Righard Zwienenberg

Righard Zwienenberg

Senior Research Fellow


Education: Yes

Highlights of your career? Being in the business for 25 years in August 2013.

What malware do you hate the most? Data destroyers.

Favorite activities? Drums, magic, squash.

What is your golden rule for cyberspace? Practice Safe Hex.

When did you get your first computer and what kind was it? 1979, Commodore PET 2001.

Favorite computer game/activity? Jumpman (C=64).


20 articles by Righard Zwienenberg

Lead-offering business booming as usual!

Lead-offering business booming as usual!

Lead-offering business booming as usual!

…but there are no conferences or exhibitions???

Righard Zwienenberg08 Sep 20207 min. read


Professional data leakage: How did that security vendor get my personal data?

Professional data leakage: How did that security vendor get my personal data?

Professional data leakage: How did that security vendor get my personal data?

…and why are they selling it to other security vendors and product testers?

Righard Zwienenberg05 May 20206 min. read


Smart, Smarter… Dumbest…

Smart, Smarter… Dumbest…

Smart, Smarter… Dumbest…

While the evolution of new smartphones creates more possibilities for the user, these new devices also creates more possibilities for hackers.

Righard Zwienenberg02 Feb 20184 min. read


MADIoT – The nightmare after XMAS (and Meltdown, and Spectre)

MADIoT – The nightmare after XMAS (and Meltdown, and Spectre)

MADIoT – The nightmare after XMAS (and Meltdown, and Spectre)

It is not feasible, in fact not even possible, to replace all CPUs in all devices. It would be too costly, besides the success rate for unsoldering and resoldering pin-throughs in multi-layer boards will never be 100%.

Righard Zwienenberg08 Jan 20184 min. read


CConsiderations on the CCleaner incident

CConsiderations on the CCleaner incident

CConsiderations on the CCleaner incident

Regardless of how Piriform was breached, for a tool as widely downloaded as CCleaner, with a userbase running into the hundreds of millions, there will be a large impact worldwide, even though only the 32-bit version was affected.

Righard Zwienenberg21 Sep 20175 min. read


The Billgate Foundation – the fall for money, eh many…

The Billgate Foundation – the fall for money, eh many…

The Billgate Foundation – the fall for money, eh many…

Recently it was announced that Satya Nadella will be Steve Ballmer’s successor as CEO of Microsoft. Of course for the cybercriminals this is the time to dust off and polish the good old Microsoft Lottery scam and update it.

Righard Zwienenberg10 Mar 20143 min. read


Radar Love: how classic rock helps to highlight Java problems

Radar Love: how classic rock helps to highlight Java problems

Radar Love: how classic rock helps to highlight Java problems

Java has been – and still is – one of the more problematic issues security-wise. A website showing song lyrics from Golden Earring's Radar Love shows off problems that can leave users at the mercy of Java attacks.

Righard Zwienenberg19 Aug 20135 min. read


From BYOD to CYOD: Security issues with personal devices in the workplace

From BYOD to CYOD: Security issues with personal devices in the workplace

From BYOD to CYOD: Security issues with personal devices in the workplace

Righard Zwienenberg19 Feb 20139 min. read


Scandal video of Justin Bieber: just don’t click here!

Scandal video of Justin Bieber: just don’t click here!

Scandal video of Justin Bieber: just don’t click here!

I received a “shared” messages from a friend about “a leaked scandal video of Justin Bieber and Selana Gomez” promising a “naked Justin Bieber”, with a Photoshopped picture, which we – for family-friendliness – censored a bit.

Righard Zwienenberg04 Feb 20133 min. read