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.

Science Fiction Holiday Special After catching up with just a bit of year-end security news, for their special holiday episode, Steve and Leo review their favorite Science Fiction books and movies, pulling the commentary they have previously scattered throughout many years into a single reference. 46 MB 11 MB 167 KB 83 KB 162 KB

Listener Feedback #133 Tom 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. 45 MB 11 MB 98 KB 79 KB 139 KB

Mega Security News Update We had so much news this week that it squeezed out our show's planned topic of Google's new SDPY web browser protocol. So we'll tackle that early next year. In the meantime, Leo and Steve will discuss the news of this very active week! 45 MB 11 MB 177 KB 81 KB 160 KB

Listener Feedback #132 Tom 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 101 KB 81 KB 141 KB

Browser ID After catching up with the week's news, Leo and I examine the operation of Mozilla's solution to the need for secure, reliable and easy-to-use establishment of online Internet identity known as: BrowserID. We also compare it with all of the other existing technologies and solutions we've discussed before. 35 MB 8.8 MB 109 KB 62 KB 120 KB

Listener Feedback #131 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. 49 MB 12 MB 148 KB 88 KB 162 KB

Internet Privacy Update The day before recording this podcast in the studio with Leo, I attended an annual Internet privacy conference. After catching up with the week's security news, updates, and errata, I share what I saw and learned during the conference, including three VERY promising new privacy and authentication tools. 33 MB 8.2 MB 155 KB 68 KB 137 KB

Listener Feedback #130 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. 49 MB 12 MB 148 KB 86 KB 159 KB

TCP Pt.3 - Necessary Refinements After catching up with the week's news, Leo and I return this week to our "How the Internet Works" fundamentals series. We examine the challenges presented by “packet-based connections” to further understand the operation of the Internet's most popular and complex protocol: TCP. 35 MB 8.9 MB 83 KB 57 KB 109 KB

Listener Feedback #129 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 9 MB 110 KB 64 KB 124 KB

TCP Pt.2 - Attacking TCP After catching up with the week's news, Leo and I return this week to our “How the Internet Works” fundamentals series. We examine the operation of the various attacks that have been made through the years against the Internet's most popular and complex protocol: TCP. 41 MB 10 MB 84 KB 63 KB 116 KB

Listener Feedback #128 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 9 MB 86 KB 69 KB 123 KB

The Beauty of B.E.A.S.T. After catching up with the week's security news, Steve and Leo examine the implications of a recent Internet-wide exploit known as BEAST: Browser Exploits Against SSL/TLS. They share the process used by the discoverers of an exploit for this long-known vulnerability and consider its implications. 49 MB 12 MB 135 KB 84 KB 154 KB

Listener Feedback #127 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. 44 MB 11 MB 127 KB 78 KB 146 KB

Certificate Authority (CA) Trust - Time to Change it? After catching up with just a bit of the past week's news, Leo and I explore the most mature potential replacement for the Internet's existing (and failing) “trust model” which has always been based upon the unequivocal trust of Certificate Authorities. 36 MB 8.9 MB 87 KB 58 KB 111 KB

Listener Feedback #126 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 151 KB 94 KB 170 KB

TCP Part 1 – Getting Connected After catching up with a week of the amazing news of the security breach of the DigiNotar certificate authority, Steve and Leo continue their "How the Internet Works" series with the first of several episodes describing the operation of the Internet's most used protocol: TCP. 44 MB 11 MB 97 KB 68 KB 124 KB

Listener Feedback #125 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. 47 MB 12 MB 135 KB 84 KB 154 KB

Off The Grid After catching up with the week's news, I explain my goals, development process, and operation of the “Off The Grid” paper-based encryption system I developed for use in encrypting website domain names into matching secure website passwords. 40 MB 10 MB 168 KB 76 KB 149 KB

Listener Feedback #124 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 111 KB 72 KB 134 KB

How The Internet Works: ICMP & UDP After catching up with a busy week of security updates, and some miscellaneous fun security news, Tom & I return for the second installment of "How The Internet Works" with a look at the ICMP and UDP protocols. 49 MB 12 MB 89 KB 76 KB 130 KB

Listener Feedback #123 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 12 MB 95 KB 77 KB 133 KB

Anatomy of a Security Mistake This week, after catching up with a collection of interesting security events, Leo and I take a close look at a recently discovered security coding error, examining exactly how and why it occurred, to understand how easily these kinds of mistakes can be made... and how difficult it can be to EVER find them all. 32 MB 7.9 MB 82 KB 54 KB 105 KB

Listener Feedback #122 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 12 MB 154 KB 90 KB 164 KB

How the Internet Works, Part 1 This week, after catching up with our usual grab bag of Internet-related security and privacy news, including another Microsoft Patch Tuesday, Leo and I plow into the first of a series of forthcoming episodes, which will be spread out over time, describing the detailed technical operation of the ever-more-ubiquitous global Internet. 38 MB 9.4 MB 91 KB 62 KB 118 KB

Listener Feedback #121 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 12 MB 159 KB 92 KB 167 KB

The Future of Identity This week, after catching up on the week's security and privacy news, Steve and Leo take a look at the state of Identity Management in Cyberspace with the U.S. Government's publication of its NSTIC - National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. 36 MB 9.1 MB 111 KB 67 KB 126 KB

Listener Feedback #120 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 146 KB 82 KB 154 KB

Ghostery This week, after catching up on the week’s security and privacy news, Steve and Leo take a close look at “Ghostery,” a highly recommended, multi-OS, multi-browser extension that reveals all of the tracking bugs and cookies websites are hosting to track us, and optionally allows them to be blocked. 32 MB 8.0 MB 86 KB 56 KB 107 KB

Listener Feedback #119 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 119 KB 75 KB 140 KB

Password Haystacks Steve shares something of a revelation about the true nature of passwords and why “password entropy” really doesn't matter as much as has long been believed. He explains, therefore, how it's possible for passwords to be both memorable AND impossible to crack at the same time. 44 MB 11 MB 125 KB 76 KB 139 KB

Listener Feedback #118 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. 45 MB 11 MB 129 KB 82 KB 148 KB

Going Random, Part 2 of 2 After catching up with the week's security and privacy news, we conclude our two-part series discussing the need for, and applications of, random and pseudo-random numbers. We discuss the ways in which a computer, which cannot produce random numbers, can be programmed to do an extremely good job. 44 MB 11 MB 105 KB 70 KB 130 KB

Listener Feedback #117 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. 54 MB 14 MB 177 KB 94 KB 173 KB

Going Random, Part 1 of 2 This week's security news and events took up so much time that we didn't have time to cover the entire topic of “Randomness” in security and cryptography. So we split the topic into two parts. This first week we open the topic and explain the background, problem and need. Week after next we'll plow into the solutions. 44 MB 11 MB 122 KB 76 KB 139 KB

Listener Feedback #116 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. 49 MB 12 MB 157 KB 89 KB 164 KB

Pass-Sentences?? After catching up with a number of extra-interesting security news of the week, Steve and Leo explore the recently raised suggestion that using a three word "pass-sentence" such as “I like tomatoes” would be MORE secure (and far more memorable) than "J4f6<2". Short sentences are certainly easier to remember... but more secure? 43 MB 11 MB 117 KB 71 KB 134 KB

Listener Feedback #115 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. 49 MB 12 MB 177 KB 97 KB 180 KB

The Comodo SSL Breach After catching up with the past week's very busy security news, Leo and I closely examine the circumstances and repercussions surrounding the mid-March breach of the Comodo SSL certificate authority certificate signing system. 37 MB 9.2 MB 98 KB 58 KB 113 KB

Listener Feedback #114 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. 49 MB 12 MB 155 KB 90 KB 166 KB

IE9 After catching up with a great deal of security news and interesting computer industry miscellania, Steve shares everything he has recently learned from his extensive study into the new security and privacy features of IE9. 45 MB 11 MB 140 KB 78 KB 146 KB

Listener Feedback #113 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 159 KB 78 KB 151 KB

Stuxnet After catching up with a very busy week of software updates and wide-ranging security news, Steve & Leo discuss the revelations documented in Symantec's comprehensive “Stuxnet Dossier.” 43 MB 11 MB 109 KB 69 KB 130 KB

Listener Feedback #112 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. 45 MB 11 MB 125 KB 80 KB 147 KB

Proxied Surfing After catching up with the week's security updates and other security-related news, Leo and I discuss the many modes of operation of “Proxied Web Surfing” which are used to bypass firewalls and Internet filters, aid free speech, and alter the contents of web pages retrieved from the Internet. 48 MB 12 MB 120 KB 80 KB 144 KB

Listener Feedback #111 Tom Merritt 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. 44 MB 11 MB 88 KB 73 KB 128 KB

BitCoin CryptoCurrency This week, after catching up with a busy “Patch Tuesday,” Tom Merritt and I explore the fascinating crypto technology developed to create “BitCoin,” the Internet's decentralized peer-to-peer completely private online currency exchange system. 40 MB 9.9 MB 78 KB 63 KB 115 KB

Listener Feedback #110 Tom Merritt 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. 44 MB 11 MB 91 KB 75 KB 132 KB

Fuzzy Browsers After catching up with the week's security updates and news, Leo and I examine the use of “code fuzzing” to locate functional defects in the web browsers we use every day. Surprisingly, every browser in use today can be crashed with this technique. 32 MB 8.1 MB 74 KB 52 KB 100 KB

Listener Feedback #109 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 111 KB 68 KB 131 KB

Bluetooth Hacking After catching up with the week's security and privacy news, Leo and I complete our analysis of the Bluetooth security by examining the history and current status of Bluetooth hacking exploits. We conclude with a set of recommendations for minimizing the Bluetooth attack surface. 32 MB 7.9 MB 79 KB 52 KB 102 KB

Listener Feedback #108 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. 44 MB 11 MB 134 KB 82 KB 152 KB

• Current Podcast Page
• Security Now 2023
• Security Now 2022
• Security Now 2021
• Security Now 2020
• Security Now 2019
• Security Now 2018
• Security Now 2017
• Security Now 2016
• Security Now 2015
• Security Now 2014
• Security Now 2013
• Security Now 2012
• Security Now 2011
• Security Now 2010
• Security Now 2009
• Security Now 2008
• Security Now 2007
• Security Now 2006
• Security Now 2005

You can receive an eMail reminder whenever this page is updated with a new Security Now! episode. Click the "Monitor Changes" button to have the highly-regarded "Change Detection" web site monitor this page and send you a note when it changes. Monitor this page for changes:  (it's private by ChangeDetection) Security Now!, SpinRite Testimonials, and other Feedback: Please use GRC's Visitor & Listener FEEDBACK Page where you may easily submit any feedback for Security Now, SpinRite testimonials, suggestions for future Security Now topics or questions & comments for future Listener Feedback episodes. Thank you! https://www.grc.com/feedback

Gibson Research Corporation is owned and operated by Steve Gibson.  The contents of this page are Copyright (c) 2024 Gibson Research Corporation. SpinRite, ShieldsUP, NanoProbe, and any other indicated trademarks are registered trademarks of Gibson Research Corporation, Laguna Hills, CA, USA. GRC's web and customer privacy policy.