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Dave Buettner
You're listening to the Cyberwire network, powered by N2K. Hey everybody, Dave here. I want to talk about our sponsor, LegalZoom. You know I started my first business back in the early 90s and oh what I would have done to have been able to have the services of an organization like LegalZoom back then. Just getting all of those business ducks in a row. All of that technical stuff, the legal stuff, the registrations of the business, the taxes, all of those things that you need to go through when you're starting a business, the hard stuff, the stuff that sucks up your time when you just want to get that business launched and out there. Well, LegalZoom has everything you need to launch, run and protect your business all in one place and they save you from wasting hours making sense of all that legal stuff. Launch, run and protect your business. To make it Official today@legalzoom.com you can use promo code CYBERTEN to get 10% off any LegalZoom business information product, excluding subscriptions and renewals that expires at the end of this year. Get everything you need from set up to success@legalzoom.com and use promo code CYBERTEN. That's legalzoom.com and promo code CYBER10. Legalzoom provides access to independent attorneys and self service tools. Legalzoom is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice except where authorized through its subsidiary law firm, LZ Legal Services llc. Meta details its efforts against pig butchering the salt typhoon attack on major US telecoms sparks interest from Congress. Microsoft dismantles 240 domains linked to the Onyx phishing as a service platform. A major US gambling and lottery provider suffers a cyberattack. Hackers exploit newly patched zero days in Colorado network's firewalls. Researchers say Fortinet VPN servers lack sufficient logging. A pilot program looks to improve security for small US Water utilities. Bitdefender warns of scams using Black Friday themed spam emails. Our guest is Datadome's CEO and co Founder Benjamin Fabretto discussing how fake accounts threaten Black Friday gaming sales and a fond farewell for a true cyber innovator. It's Friday, November 22, 2024. I'm Dave Buettner and this is your Cyberwire Intel Briefing. Happy Friday and thanks for joining us here today. It is great as always to have you with us. Pig butchering scams have escalated into a global crisis with organized crime syndicates forcing trafficked individuals to run scams from compounds in Southeast Asia and the uae. Meta for the First Time has detailed its efforts to combat this activity. The company has worked with law enforcement and NGOs, taking down over 2 million accounts linked to scam operations this year. However, researchers criticize Meta for being slow to address its platform's role in enabling scams. The term pig butchering refers to scammers grooming victims through social media, messaging apps or dating platforms, persuading them to invest in fake opportunities. Victims have collectively lost around $75 billion. Meanwhile, trafficked individuals, many lured by fraudulent job ads, are held in compounds and forced to scam under threats of violence. Over 200,000 people from more than 60 countries have been subjected to this exploitation. Metta acknowledges that pig butchering is an evolving, well funded threat, with criminals leveraging tools like AI to evade detection. Scammers use AI to generate messages, create deepfakes and translate scripts to target victims globally. In one case, OpenAI flagged accounts using ChatGPT for scam activities, leading Meta to shut them down. While Meta has increased account takedowns and safety measures, the scale of scams persists. Researchers argue that tech companies must do more to proactively address scammers exploiting their platforms, as moderation often fails to catch deceptive content in time. Chinese hackers identified as Salt Typhoon executed a far reaching breach of US Telecommunications systems, exposing vulnerabilities and accessing sensitive communications, including those of political figures. The breach linked to Chinese intelligence, targeted systems used for lawful wiretapping and exploited outdated equipment across major carriers like AT&T Verizon and T Mobile. Hackers could monitor calls, read unencrypted texts and gather metadata, raising national security concerns. However, they couldn't access encrypted communications like imessage or signal. Senator Mark Warner described the breach as the most severe telecom hack in US History, exceeding the scale of solar winds or colonial pipeline incidents. The breach's full extent remains unclear, as investigators believe hackers may still be embedded in US Systems. Warner urged transparency and stronger cybersecurity standards to address critical vulnerabilities. The hack has reignited calls for reforming the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement act to mandate robust cybersecurity requirements. While the FCC has authority to enforce such standards, action has been delayed. Intelligence agencies are investigating potential exposure of sensitive surveillance systems, with officials warning of the significant risks posed by the intrusion. Microsoft has dismantled 240 domains linked to Onyx, a phishing as a Service platform, targeting Microsoft 365 and other tech companies since 2017. Known for high volume phishing campaigns, Onyx facilitated attacks using Do It Yourself kits sold on Telegram for $150 to $550 per month. The phishing kits included features like two factor authentication, bypass and targeted tech firms such as Google, Dropbox and Microsoft. Onyx attackers also employed advanced tactics like QR code phishing, which exploited victims mobile devices and evaded traditional detection methods. These campaigns targeted financial sector employees and used encrypted JavaScript to evade anti phishing scanners. Operations ceased in June of this year after researchers identified Onyx's owner, Abhinab Naidi. Through a court order, Microsoft redirected Onyx's infrastructure, cutting off access and deterring future attacks. This follows similar actions by Microsoft against Russian hackers and other cybercrime operations in recent years. International Game Technology igt, a major US Gambling and lottery provider, suffered a cyber attack causing significant disruptions. The company took systems offline as a precaution and is investigating while working to restore operations. It has implemented workarounds to continue servicing customers, but has not yet assessed financial impacts. IGT has over 11,000 employees and $1.9 billion in 2023 revenue, and they provide lottery, gambling, machine and sports betting technology. While no group has claimed responsibility, ransomware has increasingly targeted casinos and lotteries. Hackers have exploited two newly patched zero day vulnerabilities in Palo Alto Network's firewalls, compromising approximately 2,000 devices globally. The flaws include an authentication bypass and a privilege escalation, allowing attackers to gain administrator and root access. Paloto Networks has observed malware deployments and command execution via these exploits, though Palo Alto Networks acknowledges the flaw affecting a limited number of devices. Shadow Server has identified over 2700 vulnerable systems. CISA added these flaws to its known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, requiring federal agencies to patch firewalls by December 9th. A design flaw in Fortinet VPN servers allows attackers to verify credentials during brute force attacks without logging successful attempts. Concealing compromised logins Researchers from Pantera discovered that forticlient VPN logs only failed login attempts during the authentication stage, while successful logins are recorded in the subsequent authorization phase. By halting the process after authentication, attackers can validate credentials without detection. Though failed attempts alert admins to brute force activity, the lack of logs for successful logins poses a significant risk, enabling attackers to exploit credentials later. Fortinet has not classified this issue as a vulnerability, leaving it unclear if a fix will be implemented. The University of Chicago's Cyber Policy Initiative, defcon and the National Rural Water association have launched a pilot program called DEFCON Franklin to improve CyberSecurity for small US water utilities Six utilities across Utah, Vermont, Indiana and Oregon will partner with volunteer cybersecurity experts to assess and strengthen their defenses. This initiative addresses the vulnerabilities of 91% of U.S. community water systems, which serve fewer than 10,000 people and often lack resources for cybersecurity. Cyberattacks on water infrastructure are escalating, with incidents linked to Chinese, Iranian and Russian actors compromising critical systems. Defcon Franklin's tailored volunteer driven approach aims to provide scalable, cost effective solutions to safeguard the nation's water sector. This effort follows EPA warnings that 70% of US water systems fail to meet basic cybersecurity standards. Bitdefender warns that 77% of Black Friday themed spam emails in 2024 are scams, marking a 7% increase from 2023 and a 21% rise from 2022. These scams often aim to steal personal data, banking information or money through phishing emails, fake purchases or malware. Like banking Trojans, the US is the top target, receiving 38% of Black Friday spam, while Europe accounts for 44%, with Germany and France heavily affected. Scammers have tailored their tactics to various demographics, using fake brand impersonations and region specific offers. Examples include Trojan laden emails targeting Spanish tech enthusiasts, phishing campaigns advertising discounted Ray Ban sunglasses, and survey scams impersonating UK retailers like Tesco and Costco. To avoid scams, users should verify email sources. Avoid clicking unsolicited links, use security tools and approach surveys with caution. Coming up after the break, my conversation with Benjamin Fabretto from Datadome. We're discussing how fake accounts may threaten Black Friday gaming sales and a fond farewell for a true cyber innovator. Stay with us. And now a word from our sponsor knowbefore. It's all connected and we're not talking conspiracy theories when it comes to infosec tools, effective integrations can make or break your security stack. The same should be true for security awareness training. KnowBe4, provider of the world's largest library of security awareness training, provides a way to integrate your existing security stack tools to help you strengthen your organization's security culture. KnowBe4's security coach uses standard APIs to quickly and easily integrate with your existing security products from vendors like Microsoft, CrowdStrike and Cisco. 35 vendor integrations and counting Security Coach analyzes your security stack alerts to identify events related to any risky security behavior from your users. Use this information to set up real time coaching campaigns targeting risky users based on those events from your network, endpoint, identity or web security vendors. Then coach your users at the moment the risky behavior occurs with contextual security tips delivered via Microsoft Teams, Slack or email. Learn more@knowbefore.com SecurityCoach that's knowbe4.com SecurityCoach and we thank KnowBefore for sponsoring our show. Do you know the status of your compliance controls right now? Like right now? We know that real time visibility is critical for security, but when it comes to our GRC programs we rely on point in time checks. But get this, more than 8,000 companies like Atlassian and Quora have continuous visibility into their controls with Vanta. Here's the Vanta brings automation to evidence collection across 30 frameworks like SoC2 and ISO 27001. They also centralize key workflows like policies, access reviews and reporting and helps you get security questionnaires done five times faster with AI. Now that's a new way to GRC. Get $1,000 off Vanta when you go to vanta.com cyber that's vanta.com cyber for $1,000 off Benjamin Fabretto is CEO and co founder of Datadome. I recently caught up with him to discuss how fake accounts may threaten Black Friday gaming sales.
Benjamin Fabretto
So every year we see that Black Friday is a moment when our customers and the large retailers have a huge spike of traffic and that among this large increase of traffic a significant part of it is coming from bots and attackers. So this year we decided to have our threat research team to have a look and test the security of those large retailers in the us, in UK and in Europe to understand how much they are ready and they are properly protected against the evolution of those bot attacks.
Dave Buettner
Well, let's dig into your findings here. What did you discover?
Benjamin Fabretto
Yeah, so we tend to map the threats on the user journey for retailers. So everything on the login section with the account creation, the login attempt, then everything around the cart and finally the payments. That's the three area that we usually test and we want to protect. Our finding is that on the test we've done is that 30% of those websites have almost zero protection on the account creation section of the website. That means any basic bots can create thousands of accounts without any protection. And if we look at the sophisticated bots, we've discovered that 3/4 of those websites are not protected against the sophisticated threats like bots that can solve captcha or bots that can work around multifactor authentications. So that's the first learning and surprise for Us, considering the risk that Black Friday is creating for those websites.
Dave Buettner
And what about the other parts of an online experience here? What other things did you discover?
Benjamin Fabretto
Yeah, so after the account creation, the second risk is the lock in all the threats like account takeover, like credential staffing. And what we've seen is that 60% of those websites have even no captcha in place. Captcha is like the first security measure that some website can use. Even though it's not perfect, it's sort of the first layer of security and actually a significant part. And the majority of the websites don't have any captcha neither more sophisticated protection like bot protection is. And the second discovery around the login is that the fraud most of the time will involve to use disposable email, for instance. And we've seen that significant part of those website actually don't have any protection against all the techniques used by attackers to create disposable emails and then run attacks at scales on those websites. So that was surprising also, especially considering all the major attacks we've seen in 2024 with those very large scale credential stuffing and account takeover attacks.
Dave Buettner
And then what about checkout itself?
Benjamin Fabretto
Yeah, so the checkout also is a very sensitive area for multiple reasons. First, with the cart, we can see that attackers are trying to buy all the product that have some limited supply. So you know, every single year there is like the one product that everyone wants and that have a very limited supply. This year it's probably going to be the PS5 Pro. And what we saw is that significant part of Those websites, like 65% of the website don't have a real security in place to prevent the abuse. What we call the scalpers. So the bots that are trying to buy those products on the sensitive part and on the checkout, so the payment itself, it's also very interesting to see that the payment fraud which is going through the roof with all the bots that will try stolen credit card numbers on the checkout have also not been very accurately blocked during our testing. So on the 14 large retailers that we've tried, only three had a very strong security in place at the very late stage of the checkout. So a lot a significant gap here and we hope that those websites are going to increase their security measures.
Dave Buettner
Why do you suppose so many websites are coming up short here? Is this a matter of saving money or are they trying to reduce friction with the folks who are buying from them?
Benjamin Fabretto
Yeah, that's a very good question. And it's always a balance between security and user experience. What we've seen is that the friction that some of the security solution can provide, like the captcha with the painful red light and crosswalk, et cetera, that can generate some friction for the user experience. And that's the reason why now the state of the art is just trying to get rid of those painful captcha. And I think the second learning here is that the dangerous part of the race of AI that can be leveraged by attackers is not really, as we speak, properly assessed by those enterprises. We've seen that now we're using a Genai, for instance. It's very, very simple to create a sophisticated bot while just with a few clicks you can turn your laptop into a massive attacks to create millions of fake accounts and using some very legitimate content. Now it's almost impossible to distinguish what is legitimate or not just looking at the content because when you use ChatGPT or Genai tools, you can create some content that looks perfect.
Dave Buettner
We're coming up on Black Friday here when certainly many, many folks will be doing a lot of online shopping. Do you have any tips for the consumers themselves to protect themselves? Are there ways to if a website that they're shopping on is more secure than one of their competitors?
Benjamin Fabretto
Yeah, that's a good question. So of course the hard work is supposed to be done by the retailer themselves, but the consumers also have some power here. First, they can make sure that they are using unique password for every single website. So if one of those websites get compromised, you are sure that your credential won't be reused somewhere else. The second action that we always recommend is to use multifactor authentication. So to require for instance, some authentication token or sms, which is not the best one, but convenient, so you can make sure your credentials are safe. And usually you want to work with retailers and to shop on retailers that offer those mechanisms. How complex can be my password on this website? Can I turn on multifactor authentications? That's all the measures that you have to be to be able to do on those retailers.
Dave Buettner
That's Benjamin Fabretto from Datadome. And now a word from our sponsor, NordPass. NordPass is an advanced password manager from the team behind NordVPN, designed to help keep your business safe from data leaks and cyber threats. It gives your IT professionals control over who has access to your company's data and makes it easy for everyone else on your team to use strong passwords. Right now you can go to www.nordpass.com cyberwire for 35% off the NordPass business yearly plan. Don't miss out on that. And finally, an appreciation for Thomas E. Kurtz, a visionary mathematician who transformed the world of computing with his co invention of basic, the beginner's all purpose symbolic instruction code. Dr. Kurtz, who recently passed away at 96, sought to make computers accessible to students beyond math and engineering alongside his colleague John Kemeny. In the early 1960s, when computers were vast and esoteric, they pioneered the Dartmouth timesharing system, enabling multiple users to access a single machine simultaneously. BASIC occupies a unique and often underappreciated place in the history of computing. While modern programmers may look down on it as simplistic or outdated, BASIC was revolutionary in its time, democratizing access to programming and sparking a passion for coding and countless beginners. Its straightforward commands run, print, stop invited curiosity and creativity, making the complex world of computing approachable for students, hobbyists and future tech leaders like Bill Gates. Basic's simplicity was its strength. It removed barriers, proving that programming didn't have to be intimidating. Though today's sophisticated languages power cutting edge applications, BASIC's legacy is profound. It opened the door to personal computing and laid the foundation for generations of innovation, reminding us that accessibility often drives the greatest breakthroughs. Dr. Kurtz's vision extended beyond technology. He believed in empowering everyday individuals with tools for exploration and creativity. His legacy lives on in modern programming, education and technologies like cloud computing. His contributions remain foundational, ensuring computing is not just for the few, but for everyone. For me personally, I can honestly say I would probably not be doing what I do today professionally were it not for having crossed paths with those early 8 bit computers and the creativity they sparked in me as a young teen. So thank you Dr. Kurtz, and warm condolences for all who knew and loved him. And that's the CyberWire. For links to all of today's stories, check out our daily briefing@the cyberwire.com Be sure to check out this weekend's Research Saturday and my conversation with Amid Luttwat, co founder and CTO of wiz. We're sharing their work. Wiz research finds critical Nvidia AI vulnerability affecting containers using Nvidia GPUs including over 35% of cloud environments. That's Research Saturday. Check it out. We'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing world of cybersecurity. If you like our show, please share a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Please also fill out the survey in the show notes or send an email to cyberwiren2k.com we're privileged that N2K Cyberwire is part of the daily routine of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector. From the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies, N2K makes it easy for companies to optimize your biggest investment your people. We make you smarter about your teams while making your team smarter. Learn how@n2k.com this episode was produced by Liz Stokes. Our mixer is Trey Hester with original music and sound design by Elliot Heltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Iban. Our executive editor is Brandon Karp. Simone Petrella is our president, Peter Kilpie is our publisher and I'm Dave Buettner. Thanks for listening. We'll see you back here next week. The IT world used to be simpler. You only had to secure and manage environments that you controlled. Then came new technologies and new ways to work. Now employees, apps and networks are everywhere. This means poor visibility, security gaps and added risk. That's why Cloudflare created the first ever connectivity cloud. Visit cloudflare. Com to protect your business Everywhere you do business.
CyberWire Daily: "A not so BASIC Farewell" – Episode Summary
Release Date: November 22, 2024
Host: Dave Buettner
Guest: Benjamin Fabretto, CEO and Co-Founder of Datadome
The episode delves into the escalating crisis of pig butchering scams, where organized crime syndicates coerce trafficked individuals into running extensive scam operations from Southeast Asia and the UAE. These scams involve grooming victims through social media and messaging platforms to invest in fraudulent opportunities, resulting in collective losses of approximately $75 billion globally.
Meta's Response: Meta has publicly detailed its efforts to combat these scams, collaborating with law enforcement and NGOs to dismantle over 2 million accounts linked to such operations this year. Despite these efforts, researchers criticize Meta for the slow pace in addressing the platform’s role in enabling these scams.
“Pig butchering is an evolving, well-funded threat, with criminals leveraging tools like AI to evade detection.” (00:54)
Operational Tactics: Criminals employ AI to generate convincing messages, create deepfakes, and translate scripts, targeting victims worldwide. An instance highlighted Meta’s intervention when OpenAI flagged accounts using ChatGPT for scam activities, leading to their shutdown.
Researcher's Perspective: Researchers argue that proactive measures by tech companies are insufficient, as moderation often fails to intercept deceptive content promptly.
Chinese hacker group Salt Typhoon orchestrated a significant breach targeting major US telecommunications systems, including giants like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. This intrusion exposed vulnerabilities, allowing hackers to access sensitive communications of political figures and exploit outdated equipment.
Impact and Concerns: The breach enabled monitoring of calls, reading unencrypted texts, and gathering metadata, though encrypted communications via platforms like iMessage and Signal remained secure. Senator Mark Warner labeled this incident as "the most severe telecom hack in US History," surpassing previous breaches like SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline.
“Senator Mark Warner described the breach as the most severe telecom hack in US History, exceeding the scale of solar winds or colonial pipeline incidents.” (04:12)
National Security Implications: The infiltration raises significant national security concerns, with ongoing investigations suggesting that the hackers may still have access to US systems. Warner called for increased transparency and strengthened cybersecurity standards to mitigate such vulnerabilities.
Microsoft successfully took down 240 domains associated with Onyx, a phishing-as-a-service platform known for high-volume phishing campaigns targeting companies like Microsoft 365, Google, and Dropbox since 2017. Onyx provided DIY phishing kits sold on Telegram, facilitating sophisticated attacks with features like two-factor authentication bypass and QR code phishing.
Operational Disruption: The shutdown followed the identification of Onyx’s owner, Abhinab Naidi, culminating in a court order that redirected Onyx’s infrastructure, effectively halting its operations. This move aligns with Microsoft's ongoing efforts to combat cybercrime, including previous actions against Russian hackers.
“By dismantling Onyx, Microsoft has cut off access and deterred future attacks.” (05:30)
International Game Technology, a prominent US gambling and lottery provider, experienced a cyberattack that disrupted its systems. IGT promptly took their systems offline as a precautionary measure and is currently investigating the incident while working to restore operations. The financial impact remains unassessed, but the disruption underscores the vulnerability of the gambling and lottery sector to ransomware attacks.
“IGT has over 11,000 employees and $1.9 billion in 2023 revenue, and they provide lottery, gambling, machine and sports betting technology.” (06:15)
Hackers exploited two newly patched zero-day vulnerabilities in Palo Alto Networks' firewalls, affecting approximately 2,000 devices globally. These flaws allowed attackers to perform authentication bypasses and privilege escalations, granting them administrator and root access.
Response and Mitigation: Palo Alto Networks acknowledged the limited scope of the affected devices and observed malware deployments exploiting these vulnerabilities. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has included these flaws in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, mandating federal agencies to apply patches by December 9th.
Researchers from Pantera identified a design flaw in Fortinet VPN servers that permits attackers to verify credentials during brute force attacks without logging successful attempts. While failed logins trigger alerts, successful authentications remain undocumented, allowing attackers to exploit compromised credentials undetected.
“Concealing compromised logins poses a significant risk, enabling attackers to exploit credentials later.” (07:40)
Fortinet has not classified this issue as a vulnerability, leaving the timeline for a potential fix uncertain.
A collaborative pilot program named DEFCON Franklin, initiated by the University of Chicago's Cyber Policy Initiative, DEFCON, and the National Rural Water Association, aims to bolster cybersecurity for small US water utilities. Covering six utilities across Utah, Vermont, Indiana, and Oregon, the program pairs these entities with volunteer cybersecurity experts to evaluate and strengthen their defenses.
Addressing Vulnerabilities: The initiative targets the 91% of US community water systems serving fewer than 10,000 people, which often lack adequate cybersecurity resources. With rising cyberattacks on water infrastructure from Chinese, Iranian, and Russian actors, DEFCON Franklin offers scalable, cost-effective solutions to protect the nation's critical water sector.
Bitdefender has issued warnings about a surge in Black Friday-themed spam emails, with 77% of such emails in 2024 identified as scams—a 7% increase from 2023 and a 21% rise from 2022. These scams aim to steal personal data, banking information, or finances through phishing emails, fake purchases, and malware.
Geographical Impact: The United States remains the top target, accounting for 38% of Black Friday spam, while Europe comprises 44%, with Germany and France being significantly affected. Scammers employ tactics like fake brand impersonations and region-specific offers, enhancing their deceptive strategies.
“77% of Black Friday themed spam emails in 2024 are scams, marking a 7% increase from 2023.” (08:55)
Prevention Tips: Bitdefender advises consumers to verify email sources, avoid clicking unsolicited links, utilize security tools, and approach surveys with caution to mitigate the risk of falling victim to these scams.
Overview of the Issue: Benjamin Fabretto discusses the impact of fake accounts on Black Friday gaming sales, emphasizing how increased traffic during this period attracts bots and attackers. Datadome's threat research team tested large retailers across the US, UK, and Europe to assess their protection against evolving bot attacks.
“This year we decided to have our threat research team to have a look and test the security of those large retailers...” (16:08)
Key Findings:
Account Creation Vulnerabilities:
“30% of those websites have almost zero protection on the account creation section of the website.” (16:51)
Sophisticated Bot Threats:
“3/4 of those websites are not protected against the sophisticated threats like bots that can solve captcha...” (17:00)
Login and Credential Stuffing:
“60% of those websites have even no captcha in place.” (18:14)
Checkout Process Weaknesses:
“Only three had a very strong security in place at the very late stage of the checkout.” (19:39)
Consumer Protection Tips: Fabretto advises consumers to use unique passwords for each website, enable multi-factor authentication, and choose retailers that offer these security measures to safeguard their accounts.
“Consumers can make sure that they are using unique password for every single website... and use multifactor authentication.” (23:05)
Balancing Security and User Experience: Fabretto highlights the challenge retailers face in balancing security measures with user experience, noting that overly intrusive security can drive customers away, leading to inadequate protection implementations.
“The friction that some of the security solution can provide... can generate some friction for the user experience.” (21:19)
The episode concludes with an homage to Thomas E. Kurtz, a visionary mathematician who, along with John Kemeny, co-invented the BASIC programming language. Kurtz's contributions democratized access to computing, making it accessible to students beyond the realms of math and engineering.
Legacy and Impact: BASIC's simplicity facilitated the spread of personal computing and ignited a passion for coding among countless individuals, including future tech leaders like Bill Gates. Kurtz's vision extended beyond technology, emphasizing empowerment and creativity for everyday individuals. His legacy persists in modern programming, education, and technologies such as cloud computing.
“Basic's simplicity was its strength. It removed barriers, proving that programming didn't have to be intimidating.” (24:12)
Kurtz’s passing at the age of 96 marks the end of an era, but his foundational contributions continue to influence the computing landscape, ensuring that technology remains accessible and inclusive.
In "A not so BASIC farewell," CyberWire Daily explores a spectrum of critical cybersecurity issues, from sophisticated scams and nation-state attacks to vulnerabilities in essential infrastructure and the ever-evolving tactics of cybercriminals. The episode underscores the importance of proactive security measures, collaboration between industry leaders and researchers, and the enduring legacy of pioneers like Thomas E. Kurtz in shaping a more secure and inclusive digital future.