| Hosting | Leo Laporte Steve Gibson |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Updates | Weekly |
| Audio format | MP3 |
| Debut | August 19, 2005 |
| Genre | Computer Security |
| Website | GRC Security Now! Episodes |
Security Now! is a weekly podcast hosted by Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson.[1] The first episode was released on 19 August 2005.
Released each Thursday, Security Now! consists of a discussion between Gibson and Laporte of issues of computer security and, conversely, insecurity. Covered topics have included security vulnerabilities, firewalls, password security, spyware, rootkits, Wi-Fi, virtual private networks (VPNs), virtual machines, full virtualization, hardware-assisted virtualization, and virtual appliances.
Contents |
Security Now! is distributed via its main podcast RSS feed (link) and on the GRC Security Now! page.[2] The audio is encoded as 64 kbit/s MP3 files with 16 kbit/s versions available for listeners on low bandwidth connections or those with limited storage space. The audio files are licensed under the creative commons by-nc-sa license.
The podcast runs for approximately 90 minutes, with sections on 'Attacks and Breaches', 'Security updates', 'Security News', and then the actual discussion of the subject of the podcast.
As part of GRC's section on the podcast, supplementary notes and transcripts of each show are available in plain text, HTML and PDF formats.[3]
Regular episodes of the podcast have been devoted to the answering of questions and responding to feedback provided by Security Now! listeners. Originally every 4th episode (referred to as a "mod 4 episode" or "mod 4 equals 0 episode.") was devoted to this, but starting with Episode 108 this merged with the then recently introduced "Mailbag" episodes ("mod 4 + 2 episodes")[4] and became a bi-weekly feature. Listeners submit their comments and questions for the podcast at the GRC.COM Website.
In August 2007, Security Now! won in the People's Choice Podcast Awards Technology/Science category.[5] In August 2006, Security Now! ranked fourth in the "Top 40" of all podcasts listened to via the PodNova service.[6] Security Now! averaged around 100,000 downloads per episode throughout 2006.[7][8]
In January 2006 Steve Gibson accused Microsoft of intentionally putting a backdoor into the Windows Metafile processing code in Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Gibson claimed that while reverse engineering the Windows Metafile format, he could run arbitrary code by using a "nonsensical" value in the metafile, and concluded Microsoft had intentionally designed Windows this way so it could run code on Windows computers without the user's knowledge.[9] Microsoft's Stephen Toulouse responded in a Microsoft Security Response Center blog post the next day, saying the behavior was not intentional.[10]