SN 1054: Bots in the Belfry - Cisco Promises Real Security Fixes!

Security Now (Audio)

Leo Laporte

Cyber Crime, Malware, Technology, Encryption, Steve Gibson, Security, Hacking, Twit, Spyware, Leo Laporte

4.6 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 184 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Cisco has finally admitted it's time for real change and is vowing to build "secure by default" gear after decades of criticism. Steve Gibson reacts to a rare moment when a tech giant actually gets security right—and what it means for everyone running critical infrastructure.

• Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters strikes (Salesforce) again.
• Cisco actually (no kidding) sees the light.
• Next week, Australia bans all underage social media.
• The EU Parliament moves to replace US computer tech.
• When to use Passwords, Passkeys or Yubikeys.
• Do unpowered SSDs lose their data.
• How about a "Joy of Coding" podcast.
• A Bitwarden Passkeys integration glitch.
• XSLT is sneaky. It's where you don't expect it.
• We know where last week's picture came from.
• The long-awaited return of a new Stargate series.
• A simple test to check our networks for any bot infections.

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1054-Notes.pdf

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now.

You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page.

For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's time for security now. Steve Gibson is here with some good news for Cisco users.
0:07.4	What's going to happen in Australia next week? Steve's a little concerned.
0:12.1	When to use passwords, when to use pass keys, when to use hardware keys, the return of Stargate,
0:19.3	and a simple test to check your network for bot infections.
0:24.8	All that more coming up next on security now.
0:30.4	Podcasts you love from people you trust.
0:34.8	This is Twitter.
0:40.7	This. This is Twit. This is Security Now with Steve Gibson, episode 154, recorded Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025.
0:49.5	Bots in the Belfrey.
0:51.9	It's time for security now, the show, we cover your security and privacy
0:56.4	and all that important stuff with the man of the hour, the man of every Tuesday's hour, Mr.
1:03.3	Steve Gibson. Hi, Steve. The man who spent two days getting this podcast ready for our
1:09.5	listeners. You work really hard.
1:11.4	I don't know if people realize they probably just assume, oh, you just show up and read
1:15.0	some stuff and talk.
1:16.4	No, you work really hard all weeks.
1:18.6	Well, and the amount of effort varies.
1:22.6	Sometimes there's just a lot of material that I can't provide any better than the original source.
1:32.5	Or I want to be very careful to exactly quote the original source, so I'm not doing a lot of
1:38.1	writing. This one was a writing heavy podcast. I had a lot of fun. It is also listener feedback heavy. I read
1:48.7	every single message that had been sent since the previous week's mailing. I often replied to a bunch,
1:58.6	but a lot of them are here in the podcast because they were shareworthy.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 10 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Leo Laporte, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Leo Laporte and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.