Appsec adventures

The article argues that the cybersecurity industry is entering a major consolidation phase, with leaders like Pentera’s recent acquisitions serving as case studies. It shows that startups are increasingly built not to dominate markets but to be absorbed as strategic assets—either for technology, customer bases, or talent. For enterprises, the takeaway is that the winning playbook rests on becoming an integrated platform rather than a stand-alone point solution. The shift also signals harder road for emerging vendors who must articulate a path beyond being acquired.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexanderpuutio/2025/11/09/cybersecuritys-consolidation-moment-lessons-from-penteras-acquisitions/

The article explains that burnout in Security Operations Centers can be avoided by reducing alert fatigue, automating repetitive tasks, and improving contextual awareness. It recommends providing analysts with real-time behavioral insights, integrating fresh threat intelligence, and focusing on high-value investigative work rather than constant triage. By prioritizing clarity over alert volume and connecting automation with meaningful context, SOC teams can maintain efficiency, morale, and long-term resilience.  https://thehackernews.com/2025/11/why-soc-burnout-can-be-avoided.html

Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders argue that despite AI’s association with misinformation, surveillance, and environmental harm, scientists must not abandon optimism. They emphasize that researchers have a responsibility to shape AI toward societal benefit by reforming industry norms, exposing misuse, and applying the technology to strengthen communities. The authors call for scientists to lead with a constructive vision—showing how AI can serve humanity rather than simply warning about its dangers.  https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/11/scientists-need-a-positive-vision-for-ai.html

At the OWASP Global AppSec conference, cybersecurity expert Adam Shostack criticized traditional risk management models that rely on multiplying likelihood by impact, calling them unreliable and counterproductive. He argued that most organizations lack accurate data to make such calculations meaningful, and that these models often create confusion instead of clarity. Shostack advocated for a shift toward practical threat modeling focused on four key questions: what’s being built, what can go wrong, what can be done about it, and whether the fixes succeeded.  https://www.scworld.com/resource/owasp-global-appsec-risk-management-may-be-a-pointless-waste-of-time

The article explains that Apache Kafka already underpins many AI pipelines by managing real-time data streams essential for training and inference. While organizations often view AI as requiring new infrastructure, most rely on Kafka’s ability to handle continuous data ingestion, event processing, and message delivery at scale. It argues that using outdated or batch data undermines AI performance, and Kafka’s streaming architecture naturally solves this, making it a foundational component of reliable, production-grade AI systems.  https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/Open-Source-Insider/Why-Apache-Kafka-is-the-AI-workflow-you-probably-already-have

Security researchers uncovered a Visual Studio Code extension dubbed “Ransomvibing” that encrypted user files and exfiltrated data while managing to pass marketplace review. The extension contained hard-coded decryption keys and simple Python and Node decryptors, indicating unsophisticated but dangerous behavior. The incident exposes major weaknesses in extension marketplace security and highlights how trusted development environments can be exploited to distribute ransomware-like payloads to unsuspecting developers.  https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/ransomvibing-infests-visual-studio-extension-market