The Cybersecurity Defenders Podcast·Sep 3, 2026·32m·Episode #346

Intel Chat: OpenAI's Astra hits Critical, DEF CON phishing, Philippine nuclear breach [346]

Download audio Show notes Apple Podcasts

Show notes

Intel Chat with Matt Bromiley and Chris Luft.

• OpenAI says Astra is the first of its models to reach the "Critical" cybersecurity capability level under its Preparedness Framework — the tier that means a model can independently find and exploit zero-days across well-defended systems, or run an end-to-end attack from a high-level instruction. Astra scored perfectly on ExploitBench, independently discovered two zero-days, escaped a browser sandbox, and chained flaws in a hardened OS to get root. It also refused 91.5% of cyber jailbreak attempts, versus 59% for GPT-5.6 Sol. Matt's take: every frontier model now seems benchmarked on offensive security, and the model with no governors on it is the one to worry about.
• Post-DEF CON phishing aimed at security researchers. Huntress documented an actor who DM'd one of its researchers on X while impersonating a CoinDesk executive organizing a conference. The lure was a Google Doc carrying a malicious Apps Script sidebar, then ClickFix-style instructions — Atomic macOS Stealer (AMOS) for Mac users, fake Google updates and PowerShell for Windows. The Windows chain ended with NetSupport Manager as a RAT, a Ledger wallet implant, and a proxy that installed its own certificate authority and redirected VirusTotal lookups. Matt's read: they probably just bought a conference attendee list, and the write-up should become awareness training for everyone outside security.
• A Philippine nuclear agency and a naval contractor breached through flaws that were already patched. Hunt.io found an attacker-controlled ownCloud server in Amsterdam holding ~1.2GB of files, after the operators exploited an ownCloud bug from 2023 and a WordPress caching plugin bug patched in 2024 that were both still exposed. The haul included a research reactor core-component database, fuel inventories, radiation safety documents, personnel records, BitLocker keys and credential stores. Hunt.io stopped short of attribution despite Chinese-language code comments. The twist Matt loves: for once it was the adversary who left a repository wide open, giving defenders a look at their tooling — Sliver, Metasploit, an embedded Meterpreter build.
• Silver Fox counterfeit installers that switch off Windows Update. Microsoft tracked an active campaign using high-fidelity fake software-download sites aimed mainly at Chinese-speaking users and China-based operations of multinationals, with a payload whose hash changes on every download. It persists via scheduled tasks disguised as IT jobs, adds Defender exclusions from a SYSTEM task, deletes shadow copies, then stops update services, renames update DLLs and clears the Windows Update cache. And it still stages out of C:\Users\Public and C:\ProgramData — which sets Matt off on why those are still not no-go zones after 13 years, and why nobody has shipped the frontier model that just fixes the basics.

Stories covered:
• https://www.securityweek.com/openais-astra-becomes-first-model-to-cross-critical-cybersecurity-threshold/
• https://www.huntress.com/blog/defcon-phishing-google-doc-malware
• https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/old-unpatched-flaws-attackers-philippines-nuclear-agency
• https://thehackernews.com/2026/09/fake-software-installers-disable.html

Chapters:
0:00 Matt checks in from Virginia Beach
1:44 OpenAI's Astra crosses the "Critical" cyber threshold
3:43 Every frontier model is now aimed at cybersecurity
6:52 So where is the model with no governors on it?
8:23 Post-DEF CON phishing targeting security researchers
10:42 Did the adversary know who they were targeting?
12:55 Turn the write-up into training for everyone else
15:01 Philippine nuclear agency breached through old, patched flaws
17:48 For once, the adversary left the door open
21:26 Silver Fox: counterfeit installers that disable Windows Update
24:00 Still C:\Users\Public, 13 years later
25:42 Give us a frontier model that fixes the basics

The Cybersecurity Defenders Podcast — a podcast about cybersecurity and the people that keep the internet safe. New episodes drop weekly.

Subscribe wherever you listen:
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ep00zeY3S8ffZ4o0UeSps
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cybersecurity-defenders-podcast/id1649981740
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@limacharlieio

Learn more about LimaCharlie: https://limacharlie.io

#cybersecurity #infosec #AIsecurity #threatintel #malware

← Previous

Intel Chat: AI patches fail, LiteLLM supply chain, Claude eval incidents & DPRK npm [345]

Intel Chat with Matt Bromiley and Chris Luft. • OpenAI says Astra is the first of its models to reach the "Critical" cybersecurity capability level under its Preparedness Framework — the tier that means a model can independently find and exploit zero-days across well-defended systems, or run an end-to-end attack from a high-level instruction. Astra scored perfectly on ExploitBench, independently discovered two zero-days, escaped a browser sandbox, and chained flaws in a hardened OS to get root. It also refused 91.5% of cyber jailbreak attempts, versus 59% for GPT-5.6 Sol. Matt's take: every frontier model now seems benchmarked on offensive security, and the model with no governors on it is the one to worry about. • Post-DEF CON phishing aimed at security researchers. Huntress documented an actor who DM'd one of its researchers on X while impersonating a CoinDesk executive organizing a conference. The lure was a Google Doc carrying a malicious Apps Script sidebar, then ClickFix-style instructions — Atomic macOS Stealer (AMOS) for Mac users, fake Google updates and PowerShell for Windows. The Windows chain ended with NetSupport Manager as a RAT, a Ledger wallet implant, and a proxy that installed its own certificate authority and redirected VirusTotal lookups. Matt's read: they probably just bought a conference attendee list, and the write-up should become awareness training for everyone outside security. • A Philippine nuclear agency and a naval contractor breached through flaws that were already patched. Hunt.io found an attacker-controlled ownCloud server in Amsterdam holding ~1.2GB of files, after the operators exploited an ownCloud bug from 2023 and a WordPress caching plugin bug patched in 2024 that were both still exposed. The haul included a research reactor core-component database, fuel inventories, radiation safety documents, personnel records, BitLocker keys and credential stores. Hunt.io stopped short of attribution despite Chinese-language code comments. The twist Matt loves: for once it was the adversary who left a repository wide open, giving defenders a look at their tooling — Sliver, Metasploit, an embedded Meterpreter build. • Silver Fox counterfeit installers that switch off Windows Update. Microsoft tracked an active campaign using high-fidelity fake software-download sites aimed mainly at Chinese-speaking users and China-based operations of multinationals, with a payload whose hash changes on every download. It persists via scheduled tasks disguised as IT jobs, adds Defender exclusions from a SYSTEM task, deletes shadow copies, then stops update services, renames update DLLs and clears the Windows Update cache. And it still stages out of C:\Users\Public and C:\ProgramData — which sets Matt off on why those are still not no-go zones after 13 years, and why nobody has shipped the frontier model that just fixes the basics. Stories covered: • https://www.securityweek.com/openais-astra-becomes-first-model-to-cross-critical-cybersecurity-threshold/ • https://www.huntress.com/blog/defcon-phishing-google-doc-malware • https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/old-unpatched-flaws-attackers-philippines-nuclear-agency • https://thehackernews.com/2026/09/fake-software-installers-disable.html Chapters: 0:00 Matt checks in from Virginia Beach 1:44 OpenAI's Astra crosses the "Critical" cyber threshold 3:43 Every frontier model is now aimed at cybersecurity 6:52 So where is the model with no governors on it? 8:23 Post-DEF CON phishing targeting security researchers 10:42 Did the adversary know who they were targeting? 12:55 Turn the write-up into training for everyone else 15:01 Philippine nuclear agency breached through old, patched flaws 17:48 For once, the adversary left the door open 21:26 Silver Fox: counterfeit installers that disable Windows Update 24:00 Still C:\Users\Public, 13 years later 25:42 Give us a frontier model that fixes the basics The Cybersecurity Defenders Podcast — a podcast about cybersecurity and the people that keep the internet safe. New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen: • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ep00zeY3S8ffZ4o0UeSps • Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cybersecurity-defenders-podcast/id1649981740 • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@limacharlieio Learn more about LimaCharlie: https://limacharlie.io #cybersecurity #infosec #AIsecurity #threatintel #malware