Blake Thompson Heuer
README editor-in-chief Blake Thompson Heuer has a decade of experience in cybersecurity journalism, including stints at E&E News and POLITICO. Blake has covered a range of hacking threats facing critical infrastructure worldwide, winning a SABEW Best in Business award for his investigation of a cyberattack on a Saudi Arabian petrochemical facility.
Concerns about China and generative AI dominated the cybersecurity discussions at the tenth edition of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance’s annual gathering, which drew hundreds of security professionals, spies and government experts.
Welcome to Changelog for 3/26/23, published by Synack! It’s me, Blake, and I can’t believe RSA is less than a month away. There’s still plenty to cover until then, so we’ll get right to it:
Welcome to Changelog for 3/19/23, published by Synack! Blake here, basking in the annual D.C. tradition of peak cherry blossom bloom. I’ll jog around the Tidal Basin later this afternoon to soak up the views, but for now, here’s the week’s cyber news:
Welcome to Changelog for 3/12/23, published by Synack! It’s me, Blake, and I’m excited about tonight’s season finale of The Last of Us — not to mention the bonus behind-the-scenes episode that will air afterward.
Welcome to Changelog for 3/5/23, published by Synack! Blake here, filling in for Nate Mott over the next few weeks.
Welcome to Changelog for 1/8/23, published by Synack! It’s me, Blake, hoping you all had a restful holiday season.
Welcome to Changelog for 12/11/22, published by Synack! Blake here, excited to share that I’ll be co-hosting Season 2 of the WE’RE IN! cybersecurity podcast alongside Bella DeShantz-Cook.
Grudging kudos to the Netherlands for besting the U.S. in the World Cup on Saturday. Now I’m rooting for France to win it all.
Welcome to Changelog for 11/20/22, published by Synack! Blake here, delivering the week’s news alongside README senior editor Nathaniel Mott. A quick programming note before we dive in: Changelog won’t publish next Sunday as we take a Thanksgiving break.
Welcome to Changelog for 11/13/22, published by Synack! It’s me, Blake, bringing you the latest news with a boost from README senior editor Nathaniel Mott.
Congratulations to the 50,000+ runners who took on today’s New York City Marathon, which is back in full force after a 2020 pandemic cancellation and depressed turnout in 2021.
Welcome to Changelog for 10/30/22, published by Synack! It’s me, Blake, compiling this week’s top news with help from README senior editor Nathaniel Mott. Hope everyone is having an amazing Halloween weekend — I’m excited to greet some trick-or-treaters tomorrow in Washington, D.C.
Welcome to Changelog for 10/23/22, published by Synack! Blake here, joined by README senior editor Nathaniel Mott. There was a lot of news last week, so let’s get right to it.
Welcome to Changelog for 10/16/22, published by Synack! It’s me, Blake, compiling this week’s newsletter with help from README senior editor Nathaniel Mott.
Welcome to Changelog for 10/2/22, published by Synack! It’s me, Blake, reporting with help from README senior editor Nate Mott. It was yet another busy week for cyber news, so let’s cut to the chase.
Welcome to Changelog for 9/25/22, published by Synack! Blake here, thrilled to start channeling Mr. Autumn Man.
Welcome to Changelog for 9/18/22, published by Synack! It’s me, Blake, coming up for air after a busy week for cybersecurity news. Let’s dive in:
Welcome to Changelog for 9/11/22, published by Synack. It’s me, Blake, back after a break to share some exciting news: Cybersecurity journalist Nathaniel Mott is joining README as senior editor!
Welcome to Changelog for 8/21/22, published by Synack! I’m your host, Blake, and I have one programming note before we dive into the week’s top cyber news: This will be the last newsletter edition until September as Changelog takes a summer break.
From vulnerabilities in Starlink user terminals to fresh iCalendar exploits, this year’s Black Hat and DEF CON conferences offered a fount of cybersecurity knowledge for hackers, policymakers and everyone else who braved the Las Vegas heat and monsoon weather.
Welcome to Changelog for 8/14/22, published by Synack! Cue the DEF CON is canceled jokes: Heavy rains caused damaging flash flooding in Las Vegas late last week during “Hacker Summer Camp,” forcing many casino patrons to take shelter from streets that became raging rapids, as CNN reported.
Welcome to Changelog for 8/7/22, published by Synack! The Black Hat and DEF CON cybersecurity conferences are taking place this week in Las Vegas, and I have serious FOMO.
Welcome to Changelog for 7/31/22, published by Synack! Open source coder John Wiseman rolled out a fascinating map of global GPS interference last week. It shows where aircraft pilots have reported encountering degraded navigation accuracy.
Welcome to Changelog for 7/24/22, published by Synack! It was a blisteringly hot week for many of us across the U.S. — I’ve hardly ventured outside lately in Washington, D.C., where Mayor Muriel Bowser has declared a heat emergency through Monday.
Welcome to Changelog for 7/17/22, published by Synack! Microsoft’s game of macro musical chairs appears to be over. The company said it’s planning to disable internet macros by default after all, following its decision to pause the change in key Office apps late last month.
Welcome to Changelog for 7/10/22, published by Synack! Blake here, back after a hiatus for the Fourth of July holiday.
Welcome to Changelog for 6/26/22, published by Synack. It’s me, Blake, back after a break for Juneteenth. Thank you to the R Street Institute for hosting me and four cybersecurity experts for a lively discussion Wednesday on the state of water sector cybersecurity. I hope it’s just the first of many successful events in the README and R Street Cyber Policy Talks series. Now, for the week’s news:
We Synackers spent much of the time at Fogo de Chão hosting hundreds of guests, sponsors and a Journey cover band. When not at the, ahem, meat-and-greet in the restaurant, I made the quick walk to the Moscone Center to cover some RSA highlights:
Welcome to Changelog for 6/5/22! It’s me, Blake, and I’m thrilled to announce I’m taking on a new role as editor-in-chief of README and head of communications here at Synack.
Welcome to Changelog for 5/22/22, published by Synack! Blake here, struggling to beat the heat in Washington.
Investors are still parsing whether this is just another swing in the infamously volatile market, but many individual traders are hurting, badly. Perhaps a few large corporations with ransomware worries will snap up some cryptocurrency now to hedge against future payments.
Welcome to Changelog for 5/8/22, published by Synack! I’m your host, Blake. Last week’s Hack the Capitol event was a hit — I tried my hands at my first-ever Escape Room, hosted by the Department of Homeland Security and designed with input from industrial control system gurus at the Energy Department’s network of national labs.
Welcome to Changelog for 5/1/22, published by Synack! Blake here, reporting from Washington, D.C. I’ll be moderating a panel on ransomware threats to critical infrastructure Wednesday at Crowell & Moring LLP here, so say hello if you’ll be attending the fifth edition of the educational “Hack the Capitol” event.
Welcome to Changelog for 4/24/22, published by Synack! It’s me, Blake, and if you missed the Atlantic Council panel I moderated Friday on the new industrial control system (ICS) focused Pipedream malware, you can check it out here.
The newly discovered Pipedream malware is aimed at American energy companies’ critical networks with alarming precision. Though it was caught before it could be used, the hacking tool’s emergence against the backdrop of war in Ukraine has drawn stark warnings from the U.S. and its allies.
Welcome to Changelog for 4/17/22, published by Synack! I’m your Miami-bound host, Blake, and I’m excited to deliver you news from the S4x22 industrial cybersecurity conference this week.
Cybersecurity officials in the U.S. and Ukraine have exposed two powerful hacking tools aimed at the industrial control systems that underpin critical energy networks.
Welcome to Changelog for 4/10/22, published by Synack! Blake here, writing from the nation’s capital.
Every two years, the electricity industry runs a stress test designed to find and fix gaps in the North American grid’s cyber and physical defenses. The latest GridEx event presaged a blitz of real-world hacking threats that have kept U.S. power providers on high alert.
Welcome to Changelog for 4/3/22, published by Synack! I’m your host, Blake, and I can’t believe this is already edition №10.
Welcome to Changelog for 3/27/22, published by Synack! It’s me, Blake, your loyal ShmooCon correspondent.
The buzzy ShmooCon cybersecurity conference returned this weekend after a pandemic hiatus, drawing a lively crowd of hackers, security practitioners and inside-the-Beltway types to downtown Washington, D.C.
Welcome to Changelog for 3/20/22, published by Synack! I’m your host, Blake, and I’ll be attending ShmooCon this week, so I hope to see some of you there.
Welcome to Changelog for 3/13/22, published by Synack! Congress last week sent a major piece of cybersecurity legislation to President Biden’s desk as part of a $1.5 trillion spending package.
Welcome to Changelog for 3/6/22, published by Synack! Blake Sobczak here, checking in from a new, FBI-friendly D.C. neighborhood.
Welcome to Changelog for 2/27/22, published by Synack! Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ushered in a bleak new era for Europe.
Welcome to Changelog for 2/20/22, published by Synack! The past week brought rapid-fire U.S. attribution of Russian cyberattacks, an unusually frank U.S. government hearing on China’s cyber capabilities and previously unreported connections between the infamous Turla hacking group and Moscow’s FSB spy agency.
A trove of emails from top Homeland Security officials expose how the U.S. government scrambled to ensure the defenses of American utilities after Russia brought down parts of Ukraine’s power grid in 2015.
Welcome to Changelog for 2/13/22, published by Synack! I’m your host, Blake. From some pretty serious Apple patches to a disheartening update on the Log4j vulnerability’s long tail, last week’s threat level was tomato.
Blake here, reporting from Washington. It’s been another jam-packed week for cybersecurity news, with a massive crypto heist, a first-of-its-kind NSA interview and some gloomy numbers for a Pentagon supply chain security program.
Welcome to Changelog by README! I’m your host, Blake Sobczak. Every Sunday, I’ll deliver cybersecurity news and analysis to your inbox, provided the internet hasn’t gone down in flames.
The WhisperGate malware masquerades as ransomware but really breaks computer files beyond repair.