Note: This post will refer and link to allegedly classified programs leaked by Edward Snowden, and potentially others, in the past several years. If accessing this article from certain networks, readers are strongly advised to preview links before following them due to the possibility that such an action may be Read more
One issue that came from my recent CYBERWARCON talk was an item of focus (or for others, limitation) when approaching the idea of what a “critical infrastructure attack” actually means. While I faced some (really good, topical) questions on my definition of “critical infrastructure”, a more public debate ensued over Read more
On 24 November 2019, WikiLeaks posted an email, purportedly from a whistleblower on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) team assigned to investigate the chemical weapons attack on the Syrian city of Douma. I will let readers find the original WikiLeaks post, but the story was promptly Read more
Note: This blog post was significantly revised on 17 November 2019 after initial release on 12 November 2019. The primary alteration is within the second paragraph, noting that the initial event that inspired this blog post – an exchange between a security researcher/responder and a journalist – was much more Read more
The most frustrating type of bad argument to refute are those which feature or rest upon a kernel of truth. In the worst, most-annoying scenario, one must deal with a counterparty that simply reasserts their position without hesitation resembling the chess-playing pigeon of Internet fame. More worrying still is that Read more
On 02 November 2019, Brian Batholomew (at the time of this writing, at Kapsersky Lab) posted a very interesting Twitter poll. To summarize (or in case the poll is removed), the question can be simplified as the following: if someone bought leaked data from the Shadow Brokers, would you still Read more
I recently had a discussion as to whether PSExec, the legitimate Microsoft Sysinternals tool often abused by malicious actors for remote code execution, should be included on a list of indicators related to a recent intrusion event. While my overall opinion of indicators of compromise (IOCs) as they are used Read more
Reuters reported on an interesting event from September 2019 today (16 October 2019): “The United States carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran in the wake of the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, which Washington and Riyadh blame on Tehran, two U.S. officials have told Reuters. Read more
Writing during the tumultuous years of the English Civil War, Thomas Hobbes sought to identify the means through which humanity proceeds through an anarchical, violent natural state (the “nasty, brutish, and short” state of Man) to attain ordered, governed society. In formulating an idea of how such a society (or Read more
Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Etherium, etc.) is quite possibly the most damaging, least useful, most reprehensible technological development of the past 20 years – which is definitely saying something given the rise of “social media”. While cryptocurrency advocates continually espouse benefits such as transactional anonymity, increased access to financial services, and financial Read more