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Feisty Duck’s Cryptography & Security Newsletter is a periodic dispatch bringing you commentary and news surrounding cryptography, security, privacy, SSL/TLS, and PKI. It's designed to keep you informed about the latest developments in this space. Enjoyed every month by more than 50,000 subscribers. Written by Ivan Ristić.
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Introducing Feisty Duck News: Cryptography and Security, Live
Today we’re announcing Feisty Duck News, a new addition to our website where you can get the same news you are getting from us every month, just more of it, and in real-time. In essence, it’s a live and constantly evolving version of this newsletter.
This project actually started as our internal news integrator, designed to help us keep up with what’s going on in the world so we can better curate our newsletter. At some point, we realised this could be useful to many people. Instead of waiting for the monthly roundup, you can now see new links as soon as we find them.
What Can You Do With Feisty Duck News?
Our news integrator follows many news sources, with more to come. We read every article in every feed and pick the ones which are relevant for our audience. We follow the usual news aggregators, but we also try to find the sources - those people and companies who effect change. You will find many personal blogs on our list, as well as some LinkedIn accounts. We feel that those people, the doers, deserve more attention.
We categorise the selected articles into 5 categories (same as in this newsletter) and two main
groups: all news and promoted (front-page) news. Each category has its own RSS feed;
use whichever one you prefer.
If you want to see a wide range of articles, visit the New page from time to time. If you really
want to stay on top of everything, sign into your Feisty Duck account, after which you’ll gain
access to the “Mark Seen” button on this page that hides those articles you’ve already seen. If
you click it every time you read everything, on your next visit you’ll see only the articles
that have appeared since. If you want to follow just the main stories, visit our Front Page from time to time. This page contains
only the articles we felt were more interesting and impactful. The promoted articles are the
short list for inclusion in the newsletter. If you have a link you’d like to share, submit it to us! And, if we’re not
following your favourite source of information, please get in touch and let us know what it is.
Here is our current list of sources.
We Want to Hear From You Now
We have many ideas for how we could further improve Feisty Duck News, but we’d rather hear from you first. Is this something you need? Is this something you want? Are there other features you’d like to see? Other sources? Please do get in touch - it’s what makes working on something like this really interesting: building things that people care about.
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Short News
Artificial Intelligence
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A German researcher discovered AI-specific advertisements embedded
in feeds targeted at AI crawlers, appearing as extensive FAQs visible only to AI agents,
not human users. The article also discusses tensions between OpenAI and Hugging Face, as
well as the rise of competitive Chinese open-weight AI models, such as DeepSeek and
Alibaba's offerings. The hidden ads raise concerns about data integrity, publisher
trust, and potential model poisoning through biased training data.
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Trail of Bits reports that consumer-grade virtual machines are
insufficient to contain modern AI agents. Testing showed GPT-5.6-Cyber escaped sandboxed
QEMU/KVM VMs three times, autonomously discovering three zero-days and building working
exploits. The report recommends using hardened virtualization with a minimal attack
surface, such as Firecracker, to provide stronger containment of advanced agents.
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Figma describes its security operations approach using AI agents
built on a RAG stack to automate alert triage, forensic investigations, and incident
response. The system routes security alerts through specialized LLM-powered agents with
scoped access to tools like Okta, Wiz, Panther, and Snowflake, reducing alert resolution
time by 71% while maintaining security controls through agent specialization and limited
permissions.
Post-Quantum Cryptography
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RFC 10024 introduces hybrid key exchange mechanisms to integrate
post-quantum cryptography into TLS 1.3, using ML-KEM-768. The standard preserves
existing TLS mechanics while enabling incremental deployment through HelloRetryRequest
negotiation, addressing both passive decrypt-later attacks and active quantum threats.
Implementation support already exists in OpenSSL and other common TLS stacks, with a
roadmap to make hybrid the default by 2029.
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A critique of Simon's claimed quantum algorithm for the Dihedral
Coset Problem (DCP), proving that algorithms discarding too much information about
Fourier-label coordinates cannot solve DCP in polynomial time. The authors establish a
general no-go result and suggest that successful DCP solutions require better
utilization of Fourier label information.
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A paper presenting a quasipolynomial-time distinguisher and attack
against the McEliece cryptosystem using binary Goppa codes. The attack runs in time
n^O(log n) and can distinguish McEliece public keys from random matrices with high
probability, applying to all Classic McEliece parameter sets evaluated in the NIST
standardization process. The approach is extended heuristically to recover messages from
noisy codewords, though results are not yet practically feasible.
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A Zenodo report assessing EU-27 countries' preparedness for the
migration to post-quantum cryptography using a five-tier framework. Findings show
Lithuania alone meets the highest tier (strong government-led PQC implementation), with
44.4% of countries in the top two tiers and 81.5% showing some structured PQC
preparation. The report identifies a significant gap between EU policy intent and actual
verifiable implementation across member states.
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Oracle is extending post-quantum cryptography support across
Java's long-term support (LTS) releases, including JDK 25, 21, 17, 11, and 8. Starting
with ML-KEM and ML-DSA introduced in JDK 24, and hybrid PQC key exchange for TLS 1.3 in
JDK 27 (planned September 2026), Oracle plans to backport these capabilities to older
LTS releases through 2027, enabling gradual enterprise migration with minimal
disruption.
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The article explains post-quantum signing for JSON Web Tokens
using ML-DSA (Dilithium), standardized in RFC 9964. It covers three ML-DSA variants
(ML-DSA-44, ML-DSA-65, ML-DSA-87), the new AKP JWK type for ML-DSA keys, and practical
considerations, including larger signature sizes. The article recommends adopting ML-DSA
for long-lived tokens, high-stakes security, or when customers require post-quantum
support, while noting that classical algorithms remain adequate for short-lived tokens.
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The post critiques IETF standardization procedures for a hybrid
ECC+ML-KEM specification in TLS, arguing that working group chairs declared rough
consensus to advance the specification despite lacking majority support among
participants and leaving key objections unaddressed. The author documents concerns about
procedural integrity and governance transparency in IETF decision-making.
Cryptography
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Signal introduces Automatic Key Verification, a feature that
provides streamlined end-to-end encryption verification through a layered system of user
checks, Signal connections, and third-party auditors. It uses key transparency and
ledger-based processes to ensure public key consistency without requiring in-person
meetings or secondary communication channels.
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RFC 10015 deprecates obsolete key exchange methods in TLS 1.2 and
DTLS 1.2, including non-ephemeral Diffie-Hellman and ECDH, FFDHE, and RSA-based cipher
suites. The RFC recommends implementations move toward stronger, ephemeral, and
non-RSA-based key exchanges while noting that TLS 1.3 is unaffected.
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A humorous 1984 overview of coding theory presented as a
'biography' of Alice and Bob, covering source coding (data compression), channel coding
(error correction), and secrecy coding (cryptography), with practical examples and
trade-offs in reliable and secure communication.
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echtool-web is a web interface for testing and probing Encrypted
Client Hello (ECH) deployments. It offers customizable configuration options, validation
of RetryConfigurations, and CLI-like commands for sending GREASE ECH requests,
establishing connections with ECH configs, and decoding ECH configurations. The web
interface supports IPv4 only; IPv6 is available through the standalone echtool CLI.
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EPFL researchers developed E2EE-CD, a new end-to-end encryption
method for collaborative document editing that extends the Signal protocol to work as an
encrypted broadcast channel. The system enables secure multi-user collaboration without
exposing content to service providers, achieving approximately 120 ms latency while
maintaining scalability and supporting role-based access control.
Privacy and Society
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A review and ranking of privacy-focused web browsers for 2026,
comparing desktop browsers under default settings. The article evaluates privacy
mechanisms like state partitioning to prevent cross-site tracking. It discusses how
features such as Alt-Svc and blob URLs affect user privacy, including specific version
information for browsers such as Brave, Firefox, Ungoogled Chromium, Tor, and LibreWolf.
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ShaderGhost demonstrates a covert tracking mechanism that exploits
GPU shader caches to create persistent identifiers that persist even after standard
privacy actions such as clearing cookies or restarting the browser. The tracking ID is
stored locally on the device via WebGL shader compilation timing side channels and
persists across sites, evading typical browser privacy controls. The article advocates
that browsers partition or clear GPU caches, similar to how they handle cookies.
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Privacy Thing is a browser extension that reduces online
fingerprinting by shielding 53 browser properties, methods, and constructors across 13
categories, including geolocation, Canvas, WebGL, WebRTC, and others. Available as a
preview for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.
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The Citizen Lab investigates covert surveillance actors exploiting
weaknesses in global 4G/5G telecom networks and international roaming infrastructure to
track targets. The research identifies sophisticated threat actors who manipulate SS7
and Diameter signaling protocols, spoof operator identities across multiple countries,
and use IPX providers to conceal their activities, revealing systemic vulnerabilities in
telecom infrastructure.
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Security researcher Cory Solovewicz receives hundreds of thousands
of emails daily sent to misconfigured 'no reply' addresses, exposing sensitive
information through poorly managed email systems. The article highlights how leaked
contact addresses, bulk email practices, and inadequate data disposal allow confidential
details to end up in unmonitored inboxes, demonstrating systemic failures in email
security and data handling.
Public Key Infrastructure
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The post outlines the SIG-Spec working group's plans to evolve the
SPIFFE standard over the next 12 months, with an emphasis on community engagement and
industry-prioritized features. It details weekly open meetings for discussion and
proposals, inviting researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts to participate through
the SPIFFE community.
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An EU-funded open-source age-verification project requires
hardware-bound attestation using trusted hardware (Android TEE, Apple Secure Enclave) to
prevent credential copying. The approach raises concerns about device dependency and
ecosystem lock-in, while credentials are restricted to Commission-approved applications.
A security review is forthcoming to evaluate alternative approaches.
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CertSight is an eBPF-based real-time certificate observability
tool for Linux that monitors TLS certificate activity across the infrastructure without
accessing private keys or requiring application changes. It supports cloud-native, bare
metal, and Kubernetes environments, detects certificates via system file access and
network events, includes Java support, and provides detailed observability, including
TLS versions and cipher suites.
Security
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ENISA has published a practical guide for SMEs to implement
secure-by-design and secure-by-default principles throughout a product's lifecycle. The
playbook includes 22 actionable playbooks designed to integrate these security concepts
into existing engineering, product, and release processes, with materials available on
GitHub.
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PortSwigger Research demonstrates multiple CSS and HTML
sanitization bypass techniques in webmail clients (Gmail, Outlook, ProtonMail, Yahoo
Mail, AOL Mail, Fastmail, Slack). Attackers can exploit divergences between sanitizers
and browser rendering to perform UI spoofing, exfiltrate authentication tokens, track
email views, and capture keystrokes, potentially leading to account takeover.
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A detailed account of implementing Device Bound Session
Credentials (DBSC) at Report URI, covering the practical challenges and lessons learned.
DBSC binds session cookies to hardware-backed device keys (TPM/secure enclave) with a
two-phase refresh workflow. Key lessons include: proper state management to avoid race
conditions, mandatory cookie rotation on refresh, avoiding registration response
challenges that could cause browser errors, and handling browser-specific quirks such as
transient cookie mismatches and unintended logouts.
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This talk explores XSS defense mechanisms and browser-level
protections, including Trusted Types policies, setHTML as a safer alternative to
innerHTML, and policy-free browser sanitization to prevent XSS attacks. The speaker
discusses the current implementation status across browsers and envisions a future in
which XSS is mitigated by default through standardized browser mechanisms, analogous to
the adoption of HTTPS.
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Cloudflare analyzes the deployment of RFC 9234, which introduces
BGP Role and the Only to Customer (OTC) path attribute to prevent route leaks. The study
finds partial adoption with some Tier-1 networks stripping OTC attributes, hindering
propagation. The article provides guidance on local deployment of BGP Roles and enabling
strict mode for stronger route-leak prevention.
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