The Curious Engineer

All blogs / Security

Lenny Zeltser

zeltser.com

Builder of security products and programs. Teacher of those who run them. Cybersecurity executive, SANS Faculty Fellow, and creator of REMnux.

SecurityReverse engineeringAI / ML

’95’00’05’10’15’20’25
Posts
486 from 26 Jan 1995 to 24 Sep 2026
Posting
monthly (21 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
Feed
https://zeltser.com/rss.xml

2026 21

  1. AI-Assisted Malware Analysis Tips
  2. My Favorite Findings From the AI Security Decisions Report
  3. Brooklyn History: The Mystery of Club 338
  4. The Security Autonomy Matrix: Deciding AI Authority
  5. A Field Guide to the AI Security Market
  6. Cyber Company Profiles: Independent Analysis of Security Vendors
  7. What 239 Products Reveal About the Shape of AI Security
  8. Benchmark Your AI Security Decisions: A Five-Minute Survey
  9. A Report Template for Malware Analysis
  10. Templates for Cybersecurity Executive Briefings
  11. A Report Template for Cyber Threat Intelligence
  12. Making Sense of Security for AI: The AI Defense Matrix
  13. Build a Decoy MCP Server to Catch AI Agent Attackers
  14. What to Make of AIUC-1, a New AI Agent Certification
  15. Designing Security Products for Humans and AI Agents
  16. Awareness Training Won't Protect Employees from Their Own AI Tools
  17. Competing in Endpoint Security: A Guide for Startups
  18. From Chief Opinion Officer to Action-Taker
  19. What Being a CISO Taught Me About Security Leadership
  20. Using AI Agents to Analyze Malware on REMnux
  21. The Chief Insecurity Officer

2025 1

  1. The CISO's Mindset: Outcomes, Automation, and Leadership

2024 1

  1. Transform the Defender's Dilemma into the Defender’s Advantage

2023 4

  1. Distribute Cybersecurity Tasks with Diffusion of Responsibility in Mind
  2. Three Ways CISOs Can Drive More Meaningful Collaboration
  3. Let's Address the Cybersecurity Careers Gap
  4. As a CISO, Are You a Builder, Fixer, or Scale Operator?

2022 1

  1. Cybersecurity: No Longer the "Department of No"

2019 1

  1. Top 10 Cybersecurity Writing Mistakes

2018 4

  1. A Cybersecurity Writing Course for You
  2. The Language and Nature of Fileless Attacks Over Time
  3. Cyber is Cyber is Cyber
  4. Communicating About Cybersecurity in Plain English: Haiku!

2017 2

  1. How to Deploy Your Own Algo VPN Server in the DigitalOcean Cloud
  2. The History of Fileless Malware - Looking Beyond the Buzzword

2016 2

  1. How to Send Customer Emails That Don't Look Like Phishing
  2. Experts Cannot Help Overstating Their Expertise

2015 4

  1. Face Recognition and Locking Your System: You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello
  2. A Close Look at PayPal Overpayment Scams That Target Craigslist Sellers
  3. Tunneling Data and Commands Over DNS to Bypass Firewalls
  4. Generating Domain Variations Used in Phishing

2014 2

  1. Getting to Know Docker for Distributing and Running Applications
  2. Attackers Rely on Social Engineering to Activate Macros in Malicious Documents

2013 5

  1. Cybersecurity Cheat Sheets
  2. Anticipating Cyber Threats Beyond APT
  3. Speeding up the Clock for Malware Analysis With Accelerify
  4. Continuous and Seamless User Authentication with Biometrics
  5. Creative Options for Better Authentication of Mobile Phone Users

2012 6

  1. The Endowment Effect in Information Security
  2. Are Anxious People More Vigilant in Cybersecurity?
  3. Why Are Executives More Prone to Accept Risks?
  4. Who Was the First to Use the Term Exfiltration in Cybersecurity?
  5. Some Facts and Conjecture About the VeriSign Data Breach
  6. Free Automated Malware Analysis Sandboxes and Services

2011 69

  1. Incident Response on 64-Bit Windows Using 32-Bit Tools
  2. Balancing Brevity and Verbosity in Business Communications
  3. Extracting Malicious Flash Objects from PDFs Using SWF Mastah
  4. Assigning Descriptive Names to Malware - Why and How?
  5. 3 Free Tools to Fake DNS Responses for Malware Analysis
  6. Capabilities and Limitations of Enterprise Antimalware Suites
  7. The Need for Ethics When Researching Social Engineering
  8. DDoS Incident Response Cheat Sheet
  9. My Favorite Information Security Authors in the Past Year
  10. Data Mining Resumes for Computer Attack Reconnaissance
  11. Controlling Adobe Acrobat/Reader JavaScript Support
  12. Explaining Computer Security Terms to Ordinary People
  13. 9 Convenient Lies in Cybersecurity
  14. 5 Events in 2011 That Challenged Online Security and Trust Assumptions
  15. Design Information Security With Failure in Mind
  16. The Dark Side of Remote Desktop
  17. How Antivirus Vendors Describe Their Cloud Capabilities
  18. Enterprises Won't Adopt Adobe Reader X Any Time Soon
  19. 11 Security Tips for Online Social Networking
  20. Which Apps Are Authorized to Access Your Social Networking Accounts?
  21. The Use of Fake or Fraudulent LinkedIn Profiles
  22. Why There Are Fewer LinkedIn Scams and Malware Than Facebook Ones
  23. AppLocker for Containing Windows Malware in the Enterprise
  24. Learn Better Security Breach PR from Herald Sun's Halfhearted Apology
  25. How Clickjacking Attacks Work
  26. Reflections Upon Deception-Based Security Tactics
  27. A Strong Executive Summary for Your Security Report
  28. When Bots Use Social Media for Command and Control
  29. A Delusive Sense of Security in Walled Gardens
  30. 11 Recommendations for Coming Up to Speed on Bitcoin
  31. Cyber Warfare Encompasses Only Some Security Concerns
  32. Security Assessment Testing for Client-Side Vulnerabilities
  33. Fear vs. Anxiety in Cybersecurity: What We Can Do
  34. Explaining Your Progress to Clients or Colleagues
  35. Making Sense of Digital Forensics and Incident Response Disciplines
  36. The Worst Information Security Advice Ever
  37. The Company of Self: A Career Development Org Chart
  38. APT Cartoon #6: APT Goes Mainstream on TV
  39. Know the Alternatives When Negotiating IT Risk Mitigation Approaches
  40. Choice Fatigue Might Affect Cybersecurity Decisions
  41. A Look at Today's Computer Attack and Defense Landscape
  42. APT Cartoon #5: Scientists
  43. APT Cartoon #4: Sad Elephant
  44. APT Cartoon #3: Monster and Humans
  45. APT Cartoon #2: Doctor and Patient
  46. APT Cartoon #1: Two Dogs
  47. Announcing the Certified APT Nerd (CAPTN) Credential
  48. 4 Free Tools to Detect Local Insecure Browser Plugins
  49. Advanced Persistent Threat Haiku
  50. 3 Tools to Scan the File System With Custom Malware Signatures
  51. Antivirus Products Are Like Cold Medicine - Not A Rant
  52. Border Bias and Risk Perception in Information Security
  53. 4 Steps to Combat Malware Enterprise-Wide: New Article
  54. Developing Cybersecurity Skills Through Deliberate Practice
  55. How to Design Security Warning Messages to Protect Users
  56. Better Internal Vulnerability Scanning With Authentication
  57. Understanding Computer Attack and Defense Techniques
  58. Cloud Makes Security More Affordable for Smaller Companies
  59. Etiquette Tips for Social Receptions at Conferences
  60. 5 Bad Habits of Cybersecurity Professionals
  61. Why Attackers Still Target Your Mailbox
  62. A Quick Look at Defensio for Protecting Facebook Activities
  63. Analyzing Malicious Documents Cheat Sheet
  64. Breaking Down the Walls Between Application and Infrastructure Security
  65. Tips for Converting Shellcode to x86 Assembly
  66. Teens on Formspring Are Redefining Privacy Norms
  67. When Bots Chat With Social Network Participants
  68. When Bots Control Content on Social Networking Sites
  69. Metrics for Measuring Enterprise Malware Defenses

2010 26

  1. Retrospective: Why I Started This Security Blog
  2. Cross-Side Scripting Demystified
  3. Deploying Google Chrome in the Enterprise
  4. 10 Information Security Mistakes: A False Sense of Security
  5. Cybersecurity Deception Lessons from World War II
  6. Predicting 2011 Information Security Trends
  7. Antivirus Vendors Consider Facebook Activity Protection
  8. Depth of Technical Knowledge Is Not Enough
  9. 5 Common Malware Infection Approaches
  10. Cloud Risks and the Security Community
  11. Dealing With Brand Impersonations on Social Networks
  12. Key Challenges of Combating Malware in the Enterprise
  13. When Targeted Attacks Aren't Targeted: The Magic of Cold Reading
  14. Combating Malware in the Enterprise
  15. Could a Data Breach Actually Help the Affected Brand?
  16. ATM Burglars Arrested in Moscow, Stole $1.5 Million USD
  17. CyberForensics: Understanding Information Security Investigations
  18. The Definition of Social Networking
  19. Security Risks to Consider When Adopting Cloud Services
  20. Exploring Facebook's New Social CAPTCHA Authentication
  21. 10 Step Guide to Hacking Logs
  22. Cloud Security Attestation Beyond SAS 70
  23. Asymmetry of Data Value, Social Engineering, and What To Do
  24. Protecting Corporate Data in the Age of Consumerization
  25. OpenDNS, NortonDNS and ClearCloud Filter Malicious Domains
  26. 5 Steps to Building a Malware Analysis Toolkit Using Free Tools

2008 2

  1. Drinking Games
  2. Deputies of Senses - Poetry Collection

2007 1

  1. Emerging Information Security Threats, 2007

2005 1

  1. Essential Trends and Dynamics of the Endpoint Security Industry in 2005

2001 2

  1. A Evolução Dos Agentes Maliciosos
  2. Auditing UNIX Systems: A Case Study

2000 1

  1. The Evolution of Malicious Agents

1996 1

  1. Education and the Internet: A New Hope

1995 1

  1. Early Stages of Soviet and American Radio Broadcasting

Undated 328

  1. Builder & Creator
  2. Author & Strategist
  3. Find oudated adobe reader with acroscrub
  4. Firewalls for multitier applications
  5. Focused numble threat tactics
  6. For610 course expansion to 5 days
  7. Free malware analysis windows vm
  8. Fun to change behavior and improve security
  9. Gentle pull of mediocrity
  10. Get rid of bilnd dates
  11. Getting started with cloud security and risks
  12. Getting the right it job tips
  13. Getting to know larry seltzer
  14. Good incident reports
  15. Good ir reports with ai
  16. Good security assessment report
  17. Google domains first look
  18. Google domains registrar
  19. Herd behavior in cybersecurity
  20. Hex editors for malware analysis
  21. Hidden costs of information security projects
  22. High profile vulnerabilities
  23. Highfive
  24. Hiring and working with security consultants
  25. Honeypots for malware ssh web attacks
  26. How antivirus software works
  27. How do get into forensics or incident response
  28. How much should infosec book cost
  29. How the scarcity principle is used in online scams and
  30. How to ask questions to succeed with security projects
  31. How to be heard in security and business
  32. How to become a better technical writer
  33. How to use security architecture cheat sheet
  34. Human communications cheat sheet
  35. Hybrid analysis acquired by crowdstrike
  36. I was one of the guests at the recent forensic
  37. Illusion of invulnerability
  38. Importance of feeling secure
  39. Important information security controls
  40. Improving data safeguards
  41. Incident response report template
  42. Inconvenient truths for information security
  43. Indicators of compromise entering the mainstream
  44. Influence tips for security professionals
  45. Information avoidance and infosec recomendations
  46. Information retrieval with natural language processing techniques
  47. Information security and the new tech bubble
  48. Information security architects chefs
  49. Information security community on twitter
  50. Information security incident response coordinator
  51. Information security job titles popularity
  52. Information security not standalone discipline
  53. Information security reporting to legal consel
  54. Infosec assessment report cheat sheet
  55. Infosec hiring and job search
  56. Infosec social media and networking
  57. Inside network perimeter security book
  58. Inspirations
  59. Install metasploit on remnux
  60. Interactive replays
  61. Internal politics and security professionals
  62. Interviewing tips for it job candidates
  63. Introductory malware analysis webcasts
  64. Intrusion detection analysis
  65. Jan miller hybrid analysis sandbox
  66. Java browser security liability
  67. Joining axonius
  68. Joining minerva labs
  69. Joining startup executive team
  70. Learn the future of privacy from teens
  71. Learning in a group
  72. Limitations of frameworks in infosec
  73. Linkedin look alike email spam
  74. Long tail of potential data breach victims
  75. Looking for anomalies in check overpayment scam
  76. Lookup malicious websites
  77. Low price as a security product differentiator
  78. Lower cybersecurity expenses reduce risk
  79. Make security policies harder to read
  80. Making sense of microsofts endpoint security strategy
  81. Malicious activities using linkedin website
  82. Malicious code inside office documents
  83. Malicious ip blocklists
  84. Malicious links on social networking sites
  85. Malicious web requests
  86. Malvertising dealing with malicious ads
  87. Malvertising how malicious ads are deployed
  88. Malvertising malicious ad campaigns
  89. Malvertising mechanics of malicious ads
  90. Malvertising protecting malicious ad campaigns
  91. Malware analysis and writing online training
  92. Malware analysis cheat sheet
  93. Malware analysis reports
  94. Malware analysis tool frameworks
  95. Malware analysis webcast
  96. Malware analyst job description
  97. Malware analysts cookbook and dvd
  98. Malware and the social web
  99. Malware fighting malicious code book
  100. Malware for mobile devices
  101. Malware identification during security assessment
  102. Malware in the enterprise
  103. Malware modifies routing table
  104. Malware naming approaches
  105. Malware sample sources
  106. Malware updates on twitter
  107. Malware vaccination infection markers
  108. Malware whom or what are we fighting
  109. Mandiant redline for memory forensics
  110. Market segmentation in computer attacks
  111. Mastering 4 stages of malware analysis
  112. Metasploit framework docker container
  113. Misinformation during security assessments and forensics
  114. Misleading trademark invoices
  115. Mobile devices enterprise security
  116. Modern design security
  117. More metrics for measuring enterprise malware defenses
  118. More security tool side effects
  119. Morse style tap codes for mobile authentication
  120. Multi engine av scanning sites
  121. Mutually assured destruction in cyberspace
  122. My story so far
  123. Name that malware
  124. Need improved security update experience
  125. Negative online publicity
  126. Netsh network setup for malware analysis lab
  127. Network perimeter defense
  128. New ciso impressions
  129. New job challenges opportunities
  130. New product management tips
  131. Newsletter
  132. No script strengthens firefox
  133. Non financial currency for security
  134. Notoriety among infosec experts
  135. One year anniversary of this blog
  136. Online tools for malicious pdf analysis
  137. Participating in the eternal cycle of cybersecurity
  138. Passwords demise exaggerated
  139. Past present future web trust model
  140. Paste sites for pen testing reconnaissance
  141. Pastebin used for sharing stolen data
  142. Pdf malware threat report
  143. Pdf stream dumper malicious file analysis
  144. Peepdf malicious pdf analysis
  145. Personal ai stack
  146. Personal details in scams
  147. Plant honeytokens
  148. Podcast interview security reflections
  149. Potential for malvertisements on linkedin
  150. Potential security applications of the iphone 5s m7
  151. Preparing remnux v3
  152. Prescreening tech support scam
  153. Presentations
  154. Process hacker an alternative to process explorer
  155. Process monitor filters for malware analysis
  156. Processactivitymonitor and regfromapp
  157. Products without sso
  158. Professional it certs and similarity
  159. Profile spy scams on facebook
  160. Pros and cons of virtual patching
  161. Protean information security architecture
  162. Psychology of shoplifting and malicious hacking
  163. Publishing to ai assistants
  164. Quora essentials for infosec pros
  165. Read resumes for career options
  166. Reasons for denial of service attacks
  167. Regular vs infosec people
  168. Regulatory compliance weaker security
  169. Rejected security recommendations
  170. Relevant security decisions
  171. Relying on antivirus disinfect capabilities
  172. Rem course expansion to 4 days
  173. Remnux malware analysis tips
  174. Remnux tools list
  175. Remnux v3 released
  176. Remnux v5 release for malware analysts
  177. Remnux v6 release for malware analysis
  178. Remnux v7 release
  179. Remnux v8 release
  180. Remnux4 installation notes
  181. Remote desktop security risks
  182. Research to prepare for it interview
  183. Researching scams helps understand human
  184. Restaurant inspections as security validation model
  185. Retired malware samples retrospective
  186. Reverse engineering malicious code tips
  187. Reverse engineering malware methodology
  188. Reverse engineering webcasts
  189. Reverse icmp shell
  190. Reverse malware course comments
  191. Risk management objectivist subjectivist
  192. Rituals in information security
  193. Rock paper scissors game for infosec pros
  194. Saas ai agent trust boundary
  195. Scammers in action domain names and family
  196. Scoring security product strategy
  197. Securing api keys on your workstation
  198. Securing software products
  199. Security and social media marketing campaigns
  200. Security architecture cheat sheet
  201. Security assessment for mid sized firms
  202. Security assessment report as critique
  203. Security assessment report cheat sheet
  204. Security assessment report template
  205. Security assessment rfp cheat sheet
  206. Security assessment scope
  207. Security assessment tips
  208. Security checklist for campaigns
  209. Security consulting value perception
  210. Security governance vibe coding
  211. Security incident cycle
  212. Security incident log review checklist
  213. Security incident questionnaire cheat sheet
  214. Security incident response program tips
  215. Security incident survey cheat sheet
  216. Security measures risky behavior
  217. Security privacy break barriers
  218. Security product creation framework
  219. Security product management large companies vs startups
  220. Security product strategy with ai
  221. Security risks and benefits of docker application
  222. Security scoreboard product reviews
  223. Security startups first impression
  224. Security vendor ciso community
  225. Self selecting gullible victims
  226. Several posts on malware analysis tools
  227. Share malware with researchers
  228. Shift your mindset from conflict to collaboration to succeed in security
  229. Shrinking the pie of computer crime
  230. Side effects of security tools
  231. Similarities between riots and hacktivism
  232. Situational awareness for infosec professionals
  233. Six signals for threat attribution
  234. Sleep deprivation and information security
  235. Smb security product strategy
  236. Smell of fear in cybersecurity
  237. Sms text phishing
  238. Soc2 checkbox reality
  239. Social engineering by mobile device malware
  240. Social engineering in online scams
  241. Social engineering mirror emotional state
  242. Social engineering scam money mule
  243. Social engineering security assessment
  244. Social graph pursued by computer attackers
  245. Social identity reputation
  246. Social network security now and then
  247. Social networking risks rewards
  248. Something nice about information security
  249. Start learning malware analysis
  250. State of malware analysis
  251. Stop relying on your resume
  252. Strengthen your security resume
  253. Strong communication skills
  254. Stuxnet malware research
  255. Submit security conference proposal
  256. Suck at security cheat sheet
  257. Suspicious events and security incidents
  258. Symantec update norton internet security phish
  259. Targeting web browser
  260. Targeting web browser user
  261. Teaching malware analysis and the expanding corpus of
  262. Tech support scammer conversation
  263. Teens access sharing and the future
  264. The adversarial cycle of computer attacks and defenses
  265. The lyrics playground poetry
  266. The notion of a honeypot persona
  267. The social web and security
  268. The storm worm october 2007
  269. Third party keyboards security
  270. Three ciso opportunities when staying
  271. Time asymmetry in security incident response
  272. Tips for detecting website compromise
  273. Tips for hiring managers seeking security professionals
  274. Tips for researching malicious websites
  275. Tools for malicious pdf analysis
  276. Top ten cloud security risks
  277. Touchy security topics apt
  278. Touchy security topics insider threat
  279. Touchy security topics roi
  280. Tracking malicious websites by etags
  281. Traits of a good manager of an information technology
  282. Translated poems
  283. Trust and mistrust in information security
  284. Twitter social networking for information security
  285. Tying shoelaces and information security
  286. Types of risks in social media and networking
  287. Unemployment fraud and identity theft
  288. Untangling saas complexity
  289. Use security breach for good pr
  290. Vanity web searches for targeted attacks
  291. Version 4 release of remnux linux distro for malware
  292. Visitor survey scams
  293. Vmware malware analysis
  294. Vmware network isolation for malware analysis
  295. Voice mail and answering machine messages
  296. Vulnerability management hamster wheel
  297. Was company hacked
  298. We still suck at protecting logon credentials
  299. Wearable video capture security
  300. Web application attacks via browser
  301. Web application firewalls wafs will be ubiquitous
  302. Web browser attack vectors
  303. Web history
  304. Website backup misleading invoices
  305. What anomalies trigger the linkedin sign in
  306. What happens after youve set up google inactive
  307. What is an exploit kit
  308. What is an infosec expert
  309. What is cloud anti virus
  310. What is malware
  311. What is security product manager
  312. What platform means cybersecurity
  313. What to do about password sharing
  314. Whats new in remnux v2
  315. Why computer users dont install security patches
  316. Why facebook one time passwords
  317. Why make fun of apt
  318. Why organizations dont prepare for information
  319. Why security assessment recommendations get ignored
  320. Windows integrity levels for spyware protection processe
  321. Windows integrity levels malware protection files
  322. Witholding sso
  323. Work life balance in information security
  324. Worrisome state of infosec industry
  325. Write better threat reports
  326. Writing tips for tech professionals
  327. Yahoo on demand passwords
  328. Zero day terminology