Just when you thought DNS cache poisoning was a thing of the past, Steve and Leo reveal why this 17-year-old bug is making a dramatic comeback—and why most DNS resolvers still can't manage high-quality random numbers after all this time.

• The unsuspected sucking power of a Linux-based robot vacuum.
• Russia to follow China's vulnerability reporting laws.
• A pair of Scattered Spider UK teen hackers arrested.
• Facebook,Instagram and TikTok violating the EU's DSA.
• Microsoft Teams bringing user WiFi tracking bypolicy.
• You backed up. That's great. Did you test that backup?
• Coveware reports all-time lowransomware payment rate.
• Ransomware negotiator reports how the bad guys get in.
• Lots of listener thoughts and feedback about NIST passwords.
• And against all reason and begging credulity, it seems we still haven't managed to put high-quality random number generators into our DNS resolvers.

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1049-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:

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

Think your mouse is harmless? Steve and Leo uncover how modern optical mice might be secretly "listening" in, and reveal why satellite data pouring down on us is almost entirely unsecured.

• The long awaited lawsuit to block Texas SB2420.
• Embattled Texas SB2420 also impacts Google Play.
• At long last, NIST modernizes their password policy.
• Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters demise was exaggerated.
• China claims that the NSA has been hacking them.
• Half of all geosynchronous satellite traffic is unencrypted.
• The AWS outage highlights the rising risk of Internet monoculture.
• A terrific collection of listener feedback and...
• Could your PC's mousehave much bigger ears than you know?

https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1048-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:

• Melissa.com/twit
• hoxhunt.com/securitynow
• threatlocker.com for Security Now
• joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT
• bitwarden.com/twit

Texas is on the brink of forcing Apple and Google to overhaul app downloads with strict age verification laws—are tech giants ready, or is your privacy about to get caught in the crossfire?

• The EU aborted their Chat Control vote knowing it would fail.
• Salesforce says it's not going to pay; customer data is released.
• Hackers claim Discord breach netted 70,000 government IDs.
• Microsoft to move Github to Azure. What could possibly go wrong.
• New California law allows universal data sharing opt-out.
• OpenAI reports that it's blocking foreign abuse. Who cares.
• IE Mode refuses to die, so Microsoft is burying it deeper.
• The massive mess created by Texas legislation SB2420.
• The BreachForums website gets a makeover.
• 100,000 strong global botnet attacking U.S. RDP services.
• UI experts weigh in on Apple's iOS 26 user-interface.
• 330,000 publicly exposed REDIS servers are RCE-vulnerable

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1047-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:

• zscaler.com/security
• expressvpn.com/securitynow
• vanta.com/SECURITYNOW
• canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT
• bigid.com/securitynow

Google's new demand for developer registration could spell the end for open-source app stores, while Europe's controversial chat control vote threatens privacy for everyone—Steve and Leo break down what's at stake for devs and users alike.

• Qantas says no one can releak their stolen data.
• Brave's usage is up. But is it really 3 times faster.
• Next Tuesday the EU votes on "Chat Control".
• Microsoft formally launches a "Security Store".
• Outlook moves to block JavaScript in SVG's.
• A new release of Chrome.
• Gmail will no longer pull external email via POP.
• Googe Drive starts blocking ransomware encryptions.
• The UK issues another order to Apple.
• Researchers create a "Battering RAM" attack device.
• HackerOne's significant bug bounty payouts.
• The Imgur service goes dark across the UK. Guess why.
• The Netherlands plans to say NO to "Chat Control."
• Discord was breached and government IDs leaked.
• Salesforce says it's not another new breach.
• Signal introduces a new post-quantum ratchet.
• Your motherboard MIGHT support TPM 2.0.
• Google to force Android app devs to register and pay

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1046-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:

• threatlocker.com for Security Now
• joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT
• hoxhunt.com/securitynow
• bitwarden.com/twit
• veeam.com

Cisco's routers just exposed more than two million networks thanks to a "security optional" SNMP setup that's being actively exploited—Steve and Leo break down why this is a worst-case scenario for the industry and how easily it could have been avoided.

• Gmail's spam filtering false-positive spree.
• iOS 26's Safari randomizes its fingerprint by default.
• Cisco's SNMP stands for "Security Not My Problem".
• Windows' "stuck" Extended Security Updates (ESU).
• Europe complains, gets 1-year of ESU with no strings.
• Where to get $6 TLS certs (really) while they last.
• The lessons to learn from Jaguar Land Rover's mess.
• The NEON app: get paid to have your voice recorded.
• Bluesky's age verification, now coming to Ohio.
• What is "Kids Web Services" for age verification.
• More than 10K Ollama instances publicly exposed.
• GRC's DNS Benchmark reaches "release candidate"

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1045-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:

• vanta.com/SECURITYNOW
• 1password.com/securitynow
• Melissa.com/twit
• threatlocker.com/twit
• zapier.com/twit

• Consumer Reports on Windows 10 updates.
• Waste (not fraud or abuse) within DoD Cyberoperations.
• China's DeepSeek produces deliberately flawed code.
• WebAssembly v3.0 officially released.
• Firefox v143 updates and new features.
• Firefox for Android now offers DoH.
• A nearly terminal flaw in Microsoft's Entra ID.
• Chrome hits its 6th 0-day this year. Emergency update.
• DRAM (now DDR5) still vulnerable to RowHammer.
• SAMSUNG kitchen refrigerators begin showing ads.
• China says no to NVIDIA.
• 300 more (new) NPM maliciouspackages found and removed.
• The EU is already testing proper online age verification.

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1044-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:

• bigid.com/securitynow
• go.acronis.com/twit
• zscaler.com/security
• 1password.com/securitynow
• hoxhunt.com/securitynow

Apple just rewrote the rules of device security with a chip-level upgrade that could wipe out most iPhone vulnerabilities overnight. Find out how "memory integrity enforcement" aims to make exploits a thing of the past—and why it took half a decade to pull off.

• Are Bitcoin ATMs anything more than scamming terminals.
• Ransomware hits the Uvalde school district and Jaguar.
• Did "Scattered LapSus Hunters" just throw in the towel.
• Germany, for one, to vote "no" on Chat Control.
• Russia's new MAX messenger has startup troubles.
• Samsung follows Apple's WhatsApp patch chain.
• Shocker: UK school hacks are mostly by students.
• HackerOne was hacked.
• Connected washing machines in Amsterdam hacked.
• DDoS breaks another record.
• Bluesky to implement conditional age verification.
• Enforcement actions for Global Privacy Control.
• Might Apple have finally beaten vulnerabilities

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1043-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
• threatlocker.com for Security Now
• bitwarden.com/twit
• Melissa.com/twit

Is the U.S. on the verge of legalizing "hack back" missions, turning private companies into sanctioned cyber warriors? Steve and Leo unpack Google's plan for a cyber disruption unit and why the lines between defense and digital retaliation are suddenly blurring.

• My experience with 'X' vs email.
• Google TIG blackmailed to fire two security researchers.
• 1.1.1.1 DNS TLS certificate mis-issued.
• Artists blackmailed with threats of training AI on their art.
• Firefox extended end-of-life for Windows 7 to next March.
• Is the renewal of cybersecurity info sharing coming soon.
• Should security analysis be censored due to vibe-coding.
• UK versus Apple may not be settled after all.
• Another very serious supply chain attack.
• Can the software supply-chain ever be trustworthy.
• Why did BYTE Magazine die.
• What happens if Google and others go on the attack

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1042-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:

• uscloud.com
• canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT
• bigid.com/securitynow
• zscaler.com/security
• expressvpn.com/securitynow