Nostr notes by BrianKrebs

I don't think i read the book.

2026-10-08T22:56:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…tsn8
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I don't think i read the book.

The unquenchable bloodlust of this administration is really quite ...

2026-10-08T22:51:23Z

The unquenchable bloodlust of this administration is really quite something. What's next? Running man?

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-livestream-army-execution-fort-hood-shooter-pentagon-official-says-2026-10-08/

Exclusive, breaking: Dutch Police Arrest "Reformed" ...

2026-09-28T15:14:37Z

Exclusive, breaking: Dutch Police Arrest "Reformed" Hacker in ShinyHunters investigation

Authorities in the Netherlands have arrested a 23-year-old convicted cybercriminal on suspicion of aiding in data thefts and extortions by the prolific hacker group ShinyHunters. In the days immediately following the suspect’s arrest, remaining ShinyHunters members dramatically escalated their attacks, stealing highly sensitive data from the FBI and extorting the Russian ransomware group Cl0p.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/09/dutch-police-arrest-reformed-hacker-in-shiny-hunters-investigation/

#shinyhunters #cybercrime

btw this story is worth reading. Dalio's been consistently on ...

2026-08-04T15:51:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…utxg
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btw this story is worth reading. Dalio's been consistently on target ahead of previous big corrections in the markets. n.b.:

"Acadian Asset Management's Owen Lamont has framed the clearest test of whether markets are truly in bubble territory around four conditions he calls the "Four Horsemen of the Bubble Apocalypse": extreme overvaluation, widespread "bubble beliefs" (investors who admit prices are too high but expect them to rise anyway), a surge in equity issuance, and a flood of new market participants.

Dalio's comments map almost precisely onto the third horseman. "There's almost nothing that's easier to produce than stock," he said, describing how a company can raise $50 million, get valued at a billion, and mint a paper billionaire without a billion dollars ever changing hands. He's identified surging stock issuance as one of the two primary forces that "prick" a bubble, alongside rising interest rates."

Apple just sent my iPhone (and probably half the planet) a pop up ...

2026-07-29T17:06:55Z

Apple just sent my iPhone (and probably half the planet) a pop up message explaining that you can now lease Apple hardware so that you can can always have the latest Apple products. It's an interesting idea, although I can't escape the conclusion that the real impetus behind this is just how expensive their products are becoming because AI is eating the supply chain, etc. e.g. the offer talks about leasing a new iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Watch with "pocket-friendly payments."

According to the journalist Ken Klippenstein, FEMA has a new ...

2026-07-28T20:01:20Z

According to the journalist Ken Klippenstein, FEMA has a new mission: Domestic Terrorism.

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency, often criticized for its inadequate response to natural disasters like wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes, has been assigned a new mission: “domestic terrorism.”

Now FEMA is shelling out grant money to state and local authorities to build up capacity to carry out pre-crime operations against “organized political violence,” as one FEMA information bulletin I obtained says.

The bulletin, dated July 9, instructs local authorities to prioritize “domestic terrorism” in their grant applications. Titled “Implementation of National Security Presidential Memorandum-7…,” the document echoes President Trump’s emphasis on rooting out suspected domestic terrorists before an attack takes place.

To head off these attacks, the bulletin tells states what to buy: training to spot “social media-based indicators,” analysts to monitor “online behaviors and digital footprints,” and teams for “managing persons of concern whose behavior indicates a potential trajectory toward domestic terrorism.”

The story says the White House is trying to get states and localities to buy into this "precrime surveillance" by tying funding to their compliance.

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/femas-new-mission-domestic-terrorism?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=7677&post_id=208852828&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo2MjA1MTc2LCJwb3N0X2lkIjoyMDg4NTI4MjgsImlhdCI6MTc4NTI2NzQ3NSwiZXhwIjoxNzg3ODU5NDc1LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItNzY3NyIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.JucxU7NE_KspkdGtnLlZRTSPbQSE1xgl34_8IYNi5dk&r=3ozy0&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Sad trombone for the world's richest shithead. From the WSJ: ...

2026-07-24T12:12:04Z

Sad trombone for the world's richest shithead. From the WSJ:

"Tesla shares fell 15% on Thursday—erasing $215 billion of market value—after the electric-vehicle maker missed earnings targets and had negative cash flow for the first time in two years. It was part of a wider stock selloff amid fears that big tech companies are overspending on artificial intelligence.
On an earnings call, Musk walked back earlier guidance on the rollout of Tesla’s Robotaxi ride-hailing service, Optimus humanoid robots and an electric semi truck that has been in development for years."

"Shares of SpaceX, which went public at $135 and traded above $225 in the days after its debut, are down nearly 50% from those highs. The stock broke below its initial-public-offering price within weeks and has lost more than $1 trillion in value from its peak."

https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/reality-bites-elon-musk-and-his-tesla-spacex-believers-1b639591 (paywall)

https://archive.ph/GmKt1

WaPo reports the POTUS is expected to make a televised address ...

2026-07-15T17:39:10Z

WaPo reports the POTUS is expected to make a televised address tonight in which he will argue that foreign intelligence threats have undermined the security of our elections -- and specifically the one he lost in 2020 -- and that this means the federal government should take over elections which are managed by each individual state. The president has tried to hold up every major recent action by Congress in order to cajole them into approving a new law that would require proof of citizenship and and ID to vote in this year's mid-term elections.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/14/trump-plans-prime-time-speech-2020-election-allegations/

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) just issued a statement outlining the facts about the 2020 election and the current election infrastructure. I'm pasting part of it here because it's a good resource for anyone following along and for reporters who have to write about this unfortunate chapter in our nation's history. It's also a preemptive rebut to and probably a preview of what we'll hear from the president this evening.

"Foreign adversaries routinely seek to influence U.S. elections. They spread disinformation, amplify political divisions, intimidate voters, incite violence, and attempt to undermine Americans’ confidence in democratic institutions.

What foreign adversaries have not done, according to repeated public, unclassified assessments from the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI, the Senate Intelligence Committee, and bipartisan state election officials, is alter vote totals, hack voting machines to change election outcomes, or compromise the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. The clearest pattern across recent elections is not successful vote manipulation – it is sustained influence operations, aided and abetted by domestic actors, designed to convince Americans that their elections cannot be trusted.

These facts matter because conspiracy theories about stolen elections cannot become a pretext for weakening our democratic system or stripping states and local election officials of their longstanding constitutional role in administering elections. The answer to foreign threats is to strengthen election security, support state and local officials, and combat foreign influence operations – not to “take over” or federalize election administration based on claims that have been repeatedly investigated and debunked.

Reporters have a unique responsibility at this moment. The press is the only profession expressly protected by the Constitution because the Founders understood that an informed public depends on a free and independent press willing to separate fact from fiction and hold those in power accountable. Regardless of the source seeking to amplify false narratives about American elections, journalists should approach extraordinary claims with the same rigor they would apply to any other allegation: demand credible evidence, consult the extensive public record, engage subject-matter experts with experience tracking foreign intelligence operations, and provide audiences with the full context of repeated findings from the Intelligence Community, federal cybersecurity officials, bipartisan state election administrators, audits, recounts, and the courts. Careful, evidence-based reporting is one of the strongest defenses against efforts to undermine confidence in American democracy. To that end, we have assembled the following reference guide to help reporters quickly evaluate some of the most common claims about election security against the extensive public record developed by the Intelligence Community, CISA, the FBI, bipartisan state election officials, audits, recounts, and the courts.

Claim: China interfered in the 2020 election to help Biden.

Facts: Under the leadership of then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, the Intelligence Community assessed that China considered but did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. By contrast, the IC assessed that Russia conducted influence operations aimed at denigrating Biden and supporting Trump, and that Iran conducted efforts to undercut Trump and sow division. The Intelligence Community, Department of Justice, and Department of Homeland Security all agree that there was no changing of votes or compromise of the integrity of election infrastructure in the 2020 election. Even the Minority View included in the public 2020 Intelligence Community Assessment – which assessed that China may have undertaken some modest influence operations – concurred with the overall IC assessment that there was “no information suggesting China tried to interfere with election processes.”

Claim: Venezuela, Dominion, or Smartmatic hacked voting machines.

Facts: In November 2020, President Trump’s own CISA, working alongside state and local election officials from both parties, declared the 2020 election “the most secure in American history.” CISA stated there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” and highlighted the extensive safeguards built into U.S. elections, including paper records, audits, recounts, certification, and pre-election testing.

Claim: Georgia proves the machines were wrong.

Facts: Georgia’s post-election audit showed the opposite. Because the presidential margin was so close, the state conducted a full manual tally of all presidential paper ballots. The Georgia Secretary of State, a Republican, reported that the audit confirmed the original machine count accurately identified the winner, with differences within the expected range of human hand-counting error.

Claim: Foreign interference means votes were changed, or elections are illegitimate.

Facts: This claim conflates two different concepts. The IC has repeatedly warned that foreign adversaries conduct influence operations, including hack-and-leak operations, disinformation campaigns, and efforts to undermine confidence in U.S. democracy. But those assessments distinguish influence from interference such as alteration or manipulation of ballots, vote tabulation, or voter registration.

Claim: Foreign actors can easily flip a federal election.

Facts: Both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) have said the decentralized nature of U.S. election infrastructure makes large-scale manipulation very difficult to carry out without detection through intelligence collection, audits, cybersecurity monitoring, and physical security controls. This assessment was reaffirmed by DOJ and DHS in a joint report on the 2020 U.S. Federal Elections – a report mandated by Executive Order 13848, which was signed by President Trump himself in 2018. Indeed, federal funding – much of which took place through appropriations bills under President Trump’s first term – helped shore up the security of state and local election systems in advance of the 2020 U.S. Federal Elections.

Claim: States cannot be trusted to administer elections.

Facts: The Founding Fathers thought otherwise, assigning the responsibility for election administration to states in the Constitution. As a result, elections are administered by more than 8,000 state and local jurisdictions, making centralized or outcoming-shaping fraud extraordinarily difficult. Election security relies on multiple independent safeguards – including but not limited to paper ballots or voter-verifiable paper records, bipartisan poll workers, post-election canvasses, audits, recounts where appropriate, and certification by state and local officials. The federal government’s role has historically been to provide intelligence, cybersecurity assistance, and voluntary best practices through agencies like CISA, the FBI, and ODNI (notably, resources the current administration has curtailed) – not to run or “take over” elections. A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation recommended more support for state and local election officials, not replacing them with a federally controlled election system.

Claim: Dead people or non-citizens voted in large numbers, or there are more ballots than registered voters.

FACTS: These discrepancies are usually attributable to clerical or data issues, and while there are occasional isolated cases, multiple comprehensive studies have found that noncitizen voting is vanishingly rare. Notably, under President Trump’s influence, many GOP-led states have withdrawn from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) – the nationwide clearinghouse to assist states in improving the accuracy of voter rolls.

Claim: Mail-in ballots or ballot drop boxes are inherently insecure.

FACTS: CISA notes that states employ multiple, overlapping safeguards for mail-in and drop-box voting, including voter signature verification or other voter validation methods, ballot tracking, secure ballot handling and chain-of-custody procedures, ballot reconciliation, and post-election audits. The specific safeguards vary by state, but they are designed so that no single control is solely responsible for protecting election integrity. Importantly, mail-in voting has traditionally been a critical method of ensuring that military personnel can exercise their right to vote and has been commonplace in many states for over a decade.

The factual record is clear: Foreign adversaries try to influence Americans and undermine confidence in our elections, but unclassified government assessments and state audits have not shown that China, Venezuela, or any foreign actor hacked voting machines or changed vote totals in 2020. The real threat is not that Americans’ votes were secretly flipped; it is that foreign adversaries and domestic actors continue to spread false claims designed to make Americans doubt legitimate election results."

Someone asked me recently to name the craziest thing that's ...

2026-07-09T16:06:38Z

Someone asked me recently to name the craziest thing that's ever happened to me. I had to really think about this, having been the recipient of multiple swatting attacks, doxings, several record-smashing ddos campaigns, sex toys, weapons and giant bags of shit showing up at our doorstep for years. Even had a guy send $1200 worth of pure heroin to our house in a failed bid to frame me with narcotics possession.

Honestly, the weirdest thing I experienced in my work happened in May 2013. On that day, apropos of nothing, the reclusive lady renting the townhouse across the street from us came over to our lawn dressed to kill -- -- wearing a black skirt, pressed white shirt and a mask -- and carrying a saw. After she moved out of the camera's lowermost frame, she proceeded to cut down a pretty huge pine tree in our front yard. I can only surmise that she did this because a small portion of the tree was dead on account of it being crowded by an unkempt shrub next door.

Mind you, the only interaction I had with this lady previously was watching her stand in the parking lot in flowing robes and screaming at guests parking where they shouldn't.

I never got the full story about what her deal was, because she split the neighborhood not long after that. But I still refer to her as "that hacker lady," because she literally hacked down my tree.

Feels like all of us (even people w/out a car) need to pay way ...

2026-07-09T15:27:05Z

Feels like all of us (even people w/out a car) need to pay way more attention to the WTAF new rules affecting EU and US folk, requiring all new cars to include a driver monitoring camera aimed at your face.

"Glance at your phone, your kids in the back seat, or the radio for too long, and the car will flash a warning light and sound an alert," reads a recent post from Allaboutcookies.org.

https://allaboutcookies.org/eu-mandatory-distracted-driver-system

First spotted this story in the Risky Business newsletter yesterday and have been reading as much as I can about it ever since. https://risky.biz/RBNEWS587/

Risky's Catalin Cimpanu (npub1s69…rmen) writes the new regulation has entered into effect in the EU on Monday and will enter into effect next year in the US. In the EU, the new camera requirement is part of the block's second General Safety Regulation (GSR2), a broader swath of new safety rules introduced for the auto industry and designed to improve road safety.

https://www.inkl.com/news/new-eu-car-safety-rules-take-effect-7-july-how-your-car-could-monitor-you

https://www.gadgetreview.com/federal-surveillance-tech-becomes-mandatory-in-new-cars-by-2027

This is some next level Orwellian shit. My dreams of one day replacing one of our cars with an electric vehicle just got much darker.

Where do I send the bill? My 1 percent ranking might seem l33t on ...

2026-07-02T17:12:17Z

Where do I send the bill? My 1 percent ranking might seem l33t on the surface, but it just means my content is more heavily plagiarized than most in my particular genre. I guess plagiarism really is the sincerest form of flattery.

Spur released their report today on some data referenced in our ...

2026-06-23T12:14:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…as9h
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Spur released their report today on some data referenced in our story last week about the Popa botnet's connection to the publicly-traded Israeli firm Alarum Technologies/NetNut.

tl;dr: Everyone worries about the apps on their phone. Almost no one looks at the ones on their TV. We scanned 6,038 of them across LG and Samsung; 2,058 were selling your IP address.

https://spur.us/blog/smart-tv-apps-residential-proxy-sdks

New, from me: 'Popa' Botnet Linked to Publicly Traded ...

2026-06-18T17:51:48Z

New, from me: 'Popa' Botnet Linked to Publicly Traded Israel Firm

"For the past four years, a sprawling Android-based botnet called Popa has forced millions of consumer TV boxes to relay Internet traffic linked to advertising fraud, account takeovers, and mass data-scraping efforts. This week, researchers from multiple security firms concluded that the Popa botnet is linked to NetNut, a “residential proxy” provider operated by the publicly-traded Israeli firm Alarum Technologies Ltd [NASDAQ: ALAR]."

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/06/popa-botnet-linked-to-publicly-traded-israeli-firm/

There is an incredible amount of interesting data and findings in the reports on Popa released this week. For example, the proxy detection service Spur told me they recently scraped the LG and Samsung app stores and found that each had approximately 3,000 apps available for download. Spur said it found that more than 42 percent of apps available for download via the webOS operating system on LG smart TVs include SDKs that turn one’s television into an always-on residential proxy node. More than a quarter of the apps made for Samsung’s Tizen operating system had similar residential proxy components, Spur found.

#proxy #popa #botnet #lg #samsung

I've got a dusty old Windows 11 system running in a virtual ...

2026-06-15T13:13:13Z

I've got a dusty old Windows 11 system running in a virtual machine, and when I booted it up the other day I was met not with MS's usual login prompt but instead w/ a BitLocker recovery blue screen.

Then I remembered the cause (when all else fails, check your own site doh!): As we warned in January 2026, Microsoft is expiring a bunch of older Windows Secure Boot certificates in June 2026 and October 2026. Once these 2011 certificates expire, Windows devices that do not have the new certificates can no longer receive Secure Boot security fixes.

Fortunately in this case I was able to recover the Win11 system and update the certificates by pasting the supplied recovery key at aka.ms/myrecoverykey. But I suspect things can get far more complicated for organizations having to deal with this on a large number of machines.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/01/patch-tuesday-january-2026-edition/

Somewhere there are some very fat and happy caterpillars who ate ...

2026-06-14T23:08:51Z

Somewhere there are some very fat and happy caterpillars who ate our entire crop of broccoli and peas overnight. GRRRRRR! It's astonishing how quickly those bastards can strip an entire plant of foliage.

This is so deeply embarrassing and shocking at the same time. ...

2026-06-04T16:06:12Z

This is so deeply embarrassing and shocking at the same time. Navigate to whitehouse.govt/aliens/ and you will see a page that at first glance appears to tease unclassified information about aliens from outer space "walking among us." But as you scroll down it becomes apparent the White House is referring to immigrants in the US.

I realize the POTUS has said far worse in plenty of Executive Orders that are published on whitehouse.gov, but this is just disgusting to see.

#8647now

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@briankrebs/116670688015956223 ...

2026-06-03T11:25:44Z

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@briankrebs/116670688015956223

Dashlane posted an update saying hackers brute-forced its two-factor authentication system, and gained access to the encrypted password vaults for "fewer than 20 personal plan users." Dashlane said there was no evidence of a hack of its own systems, but it hasn't shared yet why or how that 2FA was compromised. The company said “the goal of the attack was to brute-force two-factor authentication (2FA) protections to allow the attacker to register new devices on existing user accounts,” and that it has already notified affected users.

https://support.dashlane.com/hc/en-us/articles/36038764990866-Security-advisory-Brute-force-attack-on-Dashlane-user-accounts?7194ef805fa2d04b0f7e8c9521f97343
nostr:note1h7pajwrfc0y70354h59028ee2malvpw6sf0xaq5gzarv8ftszteq9v85uc

I have two longtime friends who keep sending me AI-generated slop ...

2026-06-02T13:54:14Z

I have two longtime friends who keep sending me AI-generated slop images and videos even though I've expressively shared my overall negative feelings about where this technology is leading us. It's weird because while both of these people are my age, they suddenly seem much older to me. Like when a distant relative finds you on social media and starts posting unflattering photos of you as a teenager.

Somehow I missed this story in my research concerning Nightwing, ...

2026-05-31T00:14:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…vvcv
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Somehow I missed this story in my research concerning Nightwing, the Virginia government contractor where the CISA contractor worked.

May 2, 2025: Raytheon, Nightwing to Pay $8.4 Million in Settlement Over Cybersecurity Failures

"The US government on Thursday announced that it has reached a settlement with Raytheon, RTX Corporation, and Nightwing Group in a lawsuit over the companies’ alleged failures to meet cybersecurity requirements for defense contractors.

Raytheon, a subsidiary of RTX Corporation (previously Raytheon Technologies Corporation), and its then-subsidiary Raytheon Cyber Solutions, Inc. (RCSI), allegedly failed to comply with cybersecurity requirements in 29 contracts and subcontracts with the Department of Defense (DoD). Nightwing is a cybersecurity and intelligence company that spun out of RTX.

According to the settlement, between 2015 and 2021, Raytheon did not implement necessary cybersecurity controls on a system used to perform work on DoD contracts. In 2015, the company landed a DHS cybersecurity contract worth $1 billion.

Raytheon and RCSI allegedly not only failed to implement a security plan for the internal development system, but also failed to ensure that it complied with other Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements.

Per DFARS and FAR, contractors are required to apply basic safeguarding to systems that process or store federal contract data, and to provide adequate security for those systems, respectively."

https://www.securityweek.com/raytheon-to-pay-8-4-million-in-settlement-over-cybersecurity-failures/amp/

So, I guess now that Google has officially shit the bed w/ their ...

2026-05-25T14:58:04Z

So, I guess now that Google has officially shit the bed w/ their AI search, this is going to be my new browser start page from now on.

https://udm14.org/

Few things steam me more than readers complaining that I'm ...

2025-04-06T14:47:49Z

Few things steam me more than readers complaining that I'm somehow censoring comments. All I can say is #1 it's just me and I try to have a life, and, #2: "have you looked at the comments lately????"

You don't have to spend more than a few minutes wading through comments on my stories to see I generally leave them alone unless they turn into personal attacks on me or other readers. I leave them even when I know the comments are left by the very same cybercriminals I'm writing about. You wouldn't believe how many times those comments turned out to be extremely useful down the road, BTW.

There are hundreds of comments in moderation on a recent story that will probably all stay there. They are a mix of pro and con comments, but it's mostly people attacking each other and being assholes. Some days, I can't even bring myself to look at the comments in moderation b/c they're just so awful and shitty.

But what really steams me are the people who think they have a "free speech" right to have a comment published on my site. Like this person, who wants to know why their comment, which matches the theme of about 30 others in moderation (by anti-spam, not by me), and about as many already published:

"My husband and I attempted to post a comment several times on your March 30 article, “How Each Pillar of the 1st Amendment is Under Attack.” In a respectful and well-researched manner, we pointed out that the article omitted any mention of the pro-Hamas nature of recent college campus protests.

We tried to resubmit the comment multiple times, softening the language each time, while still aiming to highlight this important point. However, the comment was never approved for publication.

Can you please explain why?

I would be happy to share the comment directly. We sincerely hope that you will uphold the principle of free speech by allowing space for this perspective, especially when it addresses the concerning omission related to anti-Semitism."

Interesting recommendation. Question: Where do you get the ...

2024-12-01T14:55:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…c539
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Interesting recommendation. Question: Where do you get the nitrogen?

If you own a vehicle, just a reminder to check the air in your ...

2024-12-01T13:37:08Z

If you own a vehicle, just a reminder to check the air in your tires if your car doesn't have those sensors to alert you when the pressure is low. I recently upgraded the rims and tires on my truck and then realized the other day the sensors no longer worked. After the most recent cold snap, I found the tires all had about half of the air they should have.