Political Targeting in Cybersecurity: The Chris Krebs Fallout

On this week’s show Patrick Gray talks to former NSA Cybersecurity Director Rob Joyce about Donald Trump’s unprecedented, unwarranted and completely bonkers political persecution of Chris Krebs and his employer SentinelOne.

They also talk through the week’s cybersecurity news, covering:

• Mitre’s stewardship of the CVE database gets its funding DOGE’d
• The US signs on to the Pall Mall anti-spyware agreement
• China tries to play the nationstate cyber-attribution game, but comedically badly
• Hackers run their malware inside the Windows sandbox, for security against EDR

This week’s episode is sponsored by open source identity provider Authentik. CEO Fletcher Heisler joins to talk through the increasing sprawl of the identity ecosystem.

This episode is also available on Youtube.

Show notes

• Cybersecurity industry falls silent as Trump turns ire on SentinelOne | Reuters
• U.S. cyber defenders shaken by Trump's attack on their former boss
• Trump Revenge Tour Targets Cyber Leaders, Elections – Krebs on Security
• Wyden to block Trump's CISA nominee until agency releases report on telecoms’ ‘negligent cybersecurity’ | The Record from Recorded Future News
• Gabbard sets up DOGE-style team to cut costs, uncover intel ‘weaponization’
• MITRE Warns CVE Program Faces Disruption Amid US Funding Uncertainty
• US to sign Pall Mall pact aimed at countering spyware abuses | The Record from Recorded Future News
• Court document reveals locations of WhatsApp victims targeted by NSO spyware | TechCrunch
• Spyware Maker NSO Group Is Paving a Path Back Into Trump’s America | WIRED
• NCSC shares technical details of spyware targeting Uyghur, Tibetan and Taiwanese groups | The Record from Recorded Future News
• Risky Bulletin: Chinese APT abuses Windows Sandbox to go invisible on infected hosts
• China escalates cyber fight with U.S., names alleged NSA hackers
• Researcher uncovers dozens of sketchy Chrome extensions with 4 million installs - Ars Technica
• China-based SMS Phishing Triad Pivots to Banks – Krebs on Security
• Risky Bulletin: CA/B Forum approves 47-days TLS certs
• Ransomware in het mkb: Cybercriminelen verhogen losgeld bij cyberverzekering
• 4chan Is Down Following What Looks to Be a Major Hack Spurred By Meme War