Longtime computer nerd. Blog on Defensive Computing and Router Security. Tweet less than once/day. Also go by @defensivecomputing at https://teapawt.net/t.co/znODLTm1FE
New Yawk
Joined March 2008
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Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
Yup, "people who matter".
It's the chronic problem since the beginning of cybersecurity is that government cybersecurity boards or who the NYTimes quotes on a cybersecurity story are "people who matter", like CEOs of big companies.
Meanwhile, low level techies who actually know stuff aren't people who matter.
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
VPN is still broken in iPadOS 27 and iOS 27 (beta 1). The device's real IP leaks during updating a VPN app while it is active. A website that periodically prints the IP was used to illustrate the leakage, Mullvad VPN used as an example👇
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
Pro tip: if a company says "we won't provide you with the keys" and "we are end-to-end encrypted" in the same breath, well... then they are not end-to-end encrypted.
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
A quick guide for Proton VPN supporters and for those impacted by the recent #VPN blocking in 🇵🇰 Pakistan.
Since December 22nd, Pakistan has followed countries like Russia, China, and Iran in blocking their citizens from using VPNs for uncensored access to X and other social media. But people are getting through. Here are some tips on how to use @ProtonVPN to circumvent these blocks.
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
🛑 Two Chrome extensions were caught intercepting browser traffic and stealing credentials from 170+ sites.
They pose as VPN tools, charge subscriptions, then silently proxy traffic and exfiltrate credentials in plaintext.
One has been active since 2017, the other since 2023.
🔗 Details → thehackernews.com/2025/12/tw…
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
Yeaa buddy #1 let's go! That's how it's done!!
@windscribe 🤝 @mullvadnet 🤝 @ivpnnet
The only 3 major VPNs that actually connect you to a physical server in the place you selected.
You would think that's standard - you choose a location, you get connected to a server in that location - but no. Some VPNs have up to 60% of their servers in countries different from the label. These are called virtual servers and most VPNs have at least some of these.
Instead of paying a bit of extra money to actually host physical servers in those places, they get servers in cheaper places and simply slap a sticker on their IPs with whatever country they want. And then make the claim that they have servers in SOOO many countries!!
Using this method, we could rent out 195 servers in a single US datacenter, label them each with a different country's IPs and claim we have servers in every country on the planet.
Sounds dumb, doesn't it? And yet that's how many VPNs operate some portion of their servers. It's just a way to boost numbers on their website for more sales.
So keep this in mind - you might see other VPNs with a bigger number of locations, but currently Windscribe has physical servers in the most countries. You connect to a location, and your connection actually goes to that country.
Thank you to @ipinfo for the objective write up with no affiliate links. ipinfo.io/blog/p/d38ecefd-82…
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
It appears Google is going full evil. We cannot update our browser extension.... because it has too many privacy features. @googledevs @ChromiumDev wtf?
This was a response to an appeal of an earlier rejection.
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
Regulation is not coming to save you.
Governments love that corporations spy on you.
Because then they can get the data without a warrant.
It’s the backdoor to the Fourth Amendment.
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
I cannot believe I risked my personal safety repeatedly for a country on the verge of voting itself into fascism. I don't regret my service - I just can't believe this is where we are. Legit speechless.
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
The workers in Mexico were working on coding, according to a person with knowledge of the company. The move was met with outrage among the Trump Media staff, who accused its leadership of betraying their “America First” ideals, the person said.
propublica.org/article/donal…
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
Are they trying to deflect blame? They're blaming Microsoft here. We know that certain events must be tapped into at the kernel level and responded to accordingly, but the whole signature matching process doesn’t need to happen there. It could reside in another component, limiting the kernel module to essential tasks only. (Kernel: event collection, responses, tamper protection; User: parsing, signature matching, AI/ML, etc.)
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
How to spot fake trend articles in the press: look for the weak third example. Two things happening simultaneously is a coincidence. Coincidences aren't news. So journalists stretch to find a third example, however weak, so they can call it a trend.
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
Is their release cycle so tight that they don't have time to push the update to some canaries before sending out to EVERYONE?
One issue that always exists in testing is it only approximates real life.
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
IMHO, the first mistake is allowing automatic unsupervised updates on your production system.
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
Several system administrators in charge of mission critical systems effectively gave root access to CrowdStrike.
Everyone of these administrators made a major mistake.
My impression is that a lot of so-called 'security experts' are in cargo cults. They are not thinking, they are following trends and adopting blindly tools and standards that they don't fully understand.
It makes no sense to have a vendor deploy a patch live on your critical servers all at once without any validation whatsoever on your part.
Defensive Computing - Michael Horowitz retweeted
BTW, one thing @George_Kurtz is going to have to do is hire an outside auditor. This doesn't replace whatever internal investigations they are going, and can wait a week or two to start. But it needs to be something that's wholly independent of the organizations that reports directly to the CEO or even to the board.
It's what a bank does when they lose a billion dollars.
It's what a news organization does when they commit a big journalistic failure.
It's what Congress does investigating the failures of the Secret Service post assassination attempt.
It's what a company does that caused the largest IT failure in history.
It's what ISS did after the Witty worm back 20 years ago. The CEO hired a bunch of outside tech experts to review all the code and engineering processes to make sure such a thing couldn't happen again.
Independence is necessary for customer confidence. They aren't going to quite believe the results of an internal investigation, but it'll be too tinged with defending their reputation than admitting failures (that need to be fixed).
But it's also necessary for internal confidence. The CEO and board can't trust their own internal investigation. To really address the problem they need somebody intent on finding the root cause nobody who they offend.
It's not a financial audit, but a technical one, by programmers, engineering managers, and security experts. George Kurtz is pretty technical, so I'm sure he can find some good people to do this.
