2024 Yearly Wrap-Up, CCC38, And What's Up For 2025

Audio format will be available on both the Steady and Spotify/general publication RSS feed within a week or two of this email. The audio version may be attached at the bottom of this when it’s ready (opens in a new window):

December’s Note

Before we get started: I wanted to draw attention to two awesome organizations that have recently worked in both Gaza and Ukraine, and continue to put themselves in danger:
CADUS, who specialize in medical aid and infrastructure (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
World Central Kitchen, who specialize in feeding the displaced (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

🦉Chaos Communication Congress
This year, I'm once again attending the Chaos Communication Congress, where I'll be writing/recording this newsletter!

This is a chaotic event with just a lot going on. It also has some pretty strict photo policies, so I can’t really share a whole lot of what goes on in the congress via images.

I wrote about my attendance last year (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and how transformative I found the experience, and this year feels like I’m picking up right where I left off.

Over the four days, between 10 and 20 thousand nerds of all stripes descend upon Hamburg. There are hundreds of formal talks, improvised assemblies, and “off stage” events. Pretty much every topic involving the use of communications technology, hacking and cybersecurity, cryptography and computer science at large, etc. etc. gets explored if you know where to look.

Thankfully, a number of events are available for stream after they take place.

Here are some of the events (attended or otherwise) that you may find interesting that have happened by the time I wrote this (middle of day 3):

🐂Police 2.0: Peaceful activism is terrorism and fakenews are facts (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
On 23 October 2019 peaceful activist Frank van der Linde found out the Dutch Police was associating him with terrorism to other countries' law enforcement. This talk goes over the bizarre, worrying and, frankly, quite funny journey that Frank van der Linde has embarked on, hoping on a litigation frenzy to seek justice and fight back against the institutional intimidation of activists.

🐂Transparency? Not from the European Commission (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
The European Commission is the executive branch of the European Union with the duty to uphold the law. The transparency of the Commission´s actions and decisions range from questionable to abysmal. Attempts by the public to access information are often thwarted. This talk will cover the Commission´s lack of transparency, challenges faced by the public in accessing information, Commission´s tactics and examples of the European Ombudsman´s interventions to improve the situation. Whether you are interested in ChatControl, AI or public procurement, this talk will have you covered.

🐂From Pegasus to Predator - The evolution of Commercial Spyware on iOS (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
…The trajectory of iOS spyware from the initial discovery of Pegasus in 2016 to the latest cases in 2024. The talk will start with an analysis how exploits, infection vectors and methods of commercial spyware on iOS have changed over time. The second section of the talk is all about advances in detection methods and the forensic sources which are available to discover commercial spyware. This talk will also include a Case Study about the discovery and analysis of BlastPass (one of the latest NSO Exploits). The third part will discuss technical challenges and limitations of the detections methods and data sources. Finally, I will conclude the talk with open research topics and suggestions what Apple or we could technically do to make the detection of commercial spyware better.

🐂State of Surveillance: A year of digital threats to civil society (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
The digital arms race between activists and government spies continues to shift and evolve. Through a series of cases studies, researchers from Amnesty International's Security Lab will share surveillance wins, the ongoing challenges, and the new threats on the digital horizon.

🐂Automated Malfare - discriminatory effects of welfare automation (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
An increasing number of countries is implementing algorithmic decision-making and fraud detection systems within their social benefits system. Instead of improving decision fairness and ensuring effective procedures, these systems often reinforce preexisting discriminations and injustices. The talk presents case studies of automation in the welfare systems of the Netherlands, India, Serbia and Denmark, based on research by Amnesty International.

🐂Hacking yourself a satellite - recovering BEESAT-1 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
In 2013, the satellite BEESAT-1 started returning invalid telemetry, rendering it effectively unusable. Because it is projected to remain in orbit for at least another 20 years, recovering the satellite and updating the flight software would enable new experiments on the existing hardware. However, in addition to no access to telemetry, the satellite also has no functional software update feature. This talk will tell the story of how by combining space and computer security mindsets, the fault was correctly diagnosed without telemetry, software update features were implemented without having them to begin with, and the satellite was recovered in September of 2024.

Introducing >Trace

I recently experimented with cultivating another stream of content, and found it to be a lot of fun in the week leading up to the holidays. >Trace (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is meant to supplement the main project of The Moloch through shorter posts highlighting cyber-crime incidents and incomplete or ongoing investigations. It’s derived from my quick “pop-offs” about cybercrime, and posted to Mastodon (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Substack (Si apre in una nuova finestra). This is not signaling a move-back to Substack or any attempt to monetize there, but there is an audience that I’m hoping to grab.

I guess, at the end of the day, I didn’t want smaller-level pieces about cybercrime, or half-baked “investigations” to flood the website.

What’s Been Published Lately?

This is probably some of the most writing I’ve put out between newsletters. When I settle into next year’s workflow, the format will likely change, again.

Virtual Verity Podcast

🦉 Chivo Wallet Is Finally Done! (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

If you didn’t already see it in your RSS feed, the complete series on Chivo Wallet is finally done and released!

I’ll put out another article on here and the blog about the whole experience of putting this one out. Up front: I’m really proud of it, despite already having a number of things that I know I’d like to improve on. In the future, I’ll refrain from picking up topics I know that I’ve underestimated without a better plan.

The series’ fourth episode, if you still haven’t heard it, it a timeline about the activities of CiberinteligenciaSV and their campaign throughout 2024 to challenge and embarrass the government of El Salvador by exposing gross incompetence and corruption.

The Blog

🦉 The Existent Automated Armies: An Accelerating Arms Race for Viable Robot Soldiers (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - automation in warfare
...these developments are indicative of an understated trend in militaries around the world: a growing acceptance of mass-casualty-causing weapons in automated hands. As several states that are innovators in this space find themselves engaged around the world, it may only be a matter of time before this technological rubicon is crossed in ground-based warfare, as it has in the air.

🦉 Signaling To Ghost And Telegram: A Good Time To Talk About E2EE (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - encryption, cybercrime, and civil liberties
…a debate over the place of End-to-End Encryption and its relationship to numerous messaging platforms has found itself reignited. Is this part of a pattern creating real reason for concern, or is it all tech-libertarian virtue signaling?

>Trace

🦉Threat Actor Drop: FunkSec RANSOMWARE (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
A new Ransomware threat actor has emerged, claiming over 30 victims in 10 days.

🦉"#OP_Germany" December DDoS Attacks: Some Observations (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
"Hacktivists" from at least 10 groups claim to try overwhelming numerous German and other NATO country targets.

🦉Claims of Cisco Source Code Leaked? (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Sometimes it's old code. Sometimes they're just full of it. But sometimes, threat actors hit pay-dirt.

🦉Threat Actor Drop: BASHE Ransomware (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Since April, BASHE, a ransomware group that allegedly spun off of LockBit, has been rapidly growing its reputation. They've claimed over twenty victims this past October. They're also probably lying.

(Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Some final things:

I also got picked up for my first freelance writing contract. Once that piece gets closer to publication, I’ll share more of the details! It’s specifically about Salt Typhoon and what they got up to throughout 2024. This will be a research heavy piece, and a lot less fun to read (I would expect) than my usual, but it might be an in for routine work with a much bigger publication. More specifics to come!

As of the time I’m writing this, I’m about to wrap up the final paper that will earn me an MS in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance. This year with The Moloch and its related projects has proven to be such an awesome time for sharing the knowledge that I’ve gained with you, but it’s also not the end of my formal education, which means I’m only going to get better at what I’m doing.

In January, I’ll no longer be working, and focusing that reclaimed time on full-time studies for an MA in International Relations. My hope is to use that angle to better inform this work, as it grows from just being shitposts about cybercriminals and cool stuff I saw in the Army, into what I hope will be a genuinely insightful platform for investigating and analyzing the growing digital monstrosities the world will be facing.

Let’s not kid ourselves.

2025 looks like it’s going to be a rough one. Tech oligarchs are poised to be stronger than ever in the US. An ever-escalating series of conflicts rages throughout the world with increasingly sophisticated weapons and tactics. Europe, still hanging in there as a bastion of digital rights, continues to show its cracks.

I want The Moloch to be an explainer for what little bit I can cover regarding what the world is going through, and I’m going to continue to try and grow its capabilities and my capacity for conducting quality research beyond what a dumb little tech blog can typically offer.

As always, stay safe! Have a happy new year! And 🦉Hail Moloch!🐂