Security Now

• Let’s Encrypt drops its long-running email notifications. • Microsoft’s new “Unexpected Restart Experience”. • Microsoft’s response to last year’s massive CrowdStrike outage. • Windows 10’s extended service updates will sort of be free. • Russia-sold iPhones MUST include the RuStore app. • Lyon, in France, says bye-bye to Windows. Hello to Linux. • The US Gov gets more serious about memory-safe languages. • A new unbelievable AI malware scanner evaSion technique. • A new pair of Cisco 9.8 and 10.0 vulnerabilities. • The current state of post-Elon government cybersecurity. • PNGv3, Swift on Android, and the Samsung email purge. • Andy Weir’s “Hail Mary” movie trailer. • And a close look at the pervasiveness of web browser tracking fingerprinting. Show Notes – https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-1032-notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve’s site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: go.acronis.com/twit bitwarden.com/twit threatlocker.com/twit joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT

China’s Salt Typhoon claims another victim (or two). State healthcare portals are tracking and leaking. No kidding. Apple adopts FIDO’s Passkeys and other credentials transport. Facebook gets Passkey logon. TikTok continues ticking for at least another 90 days. Canadian telco admits they were infiltrated by Salt Typhoon. Microsoft to remove unwanted (and hopefully unneeded) hardware drivers. The Austrian government legislates court-warranted message decryption. I (Steve) finally get full clarity on what today’s “AI” means. A deep dive into the Salt Typhoon’s operation and how they got in Show Notes – https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1031-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve’s site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: 1password.com/securitynow hoxhunt.com/securitynow outsystems.com/twit bigid.com/securitynow zscaler.com/security

An exploited iOS iMessage vulnerability Apple denies? The NPM repository is under siege with no end in sight. Were Comcast and Digital Realty compromised? Don’t ask them. Matthew Green agrees: XChat does not offer true security. We may know how Russia is convicting Telegram users. Microsoft finally decides to block two insane Outlook file types. 40,000 openly available video camera are online. Who owns them? Running SpinRite on encrypted drives. An LLM describes Steve’s (my) evolution on Microsoft security. What do we know about the bots that are scanning the Internet? Show Notes – https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1030-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve’s site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT bitwarden.com/twit material.security drata.com/securitynow bigid.com/securitynow

In memoriam: Bill Atkinson Meta native apps & JavaScript collude for a localhost local mess. The EU rolls out its own DNS4EU filtered DNS service. Ukraine DDoS’s Russia’s Railway DNS … and… so what? The Linux Foundation creates an alternative WordPress package manager. Court tells OpenAI it must NOT delete ANYONE’s chats. Period! 🙁 A CVSS 10.0 in Erlang/OTP’s SSH library. Can Russia intercept Telegram? Perhaps. Spain’s ISPs mistakenly block Google sites. Reddit sues Anthropic. Twitter’s new encrypted DM’s are as lame as the old ones. The Login.gov site may not have any backups. Apple explores the question of recent Large Reasoning Models “thinking” Show Notes – https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1029-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve’s site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: hoxhunt.com/securitynow threatlocker.com for Security Now uscloud.com canary.tools/twit – use code: TWIT

Pwn2Own 2025, Berlin results. PayPal seeks a “newly registered domains” patent. An expert iOS jailbreak developer gives up. The rising abuse of SVG images, via JavaScript. Interesting feedback from our listeners. Four classic science fiction movies not to miss. How OpenAI’s o3 model discovered a 0-day in the Linux kernel Show Notes – https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1028-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve’s site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: material.security outsystems.com/twit bigid.com/securitynow bitwarden.com/twit joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT

What the status of Encrypted Client Hello (ECH)? What radio technology would be best for remote inverter shutdown? Some DNS providers already block newly listed domains. Knowing when not to click a link can take true understanding. Why can losing a small portion of a power grid bring the rest down? Where are we in the “AI Hype Cycle” and is this the first? Speaking of hype: An AI system resorted to blackmail? Why are we so quick to imbue AI with awareness? ChatGPT’s latest o3 model ignored the order to shutdown. Copilot may not be making Windows core code any better. Venice.AI is an unfiltered and unrestrained LLM Show Notes – https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1027-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve’s site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit threatlocker.com for Security Now canary.tools/twit – use code: TWIT hoxhunt.com/securitynow 1password.com/securitynow

Chrome to actively refuse admin privileges. Android Messenger is getting manual key verification. Pwn2Own to add AI “pwning” as in-scope attack targets. AI has already been found to be replicating. Microsoft not killing off Office on Win10 after October. 23andMe’s asset purchaser revealed. Many fun talking points thanks to our listeners. Steve’s review of “Andor”, season 2. What’s been discovered inside the U.S. power grid Show Notes – https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1026-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve’s site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: bigid.com/securitynow material.security joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT bitwarden.com/twit drata.com/securitynow

The state of Virginia passes an age-restriction law that has no chance. New Zealand also tries something similar, citing Australia’s lead. A nasty Python package for Discord survived 3 years and 11K downloads. The FBI says it’s a good idea to discard end-of-life consumer routers. What’s in WhatsApp? Finding out was neither easy nor certain. The UK’s Cyber Centre says AI promises to make things much worse. A bunch of great feedback from our great listeners, then: Is true end-to-end encryption possible when records must be retained? Show Notes – https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1025-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve’s site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: threatlocker.com for Security Now uscloud.com hoxhunt.com/securitynow canary.tools/twit – use code: TWIT

Microsoft to officially abandon passwords and support their deletion. Meta’s RayBan smart glasses weaken their privacy terms. 30% of Microsoft code is now being written by AI. Google says prying Chrome from it will damage its security. Nearly 1,000 six-year-old eCommerce backdoors spring to life. eM Client moves to version 10.3 A bunch of terrific listener feedback creates talking points. A little-known, insecure message archiving service comes to light. Show Notes – https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-1024-notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve’s site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: bitwarden.com/twit joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT drata.com/securitynow material.security threatlocker.com/twit

Why did a mysterious empty “inetpub” directory appear after April’s Patch Tuesday? And what new Windows Update crashing hack did this also create? North Korea is now creating fake US companies to lure would-be employees. The “Inception” attack subverts all GPT conversational AIs. New information about data loss in unpowered SSD mass storage. Lots of terrific feedback from our listeners. How malware has taken to hiding inside the Windows Sandbox and what you can do to stop it Show Notes – https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1023-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve’s site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: legatosecurity.com threatlocker.com for Security Now outsystems.com/twit hoxhunt.com/securitynow