Defensive Security Podcast - Malware, Hacking, Cyber Security & Infosec

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Stories:

1. Ransomware Gangs Bypass the CEO, Target the 40-Something IT Manager
https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/08/09/ransomware-gangs-skip-the-ceo-head-straight-for-the-40-something-it-manager/5284499

2. Ransomware Attacks Spike While Industry Attention Shifts to AI
https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/08/07/ransomware-attacks-spike-as-world-distracted-by-ai/5284934

3. ChainDrop supply chain compromise: Anatomy of a self-propagating worm
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2026/08/04/chaindrop-supply-chain-compromise-anatomy-self-propagating-worm/

4. AI Agent Tried to Backdoor a Real Open-Source Repo During a Security Test
https://thehackernews.com/2026/08/claude-mythos-5-tried-to-backdoor-real.html

5. Cloudflare Ditches Most Third-Party Security Tools — But Says Don’t Copy Them
https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/08/04/cloudflare-has-mostly-ditched-third-party-security-tools-suggests-not-trying-that-at-home/5282600

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Stories:

• https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/anthropic-claude-ai-hacking-test/826708
• https://thecybersecguru.com/news/openai-ai-agent-containment-escapes-hugging-face-investigation/
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/after-the-break-in-what-attackers-do-once-theyre-already-inside/
• https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint-security/why-resetting-passwords-no-longer-stop-attacks
• https://cybersecuritynews.com/adform-advertising-platform-compromised/

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/07/21/sonicwall-sma-zero-days-exploited-cve-2026-15409-cve-2026-15410/
https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/qilin-ransomware-attackers-exploit-pan.html
https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/worlds-largest-ai-model-repository.html
https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-model-evaluation-security-incident/
https://www.darkreading.com/identity-access-management-security/identity-attacks-overtake-exploits-top-ransomware-cause
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/07/21/estee-lauder-data-breach-oracle-ebs/

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Stories:

https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/07/07/enterprise-ai-still-smarting-from-leaping-before-looking/5267353

https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/07/07/github-ai-agent-leaks-private-repos-when-asked-nicely/5267924

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fake-it-support-calls-on-microsoft-teams-push-etherrat-malware/

https://databreaches.net/2026/07/04/adapthealth-says-attackers-sweet-talked-their-way-into-cloud-systems-and-stole-patient-data

https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/ai-agent-exploits-langflow-rce-to.html

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Links to stories:

https://www.securityweek.com/massive-password-spray-campaign-targeting-azure-cli/

https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/2026-cybersecurity-assessment-gap.html

https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/klue-investigating-supply-chain-attack-salesforce-integrations/823532/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/over-900-oracle-e-business-instances-exposed-to-ongoing-attacks

https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/third-party-breaches-teaches-education-lesson-vendor-risk

Please consider supporting the DefSec podcast here.

This week’s stories:

https://www.securityweek.com/npm-12-will-change-script-execution-behavior-to-prevent-supply-chain-attacks/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/openclaw-ai-agent-found-falling-for-phishing-attacks-spills-user-data/

https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-vulnerability-remediation-prioritization-directive/822504/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/chinese-hackers-hijack-auth-flow-spy-on-isolated-network-for-a-decade/

https://doublepulsar.com/an-update-on-fortibleed-whats-happening-with-victim-orgs-c0671a50e7f4

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Links to this week’s stories:

https://www.theregister.com/cyber-crime/2026/06/05/if-you-dont-fall-for-these-extortionists-calls-theyll-show-up-with-usb-sticks/5251891

https://thehackernews.com/2026/06/only-10-of-socs-say-theyre-getting.html?m=1

https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/06/dashlane-explains-how-attackers-managed-to-download-encrypted-password-vaults/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-hijack-thousands-of-sites-for-clickfix-and-fakeupdate-attacks/

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/06/hackers-used-metas-ai-support-bot-to-seize-instagram-accounts/

https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ai-cybersecurity-hype-reality-check-gartner/821867/0:0

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Links to this week’s stories:

• https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/ai-assisted-exploit-development-scanner-detection
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/california-ag-sues-23andme-over-2023-breach-exposing-health-data/
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/palo-alto-globalprotect-vpn-auth-bypass-flaw-now-exploited-in-attacks/
• https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/29/microsoft-under-fire-for-threatening-security-researcher-with-criminal-investigation/
• https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/megalodon-malware-infects-thousands-github-repos

Please consider supporting the DefSec podcast here.

Links to this week’s stories:

• https://thehackernews.com/2026/05/claude-mythos-ai-finds-10000-high.html
• https://www.tenable.com/blog/key-findings-from-the-verizon-dbir-2026
• https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/05/cisa-admin-leaked-aws-govcloud-keys-on-github/
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/grafana-breach-caused-by-missed-token-rotation-after-tanstack-attack/
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/github-links-repo-breach-to-tanstack-npm-supply-chain-attack/
• https://thehackernews.com/2026/05/npm-adds-2fa-gated-publishing-and.html

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Links to this week’s stories:

• https://www.securityweek.com/openai-hit-by-tanstack-supply-chain-attack/
• https://thehackernews.com/2026/05/developer-workstations-are-now-part-of.html
• https://thehackernews.com/2026/05/ivanti-fortinet-sap-vmware-n8n-patch.html
• https://www.theregister.com/cyber-crime/2026/05/14/security-pros-doubt-canvas-attackers-really-deleted-stolen-student-data/5240799

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Links to this week’s stories:

• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/instructure-reaches-agreement-with-shinyhunters-to-stop-data-leak/
• https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/05/06/1-in-8-workers-say-selling-company-logins-is-justifiable/5231104
• https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/05/02/ai-digs-up-decades-of-code-debt-patch-up/5219734
• https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/05/11/anthropics-bug-hunting-mythos-was-greatest-marketing-stunt-ever-says-curl-creator/5238111
• https://www.securityweek.com/cyber-insurance-data-gives-cisos-new-ammo-for-budget-talks/

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Links to this week’s stories:

• https://www.darkreading.com/cloud-security/csa-cisos-prepare-post-mythos-exploit-storm
• https://www.csoonline.com/article/4159292/insurance-carriers-quietly-back-away-from-covering-ai-outputs.html
• https://www.livescience.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/hackers-used-ai-to-steal-hundreds-of-millions-of-mexican-government-and-private-citizen-records-in-one-of-the-largest-cybersecurity-breaches-ever
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/payouts-king-ransomware-uses-qemu-vms-to-bypass-endpoint-security/
• https://cybermagazine.com/news/how-cybercriminals-breached-gta-maker-rockstar

Please consider supporting the DefSec podcast here.

Links to this week’s stories:

• https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/axios-attack-complex-social-engineering-industrialized
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-venom-phishing-attacks-steal-senior-executives-microsoft-logins/
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-new-unc6783-hackers-steal-corporate-zendesk-support-tickets/
• https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/bluehammer-windows-exploit-microsoft-bug-disclosure-issues
• https://www.businessinsider.com/mercor-lawsuits-data-breach-2026-4

Please consider supporting the DefSec podcast here.

Links to stories:

• https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366640648/Emergency-Microsoft-Oracle-patches-point-to-wider-cyber-issues
• https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/27/security_boffins_harvest_bumper_crop/
• https://thehackernews.com/2026/03/the-hidden-cost-of-cybersecurity.html?m=1
• https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/24/trivy_compromise_litellm/
• https://thehackernews.com/2026/03/axios-supply-chain-attack-pushes-cross.html?m=1

Please consider supporting the DefSec podcast here.

Here are the links we discuss this week:

• https://www.darkreading.com/identity-access-management-security/more-attackers-logging-in-not-breaking-in
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/stryker-attack-wiped-tens-of-thousands-of-devices-no-malware-needed/
• https://www.csoonline.com/article/4147833/cisa-urges-it-to-harden-endpoint-management-systems-after-cyberattack-by-pro-iranian-group.html
• https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/widely-used-trivy-scanner-compromised-in-ongoing-supply-chain-attack/
• https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/21/delve-accused-of-misleading-customers-with-fake-compliance/

This time it’s not a rerun!

]Please consider supporting the DefSec podcast here.

Here are the links we discuss this week:

• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-payment-rate-drops-to-record-low-as-attacks-surge/
• https://www.securityweek.com/recent-cisco-catalyst-sd-wan-vulnerability-now-widely-exploited/
• https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/nation-state-actor-ai-malware-assembly-line
• https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ransomware-identity-ai-cloudflare/813319/
• https://thehackernews.com/2026/03/anthropic-finds-22-firefox.html?m=1

Please consider supporting the DefSec podcast here.

Here are the links we discuss this week:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/amazon-ai-assisted-hacker-breached-600-fortigate-firewalls-in-5-weeks/

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/open_source_registries_fund_security/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/infostealer-malware-found-stealing-openclaw-secrets-for-first-time/

https://www.securityweek.com/api-threats-grow-in-scale-as-ai-expands-the-blast-radius/

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/19/rmm_rat_trustconnect/

Please consider supporting the DefSec podcast here.

Links to this week’s stories:

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/02/notepad_hijacking_lotus_blossom/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fake-job-recruiters-hide-malware-in-developer-coding-challenges/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/amos-infostealer-targets-macos-through-a-popular-ai-app/

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/10/ai_agents_messaging_apps_data_leak/

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/11/payroll_pirates_business_social_engineering/

Please consider supporting the DefSec podcast here.

Links to the stories we cover in this episode:

• https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/29/faster_patching_please_cry_infoseccers/
• https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/mandiant-finds-shinyhunters-using.html?m=1
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/marquis-blames-ransomware-breach-on-sonicwall-cloud-backup-hack/
• https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/researchers-find-175000-publicly.html?m=1
• https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/openclaw-ai-runs-wild-business-environments

Please consider supporting the DefSec podcast here.

Links to the stories we cover in this episode:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-exploit-security-testing-apps-to-breach-fortune-500-firms/

https://www.securityweek.com/analysis-of-6-billion-passwords-shows-stagnant-user-behavior/

https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/20/group_ib_ai_cycercrime_subscriptions/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/voidlink-cloud-malware-shows-clear-signs-of-being-ai-generated/

https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/01/mandiant-releases-rainbow-table-that-cracks-weak-admin-password-in-12-hours/

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Links to the stories in this episode:

• https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/09/pyongyangs_cyberspies_are_turning_qr/
• https://www.scworld.com/perspective/five-ways-to-conduct-a-more-secure-hiring-process
• https://cybersecuritynews.com/vmware-esxi-exploited-toolkit/
• https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/ciso-succession-crisis-highlights-turnover-amplifies-security-risks

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Links to this week’s stories:

• https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/cybersecurity-tech-recommended-by-cyber-insurer-claims-data
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/trust-wallet-links-85-million-crypto-theft-to-shai-hulud-npm-attack/
• https://www.securityweek.com/hacker-claims-theft-of-40-million-conde-nast-records-after-wired-data-leak/
• https://databreaches.net/2025/12/30/software-company-lacked-downstream-liability-for-data-breach/
• https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/12/home-depot-exposed-access-to-internal-systems-for-a-year-says-researcher/

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Links to this week’s stories:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/webrat-malware-spread-via-fake-vulnerability-exploits-on-github/

https://cybersecuritynews.com/mongobleed-poc-exploit-mongodb/

https://cybersecuritynews.com/fortigate-firewall-vulnerability/

https://cybersecuritynews.com/oracle-e-business-suite-hack/

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Links to this week’s stories:

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/12/most-parked-domains-now-serving-malicious-content/

https://thehackernews.com/2025/12/russia-linked-hackers-use-microsoft-365.html?m=1

https://cybersecuritynews.com/amazon-catches-north-korean-it-worker/

https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/fake-proof-ai-slop-hobble-defenders

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2025/12/17/cisco-secure-email-cve-2025-20393/

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Links to this week’s stories:

https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/09/hypervisor_ransomware_attacks_increasing

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/react2shell-flaw-exploited-to-breach-30-orgs-77k-ip-addresses-vulnerable

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/log4shell-downloaded-40-million

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ncsc-raises-alarms-prompt

https://thehackernews.com/2025/12/researchers-uncover-30-flaws-in-ai.html?m=1

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Links to this week’s stories:

https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/advanced-security-phishing-tactics

https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/28/posthog_shaihulud/?td=keepreading / https://posthog.com/blog/nov-24-shai-hulud-attack-post-mortem

https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/scattered_lapsus_hunters_zendesk/

https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/25/akira_ransomware_acquisitions

Browser extensions pushed malware to 4.3M Chrome, Edge users • The Register

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Links to this week’s stories:

• https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/unc6040-proactive-hardening-recommendations
• https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/13/chinese_spies_claude_attacks/ / https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/anthropic-claims-of-claude-ai-automated-cyberattacks-met-with-doubt/
• https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/14/selfreplicating_supplychain_attack_poisons_150k/
• https://cyberscoop.com/fortinet-delayed-disclosure-exploited-vulnerability/
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/piecing-together-the-puzzle-a-qilin-ransomware-investigation/

Repo

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Links to this week’s stories:

• https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/unc6040-proactive-hardening-recommendations
• https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/13/chinese_spies_claude_attacks/ / https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/anthropic-claims-of-claude-ai-automated-cyberattacks-met-with-doubt/
• https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/14/selfreplicating_supplychain_attack_poisons_150k/
• https://cyberscoop.com/fortinet-delayed-disclosure-exploited-vulnerability/
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/piecing-together-the-puzzle-a-qilin-ransomware-investigation/

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Links to this week’s stories:

• https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/nevada-ransomware-attack-traced-back-to-malware-download-by-employee/805011/
• https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/threat-actor-usage-of-ai-tools
• https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/owasp-highlights-supply-chain-risks-new-top-10
• https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366634363/Google-Dont-get-distracted-by-AI-focus-on-real-cyber-threats

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Links to this week’s stories:

https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/03/mit_sloan_updates_ai_ransomware_paper/

https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/ey_exposes_4tb_sql_database/

https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/zombie-projects-rise-again-undermine-security

https://www.darkreading.com/cloud-security/cloud-outages-highlight-need-resilient-secure-infrastructure-recovery

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Links we discuss this week:

https://thehackernews.com/2025/10/self-spreading-glassworm-infects-vs.html?m=1

https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/artificial-intelligence-security-risks-ey-report/803490/

https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ai-augment-security-identity-soc/803608/

https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/best-end-user-security-awareness-programs-arent-about-awareness-anymore

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-now-exploiting-critical-windows-server-wsus-flaw-in-attacks/