Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

It’s really easy to complain about the sadly insecure state of many of our products and services, but the fact is that doing security right is hard – even when you’re trying to get it right. Part of the problem is that there are just so many things to secure, even on a single product or service. Today we’re going to discuss several recent security issues with popular produc...

Ever paired your phone to a rental car? Did you erase all the data from the last car you sold or turned in at the end of your lease? Do you know what data you car is sending to the cloud wireless right now? Cars have become a privacy nightmare. Andrea Amico is the founder of a company called Privacy 4 Cars and today he’ll help us understand all the data you car is hoovering up – from y...

For many people, privacy is just a vague concept. But it can literally be a matter of life and death. It deserves your attention, your consideration and (crucially) your support. Technology has vastly improved our daily lives, but some of it also threatens to undermine our basic human rights and even our democracy/society. We need to understand the implications of the laws we pass – and the...

Computers are supposed to be completely predictable. When you tell it to do something, it should do exactly that – over and over again, if necessary – in the same way, with the same result. This is the nature of computer programming. But this predictability can allow computer criminals to interrupt a computer’s processing and divert it to do nefarious things. If you know exactly...

How far would you go to protect your children from sexual predators? How much privacy would you give up to try to prevent the sharing of child pornography? We are now faced squarely with those questions because Apple has just announced some new initiatives that it believes will curb the viewing and sharing of pornographic images. But we need to be extremely careful here. The Four Horsemen of the I...

Are hackers born or are they made? What is the essence of a true hacker? Today I explore these topics and more with the founder of both DEFCON and Black Hat, Jeff Moss – also known as The Dark Tangent. I also ask Jeff why we seem to suck at cybersecurity, what his top tips are for staying safe online, when DEFCON evolved to be bigger than its founder, how DEFCON has managed to stay focused o...

What is a hacker, exactly? What does it mean to hack something? With all the ransomware attacks and election meddling in the headlines, it’s easy to paint all hackers with a broad brush as malicious, self-serving computer criminals. And to be clear, many computer criminals are definitely hackers (some aren’t). But the real definition of hacker, the original notion of hacking itself, is...

Every time you load a web page, your personal data is being shared with thousands of companies. The ad spaces on the page are being auctioned off to the highest bidder in fractions of a second. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties calls this the biggest data breach in history, and is suing the ad tech companies on your behalf to stop this needlessly invasive and dangerous practice. My guest Johnn...

Your phone number is arguably as strong a personal identifier as your social security number, passport number or email address. These are things we almost never change any more – meaning that it’s an identifier for life. Our cell phones contain a ton of personal information, including our locations (not just now, but over time). Today I’ll help you understand why it’s so im...

The first step to solving any problem is gathering as much information as you can. Unfortunately, today we’re basically flying blind when it comes to identifying and resolving latent software bugs in our systems. Software today is made up of dozens if not hundreds of distinct components. Like automobiles, these piece parts can come from many different vendors. And even the parts from those v...

Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, the bad guys say “hold my beer”. The REvil gang has managed to pull off what appears to be the biggest ransomware infection ever through a clever supply chain attack on a company you’ve never heard of called Kaseya. Kaseya is what we call a Managed Service Provider, or MSP. They manage software and IT functions for lots of small-...

Robocalls are the bane of my existence. I get so many spam calls that I’ve just stopped answering my home phone altogether. I’ve given out my cell number to fewer people, so thankfully I get fewer junk calls there. But I still won’t answer any calls unless I recognize the number. Why is it so easy to spoof caller ID? Well, starting July 1st in the US, mobile carriers are now requ...

Today’s news headlines are littered with stories on massive cybersecurity failures: SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, Colonial Pipeline, data breaches, ransomware… Are the bad guys ramping up their game? Or are we just really bad at cybersecurity? (Or both?) How do we fix this? Who can lead the charge to improve our cyber defenses and fend off these attacks? Where do we learn best practi...

Are satellites really just IoT devices in space? They’re small computers and connected to the internet, not unlike Nest thermostats, baby video monitors, and smart toasters. You’d think that they’d be a lot more complex and secure… but are they really? My two guests today are running a program to test that very question, and in the process, try to make our military and comm...

Payment apps are fairly secure & very convenient, but NOT private. And Venmo is the worst. Venmo is the only payment app that is primarily a “social” app. That’s shorthand for “share as much info as possible, with as many people as possible”. If you weren’t already aware, all Venmo transactions are public by default. (That might come as an unwelcome surprise...

Is it possible for you to view your FLoC ID right now? And if so, can you decode this ID to understand what Google is learning about you from it? Does FLoC require your consent or cooperation from the sites you’re visiting? Are there tools to block this and, if so, how effective are they? In part 2 of my discussion with EFF’s Bennett Cyphers, we’ll answer these questions and many...

The public has voted and the results are in: people do not want to be tracked. In response, like pop-up ads before them, third party cookies are now being blocked by default by just about every browser – except Chrome. Google (who owns Chrome) is an ad company who relies on web tracking to make 90% of their revenue. With the writing on the wall, they and other ad tech companies are scramblin...

Today is the day we’ve all been waiting for! The super-secret, highly-collectible, security-enhancing device is finally HERE!! For a short period of time, I will be offering a very limited edition challenge coins to my patrons. Not only is the coin itself amazingly cool, it can also help you generate secure passphrases using my brand new website d20key.com! Listen in today for all the detail...

What is Tor, exactly? How and why would I use it? And what the heck is a Tor node? In part 2 of my talk with Alison from the Library Freedom Project, we’ll discuss why libraries are so important in the fight for privacy and how they’re using technologies like Tor to keep its patron’s (and even other’s) web browsing anonymous. We’ll talk about why it’s important...

Want to read a book without your reading history being tracked? Do you need to surf the web with complete anonymity? If so, then look no further than your local public library. You have the right to research and collaborate on politically or socially sensitive topics without fearing your government or even your local community – and your local public libraries are there to help. Today I&#821...

After what seemed like forever, Apple has finally released its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature which requires apps to get your permission to track you across other apps and websites. This was announced last year and delayed by several months to allow app makers to come into compliance (particularly Facebook). Today I’ll tell you what this feature does and doesn’t do, and of cou...

While law enforcement touts the benefits of cell site simulators, today we will talk about the negative impacts, as well. While the actual impacts are not documented due to secrecy, we have to wonder whether Stingrays could interfere with critical communications like 911 calls, for example. We also must understand that any tool can be used for good and for evil, by the “good guys” as w...

The single easiest way to track someone today is using their cell phone. We have them with us at all times and in order for them to work, they must be tracked by the cell phone network. When law enforcement wants to identify people at a protest or hanging around a particular area, they could take the time to get a warrant to present to multiple cell phone providers. Or they could simply bring in a...

Lots of news to cover today… and to me the common thread seems to be a lack of proper security and privacy. So the theme today is “trust no one”. And the idea there isn’t really personal trust, but computer trust, algorithm trust, procedural trust. We need to engineer our systems and processes around the idea that data is a toxic asset that loves to find ways to leak. Assum...

There are many business models and businesses that we curtail because they can be dangerous to people or democracy or society. Even rights enshrined in the US Constitution have reasonable limits. Now that it’s become evident how engagement-optimized and algorithm-driven social media is ripping at the very fabric of our democracy, it’s time for an intervention. Today, Phil Zimmermann (c...