Our weekly audio security column & podcast by Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

TechTV's Leo Laporte and I take 30 to 90 minutes near the end of each week to discuss important issues of personal computer security. Sometimes we'll discuss something that just happened. Sometimes we'll talk about long-standing problems, concerns, or solutions. Either way, every week we endeavor to produce something interesting and important for every personal computer user.  You may download and listen to selected episodes from this page (see below), or subscribe to the ongoing series as an RSS "podcast" to have them automatically downloaded to you as they are produced. To subscribe, use whichever service you prefer . . .  Receive an automatic eMail reminder whenever a new episode is posted here (from ChangeDetection.com). See the section at the bottom of this page.  Send us your feedback: Use the form at the bottom of the page to share your opinions, thoughts, ideas, and suggestions for future episodes.  Leo also produces "This Week in Tech" (TWiT) and a number of other very popular podcasts (TWiT is America's most listened to podcast!) So if you are looking for more informed technology talk, be sure to check out Leo's other podcasts and mp3 files.  And a huge thanks to AOL Radio for hosting the high-quality MP3 files and providing the bandwidth to make this series possible. We use "local links" to count downloads, but all of the high-quality full-size MP3 files are being served by AOL Radio.

Episode Archive Each episode has SIX resources: High quality 64 kbps mp3 audio file Quarter size, bandwidth-conserving, 16 kbps (lower quality) mp3 audio file A web page with any supplementary notes A web page text transcript of the episode A simple text transcript of the episode Ready-to-print PDF (Acrobat) transcript   (Note that the text transcripts will appear a few hours later than the audio files since they are created afterwards.) For best results: RIGHT-CLICK on one of the two audio icons & below then choose "Save Target As..." to download the audio file to your computer before starting to listen. For the other resources you can either LEFT-CLICK to open in your browser or RIGHT-CLICK to save the resource to your computer.

The Portable Dog Killer, Encore This is our special “TWiT is Closed for the Holidays” Christmas special encore episode of the tale of “The Portable Dog Killer”, a story I relate to Leo and our listeners from my own past, 39 years ago, containing a strong moral about the importance of getting out from behind the video game screen and actually building something. 21 MB 5.2 MB 84 KB 41 KB 90 KB

Bluetooth After first catching up with a bunch of fun and interesting security and privacy news, Leo and I plow into a meaty and detailed description of the technology of Bluetooth device interconnection and its cryptographic security. A follow-on episode will cover the past hacking attacks against Bluetooth. 44 MB 11 MB 111 KB 71 KB 131 KB

Listener Feedback #107 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 39 MB 10 MB 112 KB 70 KB 134 KB

Tag Me (with RFID) After catching up on the week's security news, this week's co-host Tom Merritt and I discuss the interesting security, privacy, management and technology issues surrounding the implantation of a remotely readable RFID (radio frequency identification) tag into one's own body for the purpose of being authenticated by devices and systems in one's own environment, such as laptop, car, garage door, house front door, etc. 38 MB 10 MB 84 KB 67 KB 119 KB

Listener Feedback #106 Before plowing into this week's Q&A content, Leo and I catch up with the industry's security and privacy related news. I share a vitamin D researcher's reaction to a troubling new report about vitamin D, and share my recent science fiction reading discoveries and opinions. 47 MB 12 MB 136 KB 82 KB 150 KB

Testing DNS Spoofability After catching up with the week's security updates and news, Leo and I revisit the continuing concern over DNS Spoofing by examining the technology behind my quite comprehensive, free, online DNS Spoofability Testing system at GRC.com. 36 MB 9.0 MB 91 KB 57 KB 110 KB

Listener Feedback #105 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 38 MB 9.5 MB 106 KB 65 KB 123 KB

Benchmarking DNS After catching up with the week's security updates and news, I formally unveil GRC's latest freeware, the DNS Benchmark. I explain the value of the program's many features and discusses the operation of this “long time in coming” freeware offering. 30 MB 7.5 MB 73 KB 50 KB 98 KB

Listener Feedback #104 & The FireStorm Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 37 MB 9.2 MB 104 KB 63 KB 122 KB

Firesheep After catching up with a very busy week of security-related news and events, Steve and Leo celebrate the game-changing creation and release of "Firesheep", an add-on for the Firefox web browser which makes online web session hijacking as easy as it could possibly be. This WILL change the world for the better. 32 MB 8.1 MB 105 KB 57 KB 115 KB

Listener Feedback #103 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 46 MB 12 MB 161 KB 84 KB 161 KB

The Evercookie After reviewing the past week's security updates and news, Steve and Leo examine Samy Kamkar's (http://samy.pl/evercookie/) clever suite of Javascript Hacks, collectively used to create an "Evercookie" for tagging web browsers in a fashion that's extremely difficult to shake off. 37 MB 9.1 MB 98 KB 61 KB 119 KB

Listener Feedback #102 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 34 MB 8.4 MB 101 KB 62 KB 120 KB

CryptoSystem Backdoors Leo and I discuss the deeply troubling recent news of possible legislation that would require all encrypted Internet communications, of any kind, to provide a means for U.S. law enforcement “wiretap” style monitoring. 34 MB 8.6 MB 101 KB 61 KB 117 KB

Listener Feedback #101 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 35 MB 8.7 MB 110 KB 64 KB 123 KB

Inside OAuth This week, after covering some rather significant security updates and news, Leo and I plow into the still-evolving Internet OAuth protocol. OAuth is used for managing the controlled delegation of access authorization to third-party web sites and services. It sounds more confusing than it is. Well, maybe not. 40 MB 10 MB 92 KB 64 KB 119 KB

Listener Feedback #100 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 36 MB 8.9 MB 101 KB 63 KB 119 KB

Side-Channel Privacy Leakage This week Leo and I examine the many tiny bits of individually non-unique information that inherently leak from a user's web browser out on the Internet. What's surprising is that when all of these individual non-unique bits are gathered together and assembled into a single “fingerprint,” the result IS often unique and can thereby be used as a tracking fingerprint to identify individual users' movements as they surf. 31 MB 7.7 MB 68 KB 48 KB 95 KB

Listener Feedback #99 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 39 MB 10 MB 115 KB 69 KB 131 KB

Strict Transport Security This week, after catching up with the week's security news, Steve describes the exciting emerging web standard known as "STS" or "Strict Transport Security" which, when supported by browser and web site, allows a web site to dramatically increase its access security by telling the browser to only connect securely and disallow any security exceptions. 29 MB 7 MB 77 KB 49 KB 97 KB

Listener Feedback #98 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 33 MB 8.3 MB 96 KB 61 KB 117 KB

DNS Rebinding This week, after catching up on all of the post-BlackHat and DefCon conference news, Steve and Leo plow into the detailed depths of “DNS Rebinding.” Together they thoroughly explore this significant and fundamental weakness of the Internet's security. 40 MB 9.9 MB 115 KB 68 KB 130 KB

Listener Feedback #97 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 46 MB 11 MB 137 KB 79 KB 149 KB

Five Years of Vulnerabilities This week Leo and I discuss a disturbing new Windows 0-day vulnerability present in all versions of Windows. We cover a very busy week of security news, then discuss the recently released report from Secunia which analyzes the past five years of Windows software vulnerabilities. 43 MB 11 MB 104 KB 69 KB 127 KB

Listener Feedback #96 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 40 MB 10 MB 134 KB 74 KB 142 KB

LastPass Steve and Leo cover the week's Internet-related security news, then Steve delivers his long awaited in-depth review and evaluation of LastPass. Steve explains the nature of the need for high-security passwords, the problem that need creates, and the way the design of LastPass completely and in every way securely answers that need. 52 MB 13 MB 148 KB 90 KB 163 KB

Listener Feedback #95 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 34 MB 8.4 MB 92 KB 57 KB 113 KB

What We'll Do for Speed This week Steve and Leo examine the amazing evolution of microprocessor internals. They trace the development of the unbelievably complex technologies that have been developed over the past 25 years to wring every last possible cycle of performance from an innocent slice of silicon. 35 MB 8.8 MB 85 KB 57 KB 108 KB

Listener Feedback #94 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 34 MB 8.5 MB 83 KB 56 KB 107 KB

RISCy Business After catching up from a very busy week of security news, I recount the history of the development of complex instruction set (CISC) computers following their evolution into reduced instruction set (RISC) computers. 41 MB 10 MB  119 KB 70 KB 131 KB

Listener Feedback #93 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 41 MB 10 MB 147 KB 80 KB 152 KB

Operating Systems After catching up on the week's important security news, Steve & Leo continue their tour of the fundamentals of computer technology by looking at the history and present day features of modern operating systems. 44 MB 11 MB 105 KB 72 KB 128 KB

Listener Feedback #92 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 50 MB 13 MB 182 KB 95 KB 177 KB

The Portable Dog Killer In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the invention of the LASER, this week Steve is going to relate a story from his own past, 39 years ago, containing a strong moral about the importance of getting out from behind the video game screen and actually building something. 43 MB 11 MB 181 KB 83 KB 163 KB

The “Multi”-verse Steve and Leo continue with their “fundamentals of computing” series this week, building upon all previous installments, to explain the details of multi-threading, multi-tasking, multi-processing, multi-core ... the “multi”-verse of modern computing. 35 MB 8.7 MB 114 KB 63 KB 122 KB

Listener Feedback #91 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 43 MB 11 MB 133 KB 79 KB 147 KB

The Security of Open vs CLosed After catching up on many interesting recent security events, Steve and Leo seriously examine the proven comparative security of open versus closed source and development software, and open versus closed execution platforms. What's really more secure? 35 MB 8.6 MB 93 KB 58 KB 113 KB

Listener Feedback #90 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 43 MB 11 MB 130 KB 80 KB 149 KB

State Subversion of SSL Leo and I catch up with the weekly security news, and I share my very positive impressions of my Apple iPad. Then I explain why and how world governments are able to legally compel their national SSL Certificate Authorities to issue Intermediate CA certificates which allow agencies of those governments to surreptitiously intercept, decrypt, and monitor secured SSL connections of any and all kinds. 41 MB 10 MB 114 KB 70 KB 131 KB

Listener Feedback #89 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 38 MB 9.4 MB 126 KB 72 KB 138 KB

Hardware Interrupts In this fourth installment of Steve's “How Computers Work” series, Steve explains the operation of “hardware interrupts” which, by instantly interrupting the normal flow of instructions, allow computers to attend to the needs of the hardware that interacts with the outside world while they are in the middle of doing other things. 39 MB 9.8 MB 102 KB 67 KB 123 KB

Listener Feedback #88 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 38 MB 10 MB 115 KB 71 KB 133 KB

Stacks, Registers & Recursion After a significant security news update, Steve and Leo continue their description of the operation of computers at the raw hardware level. This week Steve explains why and how computers have multiple accumulators, and also how a computer's "stack" operates and why stacks have become a crucial component of all modern computers. 44 MB 11 MB 117 KB 72 KB 132 KB

Listener Feedback #87 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 43 MB 11 MB 127 KB 75 KB 140 KB

Indirection: The Power of Pointers A feature present in the earliest commercial computers, known as “indirection”, has proven to be necessary, powerful, beneficial . . . and amazingly dangerous and difficult for programmers to “get right”. This week, Leo and I examine the Power of Pointers and why, even after all these years, they continue to bedevil programmers of all ages. 24 MB 6.0 MB 61 KB 40 KB 83 KB

Listener Feedback #86 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 39 MB 9.7 MB 121 KB 72 KB 134 KB

Machine Language After starting at the very beginning two weeks ago by looking at how resistors and transistors can be used to assemble logical functions, this week Steve and Leo use those functions to build a working digital computer that understands a simple but entirely useful and workable machine language. 33 MB 8.3 MB 88 KB 55 KB 106 KB

Listener Feedback #85 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 39 MB 9.7 MB 118 KB 73 KB 137 KB

Let's Design a Computer (part 1) To understand the advances made during 50 years of computer evolution, we need to understand computers 50 years ago. In this first installment of a new Security Now series, we design a 50 year old computer. In future weeks, we will trace the factors that shaped their design during the four decades that followed. 36 MB 8.9 MB 90 KB 59 KB 112 KB

Listener Feedback #84 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 48 MB 12 MB 148 KB 91 KB 166 KB

Mega Security Update & CES Observations Leo and I catch up on two busy weeks of security news with a “mega security news update” . . . and Steve, who watched Leo's streaming video coverage of CES, weighs in with his own discoveries and findings from the big annual consumer electronics fest. 51 MB 13 MB 4.3 KB 203 KB 95 KB 182 KB

Listener Feedback #83 Leo and I discuss the week's major security events and discuss questions and comments from listeners of previous episodes. We tie up loose ends, explore a wide range of topics that are too small to fill their own episode, clarify any confusion from previous installments, and present real world 'application notes' for any of the security technologies and issues we have previously discussed. 26 MB 6.5 MB 82 KB 49 KB 100 KB

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