Risky Bulletin Between Two Nerds: Getting pinged and the fog of war
Jan 26, 2026
The Grugq, an experienced cyber security practitioner and analyst known for offensive security and espionage tradecraft, joins to unpack attacker uncertainty after being detected. They explore offensive counterintelligence, parallels with human espionage, what happens when implants are pinged, and why publishing technical reports both clarifies detection and forces attackers to change tradecraft.
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Detection Creates A Temporary Intelligence Edge
- Detecting an intrusion grants defenders an information advantage until they announce it.
- Announcing detection trades that advantage away and forces immediate remediation costs.
Loss Of Access Creates Operational Uncertainty
- Attackers losing access face severe uncertainty about cause and scope.
- That fog of not knowing drives costly, hard-to-calibrate remediation decisions.
Pen Testers Get Blackholed By Defenders
- A pen tester lost all remote implants when the client blackholed their IP list.
- The tester had to embarrassingly ask the client to undo the block to finish the engagement.