Balancing budget cuts and cybersecurity.

Summary

CyberWire Daily: Balancing Budget Cuts and Cybersecurity
Release Date: March 14, 2025
Host: Dave Bittner, N2K Networks

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Introduction

In this episode of CyberWire Daily, host Dave Bittner delves into the critical issue of balancing budget cuts with maintaining robust cybersecurity defenses. The episode covers urgent appeals from the White House, significant developments in cybersecurity policies, vulnerabilities identified by major tech companies, and a heartfelt transition within the CyberWire team.

1. White House Urges Preservation of Cybersecurity Teams

At the forefront of today's discussion is the White House's urgent appeal to federal agencies to refrain from laying off cybersecurity personnel amidst ongoing budget cut proposals.

• Key Points:
  • US Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia emphasized that "cybersecurity is national security and should be protected" (02:35).
  • Concerns are mounting that budget reductions, influenced by directives from President Trump and adviser Elon Musk, may undermine national cyber defenses.
  • Rob Joyce, former NSA cybersecurity director, warned that "mass layoffs would be devastating" for national security (03:10).
  • The Department of Homeland Security's CISA has already shed over 130 positions by mid-February 2025, exacerbating the strain on cybersecurity infrastructure.

2. Elon Musk's Influence on the NSA and Cyber Operations

Elon Musk's push for government downsizing has put the NSA, a cornerstone of US cybersecurity and host to Cyber Command, under intense scrutiny.

• Key Points:
  • Musk's Visit to NSA: On 02:50, it was reported that Musk met with NSA leadership to discuss staff cuts and operational changes.
  • Musk advocates for an NSA overhaul, though specific reforms remain undisclosed, leaving intelligence officials on edge about potential shifts in cyber operations (04:05).

3. UK Government's Secret Legal Orders and Tech Company Responses

Privacy and data security took center stage with revelations about the UK government's secret legal orders to tech giants.

• Key Points:
  • Google's Position: The company has refused to deny receiving a secret legal order from the UK, raising alarms among US lawmakers (05:20).
  • A bipartisan group in Congress expressed concerns that British authorities might be demanding access to encrypted communications from US-based tech firms, similar to Apple's contested Technical Capability Notice (06:00).
  • The lack of transparency under the UK's Investigatory Powers Act has sparked debates about the balance between national security and individual privacy (07:15).

4. Microsoft Identifies AI Guardrail Vulnerabilities

Microsoft researchers unveiled a method to bypass AI safety mechanisms, posing significant risks to AI system integrity.

• Key Points:
  • Context Compliance Attack (CCA): Identified as a straightforward method to manipulate AI by injecting fabricated conversation history, misleading systems like GPT, Claude, Llama, and Gemini into processing restricted content (08:10).
  • This vulnerability is particularly concerning for open-source models, which lack verification of message authenticity.
  • Microsoft's Mitigation Strategies: The company recommends using cryptographic signatures and server-side conversation management to counteract such attacks (09:00).

5. Surge in Ransomware Impersonation Scams

Barracuda researchers highlighted the rise of scammers imitating the Clop ransomware gang, targeting businesses with fraudulent extortion attempts.

• Key Points:
  • Differences from Genuine Attacks: Fake Clop emails miss critical elements like payment deadlines and secure communication channels, aiming to deceive victims by referencing real Clop breaches (10:05).
  • Similar tactics have been observed with impersonations of other ransomware groups like Bean Lian, underscoring the need for heightened vigilance (11:00).

6. Cisco and CISA Address Critical Vulnerabilities

Significant vulnerabilities in Cisco's iOS XR and various Industrial Control Systems (ICS) have been disclosed, prompting immediate action from affected organizations.

• Key Points:
  • Cisco's Advisories: Multiple iOS XR vulnerabilities, including a critical BGP confederation memory corruption flaw with a CVSS score of 8.6, allow remote denial-of-service attacks (12:15).
  • CISA's ICS Warnings: Vulnerabilities in Siemens, Philips, and Sungrow products present risks of remote code execution, data exposure, and denial-of-service attacks across sectors like manufacturing, energy, and healthcare (13:00).
  • Organizations are urged to apply patches or implement mitigation strategies immediately to prevent potential disruptions (13:45).

7. Extradition of LockBit Ransomware Developer

The US Justice Department announced the extradition of Rostislav Paniev, a key developer for the LockBit ransomware group, signaling a significant law enforcement victory.

• Key Points:
  • Paniev's Crimes: Admitted to developing malware that disables security software, spreads infections, and orchestrates ransom notes, contributing to LockBit's $500 million extortion from over 2,500 victims worldwide (14:10).
  • The US has charged seven individuals from the group, offering rewards of up to $10 million for fugitives involved in similar cybercrimes (14:50).

8. Call for Enhanced Cybersecurity Collaboration

Sir Jeremy Fleming, former director of GCHQ, emphasized the necessity for stronger collaboration in the face of escalating geopolitical tensions and cyber threats.

• Key Points:
  • Nature of Threats: Increasing sophistication of nation-state cyber attacks, ransomware, disinformation campaigns, and critical infrastructure breaches demand a unified response (15:20).
  • Strategic Integration: Organizations must incorporate geopolitical intelligence with cyber threat analysis and bolster information sharing across the industry (16:00).
  • Fleming stressed that "no single company can combat threats alone," advocating for faster and broader collaborative efforts to preempt and mitigate cyber activities before escalation (17:00).

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Discussion: Transition in CyberWire's CISO Perspectives Podcast

One of the standout segments in this episode revolves around a significant transition within the CyberWire team. Long-time contributors Rick Howard and Kim Jones announced their departure from the CISO Perspectives podcast, ushering in exciting changes for the show's future.

• Key Highlights:
  • Farewell to Rick Howard: Rick Howard shared his decision to retire from the podcast, expressing mixed emotions about leaving a role he held for nearly five years (13:49).
    • Rick Howard: "You have made the very smart decision to take yourself out to pasture, retire." (13:56)
  • Introduction of Kim Jones: Kim Jones stepped in as Rick's replacement, bringing a wealth of experience from military intelligence, academia, and corporate cybersecurity.
    • Kim Jones: "I want to continue the strategic and holistic approach Rick brought to the podcast, especially focusing on the cyber talent ecosystem and making cybersecurity more accessible and sustainable." (20:04)
    • She highlighted her commitment to addressing the fragmentation in cybersecurity career paths and fostering a meritocratic environment within the industry.
  • Future Vision: Kim aims to delve deeper into strategic cybersecurity issues, leveraging her background to enhance discussions and provide actionable insights for the audience (21:30).

Conclusion

This episode of CyberWire Daily underscores the intricate balance between managing budget constraints and sustaining effective cybersecurity measures. With high-stakes discussions ranging from governmental budget appeals to the intricacies of AI safety and ransomware threats, the episode provides a comprehensive overview of the current cybersecurity landscape. Additionally, the heartfelt transition within the CyberWire team marks a significant moment, promising fresh perspectives and continued excellence in delivering vital cybersecurity insights.

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Notable Quotes

• Greg Barbaccia, US Federal CIO: "Cybersecurity is national security and should be protected." (02:35)
• Rob Joyce, Former NSA Cybersecurity Director: "Mass layoffs would be devastating." (03:10)
• Kim Jones: "We need to make cybersecurity a meritocracy that's accessible, attainable, and self-sustaining." (21:00)
• Sir Jeremy Fleming, Former GCHQ Director: "No single company can combat threats alone." (17:00)

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For more detailed insights and continuous updates, subscribe to CyberWire Daily and stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity.

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Timestamps:

• 02:35 White House Urges Preservation of Cybersecurity Teams
• 02:50 Elon Musk's Influence on NSA
• 05:20 UK Government's Secret Legal Orders
• 08:10 Microsoft's AI Guardrail Vulnerabilities
• 10:05 Ransomware Impersonation Scams
• 12:15 Cisco's Critical Vulnerabilities
• 14:10 Extradition of LockBit Developer
• 15:20 Enhanced Cybersecurity Collaboration
• 20:04 Introduction of Kim Jones
• 21:00 Kim Jones on Cyber Talent Ecosystem
• 23:58 Farewell and Future Directions

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This summary was generated based on the transcript provided and aims to capture the essence of the episode for those who haven't listened.

Transcript

[Dave Bittner]

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[Dave Bittner]

The White House is urging federal agencies not not to lay off cybersecurity teams. Google doesn't deny receiving a secret legal order from the UK government. Microsoft researchers identify a simple method to bypass AI safety guardrails. Scammers are impersonating the Clop ransomware gang. Cisco issues security advisories for multiple iOS XR vulnerabilities. CISO warns of multiple ICS security issues. A lock bit ransomware developer has been extradited to the U.S. gCHQ's former director calls for stronger cybersecurity collaboration. Rick Howard and Kim Jones pass the mic for the CISO Perspectives podcast and Sniffing out stingrays. It's Friday, March 14th, 2025. I'm Dave Bittner and this is your Cyberwire Intel Brief. We begin today with a quick correction. Earlier this week we reported on a security advisory from CISA highlighting vulnerabilities from Avanti and Veracor. I misspoke tagging Vera code in our reporting instead of Veracort. We regret the error and appreciate the kind note from the fine folks at Veracode bringing it to our attention. Turning to today's news, the White House is urging federal agencies not to lay off cybersecurity teams as they submit budget cut plans. US federal CIO Greg Barbaccia emphasized in an email that cybersecurity is national security and should be protected. The warning comes amid concerns that deep budget cuts mandated by President Trump and adviser Elon Musk could weaken national cyber defenses. Former NSA cybersecurity director Rob Joyce warned that mass layoffs would be devastating. The Musk led Department of Government Efficiency has also drawn criticism for granting unusually broad access to sensitive government data. At the Social Security Administration officials raised alarms about the security risks posed by Doge. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security's CISA has already lost over 130 positions as of mid February. Elon Musk reportedly visited the NSA on Wednesday, meeting with leadership to discuss staff cuts and operations. The nsa, a key player in US cybersecurity and home to Cyber Command, is under Musk's scrutiny as he pushes for government downsizing. His visit signals potential changes to intelligence and cyber operations. While Musk recently called for an NSA overhaul, he hasn't detailed specific reforms. Intelligence officials are bracing for swift changes that could impact national cybersecurity. Google has refused to deny receiving a secret legal order from the UK government, raising concerns among US lawmakers. A bipartisan group in Congress fears that British authorities may be demanding access to encrypted messages from US tech companies. This follows reports that Apple received a similar order known as a technical capability notice, which it is reportedly contesting in a closed court hearing. Lawmakers criticize the secrecy surrounding these orders, arguing it hinders congressional oversight and threatens Americans Privacy. Under the UK's Investigatory Powers act, companies that receive a technical capability notice are barred from confirming it. Experts, including from Britain's intelligence community, have called for more transparency, with academics warning that the government's refusal to clarify the situation is unsustainable and unjustifiable. Microsoft researchers have identified a simple yet effective method to bypass AI safety guardrails called the Context Compliance Attack, or cca. Unlike complex prompt engineering techniques, CCA manipulates AI systems by injecting fabricated conversation history, making them perceive restricted content as a legitimate follow up request. This vulnerability affects major AI models including GPT, Claude Llama and Gemini, highlighting a fundamental flaw in systems that rely on client supplied chat history. Open source models are especially vulnerable as they cannot verify message authenticity. While stateless architectures improve scalability, they also allow attackers to manipulate context. Microsoft suggests mitigating this risk through cryptographic signatures and server side conversation. Tracking the attack's effectiveness underscores the need for a more comprehensive AI security strategy beyond traditional input filtering. Microsoft has made CCA available for research via its Pirate Toolkit. Barracuda researchers warn that scammers are impersonating the CLOP ransomware gang to extort businesses. Unlike real CLOP attacks, fake extortion emails lack key elements like payment deadlines, secure chat links and company names. These scams reference media reports about actual CLOP breaches to seem legitimate. Similar fraud tactics have been seen with Bean Lian ransomware impersonations. Cisco has issued security advisories for multiple iOS XR vulnerabilities highlighting a critical BGP confederation memory corruption flaw. With a CVSS score of 8.6. The bug allows remote attackers to cause denial of service by sending crafted BGP updates containing excessively long as Confed sequence attributes. This impacts multiple versions. Cisco has released patched versions and provided a workaround for restricting as path lengths. While no known exploits exist, organizations should update immediately or implement mitigation policies to prevent potential network wide disruptions. CISA has issued multiple ICS security advisories warning of critical vulnerabilities in Siemens, Philips and Sungrow products. These flaws affecting industrial control systems, include memory corruption, authentication, bypass privilege escalation and unauthorized file access. Key risks include remote code execution, data exposure and denial of service attacks across manufacturing, energy and healthcare sectors. CISA urges immediate updates, network segmentation and access restrictions to mitigate threats the US Justice Department announced the extradition of Rostislav Paniev, a Lockbit ransomware developer from Israel to the United States. Paniev, a Russian Israeli national, admitted to developing malware features that disable security software, spread infections and printed ransom notes. He worked for Lockbit from 2022 to 2024, earning over $230,000 in cryptocurrency. Lockbit, which extorted $500 million from over 2,500 victims worldwide, suffered a law enforcement takedown in 2024. The US has charged seven individuals offering rewards of up to $10 million for fugitives. Sir Jeremy Fleming, former GCHQ director, warns that geopolitical tensions and cyber threats are at an all time high, requiring stronger cybersecurity collaboration. Speaking at Palo Alto Network's Ignite event in London, he stressed the growing impact of nation state cyber attacks, ransomware and disinformation campaigns. Critical infrastructure attacks, mega breaches and covert cyber intrusions are increasing, with ransomware remaining the top cybercrime threat. While basic cybersecurity measures help against most threats, nation state attacks are harder to prevent. Fleming urged organizations to integrate geopolitical intelligence with cyber threat analysis and enhance cyber information sharing across the industry. He emphasized that no single company can combat threats alone, advocating for faster, broader collaboration to detect nation state cyber activity before it escalates. Coming up after the break, Rick Howard and Kim Jones pass the mic for the CISO Perspectives podcast and sniffing out Stingrays. Stick around.

[Rick Howard]

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[Dave Bittner]

Back to the show Rick Howard. Rick, welcome back. Hey Dave, I have to admit today's a little bittersweet because part of what.

[Rick Howard]

We'Re doing today is sending you on your way.

[Dave Bittner]

You have made the very smart decision.

[Rick Howard]

To.

[Dave Bittner]

Take yourself out to pasture, retire.

[Kim Jones]

Before somebody does it.

[Unknown]

For me, that's a good thanks.

[Rick Howard]

I think a preemptive move on your.

[Dave Bittner]

Part, Rick, which is very smart. But one of the things that I know our listeners are gonna be bummed about is you will no longer be making CSO perspectives.

[Kim Jones]

It is very sad that I don't get to do that, Dave. And you know, I've had the great honor and privilege of being able to work on that show for almost five years and it feels like it's another limb on my body. And to let it go is, like you said, bittersweet. But, yeah, that's where we are. I'm leaving the show and turning it over to better hands.

[Rick Howard]

Well, speaking of better hands, joining us on the line here is Kim Jones.

[Dave Bittner]

Rick, I'm going to let you do the introductions here.

[Kim Jones]

Sure. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to, to my new friend, Kim Jones. And you know, when we started looking around for my replacement, you know, my big ego said, there's no way that they can find someone who can replace me. Come on.

[Dave Bittner]

And the rest of us said, how hard could it be? So true.

[Kim Jones]

And immediately they found my replacement, like, you know, in a minute. Right. And what's amazing to me is Kim has had almost the same experiences that I've had military career, teacher, educator, serial ciso. And so, yes, we're having a better person come in and take my place on CSO perspective.

[Unknown]

So I won't go that far, but.

[Kim Jones]

Well, thank you for doing this. It's going to be in good hands. As I go out the door.

[Unknown]

I can't tell you how excited I am, Rick, not to see you go out the door, but I'm excited.

[Kim Jones]

Wait, you can't take that back.

[Dave Bittner]

That's the rest of us. Yeah, yeah. Well, Kim, tell us a little bit about yourself. Give us the short version of what.

[Rick Howard]

Your background is and what led you.

[Dave Bittner]

To where you are today.

[Unknown]

Oh, sure. So let's see. As Rick mentioned, I cut my teeth in the military. I spent 10 years as a military intelligence officer. The dirty little secret is that Rick and I both went to the same finishing school for the military just a.

[Kim Jones]

Few years apart, where I learned to dance.

[Unknown]

Absolutely.

[Rick Howard]

Learn how to fold napkins and stuff.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Bounce quarters off of beds. Yes, yes. We both went to west point. I spent 11 years in. I was army intel as opposed to signal like Rick got out in the late 90s, 1998 in the D.C. area and went to work as a consultant for various firms. 2003, I took my first in house job as CISO. And I was a converged CISO. I had to tell people I ran the guns and the geeks for a financial. For a financial services firm, credit card processing firm. My first civilian boss in that role, a wonderful human being named Clyde Thomas, has in later years dubbed me as a smoke jumping ciso. I'm the guy who you have let go the first ciso and the second one is gone, running away kicking and screaming after three months. So I'm the guy who gets to jump in and try and fix things. And I did that for various firms for about a dozen years. I left corporate for what I thought was the last time in 2018 and went into academia and built a cyber degree program for Arizona State University trying to merge both halves of the cyber problem. Stop me if you've heard this before, Rick. We either get great geeks who have a hard time communicating and are terrible at governance and compliance, or we get great governance and risk and compliance folks who don't know the tech and have a terrible time communicating. And did I mention they all have a terrible time communicating.

[Kim Jones]

I don't know what you're talking about. I've never run into that shock.

[Unknown]

Shocked I am. So I tried to build a program that brought those three components there. I did that for a couple years, went out on my own and started consulting, doing risk advisory and fractional CISO work and was lured back into corporate by some friends of mine and went to work For Intuit, the TurboTax, QuickBooks Credit Karma company on CISO staff. They're reporting to the CISO. They're doing various things. Spent most of my time there running security operations. Operations left there in a position called performance acceleration. Focused on strategic issues around how we attract, train, integrate, retain the best talent as well as how we forward look at the security problem going forward. Left there in September and have been back on my own doing teaching training, evangelizing. I'm also a SANS instructor. I teach leader 514 for SANS. I still adjunct at a couple of universities, universities here locally and I'm a lecturer in UC Berkeley's master's program. Other than that, I'm just bored. So, you know.

[Dave Bittner]

Well, let me just. I don't want to put too fine a point on it, Rick, but I.

[Rick Howard]

Think it's worth noting that we're bringing in someone whose core competency is cleaning up the messes that other people leave behind. I don't know what that means, but.

[Kim Jones]

Except for this last time is what you meant. Except for this one.

[Unknown]

This is the first one right here.

[Dave Bittner]

I don't want to say that was at the top of his resume, but.

[Rick Howard]

Certainly bumped him up to the top of the list.

[Unknown]

Dude, I see you. I see the finishing school helped, man. Have you reread Carnegie's how to Win Friends and Influence People? Or you just go retire now, not worry about it?

[Rick Howard]

That's right. It's just going to go cackling off into the distance.

[Dave Bittner]

Well, Kim, on the one hand, I don't envy the situation that you're in.

[Rick Howard]

Here because so many people have enjoyed.

[Dave Bittner]

What Rick has put together here. But at the same time, you do walk in here with a preexisting audience and the ability to make this your own. What do you have in mind going forward?

[Unknown]

Well, it's a great question and I could give the flippant answer. Wow, I really have no idea. But that's not quite true. One of the things I've admired about CISO Perspectives is Rick's ability to take some of the tractable issues we have out there, that when you're sitting the chair and Rick, you know this as well, you don't necessarily have the time to deep dive, get your hands around them in a data driven manner so that you can move things forward. We're all in the business of firefighting. And what I love about Rick's podcast is it says, let's step back for a second, think strategically and think about the problem holistically and look at the next level. I want to continue that for the audience as we go forth. You know, I will tell you that one of the first things that I want to tackle is a passion point of mine, and I don't know if I'm doing an early reveal or not, because we're still in the process of figuring out what the next season is going to be about. But one of my big pet peeves is what I would call affectionately the cyber talent ecosystem, similar to what I was working on at Intuit. And what I like to tell people is if you ask six CISOs, what are the skills that you need to get into cyber, what is the path that you need to get into cyber, and what is the problem we need to fix in Cyber, you'll get 47 different answers, and most of those answers will center around personal preference or personal journey and whether or not you believe there are a million jobs out there or not. And I'm not sure I believe there are a million jobs out there or not. But there is still a need for us to try and figure out how this profession moves forward and how we make what I truly call one of the few true meritocracies that should exist within technology more accessible, more attainable, and self sustaining. We've got to come up with some consistency regarding those answers. And as someone who's played in this from all sides, as a hiring manager, someone focused on looking at it strategically from an academician, from someone who mentors people within the environment, it's terrible. We don't have a straight answer. And one of the things that I genuinely want to do with our audience is to say, look, I don't really care what the answer is, but. But damn it, we probably ought to come up with one because, you know, I'm not as old an old fart as Rick, but I'm not that far behind.

[Kim Jones]

And there's a whole can really make that point.

[Unknown]

Yeah, there we go. But there's a whole lot of us who are these first generation cyber guys that are getting ready to step away from the chair, take a look at what we're leaving behind in terms of pathing and progress, and as you can hear, is truly a passion point of mine. And I want to have some detailed discussions about that from all avenues and all angles. So that's one of the things that I'm working with your Rick's awesome team to try and say, how do we do this? Does this make sense to do this? And how do we make it interesting so we can truly bring the conversation up to the surface as opposed to how most of us talk about this, which are at conferences, in passing over a beer, say, yep, that's a problem. We probably ought to fix it.

[Dave Bittner]

All right, well, Rick, we bid you a fond farewell and all the best in retirement.

[Rick Howard]

I mean, in all seriousness, we hate.

[Dave Bittner]

To see you go, but we're excited.

[Rick Howard]

For you to enter your next stage of life here.

[Dave Bittner]

And Kim, we couldn't be more excited.

[Rick Howard]

To have you join us here. Looking forward to what you're going to bring to CSO perspectives. So, gentlemen, both of you, thanks so much for joining us here today.

[Kim Jones]

Thank you.

[Unknown]

Fantastic, but an honor and a privilege. Thanks.

[Dave Bittner]

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[Rick Howard]

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[Dave Bittner]

And finally, as regular listeners of our Caveat Law and Policy podcast are well aware, for years stingray devices or cell site simulators have been the nosy eavesdroppers of the digital age, lurking in the shadows and pretending to be legitimate cell towers, tricking phones into spilling their secrets. Law enforcement loves em, privacy advocates hate em, and the rest of us just wonder if our phones are snitching on us. Enter Ray Hunter, the EFF's new open source watchdog, designed to sniff out these pesky imposters. Running on a cheap $20 mobile hotspot, RayHunter detects suspicious cell tower behavior, like forced downgrades to insecure networks or unusual imsi requests. No PhD in hacking required. If something fishy happens, RayHunter turns red, letting users know it's time to shut down or alert the community. The EFF says the goal is real data on stingray use, not just paranoia. With enough users worldwide, we might finally expose how, when and where these digital spies operate. And that's the Cyber Wire. For links to all of today's stories, check out our daily [e-mail] be sure to check out this weekend's Research Saturday and my conversation with Jim Walter from Sentinel Labs. The research is titled Hellcat and two brands, one payload as ransomware affiliates drop identical code. 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 cyberwire2k.com N2K's senior producer is Alice Carruth. Our Cyberwire producer is Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Trey Hester with original music and sound design by Elliot Heltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Ivan. Peter Kilpe is our publisher and I'm Dave Bittner. Thanks for listening. We'll see you back here next week.

[Rick Howard]

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