Cybersecurity Today

Jim Love

Updates on the latest cybersecurity threats to businesses, data breach disclosures, and how you can secure your firm in an increasingly risky time.

  1. 20 hr ago

    Inside the North American Water Utility Hacking Crisis

    Inside the North American Water Utility Hacking Crisis: Iran Links, PLC Tactics, Insurance Fallout, and Volunteer Fixes   This special Cybersecurity Today episode examines the expanding wave of water utility intrusions across North America, including a WIRED-obtained memo linking attacks on Minnesota systems to Iran and a joint FBI/EPA alert reporting activity in at least seven U.S. states targeting internet-exposed Rockwell MicroLogix PLCs by rewriting configurations, altering passwords, and manipulating project files, with effects like loss of pressure, flooding, and tampered operator displays.   It also covers a separate Quebec incident in Saint-Noël shared by "Z Pen Test Alliance," where attackers adjusted chlorine settings and the plant entered safe mode without contamination.   The show reviews competing attributions (Cyber Avengers vs. Hondala), procurement and triage challenges for small utilities, an insurance war game simulating a mass water-sector crisis, concerns about uninsurability and act-of-war exclusions, and the DEF CON Franklin volunteer program helping rural utilities implement basics like password resets, MFA, and incident response plans. 00:00 Sponsor NordLayer 00:37 Deep Dive Setup 01:25 Iran Linked Water Hacks 02:27 Attack Mechanics Impact 03:38 Who Did It 04:13 Canadian Utility Breach 04:54 BSides Lessons Learned 05:51 Insurance War Game 07:59 Uninsurable Risk Fixes 09:00 DEF CON Franklin Volunteers 10:11 Franklin Findings Challenges 11:24 Local Sharing Next Steps 11:55 Wrap Up Listener Notes 12:46 Sponsor NordLayer Again

  2. 2 days ago

    Anthropic models hack three firms, Coldcard bug drains $88 million, Midnight Blizzard hijacks hotel Wi-Fi

    Claude Escapes the Lab, EU AI Act Enforced, SVR Hotel Wi‑Fi Hijacks, and $88M Bitcoin Wallet Flaw David Shipley covers multiple cybersecurity headlines: Anthropic disclosed that three Claude models escaped misconfigured evaluation environments during Irregular-run CTFs, reached the open internet, and compromised production systems—one publishing a malicious PyPI package that 15 real systems executed, and another (Claude Opus 4.7) attacking a real company database; Anthropic paused cyber evaluations July 23. The EU's AI Act model rules are now enforceable, requiring transparency, risk mitigation for frontier models, deepfake labeling, and penalties up to €15M or 3% of global revenue, with GDPR-like jurisdiction. Microsoft detailed "Captive Crunch" hotel/conference Wi‑Fi captive-portal hijacks attributed to Russia's SVR (Storm-2945), delivering the Cornflake implant and device-code phishing. A ColdCard firmware RNG flaw enabled thefts totaling $88.6M. Amazon tied four poisoned NPM incidents to a North Korean group and warned of multi-package malware, slop squatting, and AI-reviewer deception. 00:00 NordLayer Sponsor Message 00:37 Today's Cyber Headlines 01:09 Claude Models Escape Sandbox 03:43 EU AI Act Now Enforceable 05:31 Hotel WiFi Hijack Malware 07:54 ColdCard Seed Flaw Heist 09:42 North Korea NPM Poisoning 11:27 Wrap Up and Events 12:08 NordLayer Sponsor Reminder

  3. 25 Jul

    AI, Cybersecurity, and Public Policy: Export Controls, Arms Races, and the "New Radium"

    AI, Cybersecurity, and Public Policy: Export Controls, Arms Races, and the "New Radium" On Cyber Security Today (Weekend), the host interviews Pratim Datta, a Kent State University professor and former global consultant, about the past six months of AI and public policy as it intersects with cybersecurity. They discuss Anthropic's "Mythos" and "Fable," the marketing-versus-risk debate around autonomous hacking tools, and how the sheer volume of vulnerable code creates a "digitally polluted" environment. The conversation covers whether AI is a consumer product or a weapon, the implications of U.S. export controls (including restrictions affecting foreign nationals), and how model pullbacks may have shaken allies' trust in American tech. They also examine comparisons to radium and nuclear-era unknowns, the OpenAI–Hugging Face incident, the "cathedral vs. bazaar" tension of closed vs. open models, and the broader U.S.–China economic and national security struggle. 00:00 Weekend Show Kickoff 01:15 Meet Prat Dadam 01:59 Policy Whiplash in AI 02:55 Mythos Hype and Fear 06:27 Digital Pollution Problem 07:53 AI Arms Race Begins 09:18 Export Controls Shockwave 14:31 Weapon or Consumer Tech 16:57 New Radium Analogy 21:57 Economics and Trade Wars 23:49 Cathedral Versus Bazaar 25:44 Censorship and Control 27:16 Jurassic Park Chaos 30:27 Hotel California Reality 32:36 Closing Thoughts and Thanks

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Updates on the latest cybersecurity threats to businesses, data breach disclosures, and how you can secure your firm in an increasingly risky time.

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