Black October

It’s been a rough month if you work in cybersecurity. Some are calling it Black October. Today we’ll talk about two of the major security events: PHP2Shell and eMudhra’s TLS certificates. But we’ll also have some fun AI news, too, including the second half of my tutorial on making your own apps using a free chatbot.

In other news: Google fixes serious Pixel phone bugs; North Korea blamed for $6.3B crypto heist; Google using your email, photos for ads targeting; NM judge fines Meta $25B; Israeli firm used ads to deliver spyware; Utah judge rules VPN law invalid; CA public school data leak; Canada’s Crime Stoppers leaks 1.5M tips spanning decades; DHS breached affecting 41k employees; people are hacking their smart TVs to make them dumb.

Article Links

1. 110 vulnerabilities fixed in Google Pixel devices. [kaspersky.com – Alanna Titterington – Oct 2, 2026]: https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/google-pixel-september-2026-security-update/56488
2. North Korean hackers blamed for stealing record $6.3B in Binance breach. [techcrunch.com – Zack Whittaker – Oct 30, 2026]: https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/30/north-korean-hackers-blamed-for-stealing-record-6-3b-in-binance-breach
3. How to stop Google using your Gmail and Photos for ads. [proton.me – Ben Wolford – Oct 27, 2026]: https://proton.me/blog/gmail-ads
4. Meta ordered to pay New Mexico $25 billion for deceiving users about privacy on Facebook. [apnews.com – https://apnews.com/author/mikella-schuettler – Oct 21, 2026]: https://apnews.com/article/facebook-penalty-cambridge-analytica-new-mexico-b329f82c3d3db3758a159405acbd4d0e
5. Israeli firm used online ads to run vast spy operation, researchers say. [reuters.com – Raphael Satter – Oct 15, 2026]: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/israeli-firm-used-online-ads-run-vast-spy-operation-researchers-say-2026-10-15
6. Court Agrees with EFF: Utah’s VPN Law Demands a Technical Impossibility. [eff.org – Rindala Alajaji – Oct 6, 2026]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/10/court-agrees-eff-utahs-vpn-law-demands-technical-impossibility
7. Hackers steal personal data of millions of California students in massive breach. [msn.com – Howard Blume, Andrew Khouri, Jaweed Kaleem – Oct 15, 2026]: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-10-16/state-testing-student-data-hack
8. Massive Leak Exposes 41,000 Homeland Security Workers—Including Undercover ICE Agents. [wired.com – Dhruv Mehrotra – Oct 28, 2026]: https://www.wired.com/story/massive-leak-exposes-41000-homeland-security-workers-including-undercover-ice-agents
9. More than 1.5 million Canadian Crime Stoppers tips leaked. [cbc.ca – Valérie Ouellet, Michelle Allan – Oct 21, 2026]: https://www.cbc.ca/news/investigates/canadian-crime-stoppers-tips-leaked-hack-investigation-9.7388820
10. The Internet goes on high alert after discovery of 8 compromised TLS certs. [arstechnica.com – Dan Goodin – Oct 20, 2026]: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/10/the-internet-goes-on-high-alert-after-discovery-of-8-compromised-tls-certs
11. AI Is Changing Everything About Hacking. No One Knows What Happens Next. [404media.co – Jason Koebler – Oct 22, 2026]: https://www.404media.co/php2shell-black-october-ai-is-changing-everything-about-hacking-no-one-knows-what-happens-next
12. People are using AI to make their smart TVs dumb again. [techcrunch.com – Sarah Perez – Oct 19, 2026]: https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/19/people-are-using-ai-to-make-their-smart-tvs-dumb-again
13. Tip of the Week: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/sample-ai-app-photomd/

Further Info

• De-Google your life: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/reducing-my-google-footprint/
• Archive old email: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/withdraw-your-data-email/
• Minimize your data: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/data-diet-introduction/
• Freeze four credit: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/credit-freeze-now-is-the-time/
• Back up your data: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/you-must-have-data-backups/
• Check bad certificates: https://emudhra.we-have-a-problem.com/
• Censys PHP2Shell tracker: https://php2shell.censys.com/
• Create a security.txt file: https://securitytxt.org/

Table of Contents

• 0:00:07: Intro
• 0:01:16: News rundown
• 0:03:17: Update Pixel phones ASAP
• 0:03:51: $6.3B crypto heist
• 0:05:21: Google to use Gmail, Photos for ads
• 0:07:20: Judge fines Meta $25B
• 0:08:38: Israeli firm used ad to implant spyware
• 0:10:30: Utah judge rules VPN ban infeasible
• 0:12:24: CA public school student data leaked
• 0:14:13: DHS breach impacts 41,000 employees
• 0:16:40: Canada Crime Stoppers leaks 1.5M tips
• 0:22:58: Weak TLS certificates leaked
• 0:37:19: Explaining PHP2Shell
• 0:49:14: Carey’s take on Black October
• 1:01:20: People are hacking their TVs
• 1:05:20: Tip of the Week
• 1:11:25: Wrap-up
• 1:12:16: Looking ahead
• 1:12:35: Patron podcast preview
• 1:12:48: 2026 Gift Guide