Securing AI on the Endpoint, Anthropic Dreams of AI Replicants, and the News – Michael Jenkins – ESW #481
Interview with Michael Jenkins from ThreatLocker
Securing AI on the Endpoint - Zero Trust or Bust
Michael joins us for the first time to discuss strategies for securing the latest evolution of AI: local endpoint-based AI agents. Tools like Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and Google AntiGravity give employees the power to build any software or workflow they can imagine, but what is the risk impact? These models aren't shy about adopting and downloading libraries, tools, and untrusted software to fulfill the goals they've been given.
We explore how execution control and ringfencing can add some sanity and security to the process.
This segment is sponsored by ThreatLocker. Visit https://securityweekly.com/threatlocker to learn more about them!
Topic Segment: Anthropic Dreams of AI Replicants
Of all the things AI labs could be researching or cooking up, I wouldn't have guessed AI worms distributing inference across smart TVs would be on the list, but here we are. Adrian, Tyler, and Ayman mull over this strange research.
- It is too loose to be an academic paper, but maybe should have been?
- Is really a pressing AI risk we should be worried about right now?
- Why did Anthropic choose to focus on smart TVs and not more powerful IoT devices?
Weekly Enterprise News
Finally, in the enterprise security news,
- we discuss the vibes
- certified organic books
- don’t mess with criminals
- the history of ShinyHunters
- building strategies on the wrong lessons
- crypto wallet supply chain drama
- Hot refrigerators
- Reddit is great for breach tracking
- Microsoft patch Tuesday is on track to hit 12,000 patches by next April
All that and more, on this episode of Enterprise Security Weekly.
Michael Jenkins is a cybersecurity leader with nearly 20 years of experience building and managing security technology. He was an early advocate for Zero Trust and has spent much of his career advancing its use as a practical approach to preventing cyberattacks.
Michael joined ThreatLocker as Chief Technology Officer in 2019 and has helped build the company’s Zero Trust Platform. He leads the company’s development and product teams and has led the creation and expansion of products across endpoint, network, and cloud security, including Zero Trust Network Access and Zero Trust Cloud Access.
Michael has also made developing people a major part of his leadership at ThreatLocker. He has mentored dozens of employees, including professionals who joined the company in entry-level roles and grew into highly skilled developers and cybersecurity practitioners. He regularly leads large product development initiatives under demanding timelines while maintaining a strong focus on product quality.
A frequent author and speaker on cybersecurity and Zero Trust, Michael advocates for deny-by-default controls that give users access to what they need while limiting everything else. During his career, Zero Trust has grown from a relatively uncommon approach into a cybersecurity model widely adopted by businesses and U.S. government agencies. Michael has helped drive that evolution through the products he has built and the professionals he has mentored.
Quick reality check. Your network isn't getting smaller. It's getting more distributed.
Cloud, SaaS, remote users, third-party integrations... every new connection creates another decision about trust. And every decision adds complexity.
Join us for the Network Security Virtual Summit on October 28 to learn how enterprise security teams are improving visibility, modernizing segmentation, and building network architectures that reduce risk without slowing the business.
Security Weekly get a free pass! Register now at https://securityweekly.com/netsec using the discount code CSS26-SW!
Adrian Sanabria
- FUNDING/M&A courtesy of the Security, Funded newsletter, #265 – Breach for the Stars
VIBE CHECK
What is the security industry's most expensive habit? - 50% - Trying to reinvent itself every few years - 25% - Creating new compliance frameworks - 17% - Focusing more on offense than defense - 8% - Spreadsheets
This comment really resonates with me: “Who even says security is reinventing itself every few years? I feel as an industry we are stuck in 2010 on so many levels. So maybe it tried, but did it even succeed?”
Microsegmentation adoption went about as well as NAC adoption in the 2000s. Zero trust isn't a thing in the vast majority of organizations - it's all Windows, Active Directory and Flat Networks, but with new attack surface added to it: SaaS, Cloud, and third parties galore!
The only real security innovation happens at the tech companies that build and distribute the infrastructure and base layers of software (M365, Google Workspace, operating systems, GitHub, Cloudflare, hyperscalers, etc).
FUNDING
- Hadrian (NL) · $40.0M Series B | breach and attack simulation, led by Forgepoint Capital International and SmartFin
- Rein Security (IL) · $25.0M Series A | runtime application security monitoring, led by Glilot Capital Partners and Sienna Venture Capital
ACQUISITIONS
- FirmGuard (US) · acquired by Absolute Software, undisclosed | firmware and embedded security
- NEW FEATURES: Your Next Great Read Might Be Certified ‘Organic’
A startup in the UK has been given the green light by the UK government to certify books as organic. This was predictable - whenever something becomes too artificial or mass-produced, added value is placed on products and goods free of artifice. Organic food, hand-made goods, fair trade coffee/chocolate, low/zero carbon emissions products - many of these gave rise to an entire industry that audits and certifies them as what they claim to be.
And if this was inevitable, so will be the cheaters. Fruit snacks that claim, "fat-free", as if that makes sugar + gelatin healthy. I wonder what the AI equivalent of these 'cheats' will look like.
- ESSAYS: I reported crypto scammers on WhatsApp — They got my account suspended
Sometimes doing the right thing just isn't worth it.
- ESSAYS: Gotta Breach ‘Em All! The Journey Of ShinyHunters
This is a 45-minute account of ShinyHunters and the group's history. A full cup of coffee is ideal to go through this opus.
- ESSAYS: Building a Safer, More Secure Britain in the age of AI
TIL that the UK has a Minister for AI
I worry that we're establishing strategies based on all the wrong lessons: streetlight effect and survivorship bias wrapped into one.
AI companies notify the public about hacks that are really near misses, and we rally to protect against them. Meanwhile billions of dollars of actual damage from attacks are kept quiet by the world's lawyers and we learn nothing from them.
- SUPPLY CHAIN: Who Is Planting Backdoors in Ledger Crypto Wallets?
It was probably inevitable: a product designed to store cash became the basis for sophisticated fraud. Forget the cybersecurity industry calling attacks "advanced and sophisticated" - the stuff we see there has NOTHING on the fraud industry.
Designing and mass-producing custom LTE gear to embed within new Ledger stock before retail sale is truly a sophisticated attack.
Additional coverage by Catalin Cimpanu: https://news.risky.biz/risky-bulletin-spyware-chip-found-in-ledger-crypto-wallets/
- BREACHES: Regarding the Danfoss fridge thing doing the rounds in the media – Kevin Beaumont via Mastodon
It's exactly as dumb as you can imagine. It's the thing we've been screaming about since Shodan first allowed everyone to scan the Internet in 2009:
- admin interface
- exposed to the Internet
- with default creds
Full writeup from Claroty
Internet exposed
Ancient firmware, forgotten
Perishables spoil
- BREACHES: “Is everything still down?” via Reddit
What a crazy time to be alive. Reddit is often the most useful source of breach intelligence at companies with hourly workers. Ahold Delhaize is dealing with a breach, and it's immediately obvious at r/FoodLion as workers discuss exactly which systems are down and for how long.
- VULNERABILITIES: VerCellBreak: How we escaped Vercel’s hardened sandbox
What's remarkable about this one is how un-AI and unremarkable it is. It's just your basic protocol smuggling technique. I'm not sure we can even call it a vulnerability - it's just abusing a data field, in the same way that some C2 tools use DNS TXT records to smuggle data out, or instructions in.
- VULNERABILITIES: Microsoft Patches More Than 1,400 Security Flaws – Krebs on Security
Can we still call them vulnerabilities if they aren't making anyone more vulnerable? It's amazing to see patch Tuesday 14x heavier than normal, but with zero news stories about anyone exploiting new Microsoft vulnerabilities.
- AI CRIMES: Anthropic’s Claude AI Submitted False Homicide Tip to Philadelphia Police Website
This is kinda funny from both perspectives. On one side, Anthropic's model submitted murder tips, and they weren't aware of it for months. On the other, the tips went into the police's spam folder and they didn't notice for months - they didn't know it was there until Anthropic told them.
Glad it wasn't a real murder tip! Someone should really check that spam folder from time to time...
