary. • June shows that AI has arrived for vulnerability discovery.
65 MB	16 MB	295 KB <-- Show Notes	150 KB	103 KB	333 KB

Episode #1082 | 09 Jun 2026 | 138 min.

The Malicious Use of AI • Was a U.S. law firm right to pay a $20 million ransom? • Could Cisco have yet another SD-WAN 0-day in the wild? • Why is it so difficult to author secure PHP code? • Teens use “WeedHack” to spy and attack each other. • Researchers create the first AI-enabled Internet worm. • Google Chrome pops-up “Shop with confidence.” What?!? • The discovered and irresponsibly disclosed HTTP/2 Bomb. • What Anthropic learns from their past year of Claude abuse: It's bad.
66 MB	17 MB	272 KB <-- Show Notes	144 KB	103 KB	331 KB

Episode #1081 | 02 Jun 2026 | 176 min.

AI Captures the Flag • As expected, UnFiOS devices are under attack. • CISA commands federal agencies to update Drupal. Can the largest botnet ever, be killed. • Defender endpoint can cutoff a PC from the network. • Charter Communications big account leak. • Chrome moves device-bound session cookies from beta. • Anthropic to release Mythos shortly. • cURL and Daniel Stenberg. • IBM & RedHat commit to fixing open source with AI. • LOTS of terrific listener feedback this week. • AI spells the end of a terrific source of training.
85 MB	21 MB	270 KB <-- Show Notes	221 KB	142 KB	462 KB

Episode #1080 | 26 May 2026 | 141 min.

Vulnerability Debt Repayment • Cisco meets Mythos. • Can the aging CVE system survive AI. • Patch deployment latency in the AI age. • MSFT's official YellowKey Bitlocker bypass mitigation. • Ubiquity patches 5 serious vulnerabilities. • Drupal being attacked by PostgreSQL injection. • Microsoft terminates SMS as a second factor. • Github hacked - all of its source exfiltrated. • Russia using very old Western software. • Why to get a no-charge AI chatbot account. • New Sci-Fi on Netflix. • What we learn from Mozilla's use of Mythos.
68 MB	17 MB	353 KB <-- Show Notes	170 KB	112 KB	370 KB

Episode #1079 | 19 May 2026 | 146 min.

Daybreak and Codename MDASH • Microsoft rethinks Edge's “intended behavior” after it gets press. • Chaotic Eclipse hacker strikes again with a Bitlocker bypass. • Google's threat analysis group documents malicious AI use. • Canada hasn't learned the lessons of the EU and the UK. • AI chatbots may be far more addictive than social media. • Project: Hail Mary now available to stream. • An apparently-serious zero-point quantum vacuum energy source. • A bit of listener feedback. • OpenAI's & Microsoft's vulnerability discovery systems.
70 MB	18 MB	338 KB <-- Show Notes	179 KB	116 KB	384 KB

Episode #1078 | 12 May 2026 | 141 min.

DigiCert Does It Right • The FCC decides router firmware updates are useful. • Netgear applies for and gets a full FCC pass. AI uncovers a 21-year old critical FreeBSD RCE. • What was behind that Let's Encrypt outage. • AI model repositories are overflowing with malware. • The CISA 2015 info-sharing act is being renewed. • Edge leaves ALL usernames and passwords in the clear. • An examination of DigiCert's breach and their response.
68 MB	17 MB	267 KB <-- Show Notes	158 KB	110 KB	359 KB

Episode #1077 | 05 May2026 | 136 min.

A Browser AI API? • Hackers AI-code a portal, forget to add authentication. • The UK's NCSC issues a Mythos warning. Where's CISA? • Another (of many) Linux local privilege escalations. • AI may be spelling the end of bug bounties. • Anthropic releases "Claude Security" mini-Mythos. • ChatGPT gets very serious about login security. • Syncthing's SyncTrayzor v1 abandoned; v2 created. • Google drops an AI API into Chrome; Mozilla objects.
65 MB	16 MB	315 KB <-- Show Notes	149 KB	110 KB	338 KB

Episode #1076 | 28 Apr 2026 | 133 min.

FAST16.SYS • Bitwarden's CLI hit with a supply-chain attack. • Commercial routers in Iran fail shortly before the war. • Meta logging all employee activity to train replacement AI. • GRC's DNS Benchmark Release 5. • Two miscellaneous AI thoughts. • A bunch of terrific listener feedback. • Unravelling the diabolical history of “fast16.sys.”
64 MB	16 MB	394 KB <-- Show Notes	178 KB	106 KB	374 KB

Episode #1075 | 21 Apr 2026 | 136 min.

Yes. Exactly. • A disgruntled developer discloses multiple Windows 0-days. • Microsoft purchases its own bugs in massive campaign. • VeraCrypt & Wireshark suddenly lost their dev accounts. • A serious problem with re-captured domain names. • How might AI help to secure open source repositories. • A listener wonders what we thought of Project Hail Mary. • Cyber security professionals tell us What Mythos Means.
65 MB	16 MB	545 KB <-- Show Notes	162 KB	108 KB	357 KB

Episode #1074 | 14 Apr 2026 | 156 min.

What Mythos Means • A San Francisco AI developer conference in two weeks. • Thank goodness Anthropic was the one who created Mythos rather than any of our cyber-adversaries.
75 MB	19 MB	242 KB <-- Show Notes	182 KB	124 KB	399 KB

Episode #1073 | 07 Apr 2026 | 146 min.

The FCC Bans New Consumer Routers • Apple's 26.4 age queries catches many by surprise. • LinkedIn's 2.7 MB of privacy-invading javascript. • Microsoft starts forcing Win11 24H2 to 25H2. • Cisco loses source code to the Trivy supply-chain mess. • Proton introduces privacy-first voice and video "Meet". • GitHub to fix lagging security of its Actions feature. • Cloudflare reaffirms the privacy of its 1.1.1.1 DNS. • Cloudflare uses AI to re-code better secure Wordpress. • The FCC drops a ban on all new consumer-grade routers.
70 MB	17 MB	377 KB <-- Show Notes	163 KB	114 KB	366 KB

Episode #1072 | 31 Mar 2026 | 147 min.

LiteLLM • Will California require Linux to verify its user's age. • Apple's iOS 26.4 requires UK users to prove their age. • Russia chooses to use home grown 5G mobile encryption. • Ukraine knew the webcam was installed by Russian spies. • Google moves quantum computing "Q Day" to 2029. • At RSA, UK's NCSC CEO warns of vibe-coded SaaS replacements. • More information about nasty ClickFix campaigns. • More than one in seven Reddit postings are an AI-bot. • The story behind the LiteLLM disaster that was averted.
71 MB	18 MB	225 KB <-- Show Notes	175 KB	115 KB	383 KB

Episode #1071 | 24 Mar 2026 | 153 min.

Bucketsquatting • H&R Block's tax software does something SO WRONG. • The Intoxalock breathalyzer calibration cyber attack. • Firefox now offers a 100% free built-in VPN. • TikTok and Meta's tracking pixels are so much more. • Russians beg for the return of Telegram, WhatsApps and others. • Never connect your crypto-wallet to an unknown service. • What would a week be without a Cisco CVSS of 10.0. • Ubiquiti patches a 10.0 critical flaw. • Listener feedback and... • What's "Bucketsquatting" and what can be done to prevent it.
73 MB	18 MB	768 KB <-- Show Notes	127 KB	110 KB	321 KB

Episode #1070 | 17 Mar 2026 | 139 min.

CISA's Free Internet Scanning • The Security Now “Caption That Photo” contest. • A mega social media company says “no” to strong encryption. • WhatsApp to give parents more control. • Consumer bandwidth proxying is becoming a big deal. • Meta buys the Moltbook duo. • The EU gives up and settles upon the status quo. • When a ransomware negotiation is not what it seems. • CISA compels federal agencies to submit their logs. • Is that a VPN in your pocket or something more malicious. • Be careful what you download, thinking it's AI. • A super-clever and super-simple A/V scanner bypass. • Will AI write code for me? • Another listener discovers the Joy of AI. • Steve's CISA Internet scanning experience.
67 MB	17 MB	490 KB <-- Show Notes	163 KB	107 KB	358 KB

Episode #1069 | 10 Mar 2026 | 146 min.

You can't hide from LLMs • Anthropic & Mozilla improve Firefox's security. • Apple & Google begin testing cross-platform RCS encryption. • Ubuntu's SUDO starts echoing asterisks. • Inviting a web proxy into your home. • Apple devices cleared by Germany for NATO's use. • A serious remote takeover of OpenClaw. • TokTok won't encrypt messaging for visibility. • Microsoft bans the term “Microslop” on Discord. • Lot's of great listener feedback. • LLMs could make Orwell's 1984 seem optimistic.
70 MB	17 MB	328 KB <-- Show Notes	174 KB	114 KB	383 KB

Episode #1068 | 04 Mar 2026 | 49 min.

The Call is Coming from Inside the House ThreadLocker Special – Steve & Leo take to the stage during ThreatLocker's 4th annual Zero Trust World security conference to discuss the final frontier of enterprise security and the need to rethinking the need for true “least privilege” security design.
23.3 MB	5.8 MB	(No show notes or transcripts for this live on-stage presentation.)

Episode #1067 | 03 Mar 2026 | 135 min.

KongTuke's CrashFix • The lowdown on last week's “no turn” picture of the week. • Is an AI-driven hacking campaign a big deal now. • Clause used in multiple Mexican government attacks. • Apple continues to be confronted with age restrictions. • COPPA needs an exception to allow age collection. • Meta swamps law enforcement with AI-slop CSAM reports. • Roskomnadzor has been busy blocking VPNs. Guess how many? • The UK tries to report their self-scanning success. • Remember that hacker who extorted the psychotherapy patients? • Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters is actively recruiting women. • Cisco lands another breathtakingly rare 10.0 CVSS. • VulnCheck's report on 2025 vulnerabilities and exploits. • Steve discovers a fabulous $72 Hardware Security Module. • A listener shares an interesting AI service discovery. • The very potent “ClickFix” exploit evolves.
65 MB	16 MB	330 KB <-- Show Notes	194 KB	121 KB	396 KB

Episode #1066 | 24 Feb 2026 | 148 min.

Password Leakage • CA's warn us to urgently prepare for the inevitable. • Three U.S. states attempt to ban 3D printed firearms. • Denied ransom, ShinyHunters leaks 967,000 personal details. • "Billions" of U.S. social security numbers leaked. • Is Apple planning to add cameras to three new gadgets. • No more security fixes for Firefox on Windows 7 & 8. • Russia blocks the official Linux kernel site they need. • Will the U.S."freedom.gov" site post EU blocked content. • LLM's will offer secure passwords. Do Not Use Them. • As predicted, the "ClickFix" attack strategy takes over. • A listener believes his computer is compromised. • How could three popular password managers get things wrong.
71 MB	18 MB	365 KB <-- Show Notes	168 KB	116 KB	371 KB

Episode #1065 | 17 Feb 2026 | 134 min.

Attestation • Websites can place high demands upon limited CPU resources. • Microsoft appears to back away from its security commitment. • What's Windows 11 26H1 and where do I get it. • Chrome 145 brings Device Bound Session Credentials. • More countries are moving to ban underage social media use. • The return of Roskomnadzor. • Discord to require proof of adulthood for adult content. • Might you still be using WinRAR 7.12 -- I was. • Paragon's Graphite can definitely spy on all instant messaging. • 30 malicious Chrome Extensions. • 287 Chrome extensions from spying on 37.4 million users. • The first malicious Outlook add-in steals 4000 user's credentials. • Some AI "vibe" coding thoughts. • What I just went through to obtain a new code signing certificate.
65 MB	16 MB	244 KB <-- Show Notes	136 KB	103 KB	329 KB

Episode #1064 | 10 Feb 2026 | 139 min.

Least Privilege • How is the EU's GDPR fine collection going. • Western democracies are getting serious about offensive cybercrime. • The powerful cyber component of the Midnight Hammer operation. • Signs of psychological dependence upon OpenAI's GPT-4o chatbot. • CISA orders government agencies to unplug end-of-support devices. • How to keep Windows from annoying us after an upgrade. • What is OpenClaw, how safe is it to use, what does it mean. • Another listener uses AI to completely code an app. • Coinbase suffers another insider breach. What can be done.
67 MB	17 MB	252 KB <-- Show Notes	171 KB	115 KB	366 KB

Episode #1063 | 03 Feb 2026 | 150 min.

Mongo's Too Easy • An anti-virus system infects its own users. • Apple's next iOS release “fuzzes” cellular locations. • cURL discontinues bug bounties under bogus AI flood. • AI discovers and fixes 15 CVE-worthy 0-days in OpenSSL. • Ireland did NOT already pass their spying legislation. • AI irreversibly deletes all project files. Says it's sorry. • Windows has a serious global clipboard security problem. • ISPs have the ability to monetize their subscriber's identities. • MongoDB has lowered the hacking skill level bar to the floor.
72 MB	18 MB	286 KB <-- Show Notes	187 KB	121 KB	398 KB

Episode #1062 | 27 Jan 2026 | 147 min.

VoidLink: AI-Generated Malware • CISA's uncertain future remains quite worrisome. • Worrisome is Ireland's new "lawful" interception law. • The EU's Digital Rights organization pushes back. • Microsoft acknowledges it turns over user encryption keys. • Alex Neihaus on AI enterprise usage dangers. • Gavin confesses he put a database on the Internet. • Worries about a massive podcast rewinding backlog. • What does the emergence of AI-generated malware portend?
70 MB	18 MB	216 KB <-- Show Notes	171 KB	118 KB	372 KB

Episode #1061 | 20 Jan 2026 | 134 min.

More GhostPoster • RAM pricing to affect enterprise firewall equipment. • Anthropic provides sizeable support to Python Foundation. • The FTC clamps down on GM's secret sale of driving data. • “ANCHOR” replaces “CIPAC” for industry-government sharing. • Germany planning to legislate total access to global data. • Grubhub becomes the latest ShinyHunters extortion victim. • Let's Encrypt's 6-Day certs are available to everyone. • Iran planning to permanently take itself off the Internet. • HD Tune before and after a SpinRite Level 3 refresh. • Some great listener feedback, and • More trouble from GhostPoster malicious browser extensions.
64 MB	16 MB	475 KB <-- Show Notes	170 KB	108 KB	360 KB

Episode #1060 | 13 Jan 2026 | 147 min.

3-Day Certificates • A look at Microsoft's Azure cloud code signing. • California implements DROP, global data broker opt-out. • Where's the town of “Whata Bod” Idaho. • iOS built-in Mail app worked itself out of a job. • A 30-minute tutorial for non-coders about AI coding. • Claude Code appears to be winning over the AI coding world. • Various listener musings on code signing. • A bit of Magnesium feedback. • What use are 3-day code signing certs?
71 MB	18 MB	437 KB <-- Show Notes	182 KB	121 KB	392 KB

Episode #1059 | 06 Jan 2026 | 171 min.

MongoBleed • Code-signing certificate lifetimes shortened by two years. • Sadly, ChatGPT is heading toward an advertising profit model. • The Python Package Index is strengthening its security. • BitLocker gets hardware acceleration, but not today. • New York City's mayoral inauguration banned Raspberry Pi's. • An astonishingly good British time travel series. • A critical link between Vitamin D and Magnesium. • A look inside the very bad MongoBleed vulnerability.
82 MB	20 MB	454 KB <-- Show Notes	224 KB	137 KB	455 KB

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