Open Source Security

Josh and Kurt talk about the NSA guidance on using memory safety issues. The TL;DR is to stop using C. We discuss why C has so many problem, why we can't fix C, and what some alternatives looks like. Even the alternatives have their own set of issues and there are many options, but the one thing we can agree on is we have to stop using C. Show Notes NSA Releases Guidance on How to Protect Against...

Josh and Kurt talk about the recent FAA NOTAM outage. Keeping legacy things running for long periods of time is really hard to do, this system is no different. It's also really hard to upgrade many of these due to corner cases and institutional knowledge. There aren't any great answers here, but we do ask a lot of questions about long running tech. Show Notes NOTAM outage AIX is not dead IBM Linux...

Josh and Kurt talk about the Furby source code going public. This is an opportunity to discuss what's changed in our attitude in devices that record our audio? Our devices today are vastly more powerful and dangerous than a Furby, what does your risk appetite look like? Show Notes Furby source code Talking Toy Or Spy? Adam Ruins Everything - Why Jaywalking Is a Crime

Josh and Kurt talk about how to think about open source in the context of society. Open source is more like a natural resource than a supplier. It's common to think of open source projects as delivered to us, but it's more like acquiring raw materials from the forest. The problem is we're harvesting the raw materials in an unsustainable manner at the moment. Show Notes I am not a supplier Josh's q...

Josh and Kurt talk about the LastPass saga. There's a lot of great explanations about what happened, but there hasn't been a lot of info on how to start cleaning up this mess. We rehash some of the existing details then try to untangle what existing users can do to try to start recovering. The real problem is how LastPass is dealing with this, not the technical details. Show Notes Great writeup of...

Josh and Kurt talk about some security gifts for boxing day. We start out with the idea of the security poverty line and discuss a few ideas for how a low resource group can make their open source more secure. There are no simple answers unfortunately. Show Notes Wendy Nather Security Poverty Line Boots Theory

Josh and Kurt talk about how hard multi factor authentication is. This all starts from a Mastodon thread, and Jerry Bell , the administrator of infosec.exchange joins us to discuss password security and all things Mastodon. Infosec.exchange is an incredible story and Jerry weaves a thrilling tale. Show Notes infosec.exchange MFA discussion Jerry's 2FA advice MalwareTech retracts Mastodon statement...

Josh and Kurt talk to Jill Moné-Corallo about GitHub's bug bounty and product security team. It's a treat to discuss bug bounties with someone who is managing a very large bug bounty for one of the most important web sites in the world of software today. Show Notes Jill's Twitter Jill's Mastodon GitHub Bug Bounty Bug bounty scope Eight years of the GitHub Security Bug Bounty program GitHub NPM bug...

Josh and Kurt talk about a new tool that can do Stylometry analysis of Hacker News authors. The availability of such tools makes anonymity much harder on the Internet, but it's also not unexpected. The amount of power and tooling available now is incredible. We also discuss some of the future challenges we will see from all this technology. Show Notes Hacker News Stylometry Analyzer FBI Profiler o...

Josh and Kurt talk about end to end encrypted messages. This has been a popular topic lately due to the Mastodon popularity. Mastodon has a uniquely insecure messaging system, but they aren't the only one. The eternal debate of can security and usability exist together? We suspect it can't be, but it's a very complicated topic. Show Notes EFF on Mastodon DM privacy Towards End-to-End Encryption fo...

Josh and Kurt talk about email security and the perils of trying to run your own mail infrastructure. We then get into discussing the value and danger of trying to run your own infrastructure, email, blogs, or most anything. There's a lot to juggle about all this these days, it's complicated. Show Notes PowerDMARC Will Dormann GossiTheDog upgrades Exchange lcamtuf's blog I like Ice Cream

Josh and Kurt talk about the UK plan to scan their country's IP space. The purpose and outcome of this isn't completely clear at this point, but we are hopeful the data can be used as a positive force. We are only going to see more programs like this as all the governments are told they have to cyber harder. Show Notes NCSC Scanning information Motherboard podcast about NCIS

Josh and Kurt talk about the recent OpenSSL nothingburger. OpenSSL got everyone whipped into a frenzy over a critical vulnerability, then changed the severity to high. The correct solution to this whole problem is to stop using a TLS library written in C, we need to be using memory safe languages. Don't migrate from OpenSSL 1 to 3, migrate from OpenSSL 1 to Rustls. Show Notes OpenSSL Blog Post Ope...

Josh and Kurt talk about Lufthansa trying to ban Airtags. This has a similar feel to all the security events where a company tries to hand waive away a security problem then having to walk back all their previous statements. There is almost always a massive imbalance between the large companies and consumers. Show Notes Lufthansa bans airtags Airtag stalking problems Lufthansa unbans airtags Cult...

Josh and Kurt talk about stories detailing tech working with multiple jobs. This raises some questions about fairness, accountability, and the future of work. As an industry we are very bad at measuring what we do, which is a problem shared with many jobs currently working from home. Show Notes Equifax surveilled 1,000 remote workers, fired 24 found juggling two jobs Business Insider 2 jobs story...

Josh and Kurt talk about ineffective security from the past we still use today. There has been a great deal of progress in the last few decades bringing us amazing products like the Flipper Zero, cameras that can peer inside locks, and even software defined radio. A great deal of security relies on people not having easy access to these cheap devices. What does this mean for the future of security...

Josh and Kurt talk about a newly rediscovered old python vulnerability. It raises a lot of questions about what was OK in 2007 vs what's OK in 2022. The issue is very complicated and has a wild story surrounding it. There is no reason to not fix this in 2022. Show Notes CVE-2007-4559 Red Hat Bug Register story Response from upstream Upstream patch ZippSlip Current upstream bug CSURF

Josh and Kurt talk about a blog post that explains there isn't really an open source software supply chain. The whole idea of open source being one thing is incorrect, open source is really a lot of little things put together. A lot of companies and organizations get this wrong. Show Notes Iliana's Twitter There is no "software supply chain" Google supply chain blog GitHub ansi_term advisory PyPI...

Josh and Kurt talk about programming language ecosystems tracking and publishing security advisory details. We are at a point in the language ecosystems where they are giving us services that have historically been reserved for operating systems. Show Notes Kelsey Hightower tweet OSS-Fuzz

Josh and Kurt talk about the Time Till Open Source Alternative blog post. The numbers probably don't mean what we think they mean anymore. A lot of modern open source is really corporate controlled. Just because something carries an open source license doesn't mean you can contribute to it. Show Notes Time Till Open Source Alternative GitHub Desktop issue 78 The Reddit Safe

Josh and Kurt talk with Josh Aas from the Internet Security Research Group about Let's Encrypt, Prossimo, and Divvi Up. A lot has changed since the last time we spoke with Josh. Let's Encrypt won, and the ISG are working on some really cool new projects. Show Notes Josh Aas Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) Let's Encrypt Episode 87 – Chat with Let's Encrypt co-founder Josh Aas New Major Fund...

Josh and Kurt talk about really weird networking bugs. Josh tells a story about his home network problems that made no sense. There was also a qt5 bug that affected wireless networks that made virtually no sense. What should count as a security vulnerability? Show Notes Resolving an unusual wifi issue Hacker News thread Global Security Database IdeaPad 5 14ARE05

Josh and Kurt talk about the recent National Defense Authorization Act that requires security vulnerabilities to be fixed. What does this mean for us, is it as bad as some people are claiming it is? It's actually not a huge deal, for most of us it's really just time to deal with product security. Show Notes The Hacker Mind The Untold Stories of Open Source H.R.7900 - National Defense Authorization...

Josh and Kurt talk to Dustin Childs about the recent ZDI Black Hat talk where they discovered the current trend of security patches not actually fixing the security problem. We talk about what this problem means. Why is it happening, and what ZDI is doing to try nudge the industry in the right direction. Show Notes Dustin Childs ZDI Sloppy Software Patches Are a 'Disturbing Trend' Zero Day Initiat...

Josh and Kurt talk about our lack of security and some of the data bias problems that can emerge. A lot of what we think is security data is really just biased data. This is OK as long as we understand the data is broken and know this is the first step in a longer journey. Show Notes Tweet about data The 6 most common types of bias when working with data Syft and Grype stars graph John Snow, Chole...