The 443 - Security Simplified

Secplicity

Get inside the minds of leading white-hat hackers and security researchers. Each week, we’ll educate and entertain you by breaking down and simplifying the latest cybersecurity headlines and trends. Using our special blend of expertise, wit, and cynicism, we’ll turn complex security concepts into easily understood and actionable insights.

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386 episodes
Updated Yesterday

Episodes386

Newest first

Mar 14, 2022 · 52 min
US-Backed Cryptocurrency
This week on the podcast, we cover last week's Executive Order from the White House that lays the foundation for a United States Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC, and what it means for the future of Cryptocurrency. We also discuss recent research from Mandiant on APT41, a Chinese threat actor that has recently turned their sights on US state governments.
Mar 10, 2022 · 27 min
Conti Leaks
This week on the podcast we cover the recent leaks highlighting the inner workings of the Conti ransomware group that started with chat logs and grew to entire source code dumps. We then round out the episode by discussing the recent Nvidea breach and how some of the stolen information might fuel future attacks.
Feb 28, 2022 · 41 min
Rewind: Can We Trust Facial Recognition
This week on the podcast we dig back into our archives for an episode that originally aired back in July 2020 where we discussed one of our analysts first-hand research into facial recognition biases.
Feb 22, 2022 · 36 min
BGP-Powered Crypto Theft
This week on the podcast we cover a cryptocurrency heist that abused the backbone of the internet to steal millions of dollars of coins. In related news, we also cover the FBI's new Virtual Asset Exploitation Team and their focus on tracking cryptocurrency-related cybercrime as well as a recent alert on business email compromise from the same agency.
Feb 14, 2022 · 41 min
Russia, Fighters of Cybercrime?
This week on the podcast we cover Russia's latest crackdown on cybercriminals within their borders and try to answer the "why now?" question. We also discuss a multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency recovery by the US Justice Department including the arrest of two New Yorkers allegedly responsible for the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
Feb 7, 2022 · 45 min
Hacking Back at North Korea
This week on the podcast, we cover the heist of $322 million in cryptocurrency from the distributed exchange Wormhole, including a long discussion on the why it feels like cryptocurrency is still the wild west of technology. After that, give an update on our brief mention in last week's episode about North Korea's internet seemingly being taken offline by cyber attack. We end this week with a quick update on a sophisticated malware attack targeting macOS devices.
Jan 31, 2022 · 27 min
The Pwnkit Problem
This week on the podcast, we cover Pwnkit, a privilege escalation vulnerability impacting almost every modern Linux release worldwide. We also dive in to the world of macOS malware with DazzleSpy, a remote a remote access trojan targeting Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates. Finally, we end with an update on North Korea's Lazarus APT and their latest attack tactics targeting organizations.
Jan 26, 2022 · 41 min
Q3 2021 Internet Security Report
This week on the podcast we discuss the latest Internet Security Report from the WatchGuard Threat Lab. Built with threat intelligence gathered from tens of thousands of Firebox UTM appliances that have opted-in to sharing data, the quarterly report lets us talk about the latest malware and attack trends targeting organizations globally. On this episode, we'll cover some of the key findings and defensive takeaways from the latest report.
Jan 20, 2022 · 31 min
The Death of the Carding Marketplace
This week on the podcast we give a quick update to the Log4Shell saga after the researchers detected the first significant campaign that uses the critical vulnerability. After that, we dive in to the world of carding marketplaces where cybercriminals buy and sell stolen credit card information and discuss possible reasons for why these marketplaces appear to be dying off.
Jan 11, 2022 · 31 min
Is Cybersecurity Vocational?
This week on the podcast we give an update on log4j2 and it's most recently-disclosed vulnerabilities before covering a recent report on credential stuffing by the New York Attorney General. Then, we discuss this recent article in DarkReading on whether or not cybersecurity jobs should be considered professional or vocational.
Dec 20, 2021 · 37 min
Log4Shell Deep Dive
This week we take a deep dive into CVE-2021-44228, better known as Log4Shell, a critical vulnerability in the massively popular log4j2 logging library for Java applications. We discuss how the flaw came about, how it works, and why this specific issue has the potential to cause lasting headaches for the security industry for years to come. We also answer a mailbag full of questions from our listeners and WatchGuard partners about Log4Shell. NCSC log4js Usage Index - https://github.com/NCSC-NL/log4shell/blob/main/software/README.md Log4Shell IOCs - https://github.com/WatchGuard-Threat-Lab/log4shell-iocs Log4Shell Scanning Utility - https://github.com/proferosec/log4jScanner
Dec 15, 2021 · 44 min
Our 2022 Security Predictions
As we move in to the end of the year it's time for us to discuss WatchGuard Threat Lab's 2022 cybersecurity predictions. While many of our predictions tend to come off as extreme, they're all grounded in the trends that we've been following and what we expect to see continue into the coming year. If you haven't checked out the predictions in full, you can view them on watchguard.com/predictions
Nov 23, 2021 · 45 min
2021 Security Predictions Grading
Its getting to be the end of the year which means its time to take a look back at WatchGuard Threat Lab's 2021 security predictions and give ourselves a grading on how well we did! On this episode, we'll go through our 8 predictions for 2021, recap the trends that fueled them, and discuss either the events that occurred or failed to come true.
Nov 17, 2021 · 40 min
CISA Alert Tips Off Adversaries
This week on the podcast we discuss how a recent CISA alert on specific threat actor activity tipped off a separate adversary, leading to a new wave of attacks against vulnerable systems across multiple industries. We also cover the latest US and international law enforcement crackdowns on ransomware operators as well as a breakthrough on video game console hacking.
Nov 10, 2021 · 44 min
Trojan Source
On this week's episode of the podcast, we cover a newly discovered method for hiding malicious source code in plain sight, CISA's new Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, and action from the US Department of Commerce on the Pegasus spyware manufacturer NSO Group.
Nov 1, 2021 · 44 min
Stealing Make-believe Money
This week on the podcast, we cover a heist of over $130 million worth of cryptocurrency from a distributed financial (DeFi) organization and have an in depth discussion on why cryptocurrency-related platforms continue to suffer substantial breaches. Before that though, we cover an apparent ransomware attack against the National Rifle Association and an FBI raid on a popular payment card platform.
Oct 25, 2021 · 32 min
Schrödinger’s REvil
This week on the podcast, we cover the latest news on REvil, the ransomware-as-a-service organization responsible for the Kaseya attack earlier this year among many others. After that, we cover an update from the US Commerce Department on new export rules around selling hacking tools outside of the United States, nearly 6 years after the initial proposal caused a firestorm in the security community. Finally, we cover the latest research from Google's Threat Analysis Group, this time on a cookie theft hacking gang targeting YouTube streamers around the world.
Oct 18, 2021 · 25 min
VirusTotal Global Ransomware Report
This week on the podcast we cover VirusTotal's first ever global ransomware report which analyzes ransomware trends over the last year from the unique position of the world's largest malware intelligence platform. Before that though, we cover another APT group with a ridiculous name found exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Windows.
Oct 11, 2021 · 35 min
The SMS Breach You Didn’t Hear About
This week on the podcast we discuss a breach that lasted over 5 years involving a company responsible for routing SMS messages for 95 of the top 100 mobile carriers in the world. Before that though, we'll cover the recent Facebook downtime incident as well as the seemingly total compromise of the video game streaming platform Twitch.
Oct 5, 2021 · 44 min
Q2 2021 Internet Security Report
This week on the podcast we cover the latest quarterly Internet Security Report from the WatchGuard Threat Lab. We'll go over the latest attack trends and key findings from Q2 2021 as well as defensive tips for keeping your systems safe from the latest threat landscape.