Episode 198

The Host Unknown Podcast

This week in InfoSec (10:28)

10th July 1999 - Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc) member DilDog debuted the program Back Orifice 2000 (BO2k) at DEF CON 7. It was the successor to Back Orifice, released by cDc a year prior. DilDog proclaimed it "a remote administration tool for corporate America".

https://twitter.com/todayininfosec/status/1811133606015983680

9th July 1981 - The game that launched two of the most famous characters in video game history is released for sale. Donkey Kong was created by Nintendo, a Japanese playing card and toy company turned fledgling video game developer, who was trying to create a hit game for the North American market. Unable at the time to acquire a license to create a video game based on the Popeye character, Nintendo decides to create a game mirroring the characteristics and rivalry of Popeye and Bluto. Donkey Kong is named after the game’s villain, a pet gorilla gone rogue. The game’s hero is originally called Jumpman, but is retroactively renamed Mario once the game becomes popular and Nintendo decides to use the character in future games.

Due to the similarity between Donkey Kong and King Kong, Universal Studios sued Nintendo claiming Donkey Kong violated their trademark. Kong, however, is common Japanese slang for gorilla. The lawsuit was ruled in favor of Nintendo. The success of Donkey Kong helped Nintendo become one of the dominant companies in the video game market.

Rant of the Week (15:55)

Palestinians say Microsoft unfairly closing their accounts

Palestinians living abroad have accused Microsoft of closing their email accounts without warning - cutting them off from crucial online services.

They say it has left them unable to access bank accounts and job offers - and stopped them using Skype, which Microsoft owns, to contact relatives in war-torn Gaza.

Microsoft says they violated its terms of service - a claim they dispute.

Billy Big Balls of the Week (27:39)

Scalpers Work With Hackers to Liberate Ticketmaster's ‘Non-Transferable’ Tickets

A lawsuit filed in California by concert giant AXS has revealed a legal and technological battle between ticket scalpers and platforms like Ticketmaster and AXS, in which scalpers have figured out how to extract “untransferable” tickets from their accounts by generating entry barcodes on parallel infrastructure that the scalpers control and which can then be sold and transferred to customers.

By reverse-engineering how Ticketmaster and AXS actually make their electronic tickets, scalpers have essentially figured out how to regenerate specific, genuine tickets that they have legally purchased from scratch onto infrastructure that they control. In doing so, they are removing the anti-scalping restrictions put on the tickets by Ticketmaster and AXS.

'Gay furry hackers' breach conservative US think tank behind Project 2025

A collective of self-described "gay furry hackers" have released 2GB of data lifted from the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think-tank behind Project 2025 - a set of proposals that would bring the USA closer to being an authoritarian state.

The hacktivist group, known as SiegedSec, has been running a campaign it calls "OpTransRights," targeting (mostly government) websites to disrupt efforts to enact or enforce anti-trans and anti-abortion laws.

Industry News (33:26)

10 Billion Passwords Leaked on Hacking Forum

Crypto Thefts Double to $1.4 Billion, TRM Labs Finds

Russia Blocks VPN Services in Information Crackdown

Ticketmaster Extortion Continues, Threat Actor Claims New Ticket Leak

Cyber-Attack on Evolve Bank Exposed Data of 7.6 Million Customers

Most Security Pros Admit Shadow SaaS and AI Use

Russian Media Uses AI-Powered Software to Spread Disinformation

Smishing Triad Targets India with Fraud Surge

Fraud Campaign Targets Russians with Fake Olympics Tickets

Tweet of the Week (41:18)

https://x.com/dennishegstad/status/1810044171765645568

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