Episode 194

The Host Unknown Podcast

This week in InfoSec (07:29)

With content liberated from the “today in infosec” twitter account and further afield

28th May: 2014: LulzSec hacker Hector Monsegur, known as Sabu, was sentenced and released the same day on time served for his role in a slew of high-profile cyberattacks. He had served 7 months in prison after his arrest.

https://x.com/todayininfosec/status/1795228730735886650

25th May 2018: The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union (EU) to strengthen and unify data protection became effective - just over 2 years after it was adopted by the EU.

https://twitter.com/todayininfosec/status/1794461551534936503

Rant of the Week (18:34)

Bing outage shows just how little competition Google search really has

Bing, Microsoft's search engine platform, went down in the very early morning 23rd May. That meant that searches from Microsoft's Edge browsers that had yet to change their default providers didn't work. It also meant that services relying on Bing's search API—Microsoft's own Copilot, ChatGPT search, Yahoo, Ecosia, and DuckDuckGo—similarly failed.

If dismay about AI's hallucinations, power draw, or pizza recipes concern you—along with perhaps broader Google issues involving privacy, tracking, news, SEO, or monopoly power—most of your other major options were brought down by a single API outage this morning. Moving past that kind of single point of vulnerability will take some work, both by the industry and by you, the person wondering if there's a real alternative.

Billy Big Balls of the Week (26:56)

IT worker sued over ‘vengeful’ cyber harassment of policeman who issued a jaywalking ticket

In an ongoing civil lawsuit, an IT worker is accused of launching a "destructive cyber campaign of hate and revenge" against a police officer and his family after being issued a ticket for jaywalking.

Industry News (34:44)

Check Point Urges VPN Configuration Review Amid Attack Spike

Courtroom Recording Software Vulnerable to Backdoor Attacks

New North Korean Hacking Group Identified by Microsoft

Internet Archive Disrupted by Sustained and “Mean” DDoS Attack

Advance Fee Fraud Targets Colleges With Free Piano Offers

US-Led Operation Takes Down World’s Largest Botnet

First American Reveals Data Breach Impacting 44,000 Individuals

Europol-Led Operation Endgame Hits Botnet, Ransomware Networks

BBC Pension Scheme Breached, Exposing Employee Data

Tweet of the Week (47.14)

https://twitter.com/DebugPrivilege/status/1795823939631067165

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