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.

Listener Feedback #180 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. 52 MB 13 MB 909 KB 156 KB 91 KB 166 KB

Listener Feedback #179 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. 53 MB 13 MB 2.8 MB 175 KB 99 KB 178 KB

“BULLRUN”: How the NSA breaks Internet encryption After catching up with the week's more interesting Security News and my Miscellany (such as NASA working on an FTL Warp Drive!) Leo & I take a closer look at “BULLRUN”, the NSA's code name for their encryption cracking initiative, to speculate upon just what the NSA might be doing... and capable of doing. 47 MB 12 MB 1.2 MB 119 KB 76 KB 140 KB

Coin, CryptoLocker, Patent Trolls & More Following another week overfilled with interesting security-related news, Steve and Leo spend an hour and a half diving deeply into an updated (and likely very close to correct) understanding of the COIN payment card, news on the CryptoLocker front, a close look at a patent troll case that has so far done the wrong way, and much more. 43 MB 11 MB 314 KB 109 KB 69 KB 129 KB

What Is RADIUS? After catching up on another whirlwind week of really interesting Internet security news, Leo and I provide a brief overview of “RADIUS” - the 22-year-old pervasive, but often unseen, protocol and system for providing wide area network user authentication and accounting. 51 MB 13 MB 142 KB 85 KB 156 KB

Listener Feedback #178 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 83 KB 154 KB

“Monkey” Was 26th! The past week was so jam-packed with so much fun and interesting security news that we had a hard time just fitting it all in. So this week's podcast is news, news, news! 50 MB 13 MB 167 KB 87 KB 163 KB

Listener Feedback #177 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 172 KB 88 KB 166 KB

A Newsy Week! So much happened during the past week that today's podcast will consist of a series of rather deep dives into the many interesting things we have to discuss. 45 MB 11 MB 146 KB 77 KB 147 KB

SQRL: Anti-Phishing & Revocation After following-up on a week chockful of interesting security news, Steve and Leo continue with their discussion of SQRL, the Secure QR code Login system, to discuss two recent innovations in the system that bring additional valuable features. 48 MB 12 MB 128 KB 79 KB 146 KB

SQRL and Q&A #176 Following up on last week's “SQRL - Secure QR Login” podcast, this week's Q&A focuses upon the many interesting questions my description of a new approach to secure website login sparked in the minds of the podcast's listeners. And, of course, we also catch up with the week's news. 51 MB 13 MB 188 KB 94 KB 175 KB

SQRL: Secure QR Login After catching up with the week's minimal security news, Tom and I take the wraps off of “SQRL” (pronounced “squirrel”), Steve's recent brainstorm to propose a truly practical replacement for always-troublesome website login usernames and passwords. 51 MB 13 MB 106 KB 86 KB 148 KB

Fingerprint Biometrics After catching up with the week's news, and following the news that Apple's new iPhone Touch ID system was spoofed within days of its release, Tom and I take a much closer look at the technology and application of Apple's Touch ID system, examining the reports of its early demise. 50 MB 12 MB 106 KB 84 KB 146 KB

Listener Feedback #175 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. 46 MB 12 MB 103 KB 84 KB 143 KB

The Perfect Accusation After covering this month's Patch Tuesday events and catching up with the past week's security news, Leo & I examine the week's most troubling and controversial revelations: the NSA's reported ability to crack much of the Internet's encrypted traffic. We explain how different the apparent reality is from the headlines, but why, also, this does form "The Perfect Accusation" to significantly strengthen all future cryptographic standards. 51 MB 13 MB 153 KB 89 KB 162 KB

Bitmessage After catching up with a lot of interesting security news, Leo and I examine the operation and technology of the new Bitmessage secure and anonymous Internet messaging system. 39 MB 10 MB 120 KB 68 KB 131 KB

Listener Feedback #174 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 167 KB 84 KB 160 KB

Considering PGP This week, Leo and I continue covering the consequences of the Snowden leaks and, with that in mind, we examine the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) system for securely encrypting eMail and attachments. 53 MB 13 MB 162 KB 90 KB 167 KB

Listener Feedback #173 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 166 KB 82 KB 160 KB

Black Hat 2013, Tor & More With last week's Las Vegas Black Hat 2013 and DEFCON conferences just completed, Leo and I examine the most significant and worrisome revelations to emerge from that annual convocation, and also discuss and dissect the week's top security news. 49 MB 12 MB 147 KB 79 KB 149 KB

Listener Feedback #172 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. 51 MB 13 MB 167 KB 90 KB 167 KB

Inflection Points This week we mix security news and updates with a discussion and analysis of the security industry's evolving reactions to the NSA/Snowden revelations. Leo and I examine several of the more significant news items and blogs relating to the issues of widespread Internet surveillance. Though it's not super technical, we believe you'll find it worth your time... and thought provoking. 48 MB 12 MB 155 KB 83 KB 157 KB

How Much Tinfoil? Though regularly scheduled to be a Q&A episode, Steve and Leo had SO MUCH to cover in the week's news that there was no time left for questions. We'll save those for episode #415 and this week enjoy a great discussion of the week's many events. We'll wrap up with a discussion of the wide range of "tinfoil" solutions available and their convenience versus security tradeoffs. 52 MB 13 MB 158 KB 91 KB 165 KB

SSL & Perfect Forward Secrecy After catching up with a bunch of interesting security news of the week and my Sci-Fi and SpinRite development updates, Leo and I explore the already existing SSL/TLS technology known as “Perfect Forward Secrecy,” which becomes useful in a world where encrypted traffic is being captured and archived. 46 MB 11 MB 135 KB 78 KB 144 KB

Listener Feedback #171 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 168 KB 92 KB 174 KB

Interesting & Useful Intel History After catching up with another post-PRISM week of security industry news, Leo and I wind up and release our propeller beanies for a deep dive into the early history of Intel processor memory management - which, it turns out, has direct application to Steve's current work on SpinRite v6.1. 52 MB 13 MB 153 KB 87 KB 157 KB

Listener Feedback #170 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 168 KB 85 KB 163 KB

The State of Surveillance (How the NSA's PRISM program works.) Leo and I remind our listeners that we just had another Microsoft Patch Tuesday. Then I detail and carefully lay down a solid foundation of theory of the operation of the NSA's PRISM program. This explains EVERYTHING about what the NSA is doing, and how. I even explain how and why the program got its name. Podcast Document Resources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 47 MB 12 MB 145 KB 87 KB 162 KB

Listener Feedback #169 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 178 KB 94 KB 175 KB

Chatting Off the Record With OTR After covering the week's security news, Leo and I examine an interesting security protocol known as “Off The Record”(OTR) which has been specifically designed to protect conversational privacy, both as it happens and also in the future. 39 MB 10 MB 106 KB 67 KB 125 KB

Listener Feedback #168 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 176 KB 89 KB 168 KB

How Facebook Monetizes After catching up with the past week's updates and security news, Iyaz and I share information presented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which describes how Facebook manages the privacy interactions with their third-party data warehouses and advertisers. 42 MB 10 MB 80 KB 69 KB 122 KB

Listener Feedback #167 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 156 KB 84 KB 160 KB

BitTorrent Sync After catching up with the week's security news, Leo and I examine everything that's currently known about the recently released “BitTorrent Sync” peer-to-peer file sharing and folder synchronizing application. (Everything seen so far looks 100% correct and VERY useful.) 42 MB 11 MB 135 KB 75 KB 142 KB

Listener Feedback #166 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 172 KB 88 KB 165 KB

VPN Solutions After catching up with a wild week of security events, Leo and I revisit a topic from the earliest episodes of the Security Now podcast: Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). This coincides with the introduction of a new sponsor on the TWIT network, proXPN, a VPN provider that truly looks like the right choice. 40 MB 10 MB 110 KB 65 KB 125 KB

Listener Feedback #165 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 182 KB 91 KB 172 KB

Distributed Hash Tables After catching up with a busy week in the security space, Leo and I cover an intriguing topic in fundamental distributed Internet technology, Distributed Hash Tables, which is the somewhat awkward name for distributed database technology. 50 MB 12 MB 147 KB 84 KB 155 KB

Listener Feedback #164 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. 55 MB 14 MB 192 KB 99 KB 185 KB

The Telnet-pocalypse This week was so chockful of things to discuss that we had no time to explore the fascinating technology and operation of Distributed Hash Tables. That discussion will be “tabled” for two weeks. This week, we look more closely into the somewhat troubling issues of SSL/TLS server security as revealed by SSLLabs.com, discuss the SWAT team arriving at Brian Krebs's home, examine the consequences of the revelation that 420 million routers are accepting trivial logins on their Telnet ports, and more! 43 MB 11 MB 148 KB 76 KB 144 KB

Listener Feedback #163 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 131 KB 76 KB 142 KB

Tor v2 with Hidden Services After catching up with this week's Java vulnerabilities and emergency updates, Leo and I examine the recent evolution of the public and free “Tor” Internet anonymizing network. We look at the network's updated operation and its new ability to offer “hidden services” in addition to hiding the identity and location of the services' users. 44 MB 11 MB 126 KB 75 KB 139 KB

Listener Feedback #162 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 83 KB 155 KB

The Internet Underworld We first converse with today's special guest, Brian Krebs, who for many years wrote for the Washington Post and is now publishing his own “Krebs on Security” blog. Our topic is “The Internet Underground.” After that, we catch up with a somewhat busy and interesting week in Internet security. 44 MB 11 MB 140 KB 83 KB 157 KB

Listener Feedback #161 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 167 KB 76 KB 151 KB

“Mega” Security Overview After covering “UPnP a week later” and catching up with some interesting security industry happenings, Leo and I take a look into the controversy surrounding the security (or lack thereof) of Kim Dotcom's new “Mega” cloud storage offering. 38 MB 9.5 MB 131 KB 68 KB 122 KB

Listener Feedback #160  &  UPnP Exposure Disaster Leo and I discuss the week's major security events—and the disastrous news of 81 million exposed vulnerable routers!—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 164 KB 79 KB 156 KB

Memory Hard Problems After catching up with a bunch of fun and interesting news of the week, Leo and I examine the future of anti-hacking password scrambling and storage with the introduction of “Memory Hard Problems,” which are provably highly resistant to massive hardware acceleration. 50 MB 12 MB 129 KB 81 KB 147 KB

Listener Feedback #159 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 133 KB 84 KB 154 KB

Disconnect WidgetJacking After catching up with a very busy week of interesting security news and events, Leo and I examine the growing privacy and security problems created by the ever more pervasive social widgets - Facebook's LIKE button, Google's +1, Twitter's Tweet!, and others - and they offer an easy-to-use free solution! 44 MB 11 MB 141 KB 76 KB 147 KB

Listener Feedback #158 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 126 KB 80 KB 145 KB

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