AI, APIs, and the Next Cyber Battleground: Black Hat 2025 - Chris Boehm, Idan Plotnik, Josh Lemos, Michael Callahan - ASW #346
Application Security Weekly (Audio)
Release Date: 09/02/2025
Application Security Weekly (Audio)
Secure code should be grounded more in concepts like secure by default and secure by design than by "spot the vuln" thinking. Matias Madou shares his experience in secure coding training and the importance of teaching critical thinking. He also discusses why critical thinking is so closely related to threat modeling and how LLMs can be a tool for helping developers get beyond the superficial advice of, "Think like an attacker." Visit for all the latest episodes! Show Notes:
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Just how bad can things get if someone clicks on a link? Rob Allen joins us again to talk about ransomware, why putting too much attention on clicking links misses the larger picture of effective defenses, and what orgs can do to prepare for an influx of holiday-infused ransomware targeting. Segment resources This segment is sponsored by ThreatLocker. Visit to learn more about them! Visit for all the latest episodes! Show Notes:
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Pull requests are a core part of collaboration, whether in open or closed source. GitHub has documented some of the security consequences of misconfiguring how PRs can trigger actions. But what happens when repo owners don't read the docs? Bar Kaduri and Roi Nisimi walk through their experience in reading docs, finding vulns, demonstrating exploits, and working with repo owners to improve their security. Their work highlights the challenges in maintaining good security guidance, figuring out secure defaults, and how so many orgs still struggle with triaging external security reports --...
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The post quantum encryption migration is going to be a challenge, but how much of a challenge? There are several reasons why it is different from every other protocol and cypher iteration in the past. Is today's hardware up to the task? Is it just swapping out a library, or is there more to it? What is the extent of software, systems, and architecture that have to be updated or replaced to complete the migration? Can we get it all done by 2030? Sandy Carielli and Martha Bennett join us to answer these questions and dive into one area of tech that hasn't been discussed much when it comes to...
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Ransomware attacks typically don't care about memory safety and dependency scanning, they often target old, unpatched vulns and too often they succeed. Rob Allen shares some of the biggest cases he's seen, what they have in common, and what appsec teams could do better to help them. Too much software still requires custom configuration to make it more secure. And too few software makers are embracing secure by default, let alone secure by design. In the news, passively monitoring geosynchronous satellite communications on the cheap, successful LLM poisoning of any size model with a single size...
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Interest and participation in the OWASP GenAI Security Project has exploded over the last two years. Steve Wilson explains why it was important for the project to grow beyond just a Top Ten list and address more audiences than just developers. He also talks about how the growth of AI Agents influences the areas that appsec teams need to focus on. Whether apps are created by genAI or directly use genAI, the future of securing software is going to be busy. Resources LLM security book on Amazon at This segment is sponsored by The OWASP GenAI Security Project. Visit to learn more! Visit for...
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Software has forever had flaws and humans have forever been finding and fixing them. With LLMs generating code, appsec has also been trying to determine how well LLMs can find flaws. Nico Waisman talks about XBOW's LLM-based pentesting, how it climbed a bug bounty leaderboard, how it uses feedback loops for better pentests, and how they handle (and even welcome!) hallucinations. In the news, using LLMs to find flaws, directory traversal in an MCP, another resource for learning cloud and AI security, spreadsheets and appsec, and more! Visit for all the latest episodes! Show Notes:
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Dealing with vulns tends to be a discussion about prioritization. After all, there a tons of CVEs and dependencies with known vulns. It's important to figure out how to present developers with useful vuln info that doesn't overwhelm them. Francesco Cipollone shares how to redirect that discussion to focus on remediation and how to incorporate LLMs into this process without losing your focus or losing your budget. In the news, supply chain security in Ruby and Rust, protecting package repositories, refining CodeQL queries for security, refactoring and Rust, an OWASP survey, and more! Visit for...
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In the news, Microsoft encounters a new cascade of avoidable errors with Entra ID, Apple improves iOS with hardware-backed memory safety, DeepSeek demonstrates the difficulty in reviewing models, curl reduces risk by eliminating code, preserving the context of code reviews, and more! Visit for all the latest episodes! Show Notes:
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This week, we chat with Scott Clinton, board member and co-chain of the OWASP GenAI Security Project. This project has become a massive organization within OWASP with hundreds of volunteers and thousands of contributors. This team has been cranking out new tools, reports and guidance for practitioners month after month for over a year now. We start off discussing how Scott and other leaders have managed to keep up with the crazy rate of change in the AI world. We pivot to discussing some of the specific projects the team is working on, and finally discuss some of the biggest AI security...
info_outlineIn this must-see BlackHat 2025 interview, Doug White sits down with Michael Callahan, CMO at Salt Security, for a high-stakes conversation about Agentic AI, Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, and the massive API security risks reshaping the cyber landscape. Broadcast live from the CyberRisk TV studio at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, the discussion pulls back the curtain on how autonomous AI agents and centralized MCP hubs could supercharge productivity—while also opening the door to unprecedented supply chain vulnerabilities. From “shadow MCP servers” to the concept of an “API fabric,” Michael explains why these threats are evolving faster than traditional security measures can keep up, and why CISOs need to act before it’s too late. Viewers will get rare insight into the parallels between MCP exploitation and DNS poisoning, the hidden dangers of API sprawl, and why this new era of AI-driven communication could become a hacker’s dream. Blog: https://salt.security/blog/when-ai-agents-go-rogue-what-youre-missing-in-your-mcp-security Survey Report: https://content.salt.security/AI-Agentic-Survey-2025_LP-AI-Agentic-Survey-2025.html This segment is sponsored by Salt Security. Visit https://securityweekly.com/saltbh for a free API Attack Surface Assessment!
At Black Hat 2025, live from the Cyber Risk TV studio in Las Vegas, Jackie McGuire sits down with Apiiro Co-Founder & CEO Idan Plotnik to unpack the real-world impact of AI code assistants on application security, developer velocity, and cloud costs. With experience as a former Director of Engineering at Microsoft, Idan dives into what drove him to launch Apiiro — and why 75% of engineers will be using AI assistants by 2028. From 10x more vulnerabilities to skyrocketing API bloat and security blind spots, Idan breaks down research from Fortune 500 companies on how AI is accelerating both innovation and risk. What you'll learn in this interview: - Why AI coding tools are increasing code complexity and risk - The massive cost of unnecessary APIs in cloud environments - How to automate secure code without slowing down delivery - Why most CISOs fail to connect security to revenue (and how to fix it) - How Apiiro’s Autofix AI Agent helps organizations auto-fix and auto-govern code risks at scale This isn’t just another AI hype talk. It’s a deep dive into the future of secure software delivery — with practical steps for CISOs, CTOs, and security leaders to become true business enablers. Watch till the end to hear how Apiiro is helping Fortune 500s bridge the gap between code, risk, and revenue. Apiiro AutoFix Agent. Built for Enterprise Security: https://youtu.be/f-_zrnqzYsc Deep Dive Demo: https://youtu.be/WnFmMiXiUuM This segment is sponsored by Apiiro. Be one of the first to see their new AppSec Agent in action at https://securityweekly.com/apiirobh.
Is Your AI Usage a Ticking Time Bomb? In this exclusive Black Hat 2025 interview, Matt Alderman sits down with GitLab CISO Josh Lemos to unpack one of the most pressing questions in tech today: Are executives blindly racing into AI adoption without understanding the risks? Filmed live at the CyberRisk TV Studio in Las Vegas, this eye-opening conversation dives deep into: - How AI is being rapidly adopted across enterprises — with or without security buy-in - Why AI governance is no longer optional — and how to actually implement it - The truth about agentic AI, automation, and building trust in non-human identities - The role of frameworks like ISO 42001 in building AI transparency and assurance - Real-world examples of how teams are using LLMs in development, documentation & compliance Whether you're a CISO, developer, or business exec — this discussion will reshape how you think about AI governance, security, and adoption strategy in your org. Don’t wait until it’s too late to understand the risks. The Economics of Software Innovation: $750B+ Opportunity at a Crossroads Report: http://about.gitlab.com/software-innovation-report/ For more information about GitLab and their report, please visit: https://securityweekly.com/gitlabbh
Live from Black Hat 2025 in Las Vegas, Jackie McGuire sits down with Chris Boehm, Field CTO at Zero Networks, for a high-impact conversation on microsegmentation, shadow IT, and why AI still struggles to stop lateral movement. With 15+ years of cybersecurity experience—from Microsoft to SentinelOne—Chris breaks down complex concepts like you're a precocious 8th grader (his words!) and shares real talk on why AI alone won’t save your infrastructure. Learn how Zero Networks is finally making microsegmentation frictionless, how summarization is the current AI win, and what red flags to look for when evaluating AI-infused security tools. If you're a CISO, dev, or just trying to stay ahead of cloud threats—this one's for you. This segment is sponsored by Zero Networks. Visit https://securityweekly.com/zerobh to learn more about them!
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Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/asw-346