Australia's nationwide social media ban has put tech's age verification tools under the spotlight, exposing the flaws and privacy risks in today's facial detection systems and sparking worldwide debate about what's coming for the rest of us.

• Home Depot's puzzling reluctance to close a bad hole.
• GNOME's shell extension manager is unhappy with AI.
• How attacks on open source repositories compares in 2025.
• China's researchers have taken aim at the US power grid.
• How bad has the React2Shell vulnerability turned out to be.
• More new React vulnerabilities.
• Apple moves to iOS 26.2.
• Let's Encrypt's crosses into one billion servers managed.
• A DNS Benchmark update.
• Some interesting listener feedback, then...
• How things going with Australia's social media ban and what we are learning

https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1056-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 audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• zapier.com/securitynow
• threatlocker.com/twit
• joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT
• veeam.com
• bitwarden.com/twit

A devastating new React vulnerability earned a "perfect 10" for risk, letting attackers remotely run code on a million-plus servers with a single HTTP request. Find out what happened, how fast attackers moved in, and why this bug changes everything for web security.

• France's VanityFair face a stiff fine over cookies.
• GrapheneOS pulls out of France over coercion worries.
• The EU adds to the pile-on over underage social media.
• India mandates the tracking of all smartphones.
• Apple says no.
• India abandons its smartphone tracking mandate.
• India requires all encrypted messaging to be SIM-tied.
• Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters --becomes--> SLH.
• AI demand has driven RAM pricing sky high.
• GRC's DNS Benchmark is finished and available.
• Cisco may talk a good game, but they're still Cisco.
• Browsers to ask users for local network access permission.
• React: The worst remote code exploit in a LONG time.

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1055-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 audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• 1password.com/securitynow
• veeam.com
• bigid.com/securitynow
• zscaler.com/security
• hoxhunt.com/securitynow

Cisco has finally admitted it's time for real change and is vowing to build "secure by default" gear after decades of criticism. Steve Gibson reacts to a rare moment when a tech giant actually gets security right—and what it means for everyone running critical infrastructure.

• Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters strikes (Salesforce) again.
• Cisco actually (no kidding) sees the light.
• Next week, Australia bans all underage social media.
• The EU Parliament moves to replace US computer tech.
• When to use Passwords, Passkeys or Yubikeys.
• Do unpowered SSDs lose their data.
• How about a "Joy of Coding" podcast.
• A Bitwarden Passkeys integration glitch.
• XSLT is sneaky. It's where you don't expect it.
• We know where last week's picture came from.
• The long-awaited return of a new Stargate series.
• A simple test to check our networks for any bot infections.

Show Notes: https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1054-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
• vanta.com/SECURITYNOW
• bitwarden.com/twit
• threatlocker.com/twit
• canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT