Talkin' Bout [Infosec] News — Live From WWHF Mile High 2026

Podcast: Black Hills Information Security
Episode Date/Location: February 18, 2026, Wild West Hackin’ Fest (WWHF) Denver
Panel: BHIS and friends (multiple recurring speakers, including John, Corey, others)
Main Theme:
A roundtable of infosec professionals and hackers discuss the week’s biggest cybersecurity news, how trends in AI are reshaping both offensive and defensive security, and reminisce about old-school tech disappearing from the landscape.

Episode Overview

This episode, recorded live before an audience at WWHF Mile High 2026, serves as a lively, conversational rundown of current infosec news and developments. The panel kicks off with humor and casual banter before diving deep into impactful stories: a critical Notepad RCE vulnerability, Discord’s new age verification schemes, ISPs outright blocking Telnet traffic after fresh vulnerabilities, a major BeyondTrust zero-day, fake ransomware scams, and the soaring impact of modern AI tools on security work. The discussion is marked by frank takes, technical context, and a healthy dose of skepticism and wit.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Notepad RCE & Frustration With Unnecessary Features

(02:44–07:38)

• Story: Microsoft added markdown rendering (and AI features) to Notepad, only to introduce a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability.
• Panel Reaction:
  • Frustration about “feature bloat”—adding unnecessary features to basic tools increases attack surface and undermines trust in software.
  • Humor around the “vibe coded” concept—AI or rushed additions leading to security blunders.
  • Broader critique of AI’s forced-integration into products where it’s unwelcome.

Memorable Quotes:

• “I just need Notepad to open files. I don't need it to like render.” —A [03:13]
• “You could put AI and dark mode in whatever you want, okay? But you got to stay away from Notepad...it's the one thing that has never changed.” —B [04:42]
• “This is an example of giving AI a really bad name, of trying to shove it down our throats absolutely everywhere. We don't need AI Notepad.” —A [03:36]

2. Discord Age Verification — Privacy vs. Safety

(07:42–10:11)

• Story: Discord plans mandatory age verification—face scans or ID uploads—to keep teens away from adult content.
• Panel Concerns:
  • Data privacy, risk of third-party data breaches (one already happened in October).
  • The recurring pattern: every platform cycles through new verification regimes, driving away original communities.
  • Old-school nostalgia: fond memories of IRC and the disappointment as communities migrate due to platform policies.

Quotes:

• “They lost like 70,000 IDs, didn't they?... If you read into their wording, it's also going to be a third party. They may not retain anything, they say.” —D [08:35]
• “We keep moving to these new platforms and I really feel like Discord is in the process of being taken away from us and we got to migrate again.” —A [09:54]

3. The Great Telnet Ban—ISPs Unilaterally Shutting Down Port 23

(10:17–13:38)

• Story: Major ISPs start blocking Telnet (port 23) at the backbone level, in response to a new critical CVE (score: 9.8).
• Implications:
  • Removes classic pentesting targets en masse—pentesters lament the lost findings and “fun” factor.
  • Raises concerns about ISPs making unilateral security decisions and setting precedent for blocking other “bad” protocols or services (like unpatched MongoDB).
  • Nostalgic mourning and tongue-in-cheek calls for a “Telnet memorial” at the con.

Memorable Moments/Quotes:

• "That's the line right there. That's the line for the telnet. That's where like fascist regime right there." —A [11:33]
• “As a pen tester I don't support this decision.” —C [11:10]
• “I'm a pen tester and I have a vested interest in keeping vulnerabilities alive.” —A [12:13]
• “But can we always agree though, that telnet's always been a shit protocol?” —A [13:38]

4. BeyondTrust Zero-Day — Critical CVE Breaks Out Mid-Show

(15:02–16:53)

• Story: A critical 9.9-rated vulnerability (CVE) exposed in BeyondTrust, a tool widely used for privilege management.
• Response:
  • Panelists share real-world stress: “my phone is blowing up...the SOC director pinging me: Do we have detections for this yet?”
  • BHIS teams were simultaneously creating and shipping customer alerts and detection code—often while managing other duties.

Quotes:

• “You know it's bad when he's like, are you doing this one yet?” —D [15:44]
• “Eric was showing me, what we were sending to customers in the portal with the whole write up and everything, and I’m like, this is awesome. I didn’t know you were doing that while you were teaching.” —A [16:01]

5. Fake Ransomware — The ‘0apt’ Scam

(16:27–19:35)

• Story: A wave of fake/extortion “ransomware” claims by new group 0apt—no evidence of genuine breaches, just Dev U random zipped up to look like ‘exfiltrated data’.
• Analysis:
  • The scam was debunked by GuidePoint Security and others.
  • Humor around frustrated attempts to “validate” the leak (trying to download 1.1 TB via Tor, only to find random data).
  • Larger point: extortion scams (even lazy, noisy ones) still cause panic and distractions for companies and individuals.

Quotes:

• “Don’t worry if you’re on this ransom list. We have no evidence to prove that it's real.” —B [17:35]
• “Creative though. I mean, they're just sitting around one day going, man, none of our payloads are working. Let's just say they worked and see if anybody pays us.” —C [18:14]
• “I should just send ransom payments.” —A [18:35] (jokingly, about inspiring attackers)

6. AI’s Rapid Ascent — The New Security Superpower or a Recipe for Disaster?

(21:00–29:00)

• Overview:
  • The panel explores how new “frontier” AI models (Claude, Opus, etc.) are transforming security work—especially with “agentic” capabilities (tasks beyond simple chatbot Q&A).
  • Panelists share first-hand stories: building an X-ray DICOM viewer in 30 seconds, using AI to perform log analysis for incident response, and even automating detection rulewriting and peer review in minutes.
  • Caveats:
    • Major benefits are only accessible to technically adept users who can prompt, review, and correct the AI’s work.
    • Huge explosion in “bespoke”/disposable internal software created using AI, raising new security concerns as organizations shortcut enterprise solutions.

Memorable Quotes:

• “If you're still of the opinion using say, something like copilot, using AI, like a ChatGPT...that's actually not what we're talking about here. We're talking about agentic code. Agentic AI.” —C [22:23]
• “It's a very good Tier 1 analyst at this point...Claude code came out a year ago and that is, in a very short time a pretty rapid improvement.” —D [25:00]
• “This is the first time in my career that people are creating disposable software with Claude code to replace enterprise applications…We're going to have jobs forever.” —F [27:57]

Security Concerns: Prompt Injection and Blind Trust

• “Just telling your AI, just putting in your AI prompt and by the way, please don’t hack me bro, is not secure...That’s not security. Prompt injection is like the biggest threat vector to any...AI agent.” —B [29:13]
• Hooks and human review are crucial to avoid disaster, but most inexperienced users will lack this awareness.

7. Analogies/Big Picture: Don’t Fear the Tools, Become Their Master

(31:10–end)

• John’s Historical Analogy:
  • Tools like slide rules, calculators, and graphing calculators were all banned as “cheating” in their eras, before becoming essential.
  • AI is another such inflection point—hackers and infosec professionals need to adapt, learn, and exploit its power, not resist it.

Quote:

• “If you’re not using this and you’re not at least coming to grips and trying to understand this, then you’re kind of betraying your hacker roots...This is not a fad. This is a thing. It is real.” —A [31:27]

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “I just need Notepad to open files. I don't need it to like render.” – A [03:13]
• “You gotta stay away from Notepad, okay? It’s the one thing that has never changed.” – B [04:42]
• “Discord is going to require face scan or ID...In October, they lost like 70,000 IDs, didn’t they?” – B, D [08:30]
• “ISPs start unilaterally making decisions about security...They should literally be a highway for transferring bits and stay the hell out of the way.” – A [12:17]
• “We need to have a funeral for Telnet.” – B [14:10]
• “My phone is blowing up...Do we have detections for this yet?” – D [15:44]
• “This is a great thing for the pen testing community...We are going to have jobs forever.” – F [27:57]
• “Just putting in your AI prompt, ‘please don't hack me bro’ is not security. Prompt injection is the biggest threat vector.” – B [29:13]
• “If you’re not using this...you’re kind of betraying your hacker roots.” – A [31:27]

Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------| | 02:44–07:38 | Notepad RCE / “Vibe coded” AI feature critique | | 07:42–10:11 | Discord age verification—privacy & breach risks | | 10:17–13:38 | ISPs block Telnet—security plus overreach? Memorializing Telnet | | 15:02–16:53 | BeyondTrust critical zero-day—real-world SOC panic | | 16:27–19:35 | The fake ransomware gang 0apt—debunking their scam | | 21:00–29:00 | New AI models’ impact—tales from the field, warnings about misuse | | 29:13–31:27 | Security of AI, prompt injection, “please don’t hack me bro” fallacy | | 31:10–End | The historical lesson: Don’t resist paradigm shifts, own the tools |

Conclusion

This episode captures the infosec community’s evolving relationship with new tech: protective of old tools, acerbic about “progress” that comes with tradeoffs, but ultimately optimistic and determined to stay sharp. The panel’s candid, partly irreverent tone underscores an essential hacker lesson—adapt, exploit, and never blindly trust new magic, or you risk being left behind.

Final Word:
“If you're not using this and you're not at least coming to grips and trying to understand this, then you're kind of betraying your hacker roots.” —A [31:27]