SN 1057: GhostPoster - Free VPNs, Hidden Risks
Security Now (Audio)
Leo Laporte
4.6 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2025
⏱️ 140 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What if your smart TV and Firefox extensions were secretly hijacking your security and privacy? This episode reveals the jaw-dropping discovery of a massive TV botnet and the surprisingly clever malware lurking behind innocent browser icons.
- North Korea's profitable fixation on cryptocurrency.
- Amazon uncovers a cryptomining sneaking into customer clouds.
- Insecure Docker API servers are also hosting cryptominers.
- A new and truly massive SmartTV-based botnet discovery.
- DNS Benchmark's 4th release.
- Who, besides Let's Encrypt, offers free automated certs.
- Some interesting listener feedback.
- And how a PNG Icon was used to infect 50,000 Firefox users
Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1057-Notes.pdf
Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's time for security now. Steve Gibson's here with our last episode of the year. |
| 0:03.9 | We're going to talk about North Korea, the billions of dollars they've made hacking us. |
| 0:09.4 | We'll talk about insecure Docker servers, maybe why you want to think a little bit harder |
| 0:14.6 | about before we're putting that Docker container up on the internet. |
| 0:19.2 | We'll also talk about let's encrypt, free automated |
| 0:22.9 | certs, the future of that, |
| 0:25.0 | and then how a ping icon |
| 0:26.5 | was used to infect 50,000 |
| 0:28.6 | Firefox users. Security now |
| 0:30.9 | is next. |
| 0:34.3 | Podcasts you love. |
| 0:36.1 | From people you trust. |
| 0:38.7 | This is Twitter. |
| 0:44.0 | This is Security Now with Steve Gibson, episode 157, recorded Tuesday, December 23rd, 2025. |
| 0:53.3 | Ghost poster. |
| 0:55.0 | It's time for security now! |
| 0:57.3 | The last show of 2025. |
| 0:59.7 | Hello, everybody. |
| 1:00.8 | I'm Leo Lipport, joining me now, the man in charge, the man, the myth, the legend. |
| 1:05.4 | Wait a minute, Steve Gibson. |
| 1:07.8 | You've got a Santa baseball cap on. |
| 1:10.9 | Yes, I do. |
... |
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