Chew Thoroughly. The IT Privacy and Security Weekly Update for the week ending November 25th., 2025

EP 268

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approves PFAS-containing pesticides for everyday food crops, opening a new pathway for “forever chemicals” to reach dinner plates.
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A magician who implanted an RFID chip in his hand for performances discovers the ultimate trick: he’s permanently locked out by his own forgotten password. He must not be Gen X
Fired Ohio contractor pleads guilty to crippling his former employer’s network with a single script, causing $862,000 in damage, chaos for thousands of workers, but he might get free room and board out of it for the next 10 years
MI5 warns parliamentarians that Chinese state agents are systematically targeting them through fake recruiter profiles on LinkedIn. Now Parliamentarians can be just like the rest of us!
NordPass data reveals Gen Z now picks even weaker passwords than 80-year-olds, proving humanity will never get the secure password thing right.
A leading cryptographer accuses the NSA of orchestrating a quiet IETF takeover to force through deliberately weakened post-quantum encryption standards.
Microsoft’s new Copilot Actions can autonomously manage your files-yet the company admits it can be tricked into stealing data or installing malware. Oh, yes. We all want that.
U.S. Cyber Command quietly funds a stealth AI startup to build autonomous systems capable of executing large-scale offensive cyberattacks.
HiddenLayer researchers expose a subtle token-sequence attack that silently bypasses safety guardrails on GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, and nearly every major LLM.
C'mon, put your dentures in and let’s see if we can come up with a password better than your Gran.

Find the full transcript of this podcast here.