UPDATES
Hey! Hope you’re doing well!
I’m in Vegas the whole week and weekend! If you see me, wave or come say hi! I’ve seen a ton of people already and it’s been wonderful. Including meeting some remarkable new friends in the industry after a panel talk last night.
—
OpenAI has launched their open models, and they have a red team challenge to hack them. HACK OPENAI’s OPEN MODELS
—
—
My post on my personal AI tech stack I’m building / iterating on. Shows how I’m combining all my tools into a system that can be used by my DA, Kai.
This one is on the early launch of daemon.danielmiessler.com! Which is an MCP server for my personal API! Sooooo excited about this.
—
Had a brilliant conversation with Sarit Tager at Palo Alto about how she’s building context into her products. This context stuff isn’t theory, and Sarit shows how useful it is in real security tooling. Sponsored
—
I’m starting to get low-key obsessed with Markov Chains and what I don’t know about them. I feel like I’ve like almost learned them like 20 times. I feel like they’ve been smugly waiting for me stop being an idiot and come explore how their overall concept can be applied to tons of other things I think about. If you know any go-to books, please let me know!
Sponsor
Protect Your Google Workspace with Purpose-Built Security
Your Google Workspace is the backbone of your business, yet most teams use security tools that weren’t designed to protect it.
Material Security changes that. Built specifically for Google Workspace, Material is a detection and response platform that protects Gmail, Google Drive, and accounts by proactively eliminating security gaps, stopping misconfigurations, and preventing shadow IT before they turn into costly problems.
With real-time monitoring and automatic fixes, Material keeps your workspace secure with minimal effort, reducing human error and freeing up your team to focus on work that matters.
⬆︎ What I like most about Material is how they also focus heavily on configuration and prevention. Refreshing to see a novel approach to problems we’ve had for decades.
CYBERSECURITY
Sonicwall firewalls are getting hammered by zero-day attacks
Attackers are exploiting what looks like a zero-day in SonicWall Gen 7 firewalls' SSL VPN service, with multiple security firms tracking Akira ransomware deployments that started around July 15th. CYBERSCOOP ARTICLE | SONICWALL ADVISORY | HUNTRESS ANALYSIS
MCP-Watch security scanner finds 12 types of AI server vulnerabilities
Kapil Duraphe built this comprehensive security scanner that detects everything from credential leaks to prompt injection attacks in Model Context Protocol servers. THE PROJECT | KAPIL'S GITHUB | VULNERABLEMCP DATABASE | HIDDENLAYER RESEARCH | INVARIANT LABS STUDY | TRAIL OF BITS RESEARCH
North korea sent me abroad to be a secret IT worker
A former North Korean IT worker talks to BBC about being sent overseas to hack, spy, and do secret digital work for the regime. BBC ARTICLE | HN COMMENTS
Google’s AI bug hunter just found 20 new security flaws in popular open source software
Google’s AI researcher Big Sleep, built by DeepMind and Project Zero, found 20 vulnerabilities in stuff like FFmpeg and ImageMagick, all verified by humans but discovered by the AI alone, showing these tools are finally delivering real results.
TECHCRUNCH ARTICLE | HEATHER ADKINS ON X | GOOGLE ISSUE TRACKER
Russian spies use local ISPs to hijack diplomats’ devices in Moscow
Microsoft reveals Kremlin-backed hackers called Secret Blizzard have been exploiting ISP networks in Moscow since 2024 to intercept embassy traffic and push custom malware called ApolloShadow, making it super clear that sensitive data in Russia needs ironclad VPNs or encrypted tunnels. THE REGISTER ARTICLE | MICROSOFT REPORT | SHERROD DEGRIPPO LINKEDIN
Scattered Spider is now hitting Snowflake databases after fooling IT help desks
Government agencies updated their advisory after finding the cybercriminal group is specifically targeting Snowflake data storage for quick exfiltration once they social engineer their way past help desk staff. THE RECORD ARTICLE | CISA ADVISORY | RETAIL ATTACKS | INSURANCE ATTACKS | VICTORIA'S SECRET BREACH | HAWAIIAN AIRLINES ATTACK
NATIONAL SECURITY
The Gulf is betting on AI as the new oil to reshape its future
Sameer Hashmi from BBC breaks down how the UAE and Saudi Arabia are using huge AI data centers and US partnerships to turn “compute” into their next big export. They’re building infrastructure like it’s the next oil boom but still are still struggling with talent and geopolitical issues. BBC ARTICLE | SAMEER HASHMI X
Tech giants like Google and Meta are now working with the military
Google, OpenAI, and Meta, plus venture capitalists who once avoided war projects, are now openly teaming up with the military industrial complex, shifting their stance completely. This shows how the tech world is getting deeply involved with defense and war efforts. NY TIMES ARTICLE
The dollar is in trouble
Michael E. Jones breaks down why the dollar is losing its dominance internationally. A pretty solid list of issues and factors. THE ARTICLE | HN COMMENTS | MICHAEL E. JONES SUBSTACK
AI
🔥 My friend Marcus goes nuclear on AI
Marcus put out an extremely long and well-written piece about all the reasons he thinks AI is hype. I think he’s very wrong.
I will probably do another video on this because I consider this to be such an important issue, and I worry his quality writing will sway many people to be complacent on the issue. But really it all comes down to one thing.
He’s using a shitty definition for intelligence.
Unless I misunderstood him, he doesn’t believe cardiology or marriage counseling count as intelligence. So like, two of the most skill-heavy and intellectual jobs in the world. An f-ing Cardiologist. A M.D. Or a Psychiatrist. Why? Because it’s just patterns. It’s just training.
(Paraphrasing his arguments) You meet people with the same problems, in slightly different configurations, and you consult your training, and you give out pretty much the same advice as you gave the last 120 people with similar issues. Now extend that to the rest of everyday knowledge work. It’s not real intelligence because they didn’t do anything new. Anything novel. (End paraphrase)
Cool story, except that definitionally devalues 99% of all knowledge work done on the planet everyday.
And we know he’s wrong here because of one glaring fact: the work hasn’t been automated for decades already. If it were so easy to just pattern match, none of these knowledge workers would even have jobs. The work would have been replaced by automation decades ago.
It’s not automated because it requires intelligence.
What’s intelligence? My definition is the ability to take a new, everyday problem and apply your knowledge and understanding of the world to come up with a useful solution.
Scripts can’t do that. Programs can’t do that. Only humans can, and that’s why the entire field of knowledge work exists. It’s everyday problem solving, using human brains.
This is why AI is disruptive. It’s the first tech ever invented that can do something like what we do. It’s that fucking simple.
Marcus is wrong because he’s defining intelligence in a way that doesn’t matter to regular people, and as a result he’s convincing people to ignore something that they should absolutely be paying attention to.
HIS ARTICLE | COMMENTS
OpenAI releases their open models
OpenAI has released their open AI models after a lot of pressure from the industry. They’re reasoning models, and benchmarks look impressive, but they’re hard to go by. I’m at Blackhat, but I’ll post more as I test them. THEIR BLOG ON THE RELEASE | ON HUGGING FACE | ON OLLAMA
Anthropic releases Opus 4.1 the same day
These model competitions are spectacular. Constant improvement, but I can’t help but be reminded of Moloch. The updates seem pretty small based on benchmarks, but again—those can be misleading. I’m expecting there to be improvements to the agentic stuff, especially for Claude Code. They also teased bigger updates soon. THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Perplexity allegedly using stealth bots to ignore no-crawl rules on websites
Cloudflare says Perplexity’s AI search engine uses hidden crawlers that rotate IPs and bypass robots.txt bans, hitting tens of thousands of sites despite explicit blocking. ARSTECHNICA ARTICLE | CLOUDFLARE BLOG POST | IETF ROBOTS RFC
Anthropic cuts OpenAI off from Claude access
Anthropic just pulled OpenAI’s access to their Claude AI model. Spicy. WIRED ARTICLE | HN COMMENTS
OpenAI's Universal Verifiers are changing how AI checks answers
OpenAI has things called “universal verifiers”—which are AI systems that check if generated answers are good or not. I’m like obsessed with these. And also the word obsessed, evidently. I really want to be able to rig all my AI infra into universal (general) verifiers that I can use to test the quality of my prompts and models. Working on it! THE INFORMATION ARTICLE | INSIDE GPT-5 REPORT
Google Releases Gemini 2.5 Deep Think for Faster, Smarter Problem Solving
Google’s latest Gemini 2.5 Deep Think model, now in the Gemini app for AI Ultra subscribers, is a faster, more creative AI that uses parallel thinking to tackle complex math, coding, and design problems with state-of-the-art benchmarks and real-world usability. It builds on earlier breakthroughs, hitting bronze-level IMO performance while helping researchers and developers think more deeply and iteratively. DEEP THINK BLOG | GEMINI APP | GOOGLE AI PLANS | GEMINI I/O ANNOUNCEMENT | DEEPMIND GOLD MEDAL | GEMINI DEEP THINK MODEL CARD
Stanford creates 'virtual scientists' that hold meetings and solve research problems autonomously
James Zou and his team built AI agents that work together like a real research lab, and they created a COVID nanobody that outperforms existing antibodies. STANFORD ARTICLE | NATURE PAPER | ZOU'S PRESENTATION | RAISE HEALTH SYMPOSIUM
OpenAI adds Study Mode to ChatGPT to make students think instead of just getting answers
OpenAI launched Study Mode for ChatGPT that asks students questions and sometimes refuses direct answers to develop critical thinking skills. Students can still switch back to regular mode whenever they want though. TECHCRUNCH ARTICLE | STUDENT AI USAGE SURVEY | STANFORD AI TUTORING STUDY | CRITICAL THINKING RESEARCH | BRAIN ACTIVITY STUDY | SCHOOL CHATGPT BANS
Your prompts are accidentally training AI to give you biased answers
This piece breaks down how the way we phrase prompts unconsciously steers AI responses toward what we expect to hear, not what's actually true. TOWARDS DATA SCIENCE ARTICLE | TOWARDS DATA SCIENCE
Ollama Launches a Desktop App With Built-in Chat Interface
The team behind Ollama released a native desktop application that includes a chat interface, so you don't need to use the command line or third-party frontends anymore. OLLAMA BLOG POST | HN DISCUSSION
TECHNOLOGY
Jack Dorsey releases Bitchat, his bluetooth mesh messaging app
Jack Dorsey coded this bluetooth messaging app over a weekend that lets you chat with people within 100 meters without internet or cell service. The app has zero login system and works through bluetooth mesh networks, though security researchers found it's easy to impersonate other users and it hasn't been security tested. Can't wait to use this in Vegas this week. Yeah, spoofing Bluetooth addresses is not difficult. TECHCRUNCH ARTICLE | iOS APP STORE | ANDROID GITHUB RELEASE | SECURITY ANALYSIS BLOG | BRIDGEFY COMPARISON | JACK'S TWITTER
UK's age verification law is rolling out but already causing chaos
The UK just started forcing sites like Reddit and X to verify users are 18+, and it's already messy with companies pulling out, users gaming the system, and big privacy headaches.
THE VERGE AGE VERIFICATION STORY
Two former TSMC employees arrested for trying to leak 2nm chip secrets
Two ex-TSMC workers got arrested for allegedly trying to steal trade secrets on their upcoming 2nm chip tech under Taiwan’s tough new national security law. TOM’S HARDWARE STORY | Financial Times Report | TSMC Growth and Expansion - Tom's Hardware | TSMC Market Lead - Tom's Hardware | Tom's Hardware Security Tag
Always bet on text for long-term software durability
Graydon Hoare argues that plain text outlasts all fancy formats and technologies, making it the safest bet for anything you want to preserve long-term. I wholeheartedly agree. I just see text as the centerpiece of everything: thought, tech, pretty much everything. GRAYDON'S BLOG POST
HUMANS
China launches $500 per baby incentive to reverse population collapse
China's offering families $500 annually per child until age three, as their fertility rate crashed from 2.51 in 1990 to just 1.01 last year. MORNING BREW STORY
Tour de France officials are now checking bikes for hidden tiny motors
The UCI started doing random bike inspections with magnetic scanners because they're worried cyclists might be using miniature motors hidden in frames to get an unfair advantage. WASHPOST ARTICLE
IDEAS
Our truest and purest selves might be ourselves as kids—playing and exploring. And maybe the whole game is to find and harness that again, in productive, adult ways.
Never talk to yourself in someone else’s voice.
DISCOVERY
Claude Code can create professional videos from plain English descriptions
Moritz discovered you can use Claude's coding agent to generate complete videos without any video editing experience. I’m working a ton on trying to automate videos of different kinds. Diagrams. Charts. Full video. Etc. YOUTUBE VIDEO | MORITZ ON TWITTER
A Periodic Table of System Design Principles
Joy Arulraj created a visual periodic table that organizes fundamental system design principles into categories like scalability, reliability, and performance. It's a clever way to make complex distributed systems concepts more memorable and accessible. THE PROJECT | HN DISCUSSION | JOY'S GITHUB
Hemingway's "Now I Lay Me" reveals his near-death experience from 1918
The Library of America shares this 1927 Hemingway story based on his actual WWI wounding, where he described his soul leaving his body "like pulling a silk handkerchief from a pocket." THE STORY | PDF VERSION | HEMINGWAY COLLECTION | IN ANOTHER COUNTRY
How to Make (Almost) Anything: The 2019 MIT Fab Lab course that teaches you how to build basically anything you want
This is the legendary MIT course by Douglas Sculley that walks you through the whole process of turning ideas into physical stuff with digital tools—like the ultimate hands-on maker crash course. COURSE PAGE | HN COMMENTS
I built an AI that turns any book into a text adventure game
A developer created Kathaaverse, which transforms any book into an interactive text adventure where you can explore the story world and make choices that affect the narrative. KATHAAVERSE PROJECT
The best meeting culture eliminates most meetings and makes the rest actually useful
Someone's opinion on how to run meetings that don't suck by defaulting to async work and only meeting when you actually need real-time discussion. THE ARTICLE | HN DISCUSSION
Contains Studio releases collection of AI agents for rapid development
Contains Studio built 35+ specialized AI agents organized into departments like engineering, marketing, and design to accelerate 6-day development sprints.
THE PROJECT | CLAUDE CODE DOCS
AI is a floor raiser, not a ceiling raiser
Elroy Bot explains in his article why AI mostly lifts everyone's baseline performance rather than pushing the absolute peak higher, which changes how we should think about its impact. AI ARTICLE BY ELROY BOT | COMMENTS ON HACKER NEWS
RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK
Try to frequently ask yourself if anyone, or anything, in your life is stopping you from becoming your true self.
Are you not able to say or be certain things because of your partner, your job, your peers?
And if those constraints weren’t there, who and what would you be instead?
These constraints are often invisible because we block them out because they’re painful. We pretend we put them on ourselves on purpose.
Try to see them again. Try to remember who you wanted to become.
APHORISM OF THE WEEK
The most sophisticated people I know—inside they are all children.
GET THE MEMBER EDITION
You’re currently receiving the STANDARD edition. Members get additional content sections, including IDEAS, a bi-monthly MEMBER-ONLY ESSAY, and the RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK.
In addition, you’ll get access to the extraordinary UL Member Community, which includes vibrant conversations with over 1,400 of the smartest and kindest people you’ll find on the internet, the Member Archive, UL Book Club, a monthly member meet-up, access to in-person events, and much more.